He was one of the main sprinters of the 1970s, often duelling with Belgians Patrick Sercu, Guido Reybroeck and Roger de Vlaeminck, and fellow Italian Dino Zandegù.

Basso won a total of 15 stages at the Giro d'Italia, 6 at the Tour de France and 6 at the Vuelta a España.

He was Giro d'Italia's points classification winner in 1971 and the Italian national champion in 1972.

After his professional career, Basso became a manager at a number of teams including Preti Mangimi.

This biographical article related to an Italian cycling person born in the 1940s is a stub.