Ivan Basso (born 26 November 1977) is an Italian former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, who rode professionally between 1999 and 2015 for seven different teams. Basso, nicknamed

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

, was considered among the best mountain riders in the professional field in the early 21st century, and was considered one of the strongest

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a racing, race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day race, multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages ...

riders. He is a double winner of the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

, having won the race in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

for and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

for . In 2007, Basso admitted to planning the use of blood doping and was suspended for two years. His suspension ended on 24 October 2008, and he returned to racing two days later in the

Japan Cup The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions with ...

, where he placed a close third behind Damiano Cunego and Giovanni Visconti. He later returned to racing in his home tour, and in 2010, he won his second Giro d'Italia, winning two stages along the way.

Biography

He was born in

Gallarate Gallarate (; Lombard language, Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people. It is the junction ...

, located in the

province of Varese The province of Varese () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The headquarters of AgustaWestland, the compa ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. He grew up next door to Claudio Chiappucci, a former three-time stage winner in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

who was suspended for two years after being proven guilty of doping several times. As an amateur, he finished second in the road race at the 1995 UCI Juniors Road World Championships and his first big result was winning the under-23 road race at the

1998 UCI Road World Championships The 1998 UCI Road World Championships took place in Valkenburg aan de Geul, Netherlands, between 4 and 11 October 1998. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women, men under 23, junior men and junior women. Competitors A ...

. In his youth he fiercely competed with fellow Italian riders

Giuliano Figueras Giuliano Figueras (born 24 January 1976 in Naples) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He turned professional in 1998 with Mapei team and won a stage of the Tour de Langkawi that year. In 1999 and 2000 Figueras had 7 wins inclu ...

and especially Danilo Di Luca who proclaimed he would have won the under-23 World Championship himself had it not been for the team tactics. Before Basso could turn professional, his parents wanted to see him finish his Technical Geometry studies. He turned professional with Davide Boifava's Riso Scotti–Vinavil team in 1999, where he rode his first

. He did not finish the three-week race, but he made it a priority to win it some day. In 2000, with the team now called , he won his first professional victories in the Regio-Tour.

Promising results

In 2001, he moved to under the guidance of sporting director Giancarlo Ferretti. He scored several notable victories in 2001, and he made his Tour de France debut in the 2001 edition. His attack on the

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

stage prompted a five-man break-away which rode for the victory, but Basso crashed on a mountain descent and was forced to abandon the race. His next two years were devoid of significant wins, even though he had promising rides in the Tour de France. In the 2002 Tour de France, Basso finished 11th overall and won the young rider classification, the award presented to the best-placed rider in the general classification under the age of 25. Ivan Basso Gaillac

He impressed again in the 2003 Tour de France, finishing seventh overall in spite of receiving little help from his Fassa Bortolo teammates who, after dedicating their efforts in the first part of the race to help Alessandro Petacchi win four stages, had to pull out due to food poisoning, leaving only two riders to help Basso. Despite his good results as the best placed Italian rider in the Tour de France, he was behind fellow Italian teammate Dario Frigo in the Fassa Bortolo pecking order for the biggest race in Italy, the Giro. After the promising start to his Fassa Bortolo career, Basso's relationship with Ferretti turned sour. Basso failed to respond well to the management methods of the "iron sergeant" who thought Basso did not win enough races. Apart from the

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

stages, Basso had only lost around a single minute to winner Lance Armstrong in the 2003 Tour, and he was not short of new team offers. Despite strong rumors sending him to the team, Basso moved to for the 2004 season, under guidance of team manager

Bjarne Riis Bjarne Lykkegård Riis (; born 3 April 1964), nicknamed ''The Eagle from Herning'' (), is a Denmark, Danish former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1996 Tour de France. For many years he was the owner and later manager of the Oleg Tink ...

. At , Basso was to fill the role as team captain, which Tyler Hamilton had left vacant at the Danish outfit, with the main aim to be a challenger in the Tour de France. Basso's weakness was the time trial and before the 2004 season he and teammate Carlos Sastre trained in a

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

to improve their

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

and positioning on the bike. The time trial skill of Basso was one of the main points of improvements over the next years.

Heir apparent

Basso looked impressive in the 2004 Tour de France, winning stage 12 ahead of eventual winner

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...

, his first victory since 2001. His overall time was hurt by relatively poor time trial results: he only finished 8th on the stage 16 time trial up the mountain

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in Southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the central French Western Alps, in the Communes of France, commune of Huez, which is part of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-R ...

, where he was caught and passed by Armstrong, and 6th in the stage 19 time trial. In all, he lost a combined 5 minutes and 13 seconds in the two stages. His time loss on the last time trial effectively sent Basso down to third place behind

Andreas Klöden Andreas Klöden (born 22 June 1975) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2013. His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and finishing second in the gene ...

, and Basso finished 6:40 behind overall winner Armstrong. He ended the season, participating with the Italian national team in the 2004 UCI Road World Championships in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, helping fellow Italian

Luca Paolini Luca Paolini (born 17 January 1977) is an Italian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2015. He started his sports career in the early 2000s by joining (2000–2002), UCI ProTeam directed by Patrick Lefevere. Wit ...

get a bronze medal. In the off-season, Team CSC was in a financial struggle. Even as Bjarne Riis let riders who received superior offers from other teams leave, Basso did not move to the team even though an economically more lucrative contract was proposed. January 2005 saw the death of Basso's mother, who died after battling cancer. Basso went on to focus on the

2005 Giro d'Italia The 2005 Giro d'Italia was the 88th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It began in Reggio Calabria with a prologue. The race came to a close with a mass-start road stage that stretched from Alb ...

, in her memory, as his main aim for that season. By both focusing on winning the Giro and the Tour, he was going against the trend of only aiming for one big race a season, a tactic most notably employed successfully by Lance Armstrong. Basso wore the pink jersey as leader of the

General classification in the Giro d'Italia The general classification in the Giro d'Italia is the most important classification of the Giro d'Italia, which determines who is the overall winner. It is therefore considered more important than secondary classifications as the points classif ...

until severe stomach problems caused him to lose the lead on stage 13 on the Passo delle Erbe. He lost another 40 minutes during the 14th stage, a mountain stage which included the Stelvio Pass, and thus effectively ended his bid for overall honors. No longer dangerous to the other main riders, Basso decided to continue in the race with the objective of winning individual stages. He did manage to achieve this goal at stage 17, a mountain stage. He also won the 18th stage, a time trial, ahead of teammate David Zabriskie, demonstrating the improvement he had made in this area. Tour de france 2005 20th stage 02

At the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist ...

, he started out comparatively weakly on stage 10, the first mountain stage of the race, where he trailed the front group by a minute. But for the rest of the race, Basso was once again the only rider to keep up with the race leader Lance Armstrong in the mountains, and on occasion he tried to pressure the eventual winner by going on the attack. Basso was still weaker in the time trials, although he had improved significantly when compared to 2004. He lost a collective 3:47 over two time trial stages, as Basso placed second overall in the Tour, 4:40 behind Lance Armstrong. During the 2005 Tour de France, Basso signed a new three-year contract with Team CSC.

2006 Giro d'Italia

Following his overall rank of 28th in the

, Basso returned to the Giro in 2006 with the intention to win. Following a good performance in the stage 1 time trial, Basso and his CSC teammates won the 5th stage, a

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...

. Basso's first solo stage victory came on the 8th stage, the first mountaintop finish of the Giro, where he countered an attack by Damiano Cunego and rode to the finish by himself. That victory also allowed him to gain enough time on his rivals to put him in the leader's pink jersey for the first time in the race, a jersey which he would hold on to for the remaining 13 stages. Stage 11 was a long and flat individual time trial where Basso finished in second place, losing only to former two-time world time trial champion

Jan Ullrich Jan Ullrich (; born 2 December 1973) is a German former professional road bicycle racer. Ullrich won gold and silver medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Sydney. He won the 1999 Vuelta a España and the HEW Cyclassics in fro ...

, beating riders like the Italian national time trial champion Marco Pinotti. During the last week of the 2006 Giro, Basso beat his main rivals for the general classification, and won stages 16 and 20 along the way. His victory in Stage 20, where he rode to a solo victory on the final ascent into

Aprica Aprica () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy, northern Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, ...

after riding away from rival

Gilberto Simoni Gilberto Simoni (born 25 August 1971) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, most recently for . Simoni won the Giro d'Italia cycling race twice: once in 2001 and again in 2003. In 2002 he tested positive for cocaine and was with ...

, was notable when he, already sure of his victory, pulled out a picture of his newly born son Santiago, and held it aloft as he crossed the finish line. Santiago Basso had been born the previous day, and Basso had not yet seen his son in the flesh, having been given the picture only hours before the stage started. When rival Simoni rolled across the line over a minute behind Basso, he was clearly upset at being beaten and made a remark that Basso's dominance at that year's Giro was "extra-terrestrial." Basso eventually finished 9 minutes 18 seconds up on the second placed rider, José Enrique Gutiérrez, the largest margin of victory in the Giro d'Italia since 1965. After the last stage of the race, Basso declared that he would continue along his pre-season plan to also ride the

Operación Puerto and the 2006 Tour de France

On 30 June 2006, the management of the Tour de France announced at a press conference that a number of riders, including Ivan Basso, would not be riding in the race due to rumours of

blood doping Blood doping is a form of Doping in sport, doping in which the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream is boosted in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentr ...

stemming from the Operación Puerto doping case in Spain. According to the investigation, Basso was allegedly given blood doping by doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in a Spanish clinic. No formal charges had been raised, but following an agreement between the managers of all the ProTour teams, any rider under suspicion of doping would not be allowed to start in ProTour races. This forced CSC to remove Basso from their squad for the 2006 Tour. Speculation in the Italian press suggested that should Basso not be banned he would be joining the Discovery Channel team. Team CSC described these suggestions as just rumours. Later, CSC manager Bjarne Riis was reported stating that it was unlikely that Basso could return to CSC without proving he had no contact with Fuentes, as Basso's contract specified that he could receive no outside medical assistance. Riis conceded that it might be impossible for Basso to prove beyond doubt. Rumours also talked about Basso moving to or (a non-ProTour team). The

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in ItalyWithin Italy, CONI recognizes 48 national ...

(CONI) proceedings commenced in late August 2006.

From CSC to Team Discovery Channel

On 18 October 2006, Team CSC announced that his contract had been terminated by mutual consent. On 27 October 2006, Basso was acquitted of any involvement in the Operation Puerto events by the committee, due to insufficient evidence. On 9 November 2006 Basso announced he was joining

's former team, . The announcement was made in Austin, Texas, and Basso joined the team on 3 December 2006 for the first unofficial training camp. Basso rode for

Levi Leipheimer Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. ...

during the

2007 Tour of California The Amgen Tour of California 2007 was the second edition of an eight-day, 650-mile (1,045 km) stage race that raced through the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast. The road bicycle racing event was held February 18, 2007 ...

, and also raced

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of th ...

, where he crashed.

Puerto case reopened

On 24 April 2007, Basso was suspended by Discovery Channel when the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) reopened his case. On 30 April 2007 Team Discovery Channel announced that Basso would be released from his contract. Basso requested to leave the team citing "personal reasons related to the re-opened investigation by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI)." Basso met with the General Manager of Team Discovery Channel, Bill Stapleton, and

Johan Bruyneel Johan Bruyneel (born 23 August 1964) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and a former directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team , and (later known as Discovery Channel), a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team. On 25 October 2018, the ...

, the Team Director, and the two agreed to allow Basso to leave the team. While still claiming to never have actually engaged in blood doping, Basso admitted contacting Fuentes' clinic with the intention to engage in blood doping. Basso appeared before the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) on 2 May 2007. On 7 May 2007, Basso admitted his involvement with the drug scandal to the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). In a later press conference he stated it was "attempted doping", and that while he had not actually undergone doping, he was "fully aware that an attempt at doping is tantamount to doping" and that "

e would E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

serve issuspension and then return to race." On 15 June 2007, Basso received a two-year ban. The time he had already spent under team suspension whilst riding for CSC and temporary suspension since leaving Discovery were taken into consideration which means he was banned until 25 October 2008.

Return after suspension

After his return Basso signed a two-year contract with , his first race being in the

on 26 October 2008. He proceeded to finish third, behind Damiano Cunego and Giovanni Visconti. In April 2009 he claimed overall victory in the Italian stage race Giro del Trentino. He then competed in his main objective for the year, the

, where he finished fifth behind eventual winner

Denis Menchov Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, ; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider ...

, Danilo Di Luca, fellow rider Franco Pellizotti and

2008 Tour de France The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of Tour de France, the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, France, Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16t ...

winner Carlos Sastre. He also placed 4th in the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

behind

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

, Samuel Sánchez, and Cadel Evans respectively.

2010

In 2010, Basso aimed to win his second

, leading with his teammate Vincenzo Nibali. Despite having a quiet start to the race, he won the 15th stage of the race atop Monte Zoncolan, after his Liquigas team had set the pace for some in order to chase down a breakaway. After Stage 19, he led the general classification as a result of out-climbing previous race leader David Arroyo, and held it to the end of the race. This resulted in his second Giro win, after

. Basso then focused on the

where he attempted to win the Giro and the Tour during the same year but he ended up struggling through the last week, finishing 32nd.

2011

In 2011, Basso skipped the

to focus on the

. After having a good start over the first 2 weeks sitting 5th overall, Basso struggled on stages 16 and 17 after being dropped on the final descents, and later finished 7th overall.

2012

In 2012, Basso started the season with quiet form focusing on the

, but only finishing 5th overall.

Tinkoff-Saxo

In August 2014, it was announced that Basso would be joining from 2015 on a two-year deal. In July 2015, Basso was diagnosed with testicular cancer and immediately withdrew from the

to seek treatment in Italy. Basso received support from a number of people including

. Basso made the announcement to the media in those terms: "I have a bad announcement to give to you guys", Basso said. "On stage 5, I had a really small crash but in the crash I touched my testicle 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 the left testicle." In September 2015 confirmed that Basso had recovered fully after undergoing surgery in Milan and that he would be able to race again. However, after Basso had talks with the team it was announced that he would retire from competition the following month, whilst remaining with in a management role. Basso later followed Alberto Contador to , taking up a support staff position.

Post racing

Following his exit from racing, Basso and Alberto Contador opened up

Aurum bikes Aurum bikes is a Spanish brand of high end road bikes, founded by former cyclists and multiple Grand Tour winners Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso in 2020. Sponsorship The Aurum Magma, equipped with full ENVE components and SRAM groupset, i ...

in 2020.

Personal life

Basso resides in Cassano Magnago, Italy, with his wife and four children. He has now purchased land in his home town to start a blueberry farm where he hopes to employ locals as well as make an investment for his retirement from cycling as the future of the European economy is uncertain. Basso has already begun planting; his farm is called "Il Borgo" or "the village". He is not related to Italian cyclist Marino Basso, nor the brand Basso.

Major results

;1995 : 2nd Silver medal uci

Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships ;1997 : 1st

Trofeo Città di San Vendemiano The Trofeo Città di San Vendemiano is an under-23 one day cycling race held annually in Italy. It is part of UCI Europe Tour in category 1.2U. Winners References

Cycle races in Italy UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events esta ...

;1998 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships : 1st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships : 8th Firenze–Pistoia ;1999 : 2nd

Trofeo Matteotti Trofeo Matteotti is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Pescara, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions whic ...

: 2nd Giro del Friuli : 3rd Gran Premio Palio del Recioto : 6th

Gran Premio della Liberazione Gran Premio della Liberazione is an Italian road bicycle race that has been held annually on 25 April since 1946. It marks the anniversary of the 1945 fall of Benito Mussolini's Italian Social Republic. It is a Single-day race that is rated 1.2 ...

: 6th

HEW Cyclassics The Hamburg Cyclassics (currently known as the Bemer Cyclassics for sponsorship purposes) is an annual one-day professional and amateur road bicycle race, cycling race in and around Hamburg, Germany. Although the route varies, its distance is alw ...

: 6th Tre Valli Varesine : 7th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato ;2000 : 2nd Overall Regio-Tour ::1st Stages 1 & 3b ( ITT) : 5th Giro dell'Emilia : 6th Tre Valli Varesine : 7th Trofeo Andratx-Mirador d'Es Colomer : 8th Giro del Lazio ;2001 : 1st Stage 1 Tour Méditerranéen : 1st Stage 5

Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta Vasca'', English: ''Basque Bicycle'') was an annual road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country in June. From 2005 to 2008, the race was organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, it ...

: 1st Stage 5

Tour of Austria The Tour of Austria () is a stage race, stage cycling race held in Austria. From 1949 to 1995 it was a race for amateur cyclists, turning into a professional event in 1996. In 2005 and 2006 it was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour ...

: 2nd

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

: 4th Trofeo dell'Etna : 6th Giro dell'Emilia : 7th Coppa Placci : 8th Trofeo Melinda : 9th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi ;2002 : 1st Jersey white

Young rider classification,

: 2nd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana : 2nd Giro dell'Emilia : 3rd

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

: 5th

Gran Premio Città di Camaiore The Gran Premio Città di Camaiore was a road bicycle race held in Camaiore, Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital cit ...

: 6th Giro del Lazio : 8th Tre Valli Varesine : 9th

Züri-Metzgete Züri-Metzgete (Zürich German; ; ) was a European Classic cycle races, Classic cycle race held annually in Zürich, Switzerland, and continued as a non-professional mass participation event from 2007 until 2014. It was a race with a long history ...

;2003 : 2nd Clásica de San Sebastián : 5th Overall

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

: 6th Giro del Veneto : 6th Coppa Placci : 7th Overall

: 7th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano : 7th

Coppa Bernocchi The Coppa Bernocchi is a European Road bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Legnano, Italy. From 2005 to 2019, the race was organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, before joining the UCI ProSeries in 2020. In 1 ...

: 8th

Giro di Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...

: 10th

: 10th Firenze–Pistoia ;2004 : 1st Giro dell'Emilia : 1st Grand Prix Jyske Bank : 2nd Overall Tour Méditerranéen : 3rd Overall

::1st Stage 12 : 3rd

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia (), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Cycling monument, Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycli ...

: 6th Clásica de San Sebastián : 7th Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

: 8th

;2005 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Danmark Rundt ::1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 5 ( ITT) :

::1st Stages 17 & 18 ( ITT) ::Held Jersey pink

after Stages 11–12 : 2nd Overall

: 4th Overall Critérium International ;2006 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall

::1st Stages 5 ( TTT), 8, 16 & 20 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Critérium International ::1st Stage 2 : 4th Overall

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 H ...

::1st Stage 2b ( ITT) : 6th Overall

: 10th

;2008 : 3rd

;2009 : 1st Jersey violet

Overall Giro del Trentino : 1st AC Arona : 3rd Overall

: 4th Overall

: 4th Trofeo Melinda : 5th Overall

: 5th Overall Tour de San Luis ;2010 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall

::1st Stages 4 ( TTT) & 15 : 1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnaghese : 5th Overall Giro del Trentino ;2011 : 1st Jersey green

Overall Giro di Padania ::1st Stage 4 : 1st

Gran Premio di Lugano The Gran Premio di Lugano () is a road bicycle race held annually in Lugano, Switzerland. Prior to 1981 it was held as an individual time trial but in recent years it has been organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe T ...

: 4th Overall

: 4th

: 7th Overall

: 10th

Trofeo Laigueglia The Trofeo Laigueglia is an early season road bicycle race held annually in Liguria, Italy. It is held about ten days after the opening to the Italian season, the Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi. From 2005 to 2014, the race was organised as a ...

: 10th

;2012 : 1st

: 5th Overall

;2013 : 4th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali : 8th Overall

Tour de Pologne The Tour de Pologne (; ), officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's Race stage, multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km ...

: 9th Overall Tour of Beijing : 10th Overall Vuelta a Burgos

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

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Interview with Ivan Basso: "My idol has always been Miguel Indurain"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basso, Ivan 1977 births Danmark Rundt winners Doping cases in cycling Giro d'Italia winners Italian Giro d'Italia stage winners Italian male cyclists Italian sportspeople in doping cases Italian Tour de France stage winners Living people Sportspeople from Gallarate Cyclists from the Province of Varese

Biography

Promising results

Heir apparent

2006 Giro d'Italia

Operación Puerto and the 2006 Tour de France

From CSC to Team Discovery Channel

Puerto case reopened

Return after suspension

2010

2011

2012

Tinkoff-Saxo

Post racing

Personal life

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

See also

References

External links