Nibali, Pellizotti not named on team roster
Ivan Basso and Roman Kreuziger will head to this year’s Tour de France determined to help the Liquigas team chase its second Grand Tour victory of 2010. Basso has rested and trained since winning the Giro d’Italia earlier this month, and feels that he is in strong shape. Kreuziger is also happy with his condition, and together the two of them will clash with the other race favourites.
Basso was seventh, third and then second in the last three Tours he did, but missed out in 2006 due to his links with Operación Puerto. He is very pleased to head back to the race and, five years after that runner-up slot, hopes to once again shine.
He said that lining out in the race will be “a strong emotion. I will be at the start with the condition that I wanted to have, knowing the difficulties of the Tour but sure that I’ll be able to be competitive,” he stated. “In recent weeks I have checked every detail, worked to keep my condition and to get my legs ready. I face this new challenge with the desire to battle until Paris.”
The 32 year old didn’t want to give a prediction as to how things would go, preferring instead to keep an open mind. “I do not rule out any particular outcome, the road will deliver the verdict.”
Kreuziger earned the title of one to watch when he won the Tour de Suisse in 2008, despite being just 22 years of age. He was ninth in last year’s Tour and will be determined to chase a strong performance this year.
“I am ready, physically, and mentally am relaxed because I was able to prepare smoothly for this event,” he said. “It’ll be a tougher Tour than those I faced in 2008 and 2009: the Alps are the first level to gauge the level of the challengers, while the Pyrenees will decide the final rankings.
“I’ll use this last week to get my legs ready to be at the top for the Rotterdam prologue; I feel stronger than in other years and with Ivan, we can give anyone a hard time.”
They will be backed by the two climbers, Sylwester Szmyd and Francesco Bellotti, as well as Kristjan Koren, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato and Brian Bach Vandborg. Vincenzo Nibali, who wore the Maglia Rosa in the Giro, won a stage and finished third overall last year has decided to skip the race, and there was no place for 2009 Tour King of the Mountains, Franco Pellizotti. The latter is being investigated by the UCI in relation to his biological passport.
“We have the credentials to run as protagonists in the Tour de France,” said directeur sportif Stefano Zanatta. “Basso and Kreuziger allow us to nurture dreams of a high placing, thanks also to the reliability of the team-mates who will support them. The two young riders, Koren and Oss, will have their first experience of a Grand Tour, but they will have the opportunity to grow and to confirm the potential they have shown in the first part of the season.”
Basso’s performance will be watched with interest. He performed strongly in the Giro d’Italia, then afterwards released blood test results that traced a big, and expected, drop in hematocrit. This is seen by many as showing that the performance was a clean one.