Basso and the Giro...

Now I've been paying attention to grand tours for awhile now, probably since the time of Indurain's influence was wielded over le Tour de France. And I haven't seen such a dominating performance in a grand tour in a long time such as Ivan Basso's during the Giro this year. He THREW IT DOWN. He essentially just rode away from everyone else, and left some of the best climbers in the world in his wake. He was simply a vortex unto himself I think. Take for instance, stage 20 yesterday. Himself and Simoni (the best of the rest this year) took off up the road. When it came time to hit the final climb, Basso pulled and Armstrong, and just left Simoni gasping and trying to catch his wheel when the road went up. It was, amazing. Simoni is no slouch when it comes to going uphill either. I say that he was the best of the rest, simply because like Basso following Armstrong, Simoni was the only one who could follow Basso when the going got tough, and the roads got steep. Or at least it seemed that way to me. Someone I am worried about though is one Mr. Damiano Cunego. He showed so much promise a couple of years ago, yet, since then, he's been in nowheresville. Is it because maybe his medical program has been cut back? I still have hope for him, because he is still young, and still has plenty of time to really make something of himself. I might be overly critical, but he was hailed as the second coming really, and for one year, he lived up to that billing, but now, he's been kind of flailing and grasping for straws, and second tier wins the last couple of years. Of course, you can't take away from the man that he did win the Giro one year, and in a very impressive fashion. I'm just wondering when the rest of his brilliance is going to come about though. We can only hope.

Back to Ivan though. Dominating, totally dominating performance this year. Could he be the first rider to do the double since Pantani in 1998?? Honestly, I would like to see him win le Tour, even though my heart rests with Jan Ullrich to take it this year, and Jan did show some flashes of brilliance when he was riding the Giro this year. Namely his long course TT win during the stage race showed that Her Kaiser is still the man to beat when it comes to going to against the clock (when Armstrong isn't around of course). I could see a few people beating Ullrich in the Tour time trials, but they won't also be challenging for the overall GC that he'll be riding for. Ullrich did put a half minute into Basso in the time trial, which a couple of years ago probably would have been more like 2 minutes, but Basso has improved his time trialing ability greatly. Working with Mr. 60%, also known as Bjarne Riis, he has improved his weaknesses greatly. I'm sure that the wind tunnel work, and having the best equipment possible (Cervelo Carbon P3 is THE TT bike to have in my opinion, although the Scott Plasma looks not too bad either) has made it a little easier, but it's still a matter of how you can put the power down, and he has improved this greatly. There are not too many high mountain passes in le Tour this year, and not too many high mountain finishes, and long TTs. The problem with that is that Basso will have less chances to drop Ullrich in the hills, but Ullrich will have more chances to put time into Basso when riding against the clock. It's going to be interesting, very interesting. I would love to see Ullrich strike the first blow come July 1, and take the prologue in his full glory, and in full flight. As if to say, "Yeah, I'm a bad ass, and I'm here to crush the weak." Not like last year when Armstrong passed him during the prologue, which was the equivalent of saying, "Yep, race is over on day one. Thanks for playing." If Basso can keep it close during the prologue, or even, and I know this seems like a long shot, beat Ullrich during the prologue, the ramifications of that would ring throughout the rest of the race. I think that it is going to get interesting, really quick. Not to mention the other contenders. Landis, who I passed on during his Spring campaign, but have now come to realize that he could be more than ready, will mount a serious challenge to the throne of Tour champion. If Landis were to win, that would be 8 years in a row an American will have won the biggest bike race in the world. His climbing looks top notch right now, and his TT skills look fast. He's always been a decent time trialer, but as of late, he's been knocking them back. He didn't go to the Giro like he was going to, but that just means he's been able to recon the Tour routes, check out the major climbs, probably the time trial courses as well, and he'll have been training hard to be in top form for le Tour. If he can rally Phonak around him, and to ride for only him, he has a great shot at winning. Then there is Valverde who is strong, but still sort of a wild card himself, as he has never finished the Tour. Not yet at least. He has great climbing ability, can win a sprint, and can ride strong against the clock. He's got all the tools, now he just has to wrap his head around it, and get into the mental game. I still think he pales in comparison to Landis, Ullrich, and Basso when it comes to time trialing, but time will tell. Then again, it could all come unscrewed for any one of these guys, and then someone else will take the win. There are no lack of people lining up who would want to win the most prestigious race in the world. It's going to be a battle this year I hope, and I also hope that the race is not decided on the first mountain day like it has been in the past. Last thing we need right now is a boring Tour de France.

Regardless if it is boring or not, people will pay attention to the race come July. We'll get daily coverage of it via OLN, and that will be good, especially with the advent of TiVo, it's especially good. I'm just getting anxious for it to get started. Only another month or so away now. Just one more month...