Everyone knows that things like “tactics” and “thinking” are for the weak. After all, if you’re strong enough, loud enough, and stubborn enough, you should be able to outlast those pesky details like evidence, facts, or people who can ride their bikes faster than you can.
Ivan Basso knows this, and Ivan Basso believes he falls on the “strong enough” side of the fence. Whether he does or not remains to be seen, but three days from Milan, he is still racing – as he has this entire Giro – like the final Maglia Rosa in Milano has his name stitched into the collar.
In a race punctuated by fantastic rides from all the G.C. contenders, Ivan Basso’s Liquigas team stands out as the team who has taken control of each critical stage. I love seeing a rider toe up to the start line and race like its a foregone conclusion that he will wind up with the prize at the end of the three-week long tunnel that is the Giro. His team has been at the front every day, racing like they have the pink tunic on their leader’s back and haven’t bothered with minor details such as trailing in the standings by almost a minute and a half.
While a clever tactician wins my respect; a rider who races from the front wins my heart. It was good enough for Eddy, so its good enough for Ivan. Bravissimo!
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@Pedale.Forchetta
Everybody in that photo looks the shit! Except Tiralongo. Are those 3/4's? They're so baggy they'd fall down if they were warmers. And the sky blue ain't working for me. Looks like Bob:
@sgt
I'm with you!
Last year he was a bit sharper...
photo by me
Looks to me like he's riding into Milan as a loser. He should be creaming this lot.
Great racing, by a second-rate field. I mean, c'mon, Hesjedal (likely) winning a GT?
@brett
Yep Yep, kind of lagging in talent. Contador would have won this race by about 20 minutes.
@nico
Which would have been terribly boring.
@brett
Absolutely, and the sad thing is that next year he'll be a favorite and his career will be ruined.
But this is a great reminder that is isn't the quality of the field that makes a GT great, its the quality of the racing.
@nico
Exactly, and none of us would tune into tomorrows stage with sweaty palms. I had to get out of bed and hop around a bit this morning to calm myself down.
@sgt
A perfectly good expresso, wasted on my screen. You owe me $1.95.
Ryder rode to the front, Ivan has conceded defeat!
Scarponi really tried to break Ryder at about 3km but to no avail. Basso however did break....