Tour de France: silly remarks and stage reports

I know, ladies and gentlemen, the Tour started over a week ago and I still haven't written anything about it. However here I am, ready to keep my promise and delight you with my silly remarks about the competition.

So, let's start talking about the first stage of the race. Said stage wasn't won by Cavendish, and that's already a news. Second news: at the grande depart du Tour (and also on the following days) the weather was sunny - a great thing for the poor riders who had to take part in this year Giro too. Third news: yes, Corsica looks really wonderful. Btw, let's talk about what happened during the stage. The first breakawayers of the 100th Tour de France (what a honour!) were Jerome Cousin (Europcar), Juan José Lobato (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Lars Boom (Belkin), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun). Unfortunately, these brave riders were caught with about 40 kms to go.

Everyone knows that cycling is an unpredictable sport - as well as that, cycling can also be pretty weird. An example? Just imagine that your team bus gets stuck under the finish banner, when the riders are facing the last 10 kms of the race. Weird, isn't it? Well, that's what happened exactly a week ago to the Orica GreenEdge bus. Luckily the bus driver and the TdF staff managed to solve the problem before the arrival of the athletes.

Another thing about cycling that everyone knows is that the first week of the Tour is usually full of crashes - and this year's first week, unfortunately, was no exception. One of the first riders to hit the deck was Johnny Hoogerland, who fortunately managed to keep on racing. Oh, and talking about Johnny: he's the new Dutch champion, isn't that great?

Unfortunately also Ryder Hesjedal crashed during the first stage. Actually, the Canadian champion is still riding in spite of a broken rib. Unbelievable, isn't it?

Still talking about crashes, the biggest bunch crash of the first stage took place with a few kms to go and involved Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador. It was a very scary crash, especially for the supporters who were at the side of the road and risked to be run over by the riders. Luckily Cavendish, Sagan and Contador didn't get hurt.

As the few riders who survived the crash were ready to face the final sprint, poor Greipel punctured and couldn't take part in the fight for the first victory. Victory that went to Marcel Kittel, who outsprinted  Kristoff and the 19-year-old (yes, I'm feeling old too) Danny van Poppel.

Talking about the first stage, a few silly remarks. Firstly, Cavendish, Sagan and Greipel have won the national championships in their home countries. Isn't it cute? Secondly, I'm moving to Germany in 2 months time and since last Saturday, every time I feel scared about this, I think about Kittel's eyes and about his way of speaking English. Something tells me that I may get used to blue-eyed German boys who speak a very good and understandable English!

The second stage was very thrilling too. Lars Boom broke free from the peloton again, but he didn't have a lot of luck and was recaught with many kms to go. The stage featured a few climbs and this had bad consequences for Marcel Kittel, who lost contact from the main peloton with about 75 kms to go. Also Toni Martin lost contact. Poor Toni crashed hard during the first stage and is still riding in spite of some awful bruises - chapeau!

On the last climb there was an attack by Gautier, who was followed by Chris Froome. Impressing your rivals? You're doing it right, Chris.

With about 9 kms to go Gautier was caught, but other riders (Bakelants, Fuglsang, Izagirre, Mori, Chavanel and Flecha) broke clear from the peloton. With 2 kms to go, it looked like the breakaway riders had no chance of winning, but Bakelants attacked once again and managed to win the stage by crossing the finish-line one second before Peter Sagan. And Bakelants didn't only win the stage, he also got the yellow jersey :)  I was very happy for Jan's victory, since he is a rider who always attacks and always tries to get good results. Moreover, this was the first professional victory for the 27 year-old Belgian rider, who turned pro 5 years ago. Last but not least, the boy has also had to undergo an operation on his knee this year and I think that this makes his victory even more special. After all the bad luck he had so far (just think about his crash in the Giro stage to L'Aquila back in 2010), the boy fully deserved an amazing victory like this. Chapeau!

The third stage saw a head-to-head fight for the victory, starring Simon Gerrans and Peter Sagan. In the end the first place went to the Australian.

After the first three stages, the peloton said 'adieu' to Corsica and moved to Nice for a team time trial. Orica GreenEdge got a wonderful victory by riding 1 (one!) second faster than Omega Pharma guys. Third in the stage were the Sky guys, 4th was a very good team Saxo-Tinkoff (I was writing 'Saxo Bank'... ah sweet memories! :P). The yellow stage changed owner and ended up on Gerrans' shoulders.

The 5th stage brought the riders to Marseille. With about 13 kms to go there was a bad crash and poor Christian Vandevelde was involved in it together with many other riders. This was Christian's last Tour and he had to retire because of this crash. I think that this was very sad, because Vande Velde has always been a good GC rider and, if he hadn't been that unlucky, I think that during his cycling career he would have achieved many great results.

The stage was eventually won by Mark Cavendish, who outsprinted Boasson Hagen, Sagan and Greipel and got his 24th victory in the Tour.

The 6th stage ended in Montpellier. Jurgen Van Den Broeck didn't start it, just like Maxim Bouet. With 30 kms to go Mark Cavendish crashed and had to spend a lot of energy in order to go back in the peloton. With 10 kms to go instead bad luck hit Janez Brajkovic, who crashed and hurt his knee.

The final sprint was controlled by Lotto-Belisol and André Greipel repaid his teammates with a great victory. Second was (once again) Peter Sagan, whereas Marcel Kittel came in 3rd. The yellow jersey instead went to Daryl Impey and this made me very happy. Impey has been the first African rider to wear the maillot jaune and I think this was very nice, especially because of the hard time that Daryl had a few years ago, after his horrible crash in the last stage of the 2009 Tour of Turkey. If you want to know what happened during that stage, take a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d1EXmSp4D4 . Horrible, isn't it? Luckily Daryl managed to get over his injuries and has become the first African rider to wear the yellow jersey. Chapeau!

The 7th stage ended in Albi, which imo is a really gorgeous town. Brajkovic, Vande Velde and Malori all retired because of the crashes in which they were involved in the previous stages.

The parcours featured some climbs and Cannondale riders took advantage of this in order to drop Peter Sagan's main rivals. Cavendish, Greipel, Kittel, Van Poppel and many others crossed the finish-line with more than 14 minutes of delay, whereas Peter Sagan could finally get his first victory in this Tour. Second was Degenkolb, third was Bennati.

Talking about Sagan, you probably expect me to say something about his moustache... Well, I think they make him look more mature - and much hotter :P Fangirl approves!
And so we arrive to today's stage, which imo was simply depressing. I hated last year Tour because it was very boring and I'm afraid that also this year the race will be completely ruled by the Sky guys - first Froome, second Porte. And you know what? Next year Richie Porte will be the winner, whereas Henao will be the runner-up. What.a.bore.

Don't get me wrong - Chris Froome fully deserved this victory and Richie Porte was simply amazing. But this looks like the remake of the 2012 Tour, aka one of the most boring things I've ever seen. At least when Contador killed the 2009 Giro on Etna, the second rider to cross the finish-line wasn't a teammate of the Spaniard :P

The tempo that the Sky guys set on the Ax 3 Domains climb was simply terrible. One after the other, all the GC riders were dropped. Eventually, Valverde came in 3rd after a good performance - still, he crossed the finish-line with 1 minute and 8 seconds of delay. 4th was a very good Mollema, 5th was Ten Dam. Ten Dam over the last few years has become a very strong GC rider and I think that this year he may fight for a placement in the Tour top 5. As for Mollema, he's one of the promises of the Dutch cycling and I think that today, perhaps for the first time in his career, he's really showed all his talent. 6th was a good Nieve, who crossed the finish-line with 1' 34" of delay.

One of the main favourites for the final victory, Contador, crossed the finish-line in 8th, with a delay of 1' 45". Contador was helped by his teammate Kreuziger and crossed the finish-line with Anton, Quintana and the Liége winner. Kreuziger looked very strong this afternoon and hopefully he'll show us some good things also during the next stages. Quintana impressed me a lot as well: he's very young, but also very strong - and he can also ride downhill (which isn't that obvious for a Colombian rider :P)!

Rodriguez, who this year has focused just on the TdF, had 2'06" of delay. Rui Costa (a very good GC rider, look out for him!) was 12th, Daniel Martin 15th. Martin crossed the finish-line together with Talansky, Fuglsang and Rogers, 2' 34" after Froome.

Zubeldia had a delay of 3' (he's riding despite a broken hand, so imo his performance was simply amazing), whereas Kwiatowski arrived 3' 27" after Froome. Seven seconds after him, it was Andy Schleck's turn to cross the finish-line. Pierre Rolland and Roche (two riders I really liked) crossed a few seconds after the Luxembourgian.  Cadel Evans arrived 4' 13" after Froome, whereas Pinot crossed the finish-line with a 6 minutes delay. Apropos, the boy needs to improve his riding skills! :P Impey fought hard and had just 7' of delay, but that unfortunately wasn't enough to keep the yellow jersey. Hesjedal lost 8 minutes (the boy has a broken rib and is still riding, chapeau!), De Gendt arrived 17' after Froome.

After today's stage it's hard to find a rider who can seriously challenge Froome in the quest for the final victory. Still, I think that Evans, Contador and (why not?) Schleck will surprise us in the next stages. Moreover, young riders like Quintana may surprise us too.

Talking about Andy Schleck, I think he's finally back at a good level. 'But he's lost more than 3 minutes!', I hear you screaming. Yes, but I've finally seen him giving everything he had for a race, once again. The boy's gone through a tough period (just think about Frank's ban and that ridicolous story about him getting drunk in München), but I think he's got over it - and I can't wait to see him smiling for a race victory once again, perhaps already in this year Tour.

Talking about Andy, I think we all know about the hateful shitty thing that Radioshack just did to his brother Frank. Firing him just a few days before his ban expires was a disgusting thing and I wish there was a way to express all my disgust, hatred and whatever else to Radioshack's guys. I've always disliked them and now I think I was right. Hopefully the other riders on the team will defend Frank and find themselves a new team at the end of the season. I'm sorry for the honest people who work on that team, but there's always been something rotten in Radioshack. Hopefully Frank will soon manage to find a new team and get many amazing victories. Allez Schlecks!!

 

Back to blogging

Hello dear readers. Is there anyone left around here after the long break from blogging that I took last year? I don't think so, but still... If there's anyone left around (and no, I'm not talking about the stupid liars who spam every single post of mine), thank you. Otherwise, you're fully forgiven. After all I haven't written anything since... Oh my God, I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post! This is quite serious, isn't it? Seriously Fangirl, how come you haven't written anything about Gilbert's victory at the Worlds? And you haven't written anything about Sagan's performances in Flanders and Sanremo either! And... Menchov's retirement! You haven't written anything about it! Seriously, you must have come down with something really serious in the last few months. However, don't worry dear readers: after so many months of silence Fangirl and I have finally decided to start boring you again. Therefore, sit back and relax ;)

First of all I'd like to tell everyone that, as you can see, I'm still alive - and I'm also quite fine too actually. The last few months of my offline life have been quite hectic. For example, I've fallen in love with my best male friend, which of course is kinda weird. And no, I didn't need to end up on 'Friendzone' to tell him how I feel about him - and yes, it was embarassing enough even without cameras all around us and so on. Of course my 'You're growing on me, what do you think about this?' speech wasn't successful at all, but now at least I know what to expect from him. Moreover, this didn't change anything in our friendship, which is simply great. Another funny thing about my offline life is that in less than 4 months time I'll be living and studying in Germany (I'll go there in September and be back in July). Nice, isn't it? ;)

After talking a bit about my offline life, let's talk a bit about this blog. First of all, I'd like to insult every single person who's wasted their time spamming my blog in the last 8 months. Seriously guys, you need to get a life. And please, try writing down better comments if you want me to visit your little sweety website. Secondly, I'd like to tell everyone that I've quite missed writing these posts in the last few months. Now that I've taken up blogging again, however, I don't think I'll be able to keep my webpage updated. However, if I ever decide to end my career as a blogger, I'll surely tell you. In the meanwhile, enjoy this post, expect some updates for the Tour and let me thank you for reading and checking this page again after all this time. I've missed you all during the last few months!

And now let's finally talk about something serious. The Giro d'Italia is over and this year it was won by Vincenzo 'Enzino' Nibali. I'm really happy about this because I think that Nibali is a very modest, kind and strong rider who deserves all the best. I remember his attempts to win Tour of Lombardy and Liége last year and I simply loved his attacks. Moreover I like Nibali because he does well not only in TTs, but also when the road gets steep. I don't really like riders like Wiggins who kill a Grand Tour after the first time trial, so I was really happy about Nibali's triumph. And then he and his family are so sweet! On Sunday (apropos, how many people were there in Brescia? It was amazing!) his parents and his wife talked on the Italian tv and they were all very cute. His father remembered when he had to saw Enzino's little bike because he had been naughty. His mother instead said that Vincenzo used to skip school when he was a kid and of course she and her father didn't approve this at all. Nibali's wife instead said that her husband is very nice, although he has a bad relationship with the curtains of their house (it looks like the new Giro king is unable to mount them - is this correct in English? :P). Lovely, lovely Nibali! :D

Second in the race was Uran. The boy's got a lot of talent and a very sad story behind. His father in fact was accidentally killed in a gunshot when Rigoberto was still a young boy. In this Giro the Colombian riders did very well: just think about Uran, Duarte and also about Betancur, the white jersey of the race. I really like Carlos because he looks very kind and open. Moreover, the boy wears tooth braces: how cool is that?

Third on the podium was Cadel Evans. The Australian is the oldest rider  to end up on the Giro's podium in the last 85 years. Talking about the podium, how sweet is Cadel's son?

Talking about the Giro, every rider who made it to Brescia should be considered a hero. This morning I risked to freeze while walking in my town and I was wearing a sweater and a leather jacket. These guys instead, dressed in their lycra kits, managed to climb Tre Cime di Lavaredo in spite of the snow. Chapeau!

Nibali simply ruled this year's race, still I really enjoyed the daily battle for the stage victories. Visconti's triumph on Galibier, for example, was simply touching. Giovanni went through depression this winter, so it was nice for him to get such a huge victory. And he won in a similar way also a few days later, chapeau!

Unfortunately in this Giro there was also a very unpleasant thing called Danilo Di Luca. His ds got mad at him when he found out that Di Luca had used epo and he called him 'asshole' while talking to Cyclingnews journalists. Bettini instead said that Di Luca is a jerk. Nice, isn't it?

Talking about cycling, here's the last thing for today:

http://russiaoggi.it/sport/2013/05/27/denis_menchov_lascia_il_ciclismo_24345.html .

Yes, unfortunately it looks like Denis Menchov has retired. Of course Fangirl is very sad about it, but Logic thinks that Menchov's choice deserves a lot of respect. Why? Well, simple: Stefano Garzelli has retired too and his last race was this year Giro d'Italia. I don't know about you, but I found out that he was racing only on the last day of competition, when journalists complimented him on his great career. Menchov decided to avoid this situation and, now that he's retired, the last memory I have of his career is the victory on the Bola del Mundo. Not bad, isn't it?

However, talking about the Silent Russian, here are some parts of the article linked above (which reports some parts of an interview that Menchov had with a Russian newspaper):

'During my first months on the Banesto team, I used to speak in French. As a student I had very high marks in French and this helped me a lot because at the time we would often race in France or in Belgium. Then I bought myself a couple of books in Spanish. Believe me, when you're forced to learn a foreign language, you really do your best to achieve your goal. I moved to Spain at the beginning of February and in May I could already speak Spanish freely. At the time there was no Internet, so I had just a vocabulary, two grammar books and a phrasebook. Then one day I realised that I didn't need them anymore and that I could speak without problems'.

Talking about his nicknames ('The silent storm' and 'the silent killer'), Menchov said: 'Silent storm? Really? I simply don't like talking after a race, especially if it's an important one'.

Talking about his future plans, Menchov said: 'one day, maybe, I'll sit under the July sun to support Katusha team while drinking beer and watching the Pyrenees stages of the Tour'.

Aaah, I'll miss my Silent Russian (and to say that I've taken up Russian just to be able to meet him and ask for his signature in Russian)! :)

Well, this is all for the moment. The next update will probably come out in the Tour period - however, check out this page at least once every fortnight ;) Good evening and thanks for reading!

Vinokourov :D

Alright dear readers, just a few words about the Olympic cycling road race and about the opening ceremony (I'm in a great hurry, so I can't say a lot about them).

About the Opening Ceremony: I obviously loved the big Voldemort, the bike riders/doves, the music (Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Sir Paul McCartney, Queen, Sex Pistols, Who, Rolling Stones), the queen acting as Bond-girl, the amazing scenes related to the Industrial Revolution. I adored the team parade (some athletes wore exceptional typical clothes), Mohammed Ali's presence, Mr. Bean's show, the way they lit up the Olympic flame. On the other hand, I was very angry at Rogge for refusing to mention the dramatic Olympic Games of 1972. However, all in all, a very pleasant and funny ceremony.

Olimpic road race: Sky tried to control the race just like it tried to control the Tour, but this time things didn't go as planned. Cavendish didn't seem in great shape and the Germans, the Australians and the Belgians didn't really help the British team in the chase of the breakaways. The first breakaway was formed by interesting guys like Menchov or Pinotti, then Nibali attacked with a lot of kms to go and a big breakaway was formed. Great Britain seemed to believe that they could catch this breakaway again, but it didn't happen. Perhaps Wiggo & Co. overestimated their strength. Some riders (Nibali, Fuglsang, Van Garderen...) and some teams (Great Britain, Switzerland) put in some great performances, but in the end the victory went to one of the most intelligent guys in the peloton, aka Vinokourov. He and Uran attacked with 7 kms to go and then the Khazakhstan rider outsprinted the Colombian (slightly naive) climber in the final meters. 3rd was a good Kristoff (apropos, has anyone understood why Nordhaug attacked with about 20 kms to go?), 4th Phinney. Poor Cancellara crashed with a few kms to go and crossed the finish-line in tears.

During this race the riders couldn't use radios and therefore we could witness a few embarassing race strategies (Spain, I'm talking about you). Moreover, I got very angry when Eisel started helping Great Britain - as if Nibali had helped Sagan because they ride for the same team. Bleah!

Imo Great Britain made a mistake in letting so many riders go away. Also Germany however made a huge mistake by thinking the British could do everything on their own. Talking about Germany, I was surprised by the absence of Jens Voigt. How can you leave him home for such an important race?

Last but not least, a few words about Phinney: the boy ended in 4th (a good result), but perhaps he could have tried to launch an attack in the last kms of race. Still, Taylor is young and I'm sure he'll get a great result in the TT competition.

So, that's all for the moment - AAVL, it's party time!!! :D :D

Some thoughts about this TdF (plus little update about Vuelta)

Boring and predictable. These are the first words that come to my mind when I think about this year TdF. The parcours was probably designed by a monkey, especially if you consider that there were 100 kms against the clock and just 3 summit finishes. Moreover, this year the TdF organisers tried to insert new, unknown climbs in the parcours in order to make the race more exciting. And here I must say that, although I liked the Planche des Belles Filles climb, I didn't really love the ascent to Peyragudes (Peyresourde, 2 kms of descent, and 3 other kms uphill: not my kind of climb). Moreover, imo this Tour lacked of stages that could help grimpeurs to gain positions in the GC. For example, although the famous 'Tour of death' (Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde and 16 kms of descent to the finish-line in Pau) is part of the Tour history, it isn't that selective anymore; the infamous Mur de Peguere, a very steep climb, could have created some problems to Wiggins, but it was placed 40 kms far from the finish-line; during the Porrentruy stage then there were about 16 kms of descent between the last not-that-steep climb and the finish-line; during the stage to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine instead le Col du Grand Colombiere was faced with 40 kms to go. Launching an attack there, when Wiggins still had Porte, Rogers and Froome to rely on, would have been a tactical suicide for everyone. And whereas this Tour lacked of exciting, important climbs, it had a lot of kms against the clock. And, unfortunately for the already damaged grimpeurs, the two long TTs of the race were both completely flat, so that they perfectly suited specialists like Bradley Wiggins.

Much have already been said about this year parcours. Still, me would really like to know why the TdF organisers decided to create such a shameful route. In the last few years Proudhomme & Co. have taken some very patriotic decisions (for example, a few years ago they excluded Denis Menchov and Geox from the race in order to invite Saur-Sojasun), but this year good old ASO created a parcours that, at least on paper, seriously damaged the two promises of French cycling, aka Pinot and Rolland. The two young riders were strong enough to get good victories anyway and to arrive in the top 10, but me wonders what would have happened if this year the parcours had featured less kms against the clock and more steep climbs. To give you an idea of the importance that the TTs had this year, Gazzetta's journalists have made a few calculations and have discovered the following thing: Nibali (3rd in Paris with a delay of 6'09" from Wiggins) lost 6 minutes during the TTs, and 9" on the climbs. Nice, isn't it?

After talking about the parcours, however, let's talk a bit about the race itself. Or, better, let's talk about the riders who kept the race under control for 3 long weeks. Wiggo arrived in Liége with the role of favourite pinned on him and an amazing team on his side. Froome, Rogers, Porte... each of them could have been a captain in any other team of the world. The one who suffered most from this situation was poor Mark Cavendish: the world champion (who had to work even on the mountains to help his captain) had just one man (Eisel) that could help him during the chaotic sprints of the Grande Boucle. Nevertheless, Cav managed to win three stages anyway. In particular, I think that his triumph in Brive-La-Gaillarde was one of his most beautiful victories. As for the final stage in Paris, Cavendish won it for the 4th time in a row after having had the honour of seeing the yellow jersey working in his lead-out train. Still, on that day I was very impressed by Sagan: that boy could be a very serious threat to Cav even in London.

Back to team Sky, the fact that all the riders on the team just seemed to care about the GC often favoured the riders who wanted to go on a breakaway. And in fact this year there were many, many stages that were won by riders who survived a breakaway and on many occasions the peloton crossed the finish-line with about 10 minutes of delay from the daily winner. Luckily the fight for the stage victories were often very exciting and that was probably the most interesting thing of the race.

Still talking about Team Sky, let me spend a few words on Christopher Froome. The boy is strong, no doubts about that, and if he had raced for another team perhaps he would have won this Tour. Many got angry at him during the Peyragudes stage, when he kind of 'humiliated' Wiggins by trying to show that his climbing skills were better than Bradley's ones. Imo Froome on that occasion lacked of respect towards Wiggo, but all in all I think that, after the amazing work he did for his captain, Chris should be forgiven without problems. There aren't so many strong loyal helpers out there!!

Talking about the GC riders not belonging to team Sky, Vincenzo Nibali rode a very good race. Italian journalists have counted a total of 5 attacks to Wiggins during this race and 4 of them were launched by the Liquigas rider. Nibali is a very good and generous rider and I was very happy to see him on the final podium in Paris. Still, I'm not quire sure he can repeat this result next year, with Contador and Schleck racing as well.

Another very generous rider during this race was poor Vandenbroeck, who lost a few minutes in the GC because of the infamous Metz carnage. His team, Lotto, was very good especially at helping Greipel in getting victories. Talking about the German, I think he's a very good sprinter indeed. Still, he never really had a head-to-head fight with Cavendish and this explains the few doubts I still have about his strength.

5th in the GC (and first in the white jersey classification) was Teejay Van Garderen. The American helped Cadel Evans during the first two weeks of race, but then he could eventually race for himself - and that's the result. Van Garderen has always been one of the most talented GT riders around and this year he clearly proved what he's capable of. Give him a couple of years and imo you'll see him on the  Tour podium in Paris.

Talking about BMC, the American team began the race with one goal: helping Evans to win another Grande Boucle. Still, the Australian had a very difficult third week and in the end the best team rider was Van Garderen. I don't know what went wrong with Evans: perhaps, just like Basso, Menchov and many other riders, he's simply entered the last part of his long and successful career. Nevertheless, he ended the race in 7th.

6th in the final GC was Haimar Zubeldia,who has recently revealed that during the first part of the season he suffered heart problems. Now he's finally recovered and this 6th place definitely proves it.

8th in the race (in spite of all the kms against the clock) was Pierre Rolland. The Frenchman was probably hardly insulted by his colleague during the famous tacks-stage, but his Tour was very good anyway. The Europcar rider in fact managed to win the stage to La Toussuire (imo the hardest one of the race) and got a top 10 placement in the final GC. And this in spite of losing 11 minutes from Wiggins just because of the TTs. Chapeau Pierre!

9th in the GC was Janez Brajkovic. A good Tour for the Astana rider, who however never showed up in the battles for stage victories.

10th was an exceptional Pinot. The FDJ rider (who is just 22 years old) managed to win the Porrentruy stage and arrive in the top 10 in spite of the many TTs that risked to favour Andreas Kloeden, who seriously threated Thibaut's placement in the top 10. Still, the young French rider managed to get the 10th place in front of the experienced rider - and he did all this in his first Tour de France. Amazing, isn't it?

11th in the GC was Andreas Kloeden - now, let me spend a few words about Radioshack's Tour. I don't know how, but this time managed to win the final Team Classification during the race. Actually, one could realise that this was their only goal already in the first week, when Frank Schleck crashed in Metz and no one waited for him 'coz we fuckin' want the team prize, man!'. Radioshack surely had a very talented team (Jens Voigt was simply superb this year), but the boys seemed to fight against each other for the whole 3 weeks of race. Imo, someone in the team (the ds and the management) should seriously rethink their priorities. A serious cycling team racing the TdF in fact should probably try and get as many stage victories as possible, not try to get the first place in the team classification. Moreover, a serious cycling team racing the TdF should probably try to have a rider on the final podium of the race. Instead Radioshack decided to leave Fuglsang at home in order to take a tired American (Horner) in Europe for a three week holiday in France. Anyway. Imo the most positive riders on the team were Zubeldia, Voigt and Cancellara. In particular, the Swiss saved Shack's race by winning the first stage and giving them the 'we've already kept the yellow jersey for a week, we can be satisfied with this' excuse. Therefore, Radioshack guys should be really grateful to Fabian.

Talking about the other race prizes, the green jersey went to Peter Sagan. I've already talked a lot about the amazing talent of this boy and I don't have anything to add to what has already been said and written about him. Peter's a champion, that's all we can say.

Let's now talk a bit about the polka dots jersey. I actually have no words to describe how grateful I am to Thomas Voeckler for amusing me with his wonderful facial expressions during many of the boring days of this Tour. I really like T-Blanc, although every time he outsprinted poor Kessiakoff on the climbs I felt unbelievably sorry for the Swedish rider. However, Voeckler did an amazing job this year and I think he really deserved the polka dots jersey. Thomas is becoming a hero for the French and I can perfectly understand why. I'm sure that when he retires, someone will build him a statue on the Champs.

After talking about the polka dots jersey, let me spend a few words on the combativity award. You all know that Chris Anker Sorensen has always been one of the favourite riders of mine - and during this Tour he reminded me why I like him so much. Chris tried to enter in every single breakaway, just like his teammate Morkov and many other riders (LL Sanchez, Vinokourov, Voeckler, Voigt...). And he was in a breakaway when, during the Peyragudes stage, he cut his finger in a very deep way while trying to take a newspaper out of his wheel. In spite of the pain and of the blood that kept on spilling out of the cut, Chris managed to end the stage in 24th and went on racing until he reached the Champs Elysées. There he could climb on the podium to receive the combativity award. Once he received the prize, Chris gave a long, moving stare at the Arc de Triomphe. When he first became a pro, I remember he said he would have liked to win the polka dots jersey in the Tour. This year he didn't make it, but he managed to step on the Paris podium anyway. Well done Chris!

As for the other breakaway riders, I think a special mention must go to Vinokourov, LL Sanchez, Morkov, Devenyns, Rui Costa and some other riders I've probably forgotten. One of the riders that managed to get a stage victory was Fedrigo, one of the best riders at reading race strategies. Also Valverde managed to survive a breakaway and get a great and moving victory on Peyragudes.

Back to the GC, a little mention goes to Nicholas Roche. I really like this rider because his blog is one of the funniest thing I've ever read, but imo the boy should make a choice: during a GT, is it better to chase a big stage victory or a top 10 placement? It's a difficult question, but I think Nicholas should try to answer it if he wants to become a better rider.

So, this is just part of what I'd like to say about this Tour de France. Still, I don't have much time to blog in these days and it'd take me forever to write down all my thoughts about the last few stages, about guys like Vansummeren racing on despite a broken vertebra, about guys like Basso helping their captains, about guys like Menchov (my Menchov!!) apparently facing the last part of his long and successful career. As I said, unfortunately, I don't have enough time to write.

The Tour is finally over and Wiggo (who was the strongest time trialist, had the strongest team and had no rivals on the climbs) won the race. He showed that this year, on this parcours, he was the strongest rider and deserved to win. Still, I think that next year we'll probably be able to understand more about the value of his victory. Now that the Tour is over, Wiggo, Cav and most of the Tour riders are heading to Lodon for the Olympic Games. Still, in my mind I still have the feeling that the final stage to Paris left me. Although this was a boring Tour, although the parcours sucked, although none of the Schlecks ended it, after the curtains fell on the biggest race of the world I felt lost, and I started to await next Tour de France. Because, all in all, the Tour is the Tour, aka one of the races every cycling follower loves the most.

Bye to everyone and enjoy the Olympics! (apropos, Go Italy!!)

VUELTA UPDATE: Andy Schleck won't race nor the Vuelta, now the Tour of Lombardy. On the other hand, he'll take part in important events such as Tour of Colorado and Tour of Beijing - which, in case you don't know it, have always played a very important role in the cycling history. Alright, end of the little update - now I'm off to burn the Schleck poster I have on my wardrobe. Have a good weekend everyone and enjoy the opening ceremony at the Olympics!

What do you think

Yesterday was definitely a quite day. I met up with my friends in the evening and, after buying an ice cream, we decided to sit down on a bench and talk. We talked about university, about holidays, about annoying relatives and more. We didn't talk about cycling, no. Actually, we never talk about cycling because, every time I say something about this topic, friends look at me and nod their heads, but they don't understand a word of what I say. Therefore, I always avoid speaking about cycling with them. In a certain way, this is an unwritten rule of our little team.

I came back home at midnight and I decided to play with my Playstation for a while. I was there, looking at the tv screen and trying to get over that damned level when, all of a sudden, my sister came in and read me a sms that a friend of her had just sent her. 'They've found Schleck positive at the anti-doping. What do you think?'

My sister read the message a second time and looked at me, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately for her, I hadn't understood the full meaning of the sms yet. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping'. A simple sentence, if you look at it. A subject, a verb, a completement. Still, sometimes certain simple sentences are the most difficult to understand.

My sister's friend didn't ask her a question, no. He abandoned her with a short statement, with no details, with this thunder, powerful and unexpected in the cool summer night, to deal with. After reading me the sms for a third time, my sister looks at me and still waits for answer. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping. What do you think?' I would like to tell her that right now I can't actually think. I keep looking at my tv, pretending this is just a joke and trying to remain calm. 'Keep calm and play Playstation!', Logic tells me. She doesn't have to ignore Fangirl because Fangirl is speechless, although deep down she's screaming for explanations, for an answer to all her questions and also to that other question, the one my sister asked me. What do I think - yes, I'd definitely love to have the answer to that question too.

My sister later tells me that Frank resulted positive to a diuretic. I try not to look worried - after all, I'm not the screaming Fangirl I was a few years ago - and I actually manage to. I feel calm, the news hasn't quite sunk in yet. I wait, I keep on playing Playstation.

About 20 minutes later, my sister goes to bed. I keep on playing, I can't get over this level and I wonder why. Perhaps it's because I'm not focused, perhaps it's because I'm thinking about something else. Or perhaps it's because I'm simply not good enough.

By the time I stop playing it's already 2.20 am. Before going to bed, however, I turn on the tv and watch the latest sport news. And there I see that sentence one again. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping'. I open Televideo (a strange thing that allows you to have a sort of newspaper on your tv) and I see that strange combination of words once again. I read the article under the headline, hoping to find out more about what happened. There are a few details in it, but you can clearly see that also the person who wrote the article didn't expect this thunder to ruin their day. You see the name of the diuretic and you tell yourself that, since you've never heard it, perhaps there has been a mistake in the analysis; perhaps the B sample will be different from the A sample. You think about this fact, you read that name again. As usual, it is one of those names that people can't easily learn. 'Who decides the names for those things?', you wonder yourself. Still, you know that that is the least important question that's running through your mind at the moment. You go on reading, you see that Frank has withdrawn from the Tour. You compare his attitude to the one of other riders and you smile inside. 'That's my boy', Fangirl whispers with an invisible shade of pride in her voice.

You go to bed, you still can't believe what has happened. On the following day you wake up and discover further details. You read Radioshack's statement according to which 'the team has a policy of transparency as far as doping is concerned' and you can't help but laugh. You think about Bruyneel's past, you think about Frank's past, you think about Bjarne Riis and you see him wondering what happened to his boy; you think about the forum supporters who, from today, will claim that 'they never really liked those Schlecks', because it's known that what happens to Frank has consequences also on Andy and viceversa; and you think about yourself, about your feelings. Surprisingly, you don't feel shocked and you don't feel angry. You feel suspended, as in a dream.

You read that Frank denies having taken a diuretic and you believe him. Still, an annoying voice in the back of your mind reminds you that also Riccò, Piepoli and many others 'had no idea' of how CERA and other horrifying substances had managed to end up in their blood. You look for some information about diuretics but, as soon as you read things like 'NaCl', 'potassius' and so on you close the webpage and go back to your thoughts. The annoying voice in the back of your mind reminds you that this is the worst year ever for the Schleck brothers. 'If Frank has taken diuretic and has had such bad results, what did he take during last year Tour, when he arrived 3rd?' You hear this voice in the back of your mind and you try to suffocate it, while you almost feel ashamed by your own thoughts. You think about Fuentes and you send also that thought away from your mind. All in all, you can't believe that your favourite rider has really doped and this leaves you in a state of confusion. You've seen other supporters facing this before and they all looked angry, betrayed, sad. Instead, you just feel indifferent and this makes you feel strange and unreal. What's wrong with you?

You see your parents, they go to work. They're both cycling lovers, they're both looking forward to today's mountain stage at the Tour. They don't know that the daily broadcast is going to start with a doping-news and you don't feel like warning them. You want to avoid their questions, while trying to understand how you feel about this whole thing. You look for answers, you find illusions and doubts. You feel confused and silly because you don't, you can't believe that your favourite rider has doped, but there's nothing to support your belief.

You read Cyclingnews' live coverage of the race and it starts with the news of Frank's positive test. You read that Shack's bus was surrounded by journalists this morning and you see certain images in your mind. The images of Riccò, of Vinokourov, of Di Luca. Unfortunately, this time you can't simply join the screaming crowd and point your finger at the dirty rider, because the dirty rider in question is someone you've always believed in, is one of the two people who got you into this sport. Now, unfortunately, everything seems much more real. You read statetements about the case, you read the opinions of journalists and you try avoiding cycling forums. Then, you find a statement by Jens Voigt, who's been a friend and a colleague of Schleck over the last 7 years. "It's not easy but we'll wait for the B sample and for what Frankie has to say. After all it's many years that I've said he's a good friend of mine. Friendship goes not only in the sunshine but also when it rains. I still believe in him". In Voigt's words I've finally found my own thoughts about this case.
I've been a supporter of Frank for the last 5 years and, although I often criticised him and his brother, I can't help but believe in him. That's not rational, that's not clever. Call me stupid - or, more simply, call me a supporter. I don't care anyway.

TdF stages and more:

Ok dear readers, miss Fede is back blogging after a few days of break and really has a lot to tell. Therefiore, let's begin immediately.

First of all, a little news about team RANT: it looks like Jakob Fuglsang has sued Radioshack for unpaid wages. Unfortunately this is only one of the many negative episodes that have involved Jakob and Radioshack's ds/management in the last few months. For example, Fuglsang (who right now is in a very good shape) was excluded from this year TDF team at the very last moment, so that his place on the team could be taken by Horner, one of Bruyneel's favourite riders. Now, everyone knows that Schleck and Horner are very good climbers, but that they're not that good at racing against the clock; and at the same time, everyone knows that Kloeden (another rider that Bruyneel adores) is good at time trialing, but isn't that good at climbing. Now, Jakob is a good climber and a very ood time trialist - why did Radioshack leave him at home then? Mistery.
The Danish rider has recently managed to take a little revenge on RANT's ds by winning Tour of Austria and showing the world that some people on his team probably don't know what they're doing. Still, something bad was about to happen to him: a few days ago in fact Radioshack's ds Bruyneel stated that Jakob wouldn't take part in any other World Tour race from here to the end of the season. Why? Simple: if Jakob takes part in these races and gets good results, he'll earn UCI points; considering that Fuglsang wants to leave Radioshack at the end of the season, this means that he will bring these UCI points to his new team. As a consequence, Bruyneel stated that it is completely normal to leave the Danish out of the most important races for the rest of the season, because he doesn't want Jakob to bring UCI points to the rivals of team RANT. Now, I've always hated the ProTour system, Bruyneel and Radioshack/Leopard Trek, so I may be a bit impartial while writing these lines: but still, what the hell lies in the head of team RANT's ds? A dead hamster? Seriously, I can't believe that someone who has such an important role in professional cycling can be so mean to the sport he's supposed to love. If everyone shared Bruyneel's same idea, Andy Schleck wouldn't have won the 2010 Tour de France, Gilbert wouldn't have won the Ardennes Classics last year, Hushovd wouldn't have raced last year Tour. Seriously, all I wish right now is that Jakob goes back to Saxo Bank as soon as possible and that Bruyneel soon gets a lifetime ban from cycling. Luckily, it looks like this latter thing is about happen (and it was high time!).

After talking about Fuglsang's problems with Radioshack, let's talk about the Tour de France.
On Monday the riders faced a very important stage, a 41.5 kms long TT in Besançon. I don't really love time trials, probably because none of the GT riders I support is very good at them. Still, some TTs manage to bore me and annoy me much more than others - and Besançon's stage definitely bored me and annoyed me more than many other TTs. Actually, it didn't just bore me and annoy me: it managed to bring me really, really down. 'Why?', some of you may ask me. 'What happened on that day?' Well, simple: the Sky duo Wiggins-Froome rocked the stage and the yellow jersey gained half a minute on Froomie, almost a minute on Cancellara, 1'43" on Evans, 2'07" on Nibali, 2'08" on Menchov, about 4' on Schleck.
Now, when a GT rider loses so much time in a TT they're usually unhappy, but they know that they'll have the chance of reducing the gap from their rivals on the climbs. Moreover, if I were a grimpeur, after a TT like Besançon's one I would probably be very relieved by the lack of other long time trials in the rest of the GT I'm racing. Unfortunately, this year Tour doesn't feature any super hard mountain stage and, most important, at the end of the third week there is another TT, which is 53 kms long (!!) and will probably give Wiggo at least other 2 minutes of advantage on his strongest adversaries. Now, tell me how a guy like Schleck or Van Den Broeck can decide to attack with the thought of this other TT waiting for him just behind the corner. Seriously, this year I have even more respect than usual for the riders who are trying to attack the yellow jersey although they're not good time trialists. Van Den Broeck, Evans, Nibali & Co. chapeau to you all.

After the Besançon TT, the riders faced a stage which featured the Col du Grand Colombiere with 40 kms to go and a 3rd category climb with 20 kms to go. Many riders tried to go on a breakaway and in the end the ones who managed to break clear from the peloton were Voeckler, Duracell's rabbit Jens Voigt (who's almost 41), LL Sanchez, Devenyns and Scarponi. With 2 kms to go Devenyns tried to attack, but the stage's victory was decided by an uphill sprint in which Voeckler outsprinted Scarponi and Voigt. I really like Voeckler, so I was happy for his victory, but deep down Fangirl would have preferred a victory by Scarponi or by Voigt (although the thought of Bruyneel rejoicing makes her a little sick).

As for the GC, nothing changed on the road to Bellegard-sur-Valserine. Nibali tried to attack on the descent down le Grand Colombiere and met Sagan on the following climb. Together they gained a minute on the yellow jersey group, but unfortunately their action was eventually neutralised. I've often heard people saying that 'it's the riders who make races exciting, not the parcours'. Well, so far in this Tour Nibali, Evans and Van Den Broeck have often tried to create problems to Wiggins, but imo this year route doesn't give them a lot of chances to overcome Sky's invincible armada. Still, chapeau for trying.

The following stage was so far one of the most exciting of this Tour. During it the riders faced la Madeleine, la Croix de Fer (I love the name of this climb!!), Col du Mollard and La Toussuire. As predictable, many riders decided to go on a breakaway and amongst them there was also Chris Anker Sorensen (yay!), who won the Toussuire stage at 2008 Dauphine. Together with him there were tough guys like Rolland, Kern (who did an amazing work for his younger teammate), Kiryenka, Valverde, Kiserlovski, Leipheimer, P. Velits, Kessiakoff (who absolutely wanted to take the polka dots jersey away from Voeckler), Leipheimer and Scarponi. Talking about the polka dots jersey, on la Croiz de Fer there was a sprint between Kessiakoff and Rolland in order to take the points for the jersey. Rolland won, but both he and the Swedish rider risked to crash during that duel.

As the breakaway was riding towards La Toussuire, things began to change in the GC group. First of all, Menchov got dropped and lost 13'. This was a shattering news to this Fangirl, especially because the Italian chronist said it with a completely nonchalant voice, as if he was saying that once upon a time he had a stomach-ache. Menchov was very disappointed after the finish-line, especially because he didn't expect this debacle. Still, that's the way things go in cycling: one day you feel strong, the following day you have problems riding your bike to the finish-line. Hopefully the Silent Russian will manage to get a good result before the end of the race.

On la Croix de Fer also Zubeldia and Schleck got dropped and the way this happened made me a bit suspicious. Here's what I saw: Zubeldia and Schleck were struggling at the bottom of the main group (pulled by Sky), then Haimar gave up and Schleck imitated him. Still, Frank kept on looking at the Spaniard and seemed much more relaxed than him. And on the two following climbs, Frankie managed to stay with the strongest riders for a very long time. Logic reminds me that while I was watching that stage I was also putting my nail-polish on, having a shower, ironing clothes, talking on the phone and doing many other things (I had to go out with a friend that evening), but Fangirl thinks Schleck was stopped in order to help Zubeldia. Is Fangirl completely crazy? "Ai posteri l'ardua sentenza" - or, better, 'time (and perhaps also your comments) will tell'.

On the col du Glandon the breakaway members became just 4 (Rolland, Sorensen, Kiryenka and Kiserlovski), whereas Evans launched an attack with the help of Teejay Van Garderen. Still, Sky managed to control the race without problems. On the last climb, instead, things changed: as Rolland was slowly riding towards his second TdF victory, Van Den Broeck and Pinot attacked and were soon joined by Nibali, who decided to try his luck with 10 kms to go. Just a few riders could cope with Froome's hellish pace at the front of the peloton, but at a certain point Froomie seemed unable to continue pulling and Wiggo in person had to chase Nibali. A few seconds later, Froome began pulling for his captain again and, surprisingly, he dropped him. As soon as Froome reached Nibali, it looked as if he wanted to ride towards the finish-line together with the Italian, Pinot and Van Den Broeck. Still, Sky's ds immediately ordered him to stop and to wait for Wiggo. Froome listened to his chief and ended the stage in 3rd, 2" ahead of Van Den Broeck, Nibali and Wiggins. Second was an amazing Pinot, 7th a generous Sorensen. Evans crossed the finish-line together with Schleck and Van Garderen and suffered about a minute and a half of delay from Wiggins. Krivstov and Petacchi ended the race out of the time cut (the Italian rider heavily crashed during a descent), whereas Kenny Van Hummel was the last proud rider to cross the finish-line inside the time cut (allez Kenny!!). Cancellara didn't start the stage in order to be close to his wife for the birth of their second daughter. Sweet, isn't it? :)

The following stage to Annonay suited breakaways and, in fact, five men (Peraud, Millar, Gautier, Kiserlovski and Egoi Martinez) decided to try their luck. The stage winner was David Millar, the same rider who was banned for 2 years (from 2004 to 2006) after admitting doping. In spite of this, nowadays David is one of the most respected riders of the peloton. Once upon a time he won a few TTs against Lance Armstrong and was TT World Champion in Hamilton, but this was a long time ago. Now perhaps Millar isn't as famous and as 'strong' as then, but he's surely more honest and, most important, he's a clean rider.
After the finish-line the Scottish rider remembered poor Tom Simpson (who died exactly 45 years ago on that day) and talked about the doping situation in nowadays cycling. 'Two years ago, I wouldn't have liked my son to become a cyclist. Now things are different and I'd be happy if he took up this sport', he told Gazzetta.
I was happy for Millar's victory because I think that his life looks a bit like a fairy tale - and this victory was the icing on the cake. Moreover, I can't forget the nice way he behaved during the horrible first days of last year's Giro, when he wore the pink jersey and did all he could to honour poor Wouter Weylandt.

Second in the stage was Peraud, third Martinez, 4th Gautier. The peloton arrived with a 12 minutes delay.

Yesterday stage ended in Cap d'Agde and, although it featured a little steep wall with 23 kms to go, it was believed to suit sprinters. This little wall was inside the town of Seté (sorry if I've written it in the wrong way, but I'm too lazy to look for the correct spelling) and right on that climb the victory dreams of Michael Morkov (last survivor of the early breakaway) ended. Nevertheless, Michael was awarded with the combativity prize, which he dedicated to his late dad. Mister Morkov in fact died 5 years ago and his son decided to remember him with this very long breakaway and this award. Sweet, sweet boy! :')
As soon as the climb began, Morkov was caught and Evans and Van Den Broeck launched an attack which, although it didn't cause any problem to the Wiggins, reduced the number of riders in the yellow jersey group. Also Cavendish and Goss got dropped and this caused Sagan (who had got over the climb without big problems) to be very happy.
In the following kms there was a strong crosswind and some riders created echelons. Before that happened, however, there were some moments of indecision because the Sky riders didn't know what to do: pull and cut Cavendish out of the games or wait for him and the other riders? That was the question. Given his colleagues' doubts, Alexander Vinokourov (loud chorus of *awwwwwwh!!* coming from the members of the AAVL - Anonymous Association of Vino's Lovers - spread all over the world) decided to launch an attack together with Albasini. Vino's move was extremelly intelligent and exciting, but unfortunately two things didn't allow him and Albasini to reach the final meters of race on their own: firstly, the already mentioned crosswind; secondly, the fact that Greipel had managed to join Wiggo's group before the wind began. As a consequence, the speed in the peloton (led by Lotto's men) rapidly increased and Vino and Albasini had to say 'adieu' to their victory chances. Still, chapeau to the amazing Vinokourov.
With 2.5 kms to go LL Sanchez (mr. 'I win at least one TDF stage pro year') launched an attack, but he was soon recaught. Wiggins briefly worked as lead-out man for Boasson Hagen, but in the end the sprint was a battle between Sagan and Greipel. The German eventually took the victory, a thing that obviously made him very happy.
Talking about Sagan, on the day of Millar's victory he and Goss were at the center of a very discussed sprint. Goss in fact won the sprint for the green jersey points in front of Sagan, who stated he had been damaged by the Australian. Actually, Peter didn't release this statement through the journalists: he simply screamed what he thought while crossing the finish-line. 'What did he scream?', I hear you ask. Well, I'll just tell you that Peter shouted a very popular Italian insult, which is very well known worldwide and that Goss probably understood. Peter, are you sure you don't have any Italian ancestor? :P
Still talking about Sagan, it looks like some Liquigas riders were very happy to see him suffer during the stage to La Toussuire. 'He finally understood how we humans feel', an unidentified Liquigas rider told Italian tv.

As for today's stage, it featured a pretty hard and long wall called Mur de Peguere with about 40 kms to go (please don't get me started about this fact). Since today's stage seemed to suit breakaways, 5 men soon got a good gap on the group. They were Peter 'Saganator' Sagan, LL 'I want to win a stage!!' Sanchez, Philippe Gilbert, Izagirre and Sandy Casar. I really liked seeing these riders in a breakaway, because 1. Sanchez didn't retire from the Tour despite an injured wrist and is a very tough guy who deserves winning great stages 2. Gilbert showed he's up there too 3. in case you still haven't understood it, I'm in love with Sagan's racing style.
When the breakaway riders reached the last climb of the day, they had a 14 minutes gap on the peloton and this meant that they could go to the finish-line without problems. With about 12 kms to go, as Sagan was eating a tasty roll, LL Sanchez attacked and thanks to that move he could cross the finish-line alone. As usual, Luis dedicated this victory to his brother, who died in a motorbike accident some years ago.
As Luis was enjoying his well deserved victory, something very strange was going on in the peloton. As soon as the  Mur de Peguere began, Evans had attacked, but Wiggo and the Sky boys didn't have any problems in following him. At the top of the climb, a surprise: Evans had to stop because of a punctured wheel. Poor Van Garderen didn't realise what had happened to his captain and started the descent with the other riders, leaving Cadel alone on the top of the climb, cursing at him. About 2 minutes later, Cadel finally saw his teammate Cummings popping up in front of him. Evans told him to give him his rear wheel immediately, but Cummings couldn't - shockingly enough, he had punctured too. As a consequence, Evans had to wait another minute for a teammate to give him a wheel.
As the peloton started the descent, everyone understood that there was something wrong. In fact Rui Costa immediately punctured, just like Roche, Scarponi and other 27 (!!!) riders. During the descent Evans punctured other two times and even Wiggo had to stop and change wheel.
Given the situation, the yellow jersey group decided to slow down in order to wait for poor Evans and for the other riders who had punctured. Despite the group's decision, nevertheless, Pierre Rolland decided to launch an attack. At first nobody chased him, but then both Lotto and Liquigas began to pull hard at the front of the race. At the beginning of the stage in fact Nibali was 3rd in the GC, whereas Van Den Broeck was 5th. Given that Rolland was 8th and that in that moment he had a 2 minutes gap on the peloton, the other riders soon got angry at the Frenchman and started chasing him full gas, whereas Evans (4th in the GC) and his team were desperately trying to bridge across the yellow jersey peloton. Luckily for Cadel, after the Frenchman was caught the peloton decided to slow down again, so that he could get back in the GC contenders group without further problems. In spite of this, after the finish-line BMC ds criticised Liquigas and Lotto's attitude, whereas Evans was reported to be extremely unhappy with Van Garderen's behaviour. At the same time, Sagan called Rolland 'the black sheep of the peloton' - still, I'm sure that other riders had much more unpolite words for the Europcar young rider.
As well as those polemics between teams and riders, after the finish-line in Foix there was another topic that interested riders, supporters and journalists: the reason why so many riders had punctured on Mur de Peguereìs descent. Unfortunately, everyone's theory was soon confirmed by mr. Prudhomme himself: the punctures were caused by someone who had scattered tacks on the road before the arrive of the yellow jersey group.
Of course now everyone is looking for the asshole (right now I wish I knew English better, so that I could use a much worse insult) who made this horrible thing during the race, but unfortunately it will be very difficult to find this fool. In fact people who go to cycling races don't have to show their IDs to any authority, so they can't be identified. Moreover, it seems that no one noticed anyone doing strange things on the road in the minutes that passed between the arrival of Sagan's group and the one of the peloton. Still, I remember that French police once managed to find the man who shot on the peloton a few Tours ago, so I'm confident they will manage to find this criminal who threatened the lives and the careers of so many boys.
The one who probably had the worst consequences from this fact was Kiserlovski, who is reported to have broken his wrist because of a puncture. Still, what would have happened if someone had crashed and had ended up with a tack in their eyes, in their feet or in one of their legs? I saw the images of these 'tacks' on French tv and they don't actually look like drawing pins, but they remind me of true nails. Luckily no one got hurt too seriously.


So dear readers, that's all for the moment. I'm very tired right now, so I wish you a good night and a very good week and I'm off to bed - enjoy the Tour, everyone!

Pinot wins in Porrentruy and more:

To everyone's astonishment, miss Fede is back blogging less than 24 hours after publishing her last entry. Lovely, isn't it?

So, 8th stage of the race, from Belfort to the fascinating medieval town of Porrentruy. Talking about this town, I want to tell the world that I simply loved the big dinosaur placed on the roundabout that leads directly into the town. Given that I've recently turned 20 (aaaah, I'm so oooold!) and that my parents still haven't bought me a present, I've actually asked dad to buy me that dinosaur and put it in our back garden. His reaction to my idea? A simple 'we'll see'.

Today stage began with the last consequences of the Metz carnage: Froehlinger (broken finger) didn't start the stage, whereas Verdugo (deep cut on his leg) withdrew after a few kms. Unfortunately also another rider had to retire during today's stage. Samuel Sanchez in fact had a bad crash in the first part of the stage and is reported to have broken his collarbone. Poor Samu abandoned the race in tears and may be unable to take part in the Olympics. Poor, poor Samu!!

Talking about the parcours, today's menu offered the riders a day fulls of hills and descents. The most difficult climb was the last one (Col de la Croix), which was followed by a 16 kms long descent towards the finish-line.

Many people thought that today's stage perfectly suited a breakaway and that's why this afternoon the peloton was so full of 'wanna-be breakawayers'. Amongst those who could finally break clear from the peloton there were the Swedish climber Kessiakoff, the youngest boy of the race Thibaut Pinot (who was born in May 1990 and is even younger than Sagan and Phinney), my beloved Chris Anker Sorensen, Radioshack's Toni Gallopin and many others.

With about 30 kms to go, Kessiakoff said 'see you after the finish-line' to his breakaway companions, but some of them didn't agree with this. Pinot and Gallopin, in particular, began chasing the Astana rider in a very hard way. However on the last climb Gallopin (who had been virtual yellow jersey for a while) got dropped and Pinot reached Kessiakoff in the very last meters of Col dela Croix. At that point I felt very sorry for Fredrik (Miss Fede tends to feel a strong connection between herself and the riders who have a name similar to hers), but I still hoped that he could manage to get back on Pinot. Pinot who, by the way, lives in a village near Planche des Belles Filles - and guess who the mayor of that village is? Thibaut's father. Isn't that curious?

However. After riding past Kessiakoff, the young French rider rode full gas in the following 16 kms of downhill. For a moment it looked as if Kessiakoff was going to annihilate the gap between him and the FDJ rider, but then the Swedish rider risked to crash and had to say 'adieu' to his victory dreams. In the meanwhile the GC riders had started a tough battle in order to drop their direct adversaries. In particular, it was Omega-Pharma (Van Den Broeck and Vanendert's team) that tried to surprise everyone else in the hardest part of the last climb. At that point the yellow jersey group was already formed by a few riders and some more athletes got dropped because of Omega's attack. During the descent Nibali decided to accelerate, but no one lost contact.

With 3.5 kms to go Pinot had about 30" of advantage and his ds, Marc Madieu, looked very worried while supporting his rider. In fact during the last kms of race there was some headwind and the riders behind Thibaut were taking regular turns at the front in order to increase their advantage on their chasers. The guys who were following Pinot were Wiggins, Froome, Evans, Nibali, Zubeldia, Gallopin, Schleck, Van Den Broeck and Menchov. At the dinosaur roundabout, Van Den Broeck and Menchov took the shortest road and Jurgen decided to launch an attack. Shortly later also Evans decided to attack, but both these riders were eventually caught by the other members of the yellow jersey group.

In the meanwhile Thibaut Pinot finally crossed the finish-line solo, with his arms raised to the sky. The 22 years old rider looked very happy and so did his ds, Marc Madieu, who spent the last meters of the race hugging FDJ's mechanic and screaming compliments to his rider. FDJ has a long story in cycling and is one of the most combative teams of the peloton. Therefore, I was very glad to see Pinot getting this victory, the first one of a very promising career. Still talking about Pinot, as soon as he crossed the finish-line people started talking about his chances of becoming a GT contender. In particular, someone reminded everyone that Thibaut's just 22 years old and this made me think about the 2007 Giro d'Italia. On that occasion in fact a 21 year old rider, Andy Schleck, got the second spot of the podium in a very surprising way. At the time I was a novice to cycling, so I didn't fully understand the importance of Andy's result. And, actually, I think I realised how amazing this result was just this afternoon. Lots of things have happened since 2007, but none of us has forgotten that amazing, surprising rider from Luxembourg. Anyway, enough sentimentalism for now :P

When Pinot raised his arms to the sky, the strongest GC riders were approaching the finish-line. With about 200 meters to go, then, a very bad thing (at least in my opinion) happened: Radioshack's Toni Gallopin, in fact, launched a sprint and was soon followed by all the other GC riders. All the other GC riders except a certain Frank Schleck, aka Toni's captain, who because of this sprint lost 4" from his main GC contenders. Moreover, Toni even failed in his attempt to get the second place. Now, I understand that 4" aren't much, but I really disliked the way Toni behaved. Frank's already 3 minutes down in the GC, why making him lose other 4"? I know they are extremely unlikely to influence the eventual outcome of this race, but I don't think this attitude will do Frank's morale any good. Right now Radioshack seems a group of people put together by mistake, with ds unable (or unwilling?)  to take control of the situation and teammates who don't care at all about each other. Seriously, after today's stage I seriously regret good old Uncle Bjarne.

The GC after stage 8 says that first is Bradley Wiggins, second Cadel Evans, third Nibali, 4th Menchov. 5th is Zubeldia, 6th Froome, 7th Monfort, 8th Van Den Broeck, 9th Roche, 10th Taaramae. Frank Schleck is now 15th, 3'47" down in the general classification.

Tomorrow's stage is a 42 kms long time trial and this almost makes me wanna cry. Hopefully Frankie and Menchov won't lose too much time.

So, dear readers, that's all for the moment. Have a nice evening and a nice week, and see you tomorrow (at least I hope so)!

ps: I've recently surrendered to Pottermore. Is there any fellow Slytherin out there? :P