Not the first time I'd seen him in person, but it was the first time we exchanged words. His Italian is a bit hard to understand, but mine isn't exactly great…anyway, all the things I wanted to say would have been mangled. Things like:
"What were you thinking when you said Basso tried to sell you the stage? Are you nuts? He's more popular than the pope right now."
or
"Forget the cash, tell him you'll take a crack at his sister instead."
or
"Did you think twice about signing for a squad whose team kit includes yellow shorts?"
Anyway, he's a nice guy, quite down to earth and mellow and, of course, tiny. He was in the office checking out some bars and stems, and it turns out, contrary to what we thought, he's not that picky compared to other pro riders. He's still picky, but cared more about stem length than bar width (some of these guys actually count millimeters and claim they can tell the difference, which in some cases is true).
No confirmation yet about whether or not he'll do the Tour but I think his best chance this year to shine was the Giro - maybe he'd be good for a stage win, though.
