Garmin-Cervélo is in the Cayman Islands, Saxo Bank-SunGard is in Fuerteventura, but Liquigas-Cannondale has opted for snow rather than sun for its team-bonding exercises. Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso has said that the stay at the Passo San Pellegrino has been a very productive time.
“We love it here,” he said, speaking about a camp that began on Monday and ran until yesterday. “Personally I can say I’ve found some true friends. It’s the perfect atmosphere to get away from our busy everyday lives and recharge our batteries. This retreat on the snow is the ideal occasion to mix up the group and carve out a team.”
Part of the reason why he feels the exercise is so important this season is because of the number of riders who have signed for the team. These include US competitors Ted King and Timmy Duggan, as well as the Italians Eros Capecchi, Damiano Caruso, Maro Da Dalto, Paolo Longo Borghini, Alan Marangoni, Simone Ponzi, Cristiano Salerno, the Germain Dominik Nerz and the Australian rider Cameron Wurf. Each of those needs to settle into the team, forming bonds that will ensure they work as well as possible during the season.
“There are 11 new arrivals among our ranks and in these days we got the chance to start to get to know each other better and gel,” explained Basso. “A snowshoe outing, long chats in the evening in front of a warm fire, and the chance to play on the bobsleds and have a snowball fight are events that help us to release tension and create a good feeling inside the group. It’s essential for creating the right automations with team-mates who you’ll be counting on in the pack during a race.
“If I could I’d stay here all year long, but we’re looking forward to an important season and we have to get back down to the valley to start our training and thinking about the first races.”
The riders have been hiking in the snow, using bobsleds, doing an orienteering competition on Wednesday and – metaphorically and literally – chilling out. They have been training at home before the camp and will ramp things up as the season approaches. The trip enables them to remain active, but also to have a small mental break before knuckling down again.
Basso has said that he will target the Tour de France in 2011. Vuelta a España winner Vincenzo Nibali is likely to lead the team in the Giro d’Italia, aiming to succeed Basso as the winner of the race. The key battles in both those races will be fought out in the high mountains; the team’s strength and unity will be crucially important there, and has already been boosted this week in similar high-altitude conditions.