Ivan Basso facts for kids

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Ivan Basso

Basso at the 2015 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Ivan Basso
Nickname	Ivan the Terrible, The Smiling Assassin
Born	(1977-11-26) 26 November 1977 (age 47) Gallarate, Province of Varese, Italy
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider Directeur sportif
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France Young rider classification (2002) 1 individual stage (2004) Giro d'Italia General classification (2006, 2010) 6 individual stages (2005, 2006, 2010) 2 TTT (2006, 2010) Stage races Danmark Rundt (2005) Critérium International (2006) Giro del Trentino (2009) Giro di Padania (2011) One-day races and Classics Giro dell'Emilia (2004) Japan Cup (2012)

Ivan Basso (born November 26, 1977) is a former professional road bicycle racer from Italy. He competed professionally from 1999 to 2015 for seven different teams. Basso was known as "Ivan the Terrible" and was one of the best mountain riders in cycling during the early 2000s. He was also considered a very strong stage race rider. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, first in 2006 and again in 2010.

In 2007, Basso admitted to planning to use methods that broke cycling rules. He was suspended from racing for two years. His suspension ended on October 24, 2008. He returned to racing two days later in the Japan Cup, where he finished third. He later returned to his home race, the Giro d'Italia. In 2010, he won his second Giro d'Italia, also winning two stages during the race.

Biography

Ivan Basso was born in Gallarate, Italy, in the province of Varese. He grew up near Claudio Chiappucci, another famous cyclist. Before Basso became a professional cyclist, his parents wanted him to finish his studies.

He started his professional career with the Riso Scotti–Vinavil team in 1999. This was when he rode his first Giro d'Italia. He didn't finish the three-week race that year, but he made it his goal to win it someday. In 2000, his team was called Amica Chips–Tacconi Sport. That year, he earned his first professional victories in the Regio-Tour.

Early Success in Cycling

In 2001, Basso joined Fassa Bortolo. He achieved several important wins that year. He also made his debut in the 2001 Tour de France. During one stage, he crashed on a mountain descent and had to leave the race.

The next two years didn't bring many big wins for Basso. However, he showed great promise in the Tour de France. In the 2002 Tour de France, Basso finished 11th overall. He also won the young rider classification. This award goes to the best rider under 25 years old in the overall standings.

Basso during the 2003 Tour de France.

He continued to impress in the 2003 Tour de France, finishing seventh overall. This was despite his team, Fassa Bortolo, having problems with food poisoning. This left him with only two teammates to help him. Even with his good results, Basso's relationship with his team manager became difficult. The manager felt Basso wasn't winning enough races.

Basso had only lost about a minute to the winner, Lance Armstrong, in the 2003 Tour, not counting the individual time trial stages. Many teams wanted him. In 2004, Basso joined Team CSC under team manager Bjarne Riis. At Team CSC, Basso became the team leader. His main goal was to challenge for the win in the Tour de France. Basso's weakness was the time trial. To improve, he and teammate Carlos Sastre trained in a wind tunnel to make their riding position more aerodynamic. This helped Basso get much better at time trials in the following years.

Becoming a Top Contender

Basso (left) alongside Lance Armstrong at the 2004 Tour de France. Basso achieved his first Grand Tour stage victory at the race, on the twelfth stage.

Basso performed very well in the 2004 Tour de France. He won stage 12, his first victory since 2001. His overall time was affected by his time trial results. He finished third overall, 6 minutes and 40 seconds behind the winner. After the season, Team CSC faced financial challenges. Even though other teams offered Basso more money, he chose to stay with Team CSC.

In January 2005, Basso's mother passed away after battling cancer. Basso decided to focus on winning the 2005 Giro d'Italia in her memory. He aimed to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same season, which was unusual for cyclists at the time. Basso wore the pink jersey as the leader of the General classification in the Giro d'Italia until stomach problems caused him to lose the lead on stage 13. He lost a lot of time on stage 14, a mountain stage, which ended his chance for the overall win. Basso decided to continue the race to win individual stages. He won stage 17, a mountain stage, and stage 18, a time trial. This showed how much he had improved in time trials.

Basso at the 2005 Tour de France, where he finished the race second overall.

At the 2005 Tour de France, Basso started a bit slowly. But for the rest of the race, he was often the only rider who could keep up with the leader, Lance Armstrong, in the mountains. Basso finished second overall in the Tour, 4 minutes and 40 seconds behind Armstrong. During the 2005 Tour de France, Basso signed a new three-year contract with Team CSC.

Winning the Giro d'Italia in 2006

Basso at the 2006 Giro d'Italia

After finishing 28th in the 2005 Giro d'Italia, Basso returned to the Giro in 2006 determined to win. After a strong start, Basso and his CSC teammates won the 5th stage, a team time trial. Basso's first individual stage victory came on the 8th stage, which was the first mountain finish. He rode to the finish alone, gaining enough time to take the leader's pink jersey. He kept this jersey for the remaining 13 stages.

Stage 11 was a long individual time trial. Basso finished second, only behind former world time trial champion Jan Ullrich. During the final week of the 2006 Giro, Basso beat his main rivals. He won stages 16 and 20. His victory in Stage 20 was special. He rode to a solo win and held up a picture of his newborn son, Santiago, as he crossed the finish line. Santiago Basso had been born the day before. Basso finished 9 minutes and 18 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider, José Enrique Gutiérrez. This was the largest winning margin in the Giro d'Italia since 1965. After the race, Basso announced he would also ride the Tour de France.

Suspension and Return to Racing

On June 30, 2006, the Tour de France organizers announced that several riders, including Ivan Basso, would not start the race. This was due to concerns about rule-breaking related to a case in Spain. No formal charges had been made yet. However, teams had agreed that any rider suspected of breaking rules would not be allowed to race. This led Team CSC to remove Basso from their Tour de France team.

On October 18, 2006, Team CSC announced that Basso's contract had ended by agreement. On October 27, 2006, Basso was cleared of involvement in the Spanish case due to not enough evidence.

On November 9, 2006, Basso announced he was joining Lance Armstrong's former team, Discovery Channel. He rode for Levi Leipheimer in the 2007 Tour of California. He also raced in Tirreno–Adriatico, where he crashed.

Basso at the 2007 Tour of California

On April 24, 2007, Basso was suspended by Discovery Channel. This happened when the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) reopened his case. On April 30, 2007, Team Discovery Channel announced that Basso would leave the team. Basso said he wanted to leave for "personal reasons" related to the investigation. While he still said he hadn't actually broken any rules, Basso admitted he had contacted a clinic with the intention to break rules.

Basso appeared before CONI on May 2, 2007. On May 7, 2007, Basso admitted his involvement in the situation to CONI. He said it was "attempted rule-breaking" and that he understood it was as serious as actually breaking the rules. He stated he would "serve [his] suspension and then return to race."

On June 15, 2007, Basso received a two-year ban. The time he had already been suspended was counted. This meant he was banned until October 25, 2008.

Return to Competition

Basso at the 2009 Vuelta a Espana

After his suspension, Basso signed a two-year contract with Liquigas. His first race back was the Japan Cup on October 26, 2008, where he finished third. In April 2009, he won the overall title in the Italian stage race Giro del Trentino. He then competed in the Giro d'Italia, finishing fifth. He also placed fourth in the Vuelta a España.

2010 Season

Basso wearing the maglia rosa at the 2010 Giro d'Italia

In 2010, Basso aimed to win his second Giro d'Italia. He led his team, Liquigas–Doimo, along with teammate Vincenzo Nibali. He had a quiet start but won the 15th stage on Monte Zoncolan. After Stage 19, he took the lead in the overall standings and held it until the end of the race. This was his second Giro win. Basso then focused on the Tour de France, but he struggled in the last week and finished 32nd.

2011 Season

In 2011, Basso skipped the Giro d'Italia to focus on the Tour de France. He had a good start, sitting fifth overall after two weeks. However, he struggled on stages 16 and 17 and finished seventh overall.

2012 Season

In 2012, Basso started the season quietly, focusing on the Giro d'Italia. He finished fifth overall in that race.

Joining Tinkoff-Saxo

In August 2014, it was announced that Basso would join Tinkoff–Saxo for 2015 on a two-year deal. In July 2015, Basso was diagnosed with cancer and immediately left the Tour de France to get treatment in Italy. Basso received support from many people, including Lance Armstrong. Basso told the media: "I have a bad announcement to give to you guys. On stage 5, I had a really small crash but in the crash I touched my body on the saddle and for a few days, I felt a small pain. Yesterday we spoke with the doctor of the Tour de France and we decided to go to make a special analysis in the hospital and the examination gave me bad news. I have a small cancer."

In September 2015, Tinkoff–Saxo confirmed that Basso had fully recovered after surgery. They said he would be able to race again. However, after talking with the team, Basso announced his retirement from racing the following month. He stayed with Tinkoff–Saxo in a management role. Basso later joined Alberto Contador at Trek–Segafredo in a support staff position.

Life After Racing

Following his retirement from racing, Basso and Alberto Contador started a bicycle company called Aurum bikes in 2020.

Personal Life

Ivan Basso lives in Cassano Magnago, Italy, with his wife and four children.

He has bought land in his hometown to start a blueberry farm. He hopes to employ local people and create an investment for his future after cycling. Basso has already started planting; his farm is called "Il Borgo," which means "the village."

He is not related to the Italian cyclist Marino Basso or the bicycle brand Basso.

Major Results

Grand Tour General Classification Results Timeline

Grand Tour	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Giro d'Italia	DNF	52	—	—	—	—	28	1	—	—	3	1	—	5	—	15	51
Tour de France	—	—	DNF	11	7	3	2	—	—	—	—	31	7	25	—	—	DNF
/ Vuelta a España	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4	—	—	—	DNF	—	—

See also

In Spanish: Ivan Basso para niños