| Basso is Back! |
 The last time we saw the Itallian star on a bike was at the 2007 Tour of California. Basso rode in support of Tour winner Levi Leipheimer, but shortly after that ride, he was suspended for the remainder of the season, including the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. That suspension is due to be lifted late this year, but in the mean time, it looks like Basso isn't just sitting around on his ass-o. CycleTo has the details and photos of Ivan's Southern California excursion. Basso was in SoCal as a guest of Speedplay, where he took time to ride with some of the natives and visit one of the local shops.Jeff Rowe of B+L Bikes in Solana Beach told CycleTo that the group ride with Basso was hard for some, but easy for Ivan. "He could tear the legs off anyone here. He almost broke a sweat." Basso was riding a specially-built Seven bike. We've seen Ivan on a Cervelo during his days with CSC, and he rode a Trek during his brief time with Discovery...so why was he on a Seven in California? The connection is through Claudio Marra, of FSA in Italy. Marra is a friend of both Basso and Seven Cycles. He contacted Seven, and they built a frame with Ivan's exact specs and measurements. We have photos of Ivan at B+L in Solana Beach, and the original drawing that Seven used to build Basso's bike.  
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