Chatting with Ivan Basso (If Only I Could Be So Lucky)

By Jessica | Permalink | No Comments | January 31st, 2007 | Trackback

Tim Maloney at Cyclingnews is, perhaps, the luckiest man in the world. He sat down with My Boyfriend (AKA Ivan Basso) before Basso flew from Italy to California for the Discovery team’s training camp, and the exclusive interview begins here. Among other things, Basso says that riding his bike helps him stay sane, which is one of the reasons he kept riding even after he was sidelined last year during the Operacion Puerto scandal. “I didn’t have to [stop riding],” he said, “there was no motivation for me to take a rest, I wasn’t injured. So I thought the best thing for me was to start training again soon because I thought I would be racing soon.” He went on to say:

So I’ve trained until the end of the year and it turned out to be the perfect choice, because I’ve arrived at the end of the year, clearly not in the condition of riders who have been racing, but still as an athlete. Like when I trained with the Italian team just before the world championship, I had enough condition that would have let me race at a level that wasn’t like that of Bettini at the Worlds or Lombardia, but not last either.

I could have raced well, so this enabled me to have a relaxed winter, because I wasn’t stopped for six months and had to start my training all over again. I could allow myself to go on vacation, to relax and then on December 1, start training again, do the Texas training camp with the team, and to start this new adventure.

Basso might be in good shape to start his 2007 season, but after being wrapped up in Operacion Puerto much of last year (and not entirely free of its grasp yet, actually), what kind of mental shape is he in? Can he shake the chip that’s most certainly being placed on his shoulders?

As Ivan Basso, I have big shoulders - so I knew how deal with this situation.

Ah. I see.

Okay, but seriously, couldn’t it all be mentally crippling and make a man unfit to compete at the highest levels?

It’s clear that you have to pay the price, because all of this stuff must leave something, no? So I try to live my life in the right way. Like I said, I’m training with the same, identical intensity, focus, motivation and will to win just like last year. No more, no less. Because more isn’t necessary and less there’s no reason for.

I’m doing the same things that brought me success in other years. It’s a training plan that isn’t the same as last year, because as I said… I’ve always been someone who trains a lot and I’m still training a lot, but I can’t say if I’m ahead or behind last year in terms of fitness. Every year isn’t the same.

I’m not more aggressive or less motivated than before. I’m feeling very balanced, like the usual Ivan. Because there is no reason to be demotivated, nor to be super-motivated.

It’s a good thing to be balanced because each side of the scale, the negative and the positive, can cause you to make mistakes. The excessive desire to do something, or less desire… you can be so motivated that you will try to do too much in the early season races and then you will pay for it in the races that count later on…

For me, one of my biggest concerns was that they [my family] were not hurt. I have the experience to deal with this, but my wife and daughter are not used to this and they are more important than any sport, any money. Their disappointment or them not being well was really painful for me. More than any comments, articles or whatever was said about me. I don’t care about that stuff at all. For me it was important thing is them.

Basso talks about lots more, including his first training camp with the Discovery team in Texas, Johan Bruyneel vs. Bjarne Riis, what it’s like to try to fill Lance’s shoes and the Tour of California.

Is it possible this could have fit in the last news tidbit post I did? Absolutely. But My Boyfriend deserves his own post - if for no other reason than I can post the following pictures of him alongside the story…

Now, that was all worth its own post, wasn’t it? Yes. It was.

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