89th Giro d'Italia - Stage 20 Jerseys
Ivan Basso's Rainbow of Jerseys... the rankings on the Maglias that just might see Ivan taking more than a one Pink jersey home with him after the finish in Milan. Team CSC Comments.
Carlos Sastre signs extends Contract for another 2 years. (see story below.)

Ivan Basso owns a winning collection of Jerseys and Competitions, most unlikely to change shoulders by the time the peloton arrives in Milan.

Of course the Maglia Rosa is his, barring a meteor shower, or his competitors showing up with rocket boosters mounted to their bikes at the start. In his collection he can boast the Ciclamino as race points leader, the Maglia Azzurri, trofeo combattività, and second on the climbers Maglia Verde.

We expect Paolo Bettini will be working on collecting the 12 points needed to win the ciclamino jersey by race end. One point separates "Cricket" Bettini from Ivan in the Combattivity trophy race and if Bettini can win the stage tomorrow he could step up to collect the award and the cash by day's end. So expect to see the Quick Step's rider attentively at the front with his team looking for a way to collect the points. Bettini is also two points away from the lead in the Gazzetta 110 (former Intergiro competition) but he will have to have a bit of luck to win the sprint for the 5 points and have a mate deny Swiss rider Patrick Calgani the second place 4 points for the win.

Ivan is secure in the sky blue Maglia Azzurri with double the points of his next competitor Saunier Duval/Prodir's renaissance man Leonardo Piepoli. All and all there is only one jersey that Basso hasn't had at some point in this Giro and that is the Blu jersey that has been the personal property of  fifth place Paolo Savoldelli of Discovery Channel since stage 1.

The Trofeo Fuga piaggio awarded for time in breakaways is in the iron grip of France's Christophe Edaleines of Credite Agricole with 364 points, his nearest competitor is Italy's Gabriele Missaglia (CLM) with 204 points and Marzio Bruzeghin of Lampre/Fondital with 297 the only way either of these could take the trophy in tomorrows race would be in a stage long break, which is unlikely.

CSC Comments:
A Brilliant Victory for Basso
With a picture of his newborn son held high in the air Ivan Basso crossed the finish line solo to a triumphant stage win in the 211-kilometer 20th stage of Giro d'Italia between Trento and Aprica.
After a long and hard day with legendary mountains, such as Gavia and Mortirolo, Basso was celebrated as the winner of the stage after having dropped Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval) on the final climb.

Vittoria for papa Basso!

”I wanted to win today and I gave all I had in me to do so. It was a great stage and it never occurred to me to wait for Simoni and let him win. We've behaved very correctly throughout the Giro, but today the team had worked so hard to pave the way for me, so I wanted to finish the job so badly,” said Basso, who with today's victory consolidated his place in the Giro as a major profile.

”I was given the picture by a photographer this morning, so it wasn't like I'd planned on winning the stage with the picture in my hands. But when I saw that I had a gap on Simoni and was able to win the stage, I felt like sending a message home to my family to share my happiness with them,” added Basso.

General Classification after Stage 20
 Classifica generale
 1 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 87:37:33 0:00
 2 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. ESP PHO 87:46:51 9:18
 3 SIMONI Gilberto ITA SDV 87:49:32 11:59
 ============== 18:16 =============
 4 CUNEGO Damiano ITA LAM 87:55:49 18:16
 5 SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA DSC 87:56:55 19:22

Ivan Basso Stage 20 Podium.  Photo (c) Tim DeWaele

Bjarne Riis
”Ivan took a brilliant victory today and it was totally deserved. He is the strongest rider in the Giro, and it was only logical that he went for it on the last mountain stage. Simoni was very strong as well today, but after Ivan had dropped him he gained a considerable amount of time and went on to win a great, great victory,” said Bjarne Riis after Team CSC's fourth stage win in this year's edition of Giro d'Italia.

Maglia Ciclamino
Classifica a punti generale
1 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 158
2 BETTINI Paolo ITA QSI 147
3 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. ESP PHO 132
4 SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA DSC 95
5 SIMONI Gilberto ITA SDV 88

Maglia Verde
Classifica GPM Generale
1 GARATE Juan Manuel ESP QSI 64
2 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 56
3 BALIANI Fortunato ITA PAN 52
4 PIEPOLI Leonardo ITA SDV 32
5 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. ESP PHO 27

Ivan leads on the Mortirolo Stage 20. Photo (c) Tim DeWaele

Maglia Azzurri
Class. azzurri d'italia generale
1 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 18
2 PIEPOLI Leonardo ITA SDV 9
3 BETTINI Paolo ITA QSI 9
4 SCHUMACHER Stefan GER GST 8
5 POLLACK Olaf GER TMO 7

Sastre Extends With Team CSC
Spanish rider Carlos Sastre has extended his contract with Team CSC for another two years until the end of 2008. He has been with the team since 2002.

Carlos Sastre Leads Ivan Basso on Stage 18 Photo (c) Tim DeWaele

”There's no doubt in my mind, where I belong and I'm very happy, that Bjarne and I have come to an agreement about extending my contract. It's not really about the money for me, but about feeling totally comfortable with my team mates and all the staff behind the team. This is where I can fulfill my ambitions and at the same time lend a hand, when one of my team mates has the opportunity to win. For me it comes naturally to assist Ivan or one of the others, and then get the chance myself at some other point and receive all the support I need. I couldn't see my self on another team so the extension is definitely the right thing for me and my future,” said a happy Carlos Sastre prior to the start of the 19th stage of Giro d'Italia.

In this years Giro, Sastre has showed his ever improving value as a helper for Ivan Basso. A former stage winner in the Tour de France, Sastre last year finished second overall in Vuelta a España, and in the spring of 2006 he won the Klasika Primavera.

Jersey and Competitions continued:

Maglia Blu Points (Combined)
Classifica Grancombinata generale
1 SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA DSC 748
2 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. ESP PHO 613
3 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 552
4 CASAR Sandy FRA FDJ 423
5 BETTINI Paolo ITA QSI 312

Gazzetta - Classifica 110 Generale
1 CALCAGNI Patrick SUI LIQ 19
2 DELAGE Mickael FRA FDJ 18
3 ILLIANO Raffaele ITA CLM 18
4 BETTINI Paolo ITA QSI 17
5 POILVET Benoit FRA C.A 13

Trophy Combattivity
Classifica combattività generale
1 BASSO Ivan ITA CSC 42
2 BETTINI Paolo ITA QSI 41
3 GUTIERREZ CATALUNA José E. ESP PHO 35
4 BALIANI Fortunato ITA PAN 28
5 GARATE Juan Manuel ESP QSI 26
6 SCHUMACHER Stefan GER GST 24

Trophy Breakaways
Fuga piaggio generale
1 EDALEINE Christophe FRA C.A 364
2 MISSAGLIA Gabriele ITA CLM 303
3 BRUSEGHIN Marzio ITA LAM 297
4 MATVEYEV Sergiy UKR PAN 207
5 POILVET Benoit FRA C.A 195