DISCO BASSO!!!

DISCO BASSO!!!

Basso joins Team Discovery Channel. Oh man…..this is pretty exciting. Basso was the only man to hang with Lance in the mountains a couple years ago. He did not get to race Le Tour this year because of Operation Puerto, which was a complete travesty, considering there was no merit to the allegations and he and everyone else involved has since been cleared. Lance is still involved with Team Discovery and has a knack for building a winning team around a great talent. I see some really great things for the American Discovery Channel team in 07. GO DISCO!!!!!

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Two weeks after being cleared of doping accusations, Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso signed a two-year contract to ride for Lance Armstrong's former Discovery Channel cycling team.

"I am very excited to have Ivan as a part of the team," said Bill Stapleton, general manager of the Discovery team. "During Lance's final Tours, Ivan pushed Lance to a new level and we expect great things from him in 2007."

Basso finished third in the 2004 Tour de France and was second in 2005 behind Armstrong. Basso left his Danish team, CSC, three weeks ago. Basso will begin training with Discovery in December in Austin and Stapleton said he considers him the team leader for the 2007 Tour de France. (Entire article here)

Basso’s results:

2006 – Team CSC
Stages 5 (TTT), 8, 16, 20 and Overall – 2006 Giro d'Italia.
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Stage 2 and overall – Critérium International
Stage 2B – Circuit de la Sarthe

2005 – Team CSC
Stages 17 and 18 – 2005 Giro d'Italia
Stages 1, 2, 3, 5 and overall – Post Danmark Rundt
2nd Overall – Tour de France

2004 – Team CSC
Stage 12 and 3rd overall, Tour de France
Giro dell'Emilia
Grand Prix Jyske Bank

2003 – Fassa Bortolo
7th overall – Tour de France

2002 – Fassa Bortolo
11th overall – Tour de France
White jersey best young rider classification

2001 – Fassa Bortolo
Stage 1 – Tour Méditerranéen
Stage 5 – Bicicleta Vasca
Stage 5 – Österreich Rundfahrt

2000 – Amica Chips
Stages 1 and 3B – Regio Tour

1999 – Riso Scotti-Vinavil

1998 – Amateur