How is Italian bicycle racer Ivan Basso trying to fill Lance Armstrong's shoes on the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team?
By signing a two-year contract with shoemaker Nike.
Basso, who finished second to the Armstrong in the Texan's last Tour de France in 2005, signed on to race with Armstrong's Discovery Channel team in November.
2006 started out as a good year for Basso, but turned sour. He won the Giro d'Italia, but authorities prohibited him from racing in the Tour de France after he was identified as a suspect in the Spanish Operacion Puerto blood doping scandal. No charges were filed and he was later cleared to race, but he was sacked by his team, CSC.
His Discovery Channel teammates who are also on the payroll of the sportswear company include Americans George Hincapie, Tom Danielson, and Levi Leipheimer, another Disco newcomer who left the German Gerolsteiner team at the end of the year.
Nike spokesperson Margie Wargo says in CyclingPost that Basso will be used for Internet and catalog publicity.
“For now we don't see a promotional campaign or line of sportswear dedicated to him, but that will depend on how the Tour goes.”
Basso, who won the Giro d'Italia last year, has announced his intention to win both the Giro and the Tour this year. Maybe that will get him his own line of Nike gear.
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