Ivan Basso of Team Liquigas-Cannondale crashed during the queen stage of the Volta ao Algarve 2012
Ivan Basso of Team Liquigas-Cannondale is aiming at the Giro d’ Italia as the biggest goal of his 2012 season. The cyclist was riding the Volta a Catalunya to fine tune for the Italian race scheduled in May.
The third stage of the race was reduced to 155 kilometres because of bad weather. The race was badly influence by heavy snow which caused quite a few crashed during the event.
Janez Brajkovic kept his head still and rode carefully during the queen stage of the race and claimed the top spot.
He overcame Michal Golas with a lead of 1 second with Matteo Carrara at the third spot.
Basso crashed during the starting 7 kilometres of the race and took a number of cyclists with him.
Julian Dean of Team Garmin-Barracuda and Frantisek Rabon of Team Omega Pharma-QuickStep were the only two seriously injured riders.
The duo was immediately transported to the hospital. Julian broke his leg which has raised suspicions about his come back to ride the remaining part of the season.
Basso managed to get back on his bike but could not finish the race. He was amongst the number of cyclists who failed to finish the race.
“The roads were wet, we were going at about 40kph and there was a bend, A rider hit a car at the side of the road, bounced off it and made six or seven fall, myself included”, he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
He continued, “My foot stayed clipped in and my right knee hit off both my frame and the tarmac, I don’t have a scratch on me, but I took a bang in the same place at Paris-Nice and it swelled up a lot”.
The 34-year-old is currently waiting for the scan results which will determine his plans for the season.
His in-form team-mate Vincenzo Nibali will lead the team at the Tour de France 2012 which leaves an open door for Basso to the Italian Grand Tour.
Ivan’s plans for the coming season solely depend on his physical fitness after the crash. He is set to announce the 2012 schedule after consulting the scan results.
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