Ivan Basso says that his favorite to win the 2012 Giro d'Italia is his Liquigas-Cannondale team mate Vincenzo Nibali. Basso would love to ride the Italian Grand Tour as well and the team may start the race with two leaders.

Earlier it has been rumoured that Nibali would skip the Giro and instead focus on the Tour de France.

“My favourite for the Giro is Nibali,” Basso told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I’m convinced that in the end Vincenzo will be at the Giro too.

“The route as a whole is very well-suited to him and the absolute priority for Liquigas is to perform well at the Giro. Who will be the leader? Between us, there’s reciprocal respect. There’s no need to talk, the role of captain will be decided by the legs.”

No decision about Nibali’s participation will be done until late April, says Liquigas-Cannondale manager Roberto Amadio.

“We’ll take stock after Liège-Bastogne-Liège, keeping in mind the form and desire of the riders,” Amadio said.

Basso is a double winner of the Giro d'Italia, having won the 2006 edition and the 2010 edition, and will try to win a third title. He believes that in 2012, his own (possible) success at the Italian GrandTour will depend on the race’s penultimate stage, which finishes atop the Stelvio, but the riders will also cross the Mortirolo. The Stelvio, at 2,758m, will be the highest summit finish in Giro history, but there is reasons to be concerned about the weather, as it might stop the race from climbing the summit.

“If it snows on the Stelvio on May 26, we won’t go up it, and it will become hard for me to think about winning the Giro,” Basso said. “I can hardly think of dropping everyone on the way up to Lago Laceno or Piani dei Resinelli. It’s true that the Giro is won day by day and not in one stage, but where I have to make the difference is on the Stelvio and the day before at Pampeago.”

But he hopes that the final kilometres of the Stelvio can be his chance to ride into the maglia rosa.

“The last 8km are 2000 metres above sea level and the last 3km are hellish,” he said. “You don’t need tactics there, just legs. The problem is that on the Stelvio it can snow even in August.”

Basso will have the chance to win if they ride the Stelvio, but if not, Nibali could win the race. I guess, that's what Basso says.