IVAN Ba sso
Italy’s perennial Giro star begins to consider life after racing
F or Basso now, yielding to the evidence means accepting that his days as a leading rider are ticking down. The Italian turned 36 last November and has shown little evidence over the last two seasons to suggest that time will wait for him as it has for other children of the 70s such as Chris Horner, Jens Voigt and Joaquim Rodríguez. On the road, his 2013 campaign was arguably the worst of his career, roughly on a par with his 1999 rookie year at Riso Scotti in terms of results but clearly much further short of expectations.
Basso should be grateful that he rides for a team, Cannondale, where there is no would-be heir straining at the leash. Well, in fact there is, but for the moment the young Sicilian climber, Damiano Caruso, is being told that he’ll have to wait. Consequently, Basso retains his leader’s status for the Giro d’Italia, while Caruso will most likely be railroaded towards the Tour – and possibly seek a new team and more freedom for himself in 2015.
Will Basso defy the formbook and age to justify his team’s faith at the Giro? He is convinced that he can win it – only he won’t say so to journalists, for fear of a sceptical if not scornful reaction. At a four-day training camp in Tuscany in March, though, we see him take time out to share his wisdom and experience with a team of junior riders – then tell them that he can break Fiorenzo Magni’s 59-year-old record to become the oldest ever Giro champion.
Our interview just a couple of hours earlier had been an intriguing glimpse into the mind of a rider who realises that self-doubt, more than his advancing years or any opponent, would be the biggest single obstacle between him and one last hurrah…
After two lean years, and having turned 36 in the winter, Ivan Basso still believes that he
after two lean years, and now 36, Ivan Basso still believes that he can
win the Giro d’Italia. He just isn’t admitting it to fans and journalists
can win the Giro d’Italia again. He just isn’t admitting it to fans and journalists…
To what extent is this season going to be a step into the unknown for you?
Not at all. Last year was a bad year… no, it’s been a bad 18 months, actually. Things started going wrong after the 2012 Giro. When I say “things”, I mean little variables, lots of them, which put together added up to a big handicap. When you focus on an objective, devote a lot of energy to it, and then it doesn’t work out, you can easily fall into a negative spiral. That happens to all of us to a certain extent. That said, my expectations and aims are still just as high, while I also acknowledge that every year I get a bit older and new, stronger young guys come along. But I know my value and I know my opponents’ value. I also know that there have been times in the past when I’ve been the strongest guy and haven’t won. Cycling isn’t an exact science. The 2012 season was proof of that: after two-and-a-half weeks, the Giro seemed as good as won, and yet… I bombed at Alpe
di Pampeago and on the Stelvio. Two bad days that cost me the Giro.
You must have been encouraged by last year’s Vuelta, at least?
Yes, absolutely. If I hadn’t had to pull out due to hypothermia, I would have been fighting for a place on the podium. But I’m also in a bit of a difficult position at the moment because I know that you journalists don’t really believe that I can compete, and that the readers won’t really believe it, either. Hence, actions will have to speak louder than words. I don’t want to make any promises because the fans don’t want to hear them. I think empty rhetoric has been the last thing people have wanted to hear from me since my comeback. I think I’ve proved that I can be transparent, serious, trustworthy in my ‘second career’ after my ban, and I think I now have to prove that I can still compete. It would be easy for me to doubt that but now I can look back and see quite clearly how that negative spiral sucked me under in the middle of 2012.
And your belief that you can climb out of that spiral comes from what? Pure inner strength or physiological data that confirms it?
From both. It mainly comes from the fact that I’m still the first out to training and the last to
“I’m still the first out to training and the last to come back. I’m still the most determined rider around”
come back. I’m still the most determined rider around. Don’t take my word for that; my team-mates will tell you.
How many more years are you going to stay in cycling? And might you consider reinventing yourself, spending those final seasons in a different role. Say, in more of a support role?
I don’t know how long I’ll carry on. And as for my role in the team, that’s something that works itself out. That doesn’t worry me. I still want to ride, I still feel young and that’s all that matters. It’ll be the team directors who may one day decide that I’m no longer captain material, and they’ll tell me that I have to ride for someone else. But that switch has also already happened in many races in the past: I haven’t felt good and have worked for a team-mate. I mean, if Nibali had stayed, I would have ridden as his deputy last year. He’s one of the three best stage-racers in the world and I would have had no claims on a leadership ahead of him.
Thinking more generally about Italian cycling, how do you see the current situation? Is it as dramatic as we in the media portray it?
It’s not only dramatic in Italian cycling, it’s dramatic in Italy, full stop. There are people killing themselves here because an electricity bill comes through the letterbox and they can’t pay it. It’s dramatic in Italian football: the teams are no longer internationally competitive there, either. We’re on our third prime minister in one year but we haven’t even had an election.
And yet, I think cycling still has the power to unite people here. I’ll bet you a nice meal that there will be more than 10 million people at the roadside over the course of the Giro. Bike races still go past people’s front doors, cyclists are still popular and admired… The races are disappearing because whoever sponsors them can’t pay the bills, or is laying people off, so they simply cannot afford it. The crisis is real but I think it’s affecting all sports equally.
You talked about the fans at the Giro. Are you sure there are enough young people among them?
I think so. I think RC S have done a great job of encouraging schools to visit the Giro in recent years. There are a lot of kids. I think the message is often distorted on this subject.
Pozzato says that cycling in Italy is dead, that the kids aren’t interested…
I don’t agree with him. But there is one real problem that I see: the TV and social networks create and reinforce this association of a kind of Italian unholy trinity – Ferraris, footballers and showgirls. You open La Gazzetta and they’re talking about the footballer and his Bentley. You open a gossip magazine and you don’t see Ivan Basso going for a walk with his wife and three kids; you get the footballer on a night out. The media is effectively selling this lifestyle and selling the sport that goes with it. Tonight I’ve been asked to give a talk to a team of juniors; in the off-season, I go into schools. Want to know what the most common questions are? They’re, “What car do you have?” and, “How much do you earn?” My eldest son plays football and he’s under the same spell. Yes, he loves the game but he’s also been sucked in by the image. As parents we can try to give them another message, transmit different values, but my three-yearold picks up the iPad and knows how to use it better than me. They’re their own filter for what they see and hear.
On a more light-hearted subject, how are your blueberries? You bought a farm in your home town, Cassano Magnago, a couple of years ago…
The blueberries are good, thanks. It’s not too much of a burden, either. Machines do most
“the media creates an Italian unholy trinity: ferraris, footballers and showgi rls”
of the work. We have three full-time employees and more people obviously come in during the harvest. I also have an agreement with a local charity for Down’s Syndrome sufferers; they come and work on the farm and we donate some of the revenue to them. I have three hectares in total. It gives me lots of satisfaction and a bit of money, but not a lot.
Is it the start of a forest fruits empire?
No but if I had more land I’d sell the fruit, I’m sure of that. Another advantage of a business like this is that there’s no transportation to pay for. Consequently we can sell for € 10 per kilo what the supermarkets sell for € 25 per kilo. Another thing we’ve done is only employ people from the town because like most places in Italy it’s been hit hard by the financial crisis. We also have a nature trail and a study centre, for local schools to visit.