Saxo Director Co-authors Book with Cycling Legend, Ivan Basso

MILAN, May 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Ivan Basso, rider in professional cycling team Tinkoff-Saxo and two-time Giro d'Italia champion, has co-authored a new book about the mental and psychological challenges facing both traders and top sport athletes with the Head of Saxo Bank's Milan office, Gian Paolo Bazzani.

The new book called "The Broker and the Champion" features an interview between Gian Paolo Bazzani, and Ivan Basso, who re-joined Tinkoff-Saxo ahead of the 2015 season, discussing the parallels between trading and professional sport. The new book is currently available in limited edition on Saxo Bank Italy's homepage.

Gian Paolo Bazzani, who joined the online and investment specialist in 2010, said: "In the new book, we used Basso's deep experience and ability to make split-second decisions to outline the similarities between online trading and high-performance athletes. Athletes like Basso embody the ethos of seizing opportunities.

"My work with Basso clearly shows that White Collar and Colored Lycra have much more in common than one would presume. Buying or selling a currency is not based on snap decision-making but from a deep knowledge of the markets, well-prepared strategies and the ability to adapt to new scenarios. A similar set of skills and attributes are needed in professional cyclists when facing tests such as Milan-San Remo or the Giro d'Italia. I think this is also the reason we have seen increasing interest in cycling from the financial industry in recent years."

This view is supported by a recent Saxo Bank survey of financial services workers living in London which found that cycling is on track to become financial services' favourite sport. One in four of total respondents to the survey (24%) agree that the bike has replaced other status symbols in the City such as the fast car or the motorbike.

The main topics covered in the new book are:

• how to manage emotions under pressure
• how to build self confidence
• the perseverance "above all"
• the importance of planning and execution
• how to manage loss or defeat

The new book coincides with the start of Giro d'Italia and the release of a new video by Saxo Bank showing how Basso built up his reputation as one of the world's top mountain riders. The video also covers his fierce competitiveness and ability to look at challenges from all angles helping to push the whole Tinkoff-Saxo team forward.

Link to video: http://www.saxobank.com/sponsorships/

Link to book: http://it.saxobank.com/il-broker-e-il-campione (in Italian. Please wait for download e-mail)

Follow Ivan Basso on TradingFloor.com: https://www.tradingfloor.com/traders/ivan-basso

About Saxo Bank  

Saxo Bank is an online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, offering private investors and institutional clients a complete set of tools for their trading and investment strategies. Its financial community portal, TradingFloor.com, is the first multi-asset social trading platform. A fully licensed bank in Europe under supervision of Danish FSA, Saxo Bank enables clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives on our award-winning SaxoTrader platform, accessible on PCs, tablets or smartphones through a single account and available in more than 20 languages. The platform is white-labelled by more than 100 major financial institutions worldwide. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management as well as traditional banking services through Saxo Privatbank. Founded in 1992, Saxo Bank is headquartered in Copenhagen and has offices in 26 countries throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Australia.