Why/How Basso improved in TT

From the Cervelo newsletter.
Jan

Eighteen months of focus paid off yesterday for Ivan Basso, as the
once-mediocre time trialist blasted through the 45km 8th stage of the Giro d
'Italia and left a path of distruction in his wake. On his brand-new P3
Carbon with Wolf TT fork, Basso gained 1min39 on Garzelli, 2min7 on Cunego
and 2min37 on Simoni. Even reknowned time trailer Sergei Gontchar lost 36
seconds to Basso.

But it hasn't been easy for Basso to get where he is today. Prior to riding
for Team CSC, he had never trained on his time trial bike. He didn't have a
TT bike at home, he didn't train on one in the training camps, the only time
he would ride one would be in races. That all changed when he came to Team
CSC. Realizing that without a good time trial a rider cannot win the big
tours, Bjarne Riis put together a training schedule for him that heavily
focused on improving Basso's skills in this area. Now he regularly puts in
100km+ a day on one of the several Cervelo time trial bikes he has at home.
He rode yesterday's Giro stage at least 20 times in training, knew ever
corner and every pothole. He now feels as comfortable on his P3 Carbon as he
does on his R2.5 and Soloist. And for the first time in his career, he now
actually looks forward to the time trials as opportunities to gain time on
his rivals.



"Today's stage was very important, and I was fully aware of what I had to
do. It's fantastic to be able to make a result like this, which is what
Bjarne and I had hoped for. We've been working for a long time with this
time trial, and I believe, I've done the route about 20 times. I've been
training a lot in order to be able to make a difference in this discipline.
Yesterday's time loss was just another motivation factor for me, and I was
very determined to retaliate. I owe Bjarne a special thanks, cause he is
also a big part of this triumph. We still have a lot of tough stages ahead
of us, but today we took a giant leap forward," said Ivan Basso.

The only rider Ivan couldn't beat yesterday was another Team CSC member on a
Cervelo. In this case, it was Dave Zabriskie on a P3 SL, CSC's stock TT
bike. It was the first time trial victory in a major Tour for the young
American, even though the main reason to go fast was not to win the stage,
but to scout out the course for Ivan. But that doesn't mean he didn't have
victory in the back of his mind.



"I'm very happy with my victory. I started early, so it was quite nerve
wrecking to watch the other guys on TV. On the last part of the course we
had headwinds, and I knew that would be to my advantage because of my
position on the bike. I'm a time trial specialist, and this is definitely a
victory I've dreamt about for a long time. I was allowed to take it easy in
yesterday's stage, so I was able to aim for something big today," said
Zabriskie.



All in all, yesterday's results were a big victory for the team and for
Bjarne Riis, who has always focused on time trials, from equipment choices
to rider selection to training schedules.
"It was a fantastic day for us. David showed his huge potential and Ivan did
the time trial of his life. We couldn't expect more than this. Our
preparations have paid off, and Ivan confirmed yesterday's time loss wasn't
due to lack of strength. Our team is here to win the Giro with Ivan, and
today we showed, that we mean business," said Bjarne Riis.

Jan wrote:
From the Cervelo newsletter.
Jan

Eighteen months of focus paid off yesterday for Ivan Basso, as the
once-mediocre time trialist blasted through the 45km 8th stage of the
Giro d
'Italia and left a path of distruction in his wake. On his brand-new
P3
Carbon with Wolf TT fork, Basso gained 1min39 on Garzelli, 2min7 on
Cunego
and 2min37 on Simoni. Even reknowned time trailer Sergei Gontchar
lost 36
seconds to Basso.

But it hasn't been easy for Basso to get where he is today. Prior to
riding
for Team CSC, he had never trained on his time trial bike. He didn't
have a
TT bike at home, he didn't train on one in the training camps, the
only time
he would ride one would be in races. That all changed when he came to
Team
CSC.

Lets see..., he's shown dramatic improvement and he's riding for CSC...
the only thing missing from this story is a positive test result.

routebeer wrote:

Lets see..., he's shown dramatic improvement and he's riding for CSC...
the only thing missing from this story is a positive test result.

Dumbass,

That's the thing that's missing from the CSC story in general. Their
success comes from a combination of tight Fassa-like control and
Euskaltel-like cohesion and camraderie.

-Sonarrat.

sonarrat wrote:
routebeer wrote:

Lets see..., he's shown dramatic improvement and he's riding for
CSC...
the only thing missing from this story is a positive test result.

Dumbass,

That's the thing that's missing from the CSC story in general. Their

success comes from a combination of tight Fassa-like control and
Euskaltel-like cohesion and camraderie.

-Sonarrat.

Oh yes, so he needs to leave and then test positive. I knew I forgot
something.

I don't know how tight they can be when you consider how quick Olympic
Gold Medalist Tyler Hamilton disappeared from their ranks after a
little success during a stage of the Tour. But Bjarne does look like a
pretty cool boss to work for.

routebeer wrote:
sonarrat wrote:

routebeer wrote:


Lets see..., he's shown dramatic improvement and he's riding for

CSC...

the only thing missing from this story is a positive test result.

Dumbass,

That's the thing that's missing from the CSC story in general. Their


success comes from a combination of tight Fassa-like control and
Euskaltel-like cohesion and camraderie.

-Sonarrat.


Oh yes, so he needs to leave and then test positive. I knew I forgot
something.

I don't know how tight they can be when you consider how quick Olympic
Gold Medalist Tyler Hamilton disappeared from their ranks after a
little success during a stage of the Tour. But Bjarne does look like a
pretty cool boss to work for.

Tyler's defection to Phonak was about money. The one thing Riis cannot
offer is a big paycheck, because he's working with a very small budget
compared with the heavy hitters. Phonak does not have that problem.

-Sonarrat.

Actually you're wrong there. Phonak offered Tyler a team that would
back him up. Riis offered him a team of good riders who might ride for
themselves alla Simoni and Cunego.

One of the reasons that Lance is so successful is that it doesn't
matter to the team management if he's feeling bad today, their money is
on Lance and Lance alone. He doesn't have to worry that Chechu is going
to try for his own sake instead of the team. He doesn't have to worry
that Azevedo, who can put the hurt on any other rider when he's good,
will try to show everyone how good he is and forget the team.

Tyler did the right thing. The questions about his positive still ring
loudly. Why is WADA refusing to do a False Positives Study?

"Tom Kunich" a écrit dans le message de
ups.com...
Actually you're wrong there. Phonak offered Tyler a team that would
back him up. Riis offered him a team of good riders who might ride for
themselves alla Simoni and Cunego.

One of the reasons that Lance is so successful is that it doesn't
matter to the team management if he's feeling bad today, their money is
on Lance and Lance alone. He doesn't have to worry that Chechu is going
to try for his own sake instead of the team. He doesn't have to worry
that Azevedo, who can put the hurt on any other rider when he's good,
will try to show everyone how good he is and forget the team.

Tyler did the right thing. The questions about his positive still ring
loudly. Why is WADA refusing to do a False Positives Study?

I have to agree with Kunich on this. I saw a piece on Danish TV about Tyler
in the Tour 2003. He was livid when Riis went to look after the eventual
stage winner (don't remember if it was the stage Pil won, or the won Sastre
won) and left him without support. Wasn't a very flattering view of Tyler.
He came off looking like a spoiled brat. Of course he was in a lot of pain
at the time from a shoulder broken in two places, so maybe some allowances
should be make for that.

He gave his reason for going to Phonak as being able to have a team built
around him for the Tour. Plus, if he had won the Tour or even come in second
behind Armstrong, he could have cashed in probably more than any salary
boost the Phonak would be good for. So if he thought he had a better chance
of success with CSC in the Tour 2004, he might have stayed with them even
for, rather than is spite of monetary reasons.

"trg" wrote in
:

He gave his reason for going to Phonak as being able to have a team
built around him for the Tour.

Guys with the same blood type?

Apparently those big Swiss drug companies are better than the little
Danish ones too.

"trg" skrev i en meddelelse
...
"Tom Kunich" a écrit dans le message de
ups.com...
I have to agree with Kunich on this. I saw a piece on Danish TV about
Tyler
in the Tour 2003. He was livid when Riis went to look after the eventual
stage winner (don't remember if it was the stage Pil won, or the won
Sastre
won) and left him without support. Wasn't a very flattering view of Tyler.
He came off looking like a spoiled brat. Of course he was in a lot of pain
at the time from a shoulder broken in two places, so maybe some allowances
should be make for that.


It was Sastre who won. Riis said in the same broadcast that it was the
toughest decision he ever had to make, whether to stay with Tyler og go with
Sastre. Personally I think Tyler had the support he could expect. He had a
broken collarbone and was barely hanging on the peloton in the first stages.
He could not count on the entire team (and the sponsors) sacrificing what
turned out to be 2 stage wins at the price of everyone dragging him through
day after day.

He gave his reason for going to Phonak as being able to have a team built
around him for the Tour. Plus, if he had won the Tour or even come in
second
behind Armstrong, he could have cashed in probably more than any salary
boost the Phonak would be good for. So if he thought he had a better
chance
of success with CSC in the Tour 2004, he might have stayed with them even
for, rather than is spite of monetary reasons.


He had the team built around him in the 2004 Tour, and skipped because of
back pain...hmm, and the year before he didn't have the team he wanted and
he sat thru 3 weeks of hell!?. I think he went for the money, which is fine
by me, he should just have come clean (no pun).

HB