Basso\Liquigas at the tour

[ttrider]

Just wondering what people think of Bassos chances for a podium at the tour
He looks awesomely strong but how much energy will he have left backed up by Pelizotti(maybe) Nibali Kreuzinger and Szydt hes arguably got the strongest team now
or maybe another liquigas rider will podium?

 

[theswordsman]

I think that Basso was at a hundred percent fitness the past nine days or so. He might be a factor at the Tour, but I don't see him on the podium. I do expect them to be a super strong team, though, and someone else could make it. Nibali was supposed to race California, not Italy, so he said he doesn't want to ride the Tour. But that might have just been fatigue and everything he has dealt with. They're still making him do their Tour training camp, along with Pellizotti. So yeah, a podium is possible, but if it was Basso, it would be damned impressive.

 

[luckyboy]

Basso, Szmyd, Kreuziger, Nibali and Pellizotti are all going to the Tour?

Basso should take the summer off and try the Vuelta IMO. I say that about everyone though..

I said that Nibali would top 5 the Tour, maybe podium, before he rode this Giro. Now I', not as sure. Kreuziger ought to lead. Or at least be joint-leader.

 

[Galic Ho]

Just wondering what people think of Bassos chances for a podium at the tour
He looks awesomely strong but how much energy will he have left backed up by Pelizotti(maybe) Nibali Kreuzinger and Szydt hes arguably got the strongest team now
or maybe another liquigas rider will podium?

Wrong, but not for the reasons you listed.

Strongest team at the Tour will be Saxo. Look at the lineup. Fuglsang for the mountains, with Sorensen 1 and 2. Plus Franck Schleck backing up the second best climber at the TdF in recent years, not serving a ban (ala Ricco), who just happens to be his younger brother. O'Grady the old war horse with another old warhorse, the toughtest man riding a bike, Jens Voigt are the road captains. Plus add in Gustav Larson, monster rider, bettered only by Spartacus himself.

HTC. Need I say more, other than their finely tuned train. Their helpers are better than everyone on Liquigas crew other than Sagan, Basso, Nibali and Kreuziger. HTC are monsters. Perhaps you missed Tony Martin on the climb into Big Bear at the ToC. He was on fire. He'll back up Rogers if HTC make the GC a target. Sure they have the Cav express train to target but they can improvise, such is their talent. Can Liquigas? Don't count on it.

Caisse d'Epargne. Valverde. Look at where Arroyo came in the Giro. Caisse sent their crap team. All the big boys will be at the Tour. Assuming Valverde rides (as he still is right now) then Caisse will be at least on par with Liquigas.

Last but not least...Astana. David De la Fuente, Oscar Perreiro and Vino all riding for one man. Alberto Contador. They have listed on their website that their goal is to win the Tour for Contador. Contador needs no introduction. He was holding back last year. Liquigas don't have a single rider who can match him. They spent most of their eggs on the Giro, Astana, like the above three teams, sent a depleted force to the Giro. My money is on this team to do some serious damage simply because they have the Ace up their sleave; AC.

Liquigas? haha. Seriously, I'll believe they can control and dictate terms at the Tour when I see it. Did you not hear Evans comments after the second week? He said the riding is hard, but the pace is slower than the Tour. The peloton is a bit slower. The end GC guys all hammer hard, but the pace up till they drop everyone is a bit down. By no means does this make the race not hard, the Giro was a slaughter for some people, but Liquigas domestiques won't be able to dictate terms in the Tour like they did at the end of the Giro. If Liquigas have an incident with their GC man, like on stage 4, they can kiss a top 5 position down the drain. Kreuziger is odds on their GC man now. Definitely not Basso for the same reason Evans is not a prospect for the Tour. They spent too much gunning for the win in Italy. Few would put money on either. Few, even here you'll struggle to find someone with the nads to back either Sassi prospect to back up and top 3.

Can Liquigas make a move and bust the peloton open in the Tour? What for Kreuziger to make a move on Schleck, Contador or Valverde? Yeah...maybe one of them if they get lucky, but not all of them. Liquigas are riding for a top 5 place. Add in Samu and Menchov to the mix. The Dutch will say Gesink, but Menchov is the Rabo man. I'll put it this way. I thought they'd try something last year and they did squat. They'll be up there in France with the big boys, only they'll be trying to hold on and limiting losses, like their opposition did in the Giro.

 

[theswordsman]

Italy's Ivan Basso, who won his second day in Verona Giro d'Italia, announced that his next target is the Tour de France, which not plan to go "just being involved."

Sui next goal is to emulate the double of Marco Pantani, who in 1998 won the Giro and Tour de France.

"Of course I will not go to the Tour just to participate. I want to compete with the best. (Alberto) Contador, winner in 2009 - is in great shape, but I have improved and the Tour is a big challenge for me. I think I can do well, "said Liquigas rider, who was second in 2005 and third a year earlier.

http://www.adn.es/deportes/20100530/NWS-0661-Basso-Tour-participar-anuncia-solo.html

 

[Achilles]

Basso said he isn't going to race for win at the Tour, he would go as a support for a team mate.
I don't know if he changes plans after Giro's win or because Nibali (tired) and Pelizzoti might not take part

 

[theswordsman]

Did you see the above quote? That just hit Google News.

 

[ergmonkey]

Liquigas will bring a strong team--but not the best team--to the Tour. If they do well in the Tour, I think it will be, in part, because they don't have to control the race like they controlled the Giro. At the Tour, the weight of expectations will be on Astana, Radioshack, and Saxo Bank to dictate the pace on the big stages. I would hate to be a domestique for those squads as Basso, Nibali, Kreuziger and (maybe) Pellizotti take it in turns to attack, maybe with Szymd already up the road in a breakaway. Similarly, Liquigas at the Tour can focus on protecting Basso and/or Nibali/Kreuziger (i.e. keeping them up front and out of the wind) without also having to be at the very front, chasing down the breaks. I see no reason for Liquigas to try and drill it at the front all the time like they did in this Giro, though.

 

[luckyboy]

Assuming Valverde rides (as he still is right now) then Caisse will be at least on par with Liquigas.

They really need to hurry this up with just over a month left. Or they could just announce a re-routing of an Alpine stage..

 

[Michele]

Basso, Szmyd, Kreuziger, Nibali and Pellizotti are all going to the Tour?

Basso should take the summer off and try the Vuelta IMO. I say that about everyone though..

I said that Nibali would top 5 the Tour, maybe podium, before he rode this Giro. Now I', not as sure. Kreuziger ought to lead. Or at least be joint-leader.

Basso's big love has ever been the Tour.

 

[theswordsman]

Six-year-old daughter Domitilla has become Basso's driving force having suffered with her father during the ban.

"They were small and it was difficult to know what they were thinking but they have eyes which speak and today she was really, really happy," the Liquigas rider told a news conference through a constant wide smile.

"In 2008 in the middle of the dark period, I saw the last stage of the Tour when Carlos Sastre won. I was happy when Domitilla saw his kids get up on the podium, I could see she wanted that as well."

Racing the Giro and Tour in one year is hard enough without trying to be competitive in both, especially as this year's Italian race was tougher than usual because of crashes, bad weather, steep peaks and shock breakaways.

Basso is nevertheless ready to tackle the Tour and wants to push favourite and defending champion Alberto Contador all the way.

"I want to race the Tour too much. Tomorrow there will be the Tour brochure in my hands," he said in one of Verona's grandiose municipal buildings.

"I've never come across Contador when I've been in my best form. In the last four years...he has been incredible. But inside of me, I believe."

Australian world champion Cadel Evans, fifth overall and points classification winner, was not banking on Basso making a realistic Tour challenge.
"It's a bit early to say just yet," the BMC rider told Reuters

http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/7317378/glint-childs-eye-spurs-basso-tour

 

[Zen Master]

Liquigas? haha. Seriously, I'll believe they can control and dictate terms at the Tour when I see it. Did you not hear Evans comments after the second week? He said the riding is hard, but the pace is slower than the Tour. The peloton is a bit slower. The end GC guys all hammer hard, but the pace up till they drop everyone is a bit down. By no means does this make the race not hard, the Giro was a slaughter for some people, but Liquigas domestiques won't be able to dictate terms in the Tour like they did at the end of the Giro. If Liquigas have an incident with their GC man, like on stage 4, they can kiss a top 5 position down the drain. Kreuziger is odds on their GC man now. Definitely not Basso for the same reason Evans is not a prospect for the Tour. They spent too much gunning for the win in Italy. Few would put money on either. Few, even here you'll struggle to find someone with the nads to back either Sassi prospect to back up and top 3.

Are we talking about Cadel Evans who also said this:
The thing with this Giro is that is that there have been so many hard stages, even the transfer stages have been difficult. It's not that the break goes or the sprinters' teams ride: it's been hot or with crosswinds, or something was going on. How many days in a row did we have above 200km? I've never raced that long in a three-week stage race

 

[luckyboy]

Basso's big love has ever been the Tour.

My big love is Scarlett Johansson, but that doesn't mean I'll get her

 

[Zoncolan]

If Basso had ridden the Tour in '06, he would've done the double.
This year, he doesn't stand a chance (unless he starts magically winning TTs again).

 

[Michele]

My big love is Scarlett Johansson, but that doesn't mean I'll get her

Never say never about her!

Neither I think he has any chance to win the Tour, I just meant that he ever shown to be very eager to take part at Tour; he wanted to do it last year as well but both him and the team knew it was risky to be there after a ban.

 

[MadPain]

I wouldn't say that he'd have to start winning TTs again to be able to fight for a podium spot, considering this years Tour only features ~60kms ITT in total and the fact that he also lost a lot of time in the tour's ITTs back in 2004/2005 and still managed to compensate for it.

But i agree that it seems unlikely ... a rider peaking during the giro, then going for the tour with a lot of ambition and then fading completely has just happened too often in the past

 

[nesocip]

Sadly i think Contador will bore us to death and win the Tour by 6-8 minutes. The best thing that could happen to this year's tour is him losing massive time up in the North and then having to catch up.

I dont see a Liquigas rider on the podium this year. Basso and Nibali will be spent, and Kreuziger, in my opinion, doesnt have what it takes to end top 3 in the Tour. They will indeed sport one of the strongest teams, probably end up with 2 guys in positions 4-10, win a stage or two, but they wont end up on the podium.

If Basso skips the Giro next year and manages to get this kind of form for the Tour, id take him over Andy to be top rival to Contador, maybe even stay within 2-3 minutes of Contador with a favorable route.

Sadly, until Contador retires or gets smacked with a suspension i think the Tour will be very boring affair year after year.

I think this year's top 5 will be Contador, Schleck, Sastre, S. Sanchez and Kloden (if rs gets to ride).

 

[Señor_Contador]

Methinks it'll be fun to watch Basso at the TdF. He certainly has the fitness now, but come July... Anywho, the Italian has said that it would be "fun" (or something along those lines) to race Contador.

Although, if I had any advise for Ivan I'd tell him not to bite more than he can chew.

You already have another Giro in the bag gumbah, the TdF is an entirely different animal altogether.

Don't let your mouth write checks your a$$ can't cash.

Ask Gilberto Simoni.

 

[hfer07]

The main problem of Liquigas is the quality of riders-with four leaders & the harvest of new talents they're recruiting...-at some point is going to be difficult to manage. Basso may want to give a go to the Tour, but Nibali at some point is going to raise his game and demand "full support" as he gets better. Sagan will be a rider not to reckon with if his progress aims at being a GT rider...
As some folks pointed out- this year, Liquigas cannot match in power/experience/tactics/rider selection the likes of Saxo....

 

[movingtarget]

Can't see Basso sticking with Contador in the mountains or the time trials especially after the Giro. Neither will Nibali, Kreuzinger, or Pellizotti if he rides. Basso should rest up and come back fresh for the TDF next year.

 

[Publicus]

Basso can't be the man at the Tour if Kreuziger and Pellizotti are chomping at the bit. Basso and Nibali had their bite at the apple. I don't see either Kreuziger or Pellizotti willingly taking a back seat to Basso.

If he can't accept that reality, then he shouldn't ride the Tour. But then this has always been the weakness of Liquigas. Too many riders wanting to be leaders.

 

[richwagmn]

Basso can't be the man at the Tour if Kreuziger and Pellizotti are chomping at the bit. Basso and Nibali had their bite at the apple. I don't see either Kreuziger or Pellizotti willingly taking a back seat to Basso.

If he can't accept that reality, then he shouldn't ride the Tour. But then this has always been the weakness of Liquigas. Too many riders wanting to be leaders.

Isn't this a problem for Liquigas though? No named leader? If the team is racing against each other, it's going to be hard to beat a unified Astana even if Liquigas is stronger.

Of course the Hog thinks he can do just this with RadioShack (at least he's saying that publicly).

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

i hope to see a basso struggling, and tired
surely after this giro, those who gave it their all, cant be strong there.

 

[theyoungest]

Can Liquigas make a move and bust the peloton open in the Tour? What for Kreuziger to make a move on Schleck, Contador or Valverde? Yeah...maybe one of them if they get lucky, but not all of them. Liquigas are riding for a top 5 place. Add in Samu and Menchov to the mix. The Dutch will say Gesink, but Menchov is the Rabo man. I'll put it this way. I thought they'd try something last year and they did squat. They'll be up there in France with the big boys, only they'll be trying to hold on and limiting losses, like their opposition did in the Giro.

I sure hope Menchov can get his fitness anywhere near the level necessary to compete in the Tour, because it sure as hell isn't now. And Gesink... if he hasn't crashed out or lost major time in the first week, he should be right up there. But we all know this isn't going to happen.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Liquigas will potentially be stronger at the Tour, than at the Giro. However, several teams at the Tour are notoriously strong.
It will not the first time Basso comes off a strong Giro, to contest the Tour podium.
We will have to wait and see how much good/bad luck influences the first week's racing.
Morzine Avoriaz will answer most of the questions.