Giorgia Bronzini does it again!!!! (post including random predictions for tomorrow):

6th July 2011:

The 5th stage of Giro Donne ends in Piacenza and Giorgia Bronzini (who wears the World Champion jersey and was born in that town) would love to win. In the finale she  does everything she can to get the victory, but an amazing Marianne Vos (who is wearing the Maglia Rosa) outsprints her right before the finish-line.

'I'll be honest: yes, I wanted to win this stage', the 27 year-old Italian said right after the finish-line. 'Piacenza is my hometown and winning a stage in front of my people, with this jersey on, would have been amazing. Still, right now Vos is the strongest rider of the field. Being outsprinted by a great champion like her is a honour'.

As if the defeat hadn't been enough hard to take, Giorgia's day got even worse when she was told about the death of Carly Hibberd, an Australian rider who was run over by a truck on the morning of that sunny summer day. A true hellish day for Giorgia, who didn't manage to get any victory during the Giro Donne and who has recently stated that the rainbow jersey so far has been a heavy burden for her, especially because since last October she's become one of the most 'marked' riders of the female peloton.

24th September 2011:

Almost three months after that sunny and sad Italian day, Giorgia Bronzini started the women road race in Copenhagen with a very good team surrounding her. The day before the race she had told Gazzetta that, in her opinion, Vos and Teutenberg were the main contenders for the rainbow jersey, 'but', she added, 'there are also other 4-5 girls who can do well in a bunch sprint and Monia Baccaille and I are amongst them'.

The day on the saddle flew away slowly and quickly at the same time. One hour of race and await, two hours of race and await, three hours of race and await, and all of a sudden you find yourself with 10 kms to go and you realise that the race is ending. A Canadian, Clara Hughes, is showing a lot of power and braveness by attacking on her own. The Dutch girls are already preparing their leadout train for Marianne Vos, who also this year has a lot of pressure on her shoulders. The 24 year-old in fact had won a lot of races this season and, on paper,  the Copenhagen parcours has always seemed perfect for her. Marianne this afternoon was as determined as never before because, in a certain way, the Worlds are a 'cursed' race for her. She won them in 2006 (her first year amongst the pros), but then she got the silver medal every year for the following 4 editions of the race. This afternoon she had the chance of ending this curse, and she wanted to grab it. She was ready.

Also Ina Yoko Teutenberg was determined to get a victory. The German rider in fact is already 37 and this morning she absolutely wanted to give her country another gold medal to be proud of. That's why Germany was working hard in the finale of the race, that's why everyone paid attention to the white jerseys at the front of the group.

With less than 6 kms to go, Clara Hughes was caught and an Italian, D'Ettorre, tried to create problems to the Dutch and to the German girls. A few meters later, a crash involved three Italian riders and that looked like the end of the rainbow ambitions of the Squadra Azzurra. Still, two girls were still up and running: Giorgia Bronzini and Monia Baccaille.

The Dutch women prepared a perfect sprint for Marianne Vos, but Monia Baccaille painted a true masterpiece in the last meters of race. In fact, she found a little hole between an athlete and the barriers and she went there without any fear. Bronzini followed her and she found herself at the head of the race. She was so cold-minded that she even managed to wait for the perfect moment to start her sprint and the perfect timing (just like Baccaille's perfect leadout) eventually paid off: Giorgia raised her arms happily, while Vos, second for the 5th time in a row, broke into tears. Third was Teutenberg, the rest didn't count.

Right after the finish-line the Italians started jumping and screaming. Their joy was impressive if compared to the sad looks on the faces of the Dutch girls. These are the names of the golden girls of Italian cycling: Scandolara, Guderzo, Cecchini (this girl was born in 1992!), Cantele, Bronzini, D'Ettorre (who comes from l'Aquila), Baccaille and Longo Borghini.

Right after the finish-line Bronzini was enthusiastic and she said that this victory is even better than the one she got last year. 'In Geelong Marianne Vos had made a big mistake in the final sprint, whereas this time she was perfect, just like Teutenberg. But still, I was faster than them'. The girls also had the chance of singing the national anthem for the Italian tv and they were extremely happy for their teammate's success. 4th victory in the last 5 Worlds for the Italians, 5th silver medals in the last 5 Worlds for Vos. Happiness on one hand, disappointment on the other one. That's life, that's sport, that's cycling. And that's an amazing edition of the Worlds. Bravissime ragazze!!!!

ELITE MEN ROAD RACE:

After talking about the Women Road Race, let's talk briefly about tomorrow's race. Unfortunately I may not be able to see it because I must go to my cousin's baptism. When I discovered about that, I started rabbiting on about people who plan important events on the day of the Worlds and at first my dad agreed with me. Then, however, he changed his mind. 'You don't remember the day when you were baptised, do you?', 'No, I don't', I obviously answered. 'Well, perhaps you should know that you were baptised on the day when Bugno won his second World title. Mum and her relatives were eating, you were sleeping, my four brothers, my father and I were in front of the restaurant's tv watching the race. And your uncles were screaming like mad'. How nice, isn't it? The day of my baptism, and everyone was celebrating Bugno. But still, I could take it as a divine sign, couldn't I? ;)

Anyway. Tomorrow's Worlds race will be 'attackers against sprinters'. The attackers will be the riders from Switzerland, Denmark,  Holland, Kazakhstan, Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, Croatia, Ukraine, Portugal, France (Feillu isn't in a good form yet), Colombia, Venezuela and Sweden. With respect talking, those who may actually try creating a dangerous breakaway are the Swiss, the Swedish, the Canadian, the Dutch, the Irish, the French and the Danish teams. Belgium, Belarus and Italy have some fast-but-not-too-fast riders (Van Avermaet, Hutarovich, Visconti, Oss, Viviani, Gilbert), so they'll probably attack too.

Unfortunately the attackers's chances aren't many. In fact the sprinters teams will be much more (and, if I can say it, much better) than the attacker's teams. Just read this list: Argentina (the Haedo brothers plus Richeze), Slovakia (Sagan), New Zealand (Henderson and Dean), Japan (Arahiro and Beppu), Russia (Galimzyanov), Slovenia (Bole and Bozic), USA (Farrar), Germany (Degenkolb, Greipel, Kittel), Great Britain (Cavendish), Australia (Cooke, Gerrans, Goss, Haussler), Spain (Hushovd, Boasson Hagen) and Spain (Freire, Rojs, Lastras). As you can see, all the strongest teams have at least one good sprinter. I think it will be difficult to create a winning breakaway, although many will try doing it: Hoogerland, Gilbert, Chavanel, Cancellara, Voeckler surely will try creating problems to the sprinters and, if they all go on a breakaway together, an Italian could join them too, thus making the action even more interesting. Unfortunately, tomorrow the important breakawayers will be chased by guys like Martin, Grabsch, Wiggins, Rogers, Martin / Peter Velits, Phinney and Talansky. Nice, isn't it? Therefore, miss Fede believes that tomorrow the race will end up in a bunch sprint. And, in particular, she thinks that tomorrow's finale may have the following podium: Boasson Hagen, Freire, Sagan. Still, she has to admit that also Farrar (who is veeery underestimated in these days), Goss, Bozic and Galimzyanov will be up there tomorrow.

As you can see, there isn't any Italian in my 'favourites list'  in case of bunch sprint. After all, everyone knows that we Italians are scaramantic people.... ;)

So, my top 3 for tomorrow is: Boasson Hagen, Freire, Sagan. What about you? ;)