Tour Teams: Basso Leads Fassa
– Reported by Datasport.it –
Ivan Basso will be Fassa Bortolo’s leader at the Tour de France, Casagrande will instead aim for the Tour of Switzerland and the Vuelta…
Forgetting the delusion of an unfortunate and disappointing Giro d’Italia (even with one stage won and notwithstanding innumerable second places, Bartoli and Stangelj unfortunately lost after the 1st stage, Casagrande expelled for contact with Garcia and Belli blocked with physical problems) Fassa Bortolo now is looking towards the second half of the season.
The balance of the first half of the 2002 for the Italian squad could be read in two different lights. Positive, considering that Bartoli won the Amstel Gold Race and the Giro di Mediterraneo, Casagrande the Coppi e Bartali and the Giro di Trentino, Valjavec the Settimana Lombarda and Baldato and Petacchi have made huge impacts on the one day races, negative if one realizes that the main goal of the season was the Giro d’Italia.
Now Ferretti’s squad is preparing to attack the Tour de France in which they will place their faith in the 25 year old Ivan Basso, with a sack of successes this year, who will have around him an expert team that could be formed with Baldato, Belli, Gontchar, Ivanov and Loda: the objective will be to contest the general classification, in the first 4 or 5 which could be Armstrong, Hamilton, Moreau, the Spanish , or even Frigo.
Francesco Casagrande, obviously in great condition at the Giro d’Italia, will instead aim for the Tour of Switzerland and the Vuelta and possibly the classics of the second half of the World Cup, like the Clasica di San Sebastian, which he has won, and the Championships of Zurich, or other classics such as Lombardy.
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