CIAO CIAO 2008,BENVENUTO 2009:

So,year 2008 is ending.A lot of things (good and bad) happened this year.Good things:
-Frank wore the yellow jersey at the Tour and won the National Championship.He also came 3rd in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and 2° in Amstel Gold Race. -Andy won the white jersey at the Tour,won the Curaçao Amstel Gold Race,arrived 4th in the Liege and ran a great Tour de France (except for Hautacam’s day....).
-Frank’s case was dropped by ALAD.
-I gave up studying physics.
-Obama was elected as new American president (and Bush will finally go away between a few days).
-The Slowworm...I mean,the Cobra (Riccò) didn’t win the Giro.
-There were the Olympics games (even if they didn't end well for poor Andy,they’re always a wonderful event).
-Kaiser Chiefs and Oasis did a new album.
-I went to Rome and to France (twice) for the first time in my life.
-I started learning Spanish and philosophy (!).
BAD THINGS:
-Frank was investigated by ALAD and there were lots of people that said that CSC riders were all doped.Grrrr!
-Hautacam stage.What a sufference!
-Armstrong returns racing.The problem is not his return,but the fact that Italian press dedicates too much time to him.The articles of the Gazzetta dello Sport just talk about Armstrong, Basso, Armstrong, Bettini, Armstrong, Riccò, Armstrong and Armstrong.What a bore!
-Berlusconi returned Italian first minister.That’s a very very very bad thing.
-The terrorist outrage in Mumbay (and all the other ones that I don’t remember-sorry for my bad memory).
-I argued with my best friend because of a French holiday and a Dutch boy (ah,the globalization!) and we haven’t talked for the last 3 months.

So,these were some of the good and bad things that happened in 2008 (I don’t have a good memory,so please don’t get angry if something’s missing...).
Now I’d like to express my "cyclistic" dreams for the year 2009:
1.Andy changes his mind at the last moment and decides to run the Giro.He partecipates after a wonderful victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and he wins also the Giro.He also wins the stage that ends up in Bergamo.That day I’m near to the finish line,I manage to talk to him and he gives me his phone number.Then we get engaged :)

In July he races also the Tour and he arrives 3rd behind his brother and someone else (you know,after the Giro’s win he’s a bit tired...).Then he takes a long rest and he arrives on the podium of the Worlds and of the Tour of Lombardy.

2.The second dream is about Frank:
He wins the Amstel Gold Race and the Fleche Wallonne,but he arrives 2nd in the Liege behind his little brother.They arrive alone and they cross the finish line together.Only the photofinish tells that the winner’s Andy.Then Frank decides to run the Giro as a helper for his brother.He arrives in the top 10 and wins the mountain (or vulcanic?) stage that ends on Vesuvio (I don’t know why,but that stage ispires me).Then he wins the Tour de Suisse and also the Tour de France (with the stage of Mont Ventoux).He then wins the Worlds and the Tour of Lombardy.
I’d also like other things to happen:
1.The journalists forget about Frank’s problems with that famous 7000 Euros.
2.Chris-Anker Sorensen wins a stage in the Tour.
3.Nobody of Csc (or Saxo-Bank,call it as you want) results positive to a doping-test.That’s all I hope.What do you think,can these dreams come true? And what are your dreams for 2009?

(all photos by Tim De Waele except Andy's last one,which comes from accontern.lu)