Ivan Basso was born in Gallarate on November 26th, 1977.
He lives in a little town called Cassano Magnago, in the surroundings of Varese, where he attended a technical school up to the 4th year (18 years old).

He is a simple young man, who loves going out with his friends in his very little free time,
but he also loves staying quietly at home with his wife Micaela and their little daughter Domitilla.
Ivan and Micaela got married on January 28th, 2001 and live together in Cassano.
"Micaela is very important for me not only for my private life but also for my career as a sports professional: she helps me getting my best out and not giving up at hard times and she knows how to transmit the right enthusiasm when times are good."
Despite his young age, he's always meticulous and careful as a veteran and knows how to keep concentrated and clear-headed at crucial moments. Ivan is a very calm and peaceable figure, who knows how to weigh his words and how to carefully observe other champions to catch on to their secret moves. Ivan decided to get into cycling as a profession, and he really got it right!
What definitely strikes about Basso is not only his undoubted passion for cycling and his hard training will: it's also impossible to ignore his utmost professionalism. Ivan keeps a notebook where he's been writing down, since he was in the Youth category, everything about each training or race: route, timing, weather conditions, heart frequency, feelings and much more.

Ivan starts out in cycling when at the early age of 7, joining the Under 12 team G.S. San Pietro, in Cassano Magnago. His parents pass on to him their love for cycling, and it turns immediately quite clear that the young boy really has it in his genes: he rides up to the Stelvio and the Aprica mountains when he's only just 9.
As a Juvenile, he joins team G.S. Gornatese, and races with them for 6 years, up to his second year in the Juniors.
His first very important victory is with Gornatese: he wins the 1993 Youth Gold Cup, and is second in the 1995 Juniors World Cycling Championship.

As he rises to the Amateur category, Basso joins the Zalf-Euromobil-Fior of Castelfranco Veneto, a very well known team for being good breeding ground for young cycle champions.
1998 is the launching year for the promising young cyclist. Basso turns world champion at the Under 23 Road World Championships in Valkenburg, Holland. The doors to professionalism are now wide open, but Basso prefers remaining in the amateur category until May "to enjoy the jersey - he says - and out of gratitude for Zalf".

Yet he goes on winning three prestigious victories, still as amateur. First victory comes on March 20th when he gains first place at the prestigious Trofeo Taschini in Bergamo; then on March 30th he's again first at the Coppa Fiera di Mercatale (Arezzo), the seventh out of several national team selection events. He finally wins third victory at the Memorial Furlan, in Caerano S. Marco.

Ivan's last successful race in this category is stage 4 at Giro delle Regioni where he's still wearing the jersey of the Italian National Team. From now on the rainbow jersey he won in Valkenburg will have to be put back in a drawer: it's time to start from the beginning again.
The big dream finally comes true: he makes his debut at Giro d'Italia running with Boifava's team Riso Scotti Vinavil. "I was so excited and scared at the same time as I found myself racing side by side with champions I had only ever seen on TV. But I also felt very happy and proud because I had finally reached the goal I had been dreaming of for years."
The same year Basso takes part to the professional Road World Championship.
The cycling season continues with the trials for the World Cup.
No victories for Basso, but he gains more and more consciousness and determination which are decisive for his first summons to the national team, that he joins as a professional already in the first year.

The World Cup takes place in Verona, and Oscar Freire is first. No medals for Italy, but Basso's debut is decidedly very good. He knew that running the first part of the race would mean not being competitive until its end, but he understood he had to go by the orders and he kept helping the team until he was allowed to do so.

2001 is rich in news. Ivan gets married, and changes team joining Ferretti's Fassa Bortolo. There comes on another decisive moment for Basso's sports career: his first participation to the Tour de France. At stage 2 Ivan breaks away with another 15 racers: Basso comes eighth to the finish line. During stage 7 he again creates a winning break including the French cyclist Laurent Jalabert, but unfortunately road conditions are bad and Basso slips down on a bend. He breaks his collarbone and right hand: his Tour is over. Jalabert wins the stage and admits afterwards that the strongest breakaway cyclist was actually Basso, and he really feared him more than anyone else.

At the beginning of August Basso gets back on his saddle ready to sweep bad luck away. He starts thinking about Lisbon World Championship (won by Freire in the end).
A few technical tests report that Basso's pedalling cadence is wrong: he's too high on his bike, causing enormous energetic consumption. Basso and Ferretti decide therefore to get expert advise in Düsseldorf, Germany, so as to find a more aerodynamic and efficient cycling position. After several tests, new frames come out - shorter and lower. Boosted by the new technical solutions, Ivan starts season 2002 with great determination and enthusiasm.

And 2002 actually shows how Ivan Basso is now definitely professionally mature: the winner of Tour de France is for the fourth consecutive year the extraordinary and "extrahuman" Lance Armstrong. Yet, a 25-year-old young (hu)man stands out for his extraordinary calmness and nerve: that's Ivan Basso, of course, who seems to have graduated full marks at the university of cycling.

In 2003 Ivan flies to Boston, to the renowned and prestigious MIT (Massachussets Institute of Technology) to work on wind-tunnel testings to develop new time-trialling skills. He finishes the Tour in 7th.

In 2004 Ivan comes to the Tour de France with Danish Team CSC. Lance Armstrong is more extrahuman than ever: he's winner again for the sixth consecutive time, but this time Ivan Basso is next to him on the stage: he stands on the third step of podium with his lovely little daughter Domitilla in the arms. Basso wins at La Mongie, stage 12 of the Tour (he is also second at Plateau de Beille, and second again at Villard-de-Lans).

In 2005 Basso wins stages 17 and 18 of the Giro d'Italia. Then it's the Tour de France again: Lance Armstrong has been waiting and training hard for this race only. 2005 edition will be his last tour competition. Ivan shows nevertheless exceptional character and skill. Lance Armstrong surpasses himself and wins his seventh consecutive Tour, yet Ivan's performance is superlative and he gains in the end a very well-deserved second step of the podium.

Technical info

Ivan's bike is a Cervélo, with carbon, alluminium and steel frame.

He's got a Shimano Dura Ace 10 speed group set on it and Zipp wheels; then FSA crankset, stem, handlebars and seatpost on his time trial bike. Saddles are by Selle Italia and the handlebars of his time trail bike is by Vision.