Between 1965 and 1978, when he retired, he won 82 national and international races, including many stages of the Tour of Italy and, the high point of his career, the world championship road race in 1972 in Gap, France. The finish of this race, typical of his style, will remain unforgettable to the spectators because of the suddenness with which he reacted in the last 20 meters and beat and outsmarted the other contenders including Guimard who alone had pulled the small group (with Marino in the rear of course) up to the failing Bitossi. The amazed expression on his face and his half-raised arms show that he himself couldn't entirely grasp his good fortune. After retiring at 33, he lent his experience to the young company which his 2 brothers had just created. From him stems the basic concept of Cicli Basso to offer the public the same traditional tool that the professional riders use.
The second brother, Renato, was born in 1947. Unlike his two brothers, Renato was not drawn to race bicycles. He was, of course, a cycling fan as is almost anyone from the Veneto, but his greatest interests were in his schooling and in intellectual pursuits. He graduated from the University of Tubingen in Germany in 1974 with a degree in philosophy and political science and did postgraduate work in philosophy at the University of Padua. He is now the financial director of Cicli Basso and of other manufacturing companies in the area of Vicenza.
Alcide Basso was born in 1954. Being the youngest of three, he had to pretty much fend for himself, since the two older brothers were already embarked an demanding paths when it came time for him to get a share of the pie. So he literally gave himself a professional education by, from his earliest youth onward, hanging around bike shops of master artisans. Today this solid practical foundation is one of his main strengths. He finished technical school at 19 and immediately set up a frame-building shop in the garage of his parent's home.
