An up and down Giro for CSC; time to rebuild

Coming into the race with Ivan Basso as the outright favourite, looking on track to live up to the tag - only to have it all fall apart on the second day in the mountains - then staging two great back-to-back victories, it's been a yo-yo of a Giro for Team CSC.

"This Giro has certainly had it's ups and downs, but considering the circumstances, I'm quite pleased with our performance," said team manager Bjarne Riis on team-csc.com.

"It was on the cards, that we could take the overall victory with Ivan [Basso]. Due to very bad luck, we didn't succeed, but we still managed to rise above it and win two stages on top of the one Zabriskie had already won in Firenze.

"Most importantly", added Riis, "we showed that we would not bow down in defeat and both the team and Ivan have made an impressive effort this last week. We are well organised and everyone has worked hard to achieve these results.

"Now Ivan has a rebuilding period ahead of him, and from what he's shown here, we should allow ourselves to be optimistic regarding the Tour de France."