Italian cyclist Ivan Basso vs Alberto Contador

Italian cyclist Ivan Basso believes the Spanish Alberto Contador, "a reference" and not wait to meet him at the upcoming Tour, because against the Spanish feels the same encouragement of competition "with Lance Armstrong.

"I expect the first challenge in the mountains, Andorra, to see how it is when it starts and if he leaves me behind," Basso said in a statement today reflected by the "Gazzetta dello Sport.

The winner of the Giro in 2006 believed that "mother nature has given something special to Alberto Contador, and still remembers how" was crazy "in California in 2007, when they were teammates on the Discovery, despite reaching" with a day late and tired from jet lag. "

For Armstrong, Basso has a "special human admiration" for the support she gave to her mother when she was ill. "But I am not afraid," he adds.

And so afraid that Basso and Contador to Armstrong: "Contador is the number one, but Armstrong is stronger than a year ago and has an impressive team," he says.

But despite that is "sure to be challenging for the 'maglia rosa' in the Giro and the Tour podium," because after having endured two years of disqualification "would be foolish not to have that ambition," he confesses.

According to the Italian, who won fourth place in the Tour of Spain in 2009, "the Tour is easier than the Giro because it is less tactical. "But I'm a climber, so I think I adapt to a tough Giro like this," he says.

Statements that contains the "Gazzetta dello sport" are the first spoken by Basso after the tragic death of Italian cycling team coach Franco Ballerini, in a car accident.

"I have to make an effort to not think about it when talking about cycling," Basso regrets, for whom Ballerini was "a friend" who wants to remember doing a good job, "as he called for".