Bjarne Riis is on fire, after his team's leader, Ivan Basso, destroyed the hopes of his competitors for a win in Italy. After one of the most impressive triumphs in the latest 50 years of Il Giro, CSC's director looks very confident before the biggest competition in the history of cycling gets under way: Le Tour de France.
Enthusiastic after Basso's win, he already makes a comparison between the Italian and the reigning champion in France, American Lance Armstrong:
"We saw that Armstrong rode small gears and was very agile on the climbs and that uses your muscles differently and allows you to change pace more easily".
As for the chance of Basso to win both Il Giro and Le Tour in the same season, Riis could not be more convinced of that happening. He praised his protégé, saying that there is none in the world right now that could beat the young rising star of world cycling.
"We know that Jan Ullrich can't do that because he pushes big gears and so we're convinced he'll struggle to stay with Ivan when he accelerates on the climbs in the Tour de France. This is the best Ivan I've ever seen. He's shown he's at another level compared to last year and that he's the rider of the future. I'm convinced Ivan will be strong enough to be competitive in the Tour", said Riis.
If we were to consider Basso's overall finishes in Le Tour, we have to give Riis some credit. The Italian trailed Lance Armstrong in last year's Tour de France, and managed to finish 3rd a year before. Having all that in mind, we have to admit that Ivan Basso will be the main contender for the final triumph on Champs Elysees.
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