Basso backs Armstrong for tour successFormer Tour of Italy winner Ivan Basso on Thursday tipped his great rival Lance Armstrong to challenge for an eighth Tour de France Tour de France World's most prestigious and difficult bicycle race. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of nine riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles) of flat and title. Armstrong won the last of his seven yellow jerseys in a row in 2005 but this year at the age of 37 he has made a remarkable comeback to professional cycling. In May he finished 12th in the Tour of Italy despite breaking his collarbone col·lar·bone n. See clavicle. in a crash only six weeks before. "Given his great experience and formidable character, Lance Armstrong will be aiming high at the Tour de France," said Basso, the 2006 Tour of Italy winner. "Armstrong finished the Giro giro Noun pl -ros 1. (in some countries) a system of transferring money within a bank or post office, directly from one account into another 2. in 12th place but in those 16 minutes given up to the winner Denis Menchov he showed at 37 great improvement and powers of recovery given he broke his collarbone at the end of March and spent three years out of competition." The Liquigas team leader twice stood on the podium alongside Armstrong at the Grand Boucle bou·clé or bou·cle n. 1. A type of yarn, usually three-ply and having one thread looser than the others, that produces a rough-textured cloth. 2. Fabric woven or knitted from this yarn. , finishing third in 2004 and second in 2005. But following his Giro win he was banned for two years for doping doping, in electronics: see semiconductor. Altering the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor material, such as silicon, by chemically combining it with foreign elements. and he made a disappointing return to major stage racing in this year's Giro, finishing fifth having started as race favourite. 
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