Looks to me like a classic FIST position (other than the fact that his saddle is set farther back than he actually rides in order to meet UCI rules). Looks good to me.
And probably the fastest UCI legal setup money can buy right now.
Now that is one BFH (Big F-ing Helmet).
Can you post one of Dave Z’s? it would be interesting to compare the two, as one is on a P3C and the winner on a P3SL.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/giro05/?id=giro058/cycling-giro-tour-of-ita-28
Best I could find - not a great angle but seems to have a flatter back than Basso and is clearly hammering!
Gezee… does the guy eat at all?! Look at those arms…
Thanks, Ben. Not sure if his back is flatter than Basso’s, hard to tell at that angle.
“Now that is one BFH (Big F-ing Helmet).”
Note the attention to detail with the additional material added to the underside of the tail to present a more continous profile relative to his back/head position. Definitely signs of wind tunnel work…
I look EXACTLY like this in my setup. Well, at least the front wheel! OK, so my front wheel is a clincher. Oh, and I weight 35 more pounds. And the background wouldn’t be so out of focus if you took this shot of me from the side. And I have a Renn disc. And a “normal” helmet. And no shoe covers. No skinsuit either. Nor do I have as much drop between my seat and the armrests. I also don’t use flat bar extensions. OK, OK, I don’t have a pseudo double-diamond frame, and I’m not as good looking as the Bassman. Other than that, I look EXACTLY like this in my setup 
I think this is the first position pic I’ve seen on here in ages with a good-looking knee angle. Nice find on the photo.
Watch and learn, folks. You shouldn’t be reaching for the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke (even though he’s slightly past BDC).
Not really sure you can draw too many conclusion from any of the pro’s set-ups…
What is unique about looking at Basso’s set-up is many folks look at his drop rather than his position. I’m running to an appt, but perhaps we should photoshop out the bike on some of these shots. The reason I mention this is b/c his arms are pretty darn long and many folks simply couldn’t ride that amount of saddle/bar drop.
For 27sec more, you could be more comfy…
For 2.5 minutes back, you can be REALLY comfy… 
Apparently he’s at about 77 degrees of effective seat angle. He’s actually steeper but also higher than Bjorn.
Now that is one freakin cool position.
Bice bike too.
Notice he even goes balls out and doesn’t put any bartape on it.
Is that a new chainring? or are they just new decals?
I guess we now know which P3 is faster, right?
RP
Hmm, we know which rider and bike combination was faster on that day, yes.
Good spot on the chainrings - apparently they’re the O-symetric ones that Bobby Julich is always using. Don’t know if Basso’s a new convert but they’re on the same team so maybe…
OK, so some obvious tongue in cheek comments about which bike is faster, I think we all know that the real world performance difference between the P3 & the P3C is modest. Given that, let’s have a show of hands to see which one you would choose if money was no object. Performance difference small, drool factor huge. And of course, if you were in contention for a grand tour win, would you knowingly say no to any technical advantage at your disposal, regardless of how modest?
Actually, the real story with Basso is that only a couple of years ago TTing was regarded as his weakness. This really is a great result for him. I suspect the difference is a combination of both increased functional power and technical factors such as positioning and equipment, what the actual percentage of each is we can only speculate.
It is true, as one poster mentioned that it is difficult to draw conclusions about the pros positions. And most pros, indeed, most good cyclists and triathletes, shift position considerably depending on if it is a climb, flat, or a descent. While I don’t know where on the course this shot was taken, it does look like he is motoring on the flats and that this is a good shot of his ‘standard’ position. We know that considerable technical effort has been put into making a Basso a better time trialist by some very smart people, and that his performance has improved dramatically in this discipline, making it instructive to look at his position for anyone looking for a reference point for TT & tri positioning. After all, not that many other pros have not had similar resources devoted to their time trialing and we do not know to what extent their performances are because of or in spite of their positions.
Interesting observations, all quite valid of course. But the bike with the winning time was the P3SL, not the P3C. Therefore, the P3SL is the faster bike. Aluminum v. carbon, and aluminum won. So aluminum is faster than carbon, right? That is how it works, isn’t it?
I can’t believe all you people drank the P3C Kool-Aid.
RP
Interesting observations, all quite valid of course. But the bike with the winning time was the P3SL, not the P3C. Therefore, the P3SL is the faster bike. Aluminum v. carbon, and aluminum won. So aluminum is faster than carbon, right? That is how it works, isn’t it?
I can’t believe all you people drank the P3C Kool-Aid.
RP
Gosh, no one has ever said this before! Eureka! The fastest legs make a bigger difference than the equipment! How could I have never thought of that!
OK, sarcasm aside, I did say that the real world performance difference was small and the difference was mostly drool factor, which is purely subjective and has nothing to do with performance (except on a placebo level). Not really much in disagreement here.
“The fastest legs make a bigger difference than the equipment!”
How dare you make such statements on slowtwitch? It’s not about the legs; it’s about the equipment. Everybody here knows that. The P3SL won the day so it’s a better bike. Aluminum is faster than carbon. It’s now official. And Americans time trial better than anybody else. Americans on aluminum, that is.
Now let me put my sarcasm aside. Basso’s position was very good. And the P3C was the sharpest looking bike in the TT. Even Paul Sherwen commented on his position and the bike. The top pros are starting to put more and more time and effort into their positions. Lots of the guys had spent quite a bit of time in the wind tunnel, and the difference was obvious.
Now, if Basso had just ridden the SL, he would have won. 
RP
Nope, they are not Osymmetrics. They are Roundaholics, a revolutionary type of chainwheel. apparently round, a special shape found in nature, is a really good shape for a chainwheel. It’s a new carbon chainring from FSA (well, carbon sides with Alu teeth, much lighter than the old full-Alu one. And then they went on to paint it to make it look like an Ossymetric chainring, I have no idea why. I guess they don’t want anybody to know that Basso uses their chainring. weird.
I doubt that any of the riders you mention were more comfy than Basso. Why do people associate high with comfortable. All these riders who lost time on Ivan yesterday have tighter hip angles than him. He is just smart, sitting in a good position that and getting low without compressing his hip angle.