Dr Aldo Sassi, coach to Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans, believes that both riders will be in peak condition during the final week of Vuelta a España and are capable of winning the race.
Basso too will look to banish memory of his own, albeit different, period of disappointment. He returned to racing in 2009 after his involvement in Operación Puerto blood doping scandal and subsequent two year suspension. The Italian has structured his season differently to Evans, first competing in the Giro d'Italia, where he finished 5th, and then racing at the Tour of Pologne.
"They both have different attitudes to training and that’s really important when creating schedules. Cadel is approaching the Vuelta after a long period of training at altitude without any racing since the Tour de France, while Ivan has a different approach because he raced the first half of the season and peaked at the Giro. He then recovered, resumed training at altitude and then raced Tour of Pologne. He then did another week of altitude training and some one day races to keep the paced varied. Both have very different approaches."
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