---
title: Lone rider
categories:
- culture
content-tags:
- cycling
---

Last night, watching the end of Stage 17, I thought: Would someone get Basso some teammates?  I mean, really, he's always alone out there.

Then, this morning, I read this:

> Apparently, yesterday's abandon by Michele Bartoli of CSC was a little more colorful than reported. Bartoli, who will ride for Italy in the Olympics, got in the early break, but Bjarne Riis ordered him to come back to help protect Ivan Basso. Bartoli came back, but was so displeased he abandoned, and threw his bike in a ditch at the feed zone! As Liggett said, "Looks like he won't be back with CSC next year."
> - [tdfblog.com][1]

   [1]: http://www.tdfblog.com/2004/07/stage_18_underw.html
