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20 June 2006

21 June News ...

CSC and Basso in London

Yesterday Ivan Basso visited CSC workers and clients at their company headquarters in Aldershot, just outside of London, for his final press conference before the Tour de France. Basso joined Team Manager Bjarne Riis and key Tour domestiques, Jens Voigt, Bobby Julich and Stuart O'Grady, to discuss the team's goals for July.

Riis took the occasion to announce the Tour de France squadra while Ivan Basso talked about his Giro d'Italia win and the possibility of making a Grand Tour double. The CSC workers are not all computer geeks and they do know their cycle sport, asking if Ullrich scares Basso. "If I am the same Ivan from the Giro, then it will be certain that he will not have an easy life," quipped the Italian Stallion (28).

Basso was completely dressed in black team gear but there was a sign of his three weeks of conquest in Italy: under the CSC top was a pink t-shirt. The passion lives in Basso, he conquered what every Italian boy dreams of, winning the Giro d'Italia. It was a win he promised his mother on her deathbed, it was a win he promised Team Manager Riis and it was a win he promised to himself.

"The Giro was the start of a career of winning," Basso added. "Now I only miss the Tour to say that I have won everything a racer can dream of. This year there will be an extra drive, because there will not be Armstrong to battle. If someone thinks that I have now been satisfied, and I am taking it easy, then they don't know me well. I will arrive at the Tour to win."

Unfortunately there was not any time for Ivan Basso to see the city of London. Il Varesino will surely be back to visit the city in the future, after all the 2007 Tour de France will start from London.

The Giro champion was kept busy all day with team and sponsorship duties, which included signing jerseys for mamy of the fans/employees of CSC. "All of this I like, it is important to me that there is an international interest," Basso said of his English fans. "If I did not place on the podium twice in the Tour and win the Giro it would not be like this. I am happy that the people always seem to know more about me and I want to keep that same image. I don't want to change to please anyone else, the people love me for who I am."

Vande Velde Replaces Cancellara for CSC

"The last decision I took yesterday. It is difficult to call someone who is qualified to be in the team and say I'm sorry I have made other choices, but it's my job." These were the words of Team CSC Manager, Bjarne Riis, when describing his decision to leave Paris-Roubaix winner and former yellow jersey wearer, Fabian Cancellara, off the Tour de France squadra.

Team CSC is one of those teams that are blessed with plenty of talented resources. Riis, if he wanted to, could field two teams to ride the Tour de France, both with the capabilities to win. The BiciRace.com crew would imagine a team headed by Ivan Basso and another by David Zabriskie. We would then bring in ... (OK, we digress.)

The decision to leave the 25 year-old Swiss out of the team was based upon the lack of a team time trial and an on-form Christian Vande Velde. This Tour will be the first in years without a team crono and Riis wants to plan the team accordingly. L'Americano, Vande Velde, recently took honors in the Tour de Luxembourg and showed that he will be up to the task of defending Basso from Strasbourg to Paris.

Riis continued: "I went with Christian Vande Velde because his form is there. The choice was to focus on the mountains and I had to sacrifice Fabian Cancellara for a guy who can climb."

The complete CSC squadra: Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, Giovanni Lombardi, Stuart O'Grady, Bobby Julich, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde.

Pinotti Passes Tricolore to Bruseghin

Marco Pinotti (Saunier Duval-Prodir) barely missed out on a Tricolore repeat. Il Bergamasco (30) fell 15" short of defending his Italian time trial title to Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre-Fondital) this morning in Pordenone (Friuli-Venezia Giulia). With today's win, Bruseghin, 32 years-old and pro since 1997, recorded his first professional victory.

The race, 37.6K opened up "la Settimana tricolore", the week of Italian championships. "I will now be able to wear the maglia tricolore at the Tour de France prologue," said Bruseghin, second last year in the TT championships. "I had good feelings going into this race; before I left the house I put a bottle of Prosecco in the refrigerator."

Pinotti was the last rider off of the start ramp, at 9.22, "Considering I have to prepare three hours in advance, it is early," Pinotti joked. Through the first time check Pinotti was already down on Bruseghin, 7" at 11.8K, but he was able to gain some time back on the Lampre rider in the mid-section. But it was in the finale where Bruseghin had more speed than our Bergamasco friend, thus securing his first pro win.

"From here I will also try Sunday's road race, before going on to the Tour. I don't want to stop with this win," said Bruseghin with his first win after 10 years as a professional. "I would like to win a stage at the Tour, or another race, where I would be able to throw my arms up in victory."

Results:
1) Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre-Fondital), 37.6K in 44'22"35, ave 50.842 K/h
2) Marco Pinotti (Saunier Duval-Prodir) - 15"19
3) Manuel Quinziato (Liquigas) - 41"57
4) Luca Ascani (Naturino-Sapore di Mare) - 1'00"80
5) Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) - 1'16"48
6) Diego Caccia (Barloworld) - 2'29"85
7) Dario Cioni (Liquigas) - 2'39'88
8) Fabio Borghesi (OTC Doors-Lauretana) - 2'40"55
9) Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Panaria-Navigare) - 2'41"84
10) Enrico Franzoi (Lampre-Fondital) a 2'54"91

Quick-Step Announces Tour Squadra

Quick-Step announced its squadra for the Tour de France, starting in 11 days from Strasbourg. There will be no aspirations of placing a rider high in the general classification but that does not mean the team is lacking focus. The World Champion, Tom Boonen, will lead the team in a quest to conquer the sprinter's green jersey, the Maillot Vert.

Most of the team will be based around Tom Boonen. Il Treno Blu will take control on the sprint stages and help the Belgian achieve victories, while racking up points for the Maillot Vert. Boonen was the wearer of the Maillot Vert last year when he abandoned after a crashing on stage 11.

The Squadra: Tom Boonen, Wilfried Cretskens, Steven De Jongh, Juan Manuel Gárate, Filippo Pozzato, José Rujano, Bram Tankink, Matteo Tosatto, and Cédric Vasseur. The team listed Nick Nuyens, Guido Trenti, Kevin Van Impe and Geert Verheyen as reserves.

There are three riders that will likely have freedom for stage wins: Rujano, Pozzato and Gárate. Rujano joined the team in the last month and it will be interesting to see what he is capable of achieving after making an early exit from Selle Italia and the Giro d'Italia. Look for the Venezuelan in the mountains. Pozzato, winner of Milano-Sanremo, is in search of a new contract at the end of the year, so you can imagine he will do everything he can to gain attention and take a stage win. Gárate will most likely ride with Rujano, also searching for mountain stage wins.

Valverde Tops UCI ProTour Standings

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) is currently at the top of the UCI ProTour classification with 195 points. Trailing the Spaniard, 57 points in arrears, is none other than Ivan Basso (Team CSC). Rounding out the top three is Tornado Tom Boonen with 132 points.

Top Ten
1. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) 195 points
2. Ivan Basso (Team CSC) 138
3. Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) 132
4. Fränk Schleck (Team CSC) 120
5. Jörg Jaksche (Astaná-Würth) 110
6. Allesandro Ballan (Lampre-Fondital) 105
7. Patrik Sinkewitz (T-Mobile) 90
8. Samuel Sánchez González (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 89
9. Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) 87
10. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) 86

19 June News ...