Basso wins Giro d'Italia

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Four years after winning the 2006 Giro d'Italia, but four years after first being implicated in the Operacion Puerto blood doping investigation, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) pulled on the final winner's maglia rosa in front of a huge crowd in the Verona Roman arena and was crowned the winner of the this year's race.

The 32-year-old Italian said a second maglia rosa closed the door on his past and marked the start to a new chapter in his career.

Basso climbed on the final podium with his two children, Domitilla and Santiago. Four years ago he was hiding the secret. This time he seemed much happier and satisfied.

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"It's a special day for all my family. We suffered all together, and so we're celebrating together," Basso said.

"I'm happy to announce that I'm going to be a father for a third time in a few months. I found out a few days ago and really wanted to make it to Verona in the pink jersey to celebrate the news."

Basso finished 15th in the final 15km time trial around Verona, 42 seconds behind stage winner Gustav Erik Larsson (Saxo Bank), who blasted round the technical course in a time of 20:19.

Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) was second at just two seconds, with Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) third at 17 seconds. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) was the favourite before the start but was eighth fastest at the 8.5km point and lost further time on the descent, finishing seventh at 29 seconds.

World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC) finished fourth at 22 seconds, with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) fifth at 23 seconds. Michele Scarponi (Androni Giocattoli ) lost 12 seconds to Nibali and so also lost third place overall.

David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) was second overall at 1:51, with Nibali third at 2:37. Scarponi was fourth at 2:50 and Evans was fifth at 3:27.

Basso won by a huge margin in 2006. This year he had to fight back in the mountains after losing a huge chunk of time to Arroyo on the stage to L'Aquila.

"I think this Giro win is the best one because I fought for the pink jersey right to the end," Basso said.

"I crashed on the stage to Montalcino and then there was the disaster of the stage to L'Aquila, when I lost time. I honestly thought I might not win. Arroyo was very strong and rides for a strong team. It caused us a lot of problems but we fought back with pride and did everything right to win. I have to thank my teammates yet again. Especially Nibali who finished with me on the podium. He'll win the Giro one day."

Now for the Tour de France

Basso admitted that he knows that the Tour de France starts in Rotterdam and ends in Paris but said he has not yet even looked at the road book. However his attempt at a rare Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double will begin on Monday.

"I'll ride the Tour, but I don't know if I'll be fantastic. But I won't go just to make up the numbers," Basso said.

"Contador has dominated the Tour in recent years, but I've improved a lot. I've got to believe I can do a great Tour and that's my goal. I didn't ride a lot of races before the Giro because I wanted to peak for the Giro and the Tour. It's worked so far. Now I can only hope it will work at the Tour too."

Larsson worried about Wiggins and Pinotti

Gustav Larsson finished early in the afternoon and had to wait at the back of the podium in side the arena as other riders rode the 15km time and stopped the clock. He was especially worried about Wiggins and was glued to the television to see his intermediate time. When he saw that Wiggins was eight seconds slower than him at the top of the climb, he only had to worry about Pinotti but the Italian time trial champion lost precious time on the descent.

"When I watched Wiggins at (the) half way (point), I knew I had nothing to fear from him because he would never go faster than me downhill, but later on I was really afraid of Pinotti," Larsson said.

"Pinotti was 12 seconds ahead of me at halfway. But while many riders suffered, I got better in the last couple of days in the Giro. I don't know what it means to win such a prestigious stage here. I'm just doing the one thing I'm good at."

Larsson was crowned the winner of the stage around Verona but every one of the 139 riders who crossed the final finishing line got a huge cheer from the crowd inside the packed arena.

Italy's Marco Corti (Footon-Servetto) was the last rider overall, four hours, 48 minutes and 55 seconds behind Basso. He had ridden virtually an extra stage and probably suffered even more than Basso.

The Liquigas-Doimo squad dominated the race and won the team prize. However, in a sign of the times, the other key jerseys were all won by Australians. Cadel Evans won the red points jersey, Matt Lloyd (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won the green climber's jersey and Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) won the best young rider's white jersey.

It was a very Italian Giro d'Italia, but with a very modern feel. The Tour de France is still the biggest Grand Tour in cycling but the Giro d'Italia is perhaps the most exciting and the most spectacular.

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