Basso battles through illness

It was obvious from very early on Team CSC leader Ivan Basso was in trouble on yesterday's stage of the Giro. The 27 year-old Italian was dropped on the lower slopes of the Passo dello Stelvio, and by the top of the 25 kilometre climb, he was already more than 18 minutes behind the lead group, with 60 difficult kilometres left to ride.

"I suffered like never before, but I had to pull through. At the top of the first climb, I tried to eat something, but I couldn't do it. I didn't manage to eat anything at all during the stage, so I was completely drained of energy," said Basso on the team's website, team-csc.com.

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