Personal hopes for the 2010 cycling season:

So,here's my very last post for today-and for the year 2009 in general.Don't worry,I didn't write the 3 posts I published today in just one day.Actually,this post was ready 3 days ago,but I preferred to wait before of publishing it on the blog.And then the 2 Quotidien articles were very nice,so I decided to translate them and to publish them today.To recuperate from this posting fever,I won't probably write anything for some days now.Anyway.

I've recently come down with this "last days of the year" fever (don't worry,everything will be over on the 1st day of 2010) and nothing now can prevent me from writing my personal cyclistic dreams for the 2010 season.I wrote something similar also last year,but that post was too much influenced by Fangirl.So,here are my hopes for the 2010 cycling season (of course I've got also lots of personal hopes who don't regard cycling,but I'm afraid you won't discover them-not on this blog,at least).
First of all,I'd like 2010 to be "cleaner" than 2009.Yes,cleaner.This means,no doping cases please.I know that this hope is unlikely to come true,but I write it here anyway.Who knows, perhaps someone in the peloton,as a personal wish for the 2010 season,will decide to stop cheating...
Another hope for the 2010 year is going to watch some live races,just like I've done this year.I already know that it will be hard to see as many live races as I've done this year (next year the Tour won't arrive in Italy and the Worlds will be in Australia),but anyway I hope I'll be able to go and see at least one stage of the Giro and the Tour of Lombardy.Then I may also go and see the Trittico Lombardo,the Settimana Bergamasca and the Giro dell'Emilia.Of course the big dream would be to go and see some Tour stages live like I did this year,but I still don't know whether it will possible.Anyway I take the occasion to say that,if Chris Anker Sorensen is in the top 3 of the Giro before of the last 3 stages of that race,I'll take the train and go to see all the last 3 stages and won't care about the school tests that will surely await me in the last week of May.I mean,teachers can make their damned tests also before of the last week of May,can't they?
Btw,I've got also some hopes that regard my favourite riders.For example,I'd be extremely happy if the Schleck plan for the Ardenne classics (Andy wins Amstel and Frank wins Liége) became true.And then I'd be simply overjoyed if both the brothers made it to next year's Tour podium (and I'd cry for happiness if the brothers ended up on the 2 highest spots of said podium).If that should happen,I invite the dear Tour organizers to put on the Luxembourgish anthem and not the Danish one like they did this year with Contador, please.
Of course I'd also love to see the brothers racing the Tour of Lombardy and the Giro dell'Emilia for the first time since 2007 (come on Frank,you once said it's one of your favourite races,why don't you try to win it in 2010?).Those results would make 2010 a great year for the brothers and also for their fans.
Talking about my other favourite rider,Chris Anker Sorensen,I hope he'll be able to run a good Giro.As I already wrote,Fangirl is convincted that he will win the Zoncolan stage and arrive in the top 3 of the race,but Logic would be happy with a good Giro and a good rest of the season.What do I mean with "good Giro"? Well,a Top 10 would be greatly appreciated,as well as a stage win.And I think that Chris has the skills to make at least one of these hopes come true.
I'd also love it if Chris won the Giro dell'Emilia.I've been having this idea in my mind since 2007,but every year,the day before of the race,Chris always comes down with something.He once wrote on his blog that perhaps there's a curse for him on this race,but I hope that this Emilian curse will stop following him in 2010.
Moving to another rider I really like,I'd love it if next year Voigt won the Criterium International for the 6th time in his career.And I'd be terribly entusiasthic if Jens won a stage at the Tour and perhaps even managed to wear the maillot jaune.
On to other 2 Saxo Bank riders that I've started to appreciate this season,I hope that Matti Breschel and Jakob Fuglsang will have a good year.They could both do well in the Classics in 2010 and they may also win some Grand Tour stages.
Talking about Grand Tour stages,I think Nicki Sorensen should be allowed to win another Tour stage next year.His celebration on the finish-line was probably one of the nicest of the season (as you've probably already understood,his stage victory was one of the best moment of this year Tour,at least for me).
Abandoning Saxo Bank team,I hope that Pinotti will arrive on the TT Worlds podium in 2010 and that Capelli and Possoni will manage to get some good results in important races.And then I also hope that no one will have bad crashes and that all the neo pro riders will have a good season.
So,these are my "good wishes" for next year.Then there are some other hopes who are a bit evil (for example I hope that some riders who doped in 2007 won't be able to get any good results in 2010),but I realize that in this period of the year everyone should be happy and nice towards other people,so here I stop.
Of course before of closing this very last post of the 2009 year I wish everyone (the few people who read this blog,all the cyclists and all the supporters out there) a very happy,healthful and nice new year! I hope your 2009 has been good and that your 2010 will be even better! Now I'm off to helping my mother with the party organisation...Have a good time tonight!

"Le Quotidien" article about the Schleck brothers (part 2):

Link: http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/7168.html

The day had been stormy,exhausting.It ended in triumph for the Schleck brothers that,as no one ever did before,went to the post race press conference together,in order to express their emotions.

"Without him, I would not be here...". Andy Schleck whispered this sentence to explain why his brother Frank had to win the queen stage of the Tour and the addresser of these words,pronounced on Wednesday,July 22,2009,was Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French president had been moving around for the whole day on that occasion,welcoming lots of people and moving from a place to another,but couldn't steal the spotlight from the two Schleck brothers,heroes of the day.So he went near to Johnny Schleck,the happy father of the two phenomena,and couldn't hide how the Tour had always marked his imagination when he was a child.

Just like his father,with the same grey eyes,Steve Schleck lived the final steps of the Grand Bornard stage with his eyes focused on the big screen in the finish area.

"At one point,my father stopped speaking to me in Luxembourgish.He asked me few questions in French.I looked at him and I realized how much he was shocked",he revealed us (NDR;the journalist is always Denis Bastien) a few days later when the Tour took the direction of the Mount Ventoux.

For the Schleck family,the Grand Bornard one was a great day,indeed,although they've started getting used to these strong emotions since the Amstel Gold Race 2006. The dream of Johnny Schleck was becoming true in a way that no one,nor he nor anyone else,could have predicted.

"My dream is to see them both fighting for the victory of a Grand Tour or of a big mountain stage",the former helper of Luis Ocana has often said in recent years.
A dream that,before of this July,had already become true on the day of the 2008 Liege-Bastogne-Liege which ended with Frank's 3rd placement and Andy's 4th one.And the dream continued during the 2008 Tour de France.On that occasion there were Frank's yellow jersey to defend and Andy's white one to to take to Paris.And then there was the triumph of Andy in the 2009 Liége.A triumph,as we know,marked by the same family spirit,with Frank controlling the adversaires and Andy speeding to his first major success in a classic.

But here,this time we were in July.The 2009 Tour de France had struggled to take off and everyone was focused on the fratricide war between Contador and Armstrong.Both men wore the same jersey and rode for the same team,Astana.But they were clearly fighting against one another.Soon there was a fracture between them and after leaving the Pyrenees, it seemed that no one could disturb their personal battle.First: Contador.Second: Armstrong.

"Do not worry,you'll see us attacking in the Grand-Bornand stage",the Schleck brothers kept on prosiming.Since the start of the Tour and even before,the two brothers had refused the idea of waiting until the day of the Mont Ventoux to make a big attack with their team."Yes,but when will you attack then?" They were asked everyday,before and after the stages,while the days slowly passed...

"The Col du Romme will be terrible,you'll see...»,they used to answer with a look of exasperation on their faces. It was actually there,on the Col du Romme,that the two brothers went into action,the day after the terrible fall of their friend and teammate Jens Voigt.

Johnny Schleck was surprised.Under his eyes,he had the scenario he had often hoped to see in his dreams.His sons were attacking and only Contador could hold on to them,waiting for the storm to pass.

The kms passed. The gap between the 3 men at the front of the race and the adversaires was becoming bigger and bigger.Armstrong and Wiggins were being sent away from the podium on which Andy and Frank Schleck where gradually climbing.After the Col du Colombiére,there was only the Grand Bornard descent to face.

"At the top of the Col de la Colombiere,I said to Frank:'You know that we're going to win?' I told him I was going to go first in the descent.After all,I can ride better downhill than he can.I told him: "I go first on the descent and you,you win the stage"",Andy Schleck explained later during an unforgettable press conference.On that occasion in fact,for the first time in the Tour history, two riders arrived together to the press conference dedicated to the stage winner.

That evening the two brothers explained they wanted to arrive second and third in Paris,but the TT of the following day allowed Lance Armstrong to unseat Frank,who got back into the fifth position.
But the Schleck brothers still have the freshness and the family happiness that they showed to the whole world on the 22/7/09.They promised to come back in 2010,for new deeds that will cause their supporters and familiars to cry in front of the screens once again.

Andy Schleck:"Everything worked as planned"
For me it was be the best moment of this year Tour de France.What we did that day was a great family thing.Personally,I had another great moment on the top of the Mont Ventoux,from where I could see the whole France.
Regarding the Grand Bornand stage I especially remember the fall of Jens Voigt on the previous day. In the morning meeting before of the Grand Bornand stage,it was clear that we had to do the best race possible for Jens.And then there was this need to do something to ensure us a place on the podium.
Finally, everything went as we wanted.We wanted to leave Lance Armstrong,Bradley Wiggins and Andreas Klöden behind,and they arrived over two minutes after us.Our mission was successful.What we did is a source of great joy.I was incredibly proud of my family,our parents, our big brother.It was really something wonderful. "

Frank Schleck: "We made history"
Every time I look back on the Grand Bornard stage,I remember that in that stage there were just three riders ahead.The yellow jersey Alberto Contador, and the two Schleck brothers.It is a great memory and not just because I won that stage.I just lived a great moment with Andy.I never compare victories,because I think it's always great to win important races,but that day was really great from the emotional point of view.
The previous day,after the finish of the stage when Jens (Voigt) had fallen,a German journalist told me about Jens' crash while I was getting on the bus.After walking on the bus steps,I collapsed.I cried a lot.I was tired and I thought about Jens,his family,his five children.I asked myself a lot of questions about the dangers in our sport.
That evening I talked with Andy for an hour.And the next day he wanted us to attack together for Jens and because we had to try and change the history of this Tour de France.We knew that that stage was one of the cards that we had to play if we wanted to get on the Paris podium.After the Grand-Bornand stage,we were 2nd and 3rd in the GC.The next day,everyone in the peloton welcomed us and I remember that many riders told me:"You'll surely arrive on the podium in Paris,both of you ..." Finally I finished fifth, but we must accept that".

Writing history:
In the young and already long story that the new generation of cyclists has written,bringing the Luxembourgish cycling back to its former glory,there are some moments that we always like recalling. The great work that Benoit Joachim did for Lance Armstrong.The many successes of Kim Kirchen,just like his victory in the 2008 Flèche Wallonne before of getting the yellow and the green jerseys in the 2008 Tour de France.He then passed the maillout jaune to Frank Schleck,who then gave it to his teammate Carlos Sastre,and that was the price of a hard but winning team strategy.

By winning the Amstel Gold Race and the famous stage of Alpe-d'Huez in 2006, the elder of the Schleck brothers was the first rider to awaken the passion that Luxembourg has for its cyclists. A passion that increased over the last Tour de France with Andy's 2nd place on the Paris podium.Second in the 2007 Giro and winner of the 2009 edition of the legendary classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege,the white jersey in the 2008 Tour was soon considered as a minor achievement of this young boy.
But for its very strong symbolic meaning,the attack of the two brothers on the 17th stage of Tour 2009,from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand Bornand,has caught the imagination of many people.

Who,between those who follow the Tour de France,has never heard about the Schleck brothers? Not just because they were the only ones that challenged Alberto.Cycling had already seen 2 or even 3 brothers racing together in its history.But two brothers struggling to stand on the Paris podium together,that was a unique moment,and in cycling now there is a big passion for the Schleck history.
Thi year edition of the race has already made them become 2 of the main characters of next year Tour de France. But before of rushing to 2010,we must remember what happened on July 22, 2009. A moment of eternity for an entire country.A moment of eternity for two brothers who,long ago in their youth as in their common trainings,have dreamed to succeed in it.
A strong attack on the great Alpine peaks.A beautiful stage finish where two best friends-and brothers-raised their arms together to the sky.That evening,the two Schleck brothers tasted the Paris podium.Only one will remain there three days later."But who cares about that",Frank Schleck said some days after the finish of the race,"we've written the history of the Tour..."

"Le Quotidien" article about the Schleck brothers (part 1):

The first post of this year was an interview,therefore I think it's a must to conclude this year with another interview (and with a usual "My hopes for next year!" post).Actually,I've found 2 interviews regarding the Schleck brothers today:the first one is about Andy's triumph in Liége and you can read about it in this post,the second one instead is about Frank's victory in Le Grand Bornard stage of the Tour (see next post to read it).Enjoy!

Link: http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/7162.html
The victory of Andy Schleck in Liege-Bastogne-Liege,his first major success in a classic,wasn't a matter of luck.Simply,that day he was the strongest.He triumphed.A first great success to which many other great victories will follow.Inevitably...
Apart from the tears caused by a crazy emotion,it ended as it had begun seven hours earlier. With a laugh.A blink of an eye.A hug.As if their destinies of brothers and cyclists couldn't be divided in any way.
Yes,immediately after leaving the Team Saxo Bank bus stationed in Place Saint-Lambert, Liège, on the 26th of April 2009,Andy and Frank Schleck started to laugh in a great way.After sitting on their bikes in fact they realised that,actually,they were sitted on the wrong vehicles.Andy in fact was speeding to the signing of the start sheet on Frank's bike-and vice versa.

The similarity and the fact of living together are two key elements that the Schleck brothers perfectly handle when they're on and off their bikes.And their ability in handling these 2 elements was often shown on the stage of the Liege-Bastogne-Liège.

In 2007,when Andy rides the Doyenne for the first time,he decides to attack on La Redoute in order to help Frank.All the other riders think that the one who's attacking is Frank and they immediately stop Andy's action.This story has been told many times and always causes the brothers to laugh.
The following year,the scenario was even more striking.For the first time in the Liége's history, the riders had to face the Roche-aux-Faucons,the climb where Andy has built his success this year.But a year earlier,on that climb,Andy attacked together with Frank and this move changed the story of the race.Caught by Valverde's group,Andy tried to escape again,with ten kilometers to go,before of finishing fourth,one placement behind Frank.
After having raced it for 2 times,Andy's was convincted of the fact that Liege-Bastogne-Liege is HIS race.And this opinion,in 2009,was proved to be correct with a great victory.Not even the terrible fall of Frank in the Amstel Gold Race,a week earlier,could change things.

Andy began the Amstel Gold Race with the idea of helping his elder brother,who was in a great condition,but then,after Frank's fall,the youngest of the Schleck brothers decided to help his Dutch teammate Karsten Kroon.When he took that decision,Andy hadn't seen the violent images of his brother's fall yet.Only much later,returning to the hotel,he understood that the Schleck family had risked to live a tragedy that day.
The following days,with Frank at home in Mondorf-les-Bains,since wisdom obviously suggested him not racing in the Fleche Wallonne,Andy was trying to defeat his dark thoughts.And he went fishing,like he and Frank had already planned to do,in the waters of the Meuse,near their hotel in Lanaken,on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands.

The recipe was good,because on Wednesday evening Andy finished second in the Fleche Wallonne won by Davide Rebellin.His mind was made up: if I can arrive 2nd on the Wall of Huy after only 200 kilometers of racing,I will find some way to win the Doyenne between 4 days and after 260 kilometers that are much more selective than the Fleche's ones.

"I feel I can do it,but if I want to win I must attack with at least twenty kilometers to go.I assure you,without being arrogant,that I didn't ride a la bloc when we were facing the Keutenberg climb,last Sunday in the Amstel.But in the Liége,I'll ride at full gas.And then,Cunego and Valverde will have problems",he told me (NDR;the journalist who wrote the article is Denis Bastien) the day before of the Fleche.The following evening,of course,he was even more convincted of his ideas.

Then the Liége arrived,and Andy's great action is still remembered.With twenty kilometers to go,Philippe Gilbert,who had attacked boldly on La Redoute climb,was alone at the head of the race. Suddenly,Andy Schleck looked to the riders at the head of the group and then attacked in a very impressive way.
The Mondorfois,taking advantadge from his ally with Frank,morally and physically recovered,rides at full gas.With his style,a combination of power and sourplesse,he goes,with his hands on the bike's brakes.He was off to his first classic victory.The greatest classic for grimpeurs."The greatest classic of all",as Andy Schleck often says.
As he attacks,nothing and nobody can get in his way,so here comes the first triumph of this gifted young champion.The result and the end of history is an emotion.
Andy's obviously happy of his triumph,a triumph that was predicted already a long time ago.And then,after the race,there is his family.There's Frank who,to be sure that he's not daydreaming,watches Andy's triumph on the great screen overlooking the finish line and watches the images of his brother waving an arm to the grey sky of Liége.There's Johnny,the father,who had awaited for this moment for a long time, while taking care not to add anything to this perfect but stressful moment.And finally there is Gaby,the mother,who the boy gently scolds for bursting into tears after witnessing his huge success.

"In a state of grace ..."
Andy Schleck (winner): "I do not know whether it was an amazing victory,I haven't had the time to review the race yet,but if you ask me,of course I think it was a great success! I don't want to shout it from the rooftops,but I think I've just ridden my perfect race of the year.Now it will be hard to do better than that".

"Frank was even happier than he usually is when he wins a race.I did not cry.When Frank won the Amstel in 2006,I bursted into tears,but Frank did not cry that day.Our emotions go from me to him and vice versa.Today I fighted also for him.After his fall,last Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race,I feared the worst.After watching it on tv,I was shocked for two days.But tonight I am a happy man.I won the race of my dreams and Frank was there with me".
Frank Schleck (23th) "I don't know what to say,it's crazy.Fabulous! I knew that Andy was strong and that the team was working well,but at one point I thought that Andy had gone too far.Anyway the guys behind didn't attack and also Rebellin couldn't escape from the chasing group.Andy has won the most beautiful classic.I won the Amstel in 2006,now it's my turn to win the Doyenne.There is an image that I think that lots of people will remember.After Andy's attack,a TV camera showed me.I was smiling and showed my thumb up.We made a great show. We were in a state of grace,almost carried by our euphoria. "
Bjarne Riis (manager of Team Saxo Bank): "The race was wonderful and everything went as planned.Andy's attack was really impressive.It takes courage to attack like that. "
Johnny Schleck (the proud dad):"It's beautiful,beautiful.It still surprises me,although I've been seeing them making progresses for lots of years.Living these moments for me is unimaginable but true. "

Philippe Gilbert (4th): "We unfortunately ran into a super Andy Schleck today.There was nothing to do against him.Since the beginning of the race,we felt that the Saxo Bank was going to decide the race,so I wanted to anticipate a possible attack from the Schlecks.But when Andy caught me,I could not follow him.He dropped me without any problem".

Andy's success in numbers
1: Liege-Bastogne-Liege.Andy Schleck won it on the 27th of April 2009.In 2007 he finished second in the Giro.Then in July 2009 he also came in 2nd in the Tour de France.

2: Andy Schleck was the second Luxembourgish after Marcel Ernzer (winner in 1954) to win Liége.
3: Before of Andy's triumph,the Schleck family already had the honor of getting on the Liége podium twice,since Frank was third in the race both in 2007 and 2008.
4 : In the Top 30 of the 2009 Liege-Bastogne-Liege there were four Saxo Bank riders: Kolobnev (9th),Frank Schleck (23) and Nicki Sorense (26th).
10 years: Since Frank Vandenbroucke's success in 1999,no one had managed to achieve a solo victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege.At the time "VDB" planned his attack,just like Andy did this April.
19 : The kms that Andy Schleck had to face alone before of reaching the finish-line in Ans.
23: Andy Schleck was 23 last April,therefore he's one of the youngest winners of the Doyenne.
77 : The seconds that eventually separated Andy from the second rider to cross the finish line,Joaquim Rodriguez.
84: The number of the SMS of congratulations that Andy Schleck received the evening of the Liége.

2009 cycling awards decided by moi:

Since the current year is ending,me thinks it's time for Fangirl to make a final balance of the 2009 cycling season.After all,it's a matter of "now or never",isn't it?

So,2009 has been a good year for Schleck supporters.12 months ago I wrote a very Fangirlistic post about my dreams for the 2009 cyclistic season and some of them became true.For example,Andy Schleck won the Liége and arrived on the Tour podium.Frank didn't arrive on the podium because of a damned TTT,but he won the Grand Bornard stage.And then Andy won the Luxembourgish RR Championship,the white jersey at the TdF and a stage at the Tour of Luxembourg,while Frank won a stage at the Tour of California,a stage and the overall classification at the Tour of Lux and the already mentioned Grand Bornard stage at the Tour. Considering all these victories,I think that the tifosi of the 2 brothers can be fully satisfacted with the 2009 season.Ok,the Schleck brothers also made us worry a lot sometimes (just think about Frank's crash in the Amstel or Andy's recent crash with a car while out training),but they've also allowed us to live a very good cyclistic season this year.So,I must say a big "thank you" to the Schleck brothers because of all the emotions they gave me during this year.

Of course the Schleck brothers weren't the only riders who gave me emotions during this year. For example,this year I supported Chris Anker Sorensen (this actually isn't a great news,since I've been supporting him since 2007),I felt terribly happy when Nicki Sorensen and Sylvester Szmyd won some races,felt extremely relieved when Menchov won the Giro and I've also felt terribly disappointed when Kreuziger lost the Avila stage of the Vuelta,when Gesink crashed in the Vuelta and in the Tour and also when Kenny Van Hummel had to retire from the Tour.

Unfortunately this year there have been also some bad moments not connected with losing races or seeing some riders crash.Nolf's death at the beginning of the season,Vanderbroucke's one and all the doping cases were some of the worst moments of the year,and hopefully we won't have to go through problems like this also in 2010.

Anyay,since everyone's writing things about the 2009 season,here are my "2009 season awards".The first ones are serious,while some of the last ones have been suggested by Fangirl and,consequently,are pretty stupid.Enjoy.

Best performance: The winner of this award,no doubts about it,is Andy Schleck's performance in Liége-Bastogne-Liége.Also Contador's victories at the Tour,Devolder's victory in Flanders, Guderzo's and Cancellara's victories at the Worlds and Nicki Sorensen's victory in the Tour de France have been great,but Andy's amazing ride towards Liége was simply the most perfect moment of the season,at least in my opinion.

Best Team: Team Columbia.Who else has won so many races with so many different rider this year?

Best sprinter: Cavendish.He's not the nicest guy on Earth,but he's the fastest man in the peloton.
Best TT rider: Cancellara.Take a look at what he did at the Mendrisio TT race and you'll understand why this award has to go to him.

Best young rider: Andy Schleck.Second at the Tour and winner of the Liége,no one else under the age of 25 did better.

Best helper: Sylvester Szmyd.He's always helped Basso,although the Italian rider never paid him (and his other teammates) back.And then,one of the few times he got the chance of doing what he wanted,this Polish rider won the Mont Ventoux stage at the Tour of Dauphiné Libére. Chapeau.

Most emotional moment of the year: the Grand Bornard stage.See what happened in the last km and immediately after the end of the stage and you'll understand what I mean.

Most surprising rider of the year: Heinrich Haussler.He won a great stage at the Tour and did very well at the classics.And I must confess that,until this March,I had no clue about who he was (sorry for the ignorance).

Rider to watch in 2010: I couldn't decide which rider to choose between Chris Anker Sorensen, Matti Breschel and Jakob Fuglsang,but at the end Fangirl forced me to say that the rider to watch in 2010 will be Chris Sorensen.This is due to the fact that,according to Fangirl,Chris in 2010 will win the Zoncolan stage at the Giro and arrive in the overall top 3 of the race causing great surprise and confusion ("Wasn't he called Nicki when he won that stage in France?",people will ask) in Cycledom and in Italy.

Craziest moment of the year: Everything that Menchov did in the month of May.This involves going around Venice in a gondola,attacking on the Alpe di Siusi climb,screaming under the Colosseo,falling during the last stage of the Giro and laughing in post-race interviews.

Best race I saw live this year: The Mendrisio Worlds because on that occasion I could see my favourite riders a lot of times and I could also get very near to Andy Schleck without looking mad or doing something that would have caused me to end up in a psychiatric hospital.

Best brothers du peloton: Like the dear Italian chronist Bulbarelli always reminds us,the 2 Sorensens who ride in the Saxo Bank team aren't related,therefore this award has to go to the Schleck brothers,Andy and Frank,because Fangirl wants so.

Best hair du peloton: The choice is between Thomas Lovkvist and Linus Gerdemann.But since I do know that Lovkvist's hair are perfect also after a race of 250 kms (I got the chance of observing this phenomenon in Mendrisio) and I have no clue about how Gerdemann's hair look like after such a hard proof,I guess I'll go for Lovkvist.

Most supported rider of the year: Kenny Van Hummel.The Tour streets talked clearly.

So,these were,say,the "good awards".Of course there have been also some bad moments during the season.Here are the "worst things of the season" awards:
Biggest doping disappointment of the year: Rebellin.I did not expect his positivity.He really let me down.

Worst crash of the year: It's a battle between Jens Voigt's crash in the Tour,Frank Schleck's one in the Amstel,Impey's one in the Tour of Turkey and Pedro Horrillo's one in the Giro. Considering the consequences of his crash,I'd say that Pedro Horrillo was the protagonist of the worst crash of the yer.

Most unlucky rider of the year: Poor Robert Gesink because of his crash in the Vuelta.And Serge Pauwels because of what happened to him during the Giro stage eventually won by Bertagnolli.

Worst supporters of the year: those stupid guys who booed at Garzelli after the Blockhaus stage.I just hope they felt a bit sorry for what they did when they found out about Di Luca's positivity.

So,these were my very personal 2009 awards.If some of you have other opinions,feel free to tell me.

Chris Anker Sorensen is going to race the 2009 Giro d'Italia:

Dane willing to skip Tour for strong performance in Italy
Chris Anker Sørensen will lead Saxo Bank at next year's Giro d'Italia,the first major captaincy role of the Dane's five-year professional career.The 25-year-old told Danish website sporten.dk that he would forgo a second Tour de France appearance in order to maximise his chances of success in Italy.
"I have always been prepared to support the ambitions of my teammates, but I will not be a supporting rider throughout my entire career; I have my own ambitions," said Sørensen.
Sørensen finished 28th overall at his first and only Giro d'Italia appearance in 2008.This season he raced the Tour de France for the first time,in support of teammate Andy Schleck.The latter finished second overall,while Sørensen finished 34th.
This week Sørensen was named by team manager Bjarne Riis in a ten-man short list for the 2010 Saxo Bank Tour de France team.Andy Schleck is once again expected to lead the squad at the Tour and while Sørensen said he looks forward to a return to the French race, he would only do so if fully recovered from the pursuit of his own objectives at the Giro.
"I have no problem if the team would prefer me to sit out the Tour or if I don’t have the strength at the time," he said."I hope to race for my own chances at the Giro and then come to help [Andy and Fränk] Schleck make the podium in the Tour."
(news taken from Cyclingnews)

Here instead there is the news as given by the Danish website Sporten.Dk:
Chris Anker Sorensen had his Tour de France debut this summer and is also one of the 10 Team Saxo Bank riders who have been pre-selected for the 2010 edition of the French race.But the Danish climber may sacrifice his Tour participation in order to be the team captain at next year edition of the Giro d'Italia,a race that ends five weeks before of the Tour de France's beginning.
At a meeting with the team management,the Danish climber did not deny that he has ambitions for himself and that he doesn't want to be a helper throughout his whole career.
-I don't want to be misunderstood.This year I really wanted to help my teammates,but I won't be helping riders during my whole career.I have my own ambitions.Btw I hope I'll be able to run a good Giro and to help the Schleck brothers to get on the Tour de France podium next year-, Chris Anker said.
Running both the Giro and the Tour may not be possible and Sorensen is aware of that.In fact this was another topic of discussion between the rider and Bjarne Riis.
-He asked me whether I would be in a good form for riding the Tour immediately after the Giro. It is impossible to give an answer now,but I believe it is possible.In 2008 I rode the Giro at full gas and after it I felt pretty tired for a couple of weeks.However then I won a mountain stage in the Dauphiné Libéré and one stage at the Tour of Austria,I rode a good Olympic RR and had a good autumn-.
Sorensen's goal in the Giro is to finish in the GC top-10.If this goal turns out to be unrealistic half way,Chris will decide to go for stage victories.
-It will be very instructive for me to ride the Giro as captain.I've learned a lot in this year and I have become a better rider,both from the technical and tactical point of view" concluded Chris Anker Sørensen.

So,that's what Chris Anker said to the journalists.But what do Fangirl and Logic think about Chris' goals for next year? Fangirl's obviously entusiasthic,but the strange thing is that also Logic likes Chris' choice.Ok,she may be a bit under Fangirl's bad influence right now,but she thinks that Chris may even make it to the Giro Top 5. I remember that in 2007,when Chris became a professional rider,lots of Danish journalists used to think of him as the new Danish promise for Grand Tours.Also this year,the question that almost every Danish journalist asked to Chris during the Tour was: "Do you find it hard to sacrifice your own ambitions in order to help the team?" (other versions of said question were: "Are you happy with your role as a helper here in the Tour?" and "What are your personal ambitions for this year Tour?").Of course Chris always answered that he was in France to help the Schleck brothers,but I think that now he's decided to try and see what results he can achieve by riding a Grand Tour with a captain role.
Until now,Chris has ridden 3 Grand Tours:the Vuelta 2007 (in which he got the final 19th placement in the GC in spite of helping Sastre every day),the Giro 2008 (28th placement in the GC) and the Tour de France 2009 (in which he helped the Schleck brothers and finaly came in 34th).
In 2008 Chris was still very young and unexperienced,the Giro parcours was really hard and it rained almost daily.In spite of all these things,Chris made it to the top 30 of the race.Not a great result,you may think,but Chris has improved a lot lately and I think that in 2010 he will manage to ride a good Giro.And,if he realises he can't get a good result in the GC,I believe that Chris will soon decide to go for the stage victories rather than fighting every day in order to get,say,the 56th placement in the GC.

As pointed out by Cyclingnews and Sporten.Dk,Chris' choice of running the Giro may force him to skip the Tour.Me instead actually thinks that Chris will be able to ride the 2010 edition of the French race.After all,2008 has been his best year so far,and in that year he got 2 nice victories (a mountain stage at the Dauphine Libére and a stage at the Tour of Austria) few weeks after having finished the Giro.And then I believe that,even if Chris shouldn't manage to race the Tour in July,Saxo Bank team would be very strong anyway.In fact on the team short list for the Tour there are guys like the Schleck brothers,Cancellara,Voigt,Fuglsang, Breschel, O'Grady and Larsson.Are we sure that Team Radioshack is actually stronger than Saxo Bank? Me isn't.
Anyway,I guess that now it's time to end this post and stop talking about my opinions.After all,there are still 5 months before of the Giro's beginning and we can't know how things may change in this period.Btw,my opinion for the moment is: Chris Anker has taken the right decision.Now let's hope he won't change his mind at the last moment and that he can have a good first part of the year and arrive at the Giro in good form.

NB: Of course Miss Fede wishes a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to every reader, cyclist or cycling supporter out there :)

19/12/08 - 19/12/09: My first year as a blogger (post including a long and unaccurate review of the 2009 cycling season):

Yes,exactly one year ago this blog made its appearance in the Blogosphere.Hopefully after 12 months of blogging my posts have become slightly better and,hopefully,my English skills have improved.The only thing that hasn't got better at all,by the way,is my talent for giving titles to my posts.Will I ever learn to give interesting titles to my works? I'm afraid that the answer to this question is:no,I won't.The problem actually doesn't affect just my blog posts,but also my school essays,and that's certainly much more problematic.
Anyway,I could say lots of things about the 2009 year and about my first year as a blogger.From my egoistic point of view,I can say that 2009 has been a good year-not just from the "cycling" pont of view.But since this blog is mainly focused on cycling,here's my personal review of the 2009 cycling season.

So,let’s start with January.My first month as a blogger was characterised by Saxo Bank’s training camp in Mallorca and by the Tour Down Under.As you may remember,this period was also characterised by the Lancemania spreading around the world like pestilences used to do in Europe in the Middle Ages.I first understood the gravity of the situation when I learned about the existence of the programme “Planet Armstrong” on Eurosport.That really shocked me.Anyway,the Tour Down Under made this fangirl very happy since she managed to get a lot of joy from the fact that His Amazingness Jens Voigt did better than Lance Armstrong in nearly every stage of the race.

February didn't actually start very well.In fact the Valverde doping case exploded in this month. Now,I don't want to be too pessimistic,but I predict that in January/February 2010 some bad news connected with doping will come out again.

Anyway,February finally allowed me to see the first RR of the year on tv.Said race was the Tour of California,whose first stage was greatly won by Fabian Cancellara,who also got the leader jersey after that stage.Unfortunately Fab Fab had to leave the race the day after his victory because he was ill.

Also Andy Schleck was ill in that period,therefore he couldn’t threaten Levi Leipheimer’s overall victory of the race.

The cyclistic highlight of the month however (at least for me) was Frank Schleck’s victory of the last stage of ToC.I remember that I decided to watch the race that evening because the following morning I wouldn’t have had to go to school and also because in that period I couldn’t use my new video recorder in a proper way yet.Therefore I decided to stay awake until 2 am watching the race,getting angry at the Italian chronists,reading a stupid magazine to keep me awake during the commercials and,finally,jumping around the house whispering “Frank has won,Frank has won,Frank has won!” in a very stupid way.Definitely,that was my first "Fangirl attack" of the year.
In March I survived to my sister’s anger (I had forgotten to record the Eroica,race that was won by her hero Tommy Lovkvist) and so I could watch Paris-Nice and the Tirreno-Adriatico.I remember that,since the Schleck brothers were racing in the 2 different races (Frank was in France and Andy was in Italy),I used to get confused about what race I was watching and which Schleck was racing in it every time I turned on my tv and started to change channels.

In Paris-Nice Contador had his only weak moment of the whole year and that allowed L.L.Sanchez to win the race.2nd in the final overall classification was Frank Schleck.
The Tirreno-Adriatico didn’t go very well for Sexy Bankers,since both Andy Schleck and Fabian Cancellara decided to get retired during the race.Few days after the end of the race,Frank Schleck got injured as well during a training and had to skip Milan-Sanremo,a race during which Stuart O’Grady had a very bad crash.Definitely,March wasn’t the luckiest period of the year for SB.
Talking about Milan-Sanremo,the race was won by Cavendish,while Haussler came in 2nd.That was one of the 2 Classics that I couldn't watch on tv this year.In fact on the 21st of March 2009 me was on a bus heding to Germany because of a cultural exchange that allowed me to live one of the nicest week of my life.

During the month April mister Pozzatolocks won some races and was considered one of the possible winners of the Tour of Flanders and of Paris-Roubaix.Luckily,Tour of Flanders was won by Devolder,while the Paris-Roubaix was won by mr.Tom Boonen.Gand-Wevelgem instead was won by Edvald Boasson Hagen,while Kuschinky came in 3rd and had great words for the victims of the Italian earthquake in Abruzzo.

Unfortunately for Fangirls,Spartacus didn’t get any wonderful result during the North Classics because he was still ricovering from that damn training crash that ruined the first part of his season.
The second part of April (the "interlude" here on the blog consisted in that off topic hosting my description of Bob Dylan's concert in Milan) was dedicated to the Ardenne’s Classics.

Amstel was probably the most frightening race of the year (at least for Schleck’s fangirls),since Frank had a horrible crash in it (the race was eventually won by Ivanov).

Andy’s second place in Fleche Wallone and the good news regarding Frank coming from Holland however cheered me up a bit,although I couldn’t see the Fleche because of the second part of my Cultural Exchange (in which I realised that I can't be trusted when I say "Tonight we go home early!").To be more precise,while Andy was struggling on the Huy Wall to win that race,me was sitted in Sirmione,watching a pair of ducks and some friends jumping happily in the lake water.

Luckily the day of the Liége I managed to stay home and so I could watch the race.Of course that race was a great one for this fangirl.Andy Schleck’s victory was simply amazing,I was really praying for him to win the race during the last kms of it and his victory allowed me to stay in a very happy mood for the whole week.

May of course was the Giro’s month.Me started to support Denis Menchov after his victory on Alpe di Siusi (I was really shocked by his attack that day),while sister (after that Lovkvist started to lose placements in the GC after having worn the Maglia Rosa for one day) started to support Di Luca.Of course the fights and arguments we had during the month of May were incredible and it was a bad blow to know that my sister was actually supporting a doped rider.

Btw,there were lots of nice stages in the Giro.The TTs were always very thrilling,the landscapes were often amazing (ok,I can't be impartial when I talk about some things),the post race interviews with Menchov were terribly amusing.

In May then I also had the chance of seeing 2 Giro stages live,the Bergamo one (won by Siutsou) and the Milan one (won by Cavendish).The Milan day was an amazing one,even if the riders striked and the stage didn't turn out to be terribly exciting.By the way that stage gave me the chance of seeing lots of my favourite riders live and I was completely charmed by His Amazingness Jens Voigt (and by a young Silence-Lotto’s rider,but that’s another story).

June began very well,with the Schleck brothers and Matti Breschel winning 1 stage of the Tour of Luxembourg each and Frank winning the final overall classification (during this race I also found out about the existence of the Skoda Yeti man,but that,again,is another story).
The Dauphine Libére ended up with being a very interesting race and me was incredibly happy to see Sylvester Szmyd winning the Mont Ventoux stage.

The Tour of Suisse saw Matti Breschel doing a superwork for Saxo Bank,Fab Fab winning the overall classification,Andy missing the leader jersey for few seconds,Frank getting retired before of the last TT and the Italian chronists confuse Andy Schleck,Frank Schleck and Chris-Anker Sorensen.Then,while me was on holiday and had my birthday,Andy won the Luxembourgish RR championship and Matti won the Danish one.

July involved the Tour de France and my comeback from the holidays.I was expected to stay at sea until the 10th of July,but after failing to see the first 2 stages I made up my mind about going back home,took my bike and rode towards the train station to get the first train home.After an 8 hours travel,I finally arrived home.

The opening TT of the race was won by Fab Fab,who also got the leader jersey and managed to keep it also after the terrible TTT on the 4th day of race.Between the highlights of the race in my opinion there were Haussler's,Nicki Sorensen's and also Feillu's victories.

Then of course there were the 2 stages I saw live in France (the Grand Bornard one and the Bourg-Saint-Maurice one).During the Bourg Saint Maurice stage I was on the Col du Petite Saint Bornard and I probably drove Ilaria mad (on that occasion in fact I managed to meet her,Kimberley and Marleen) when she tried to tell me about His Amazingness Jens Voigt's crash.In fact in that moment I really was under Fangirl's control and I couldn't understand what Ilaria was telling me."Voigt has fallen!",she told me on the phone."It's impossible,he rode in front of me 30 seconds ago!",I replied."But I tell you he's fallen!" "Are you sure? I've just seen him! It can't be him"."He's fallen!" "Well,probably he fell and then he got on his bike again,because I've just seen him and he was on his bike".I really must thank Ilaria for not hanging up the phone in front of my problems in understanding things in that occasion.

Of course then there was the Grand Bornard stage and I remember me hearing the chronicle of the stage on the radio,starting to scream and to show a poster of Frank to all the other car drivers on their way to Milan.And then of course there was the great moment of the TdF podium in Paris.

The most interesting August races were San Sebastian (won by Barredo),the Hamburg Classic (won by Farrar),the Trittico Lombardo (*Santambrogio!*,screams Fangirl) and,of course,the Vuelta.

September saw my comeback from 2 holidays in a row and also made me feel very worried about Frank's knee surgery.

Andy got retired from the Vuelta soon after Big Bro,while Jakob Fuglsang was the most active Saxo Banker of the race.

The Vuelta was finally won by Valverde,but me was extremely disappointed when poor Robert Gesink had his unlucky crash and also when Kreuziger lost the Avila stage to Deignan.

Of course September also meant the Mendrisio Worlds.During the Worlds week I could be extremely happy for Cantele's bronze medal in the TT race,I could be delighted by the TT elite men podium and by Pinotti's 5th place and,of course,I could also be terribly overjoyed for Guderzo's gold and for Cantele's bronze medal in the women RR.

Talking about the elite men RR,that was a great emotion,especially bcause I went to see the race live and so I was there when Evans became World Champion.On that occasion I also managed to see Andy Schleck and lots of other riders very well (although at the end I couldn't find the danish bus,which was a bit disappointing).

October was Gilbert's month,since he won Paris-Tours,Coppa Sabatini,Tour of Lombardy and another race I can't remember right now.Btw this month was nice for Fangirl especially because of Chris Anker Sorensen's victory in Japan Cup.It was high time,really,and that victory made me go round the house in a very delighted mood for almost 2 weeks (ok,I'm exaggerating).

November saw the riders chilling our in Curaçao and Frank proposing to his girlfriend Martine,while December finally saw Andy winning the Luxembourgish Sportive of the Year Award and the Saxo Bank guys facing their traditional boot camp.

So,these were some of the things that happened in 2009.If you've read the whole post,you've been incredibly patient and kind (I'm the first one to know that sometimes my posts are too long and also a bit boring).
In conclusion,I'd like to thank all the people who like this blog,who read it,who help me by giving me new links and who perhaps find my posts entertaining.I hope you liked the work I did in these 12 months and I hope to be able to write posts about other great Schleck's victories in the new year :)

NB: Yes,I know that also Frank Schleck is on Twitter now...

Random Links about Saxo Bank riders (Didier,Breschel,Cancellara and C.Sorensen):

As you may have thought considering my lack of posts in the last days,I'm in a very busy period at school.In fact all my teachers have entered their "OMG I need a mark!" period and so they've decided to make us do at least one test pro subject in this week.Nice,isn't it? This morning for example I had 2 P.E.tests (and realised that high hoopes have something against me),1 art test and 1 English test (that caused me and some classmates to repeat the sentence "Romeo,Romeo,wherefore art thou Romeo?" for the whole morning).This morning then it snowed and I even woke up later than usual.These 2 facts combined together forced me to skip breakfast,run to the bus stop in a terribly fast way,argue with my father because I couldn't find my wristwatch ("You've lost it!" "No,it must be somewhere here in the house!" "And why can't you find it then?" "You're putting pressure on me,that's why I can't find it!"),risk to break my neck by slipping on the ice right in front of the bus stop and freeze happily outside of the school building between 7.30 and 7.50.

Btw,in the next days I'll be blogging slightly more,especially because I'm finally going to post that old old old interview with Frank Schleck that I translated months ago.And then sooner or later I'll also post my personal review of the 2009 cycling year.In the meanwhile however you can take a look at these totally random links about Saxo Bank riders:

http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/6916.html :that's an interview with Laurent Didier, the new Luxembourgish rider of team Saxo Bank.About the survival camp in Fuerteventura he said:"We were divided into five teams and each of them was formed by 11/12 people.One of my teammates was the French bus driver Lolo (Editor's note: Laurent Plu) and we really had a lot of fun,even if the camp wasn't that easy.Anyway,the riders who had already participated in other boot camps have said that this year's one was a bit softer than usual".
"One day we had to swim for 2 kilometers.In my group we helped a new rider who couldn't swim.The purpose of this kind of camp is obviously to develop human relationships.We form a team and we must remember that during the whole season.This isn't always obvious,because during races for example we never meet the mechanics.In fact when we return to the hotel in the evening,they immediately take care of our bikes and then they eat after us,therefore we don't have the chance of talking to them very often. "
"Obviously I already knew quite well the Schleck brothers,but when I sat at the table together with Cancellara,Voigt and O'Grady I realized that I'm in a very important team and I started to look at these riders in a new way.In Fuerteventura I discovered how these riders actually are in everyday's life"
Didier gives also a litte information to people who are interested in seeing the new team jersey: "We have already seen the 2010 team jersey.It is similar to this year's one,but it's alittle bit darker on the shoulders".

Didier said he hopes to race the Ardenne's classics and the Giro this year and I hope he will achieve his goals.

http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/matti-vil-vinde-paris-roubaix :In this article Matti Breschel talks briefly about the 2009 season and says that his main goal for the next season will be the Paris-Roubaix.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/indergand-beats-cancellara-to-swiss-cyclist-of-the-year : Both Logic and Fangirl have been incredibly surprised by this news.Now I wonder: are the Swiss fans taking revenge on Fabian because he didn't win the RR World Championship in Mendrisio?

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ :yes,Chris-Anker Sorensen has updated his blog,but the unusual thing is that he's updated it twice in the last 2 days (I remember you that we aren't in the Tour de France period,therefore this is a pretty strange thing).Btw,the reason for this frequent blog updates is the description of what happened during the SB training camp in Fuerteventura.Here's a very brief and uncomplete translation of what I understood from the posts.

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry352660.html : Advent Calendar on the blog:
Lots of you may think that it is a bit late to start an advent calendar on the 16th of December.I can only agree and add that this calendar is ending on the 19th of December,since it will describe the boot camp that we Saxo Bank riders had to face this year.I would have preferred to post it on the blog before,but the Internet connection down in Fuerteventura wasn't working very well.
This year the boot camp started on the 1st of December on the beach of Playitas Resort.There in fact we started the training camp with a two-men kayak race.

We were divided into 5 teams and my teammates were Torsten Schmidt,Stuart O'Grady,Frank Høj,Gustav Larsson and other people (...).We won the kayak races and then we had to cope with other 4 disciplines: golf,orienteering,diving and swimming. (...).In the golf competition my team came in 3rd.Then we had a classic orienteering race and Gustav and I volunteered as the best runners in the team.Anyway other people were stronger than us and we came in 2nd (...).Diving wasn't our favourite competition at all and so we came in 4th (...).We came back to victory in the swimming race and we ended up as overall winner.In this competition we were abandoned with 2 surfboards in the sea,2 kms away from the beach.It's not a secret that it was a little challenging for me because I've never been a great swimmer.Before of the training camp,the longest distance I had ever swum in my life was probably 200 meters in a swimming pool.Anyway I managed to face that 2 kms without drowning,although at the end I had a very bad taste in my mouth because I had drunk a big amount of sea water.
After that we thought that the challenges were over for the day,but 30 minutes after dinner we were given some MTBs and we had to drive on some gravel roads in the dark.It was pretty exciting because we couldn't see where we were going.In spite of this,we did arrive to our destination without crashing (...) and there we made a great bonfire (...),sat for a while and chatted a little (...).When the fire stopped burning,we came back to the basis with our MTBs.By the time I entered my bed in the hotel,it was already 2:00 am.

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry352788.html :Second day:

The following morning my alarm clock rang at 6:00 am and I was certainly not very satisfied with my sleeping,since 4 hours of sleep just aren't enough for me.However we were lucky to get a bit of bread before of the departure of the buses.

We got off the bus after a 1 hour travel and we found ourselves in a small town near to a pond. There we were controlled in order to avoid that one of us faced the day with some food taken from the hotel and then we got the prizes from the previous day (...).The prizes actually consisted in food and since we didn't know when we would have received other things to eat we decided not to eat them as long as we could.I actually waited to drink my cola so long that I actually ended up drinking it in the very last few days of the camp.

Btw then we received a map on which there was a marked point.The distance between the point and the little village where we were standing was of 10 kms.Of course we had to reach the point marked on the map by walking,and facing 10 kms by foot actually didn't look that hard.The real problem however was that we couldn't just walk in a straight line towards the marked point,but we had to get over a mountain before of reaching it.Btw when we got on the top of it,after a lot of sweat,the landscape was really worthwhile,since while we were there we could hear the roar of the Atlantic and see the waves rolling towards the coast.

The path leading down to the sea then led us in the wrong direction,so we had to walk in the sand for 5 kms.However we were the second team to arrive,so we had the opportunity to lie in the sun and sleep a bit.When all the teams had arrived,we were divided in 5 new groups and had to go and look for 2 marked points on a map (...). We had been told that in those points we would have found some food,but actually we could found just some water,a pan and something to make a fire with.Since the other groups had found something similar,plus blankets,we were a little worried about the food situation and I immediately ate my 7 biscuits.
In the evening,a surprise came.The local park ranger (...) in fact wasn't happy to see us.First he wanted to make us go away and then he started to threaten us.In fact the local authorities had forgotten to inform the park ranger of our permission to spend the night in that place.Since nothing,not even some calls,could convince the man that we were telling the truth,we decided to go few kms down towards the sea (...).

Luxembourgish Sportsman of the Year Award + few new pics from the training camp:

Just like Logic predicted the other day,Andy Schleck won the Luxembourgish "Sportman of the Year" Award,while Frank Schleck came in 2nd.Of course Fangirl is incredibly happy right now and can't wait for the new season to begin because she's already impatient and wants top see the Saxo Bank riders racing again soon.Btw,talking about the awards ceremony of the other day,here's a pic from the event.As you can see Andy was wearing (again) very formal clothes and me thinks that the combination "Andy + suit + tie" is a very good one.And then,he showed fangirls that he owns more than one shirt ;)Other little news: on http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/61834/so-quaelen-sich-unsere-radprofis-auf-fuerte.php there are 3 new pics from the training camp,here are 2 of them (Cancellara is featured in one of the pics).Enjoy!

"Who if not Andy?"/"Fignon et fae"

1 post for 2 translated articles.The first one is about tonight's Gala of the Luxembourgish press,the second one is about Andy's reply to what Fignon said about him and Frank during the Tour.

WHO IF NOT ANDY?

"Mais qui d'autre que lui" can be the 2009 Luxembourgish Sportsman of the Year,Le Quotidien's journalist Denis Bastien asks? Of course "lui" is Andy Schleck,winner of 2009 Liége-Bastogne-Liége,best young rider and second in the final GC at the 2009 Tour de France.On http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/6863.html there's an article written by mr.Bastien about tonight's Gala of the Luxembourgian Sport Press,during which the Luxembourgian Sportsman and Sportwoman of the year will be chosen.
Here are the nominees for the Man title: Steve Blasen (quilles),Dirk Bockel (triathlon),Laurent Carnol (swimming),Kim Kirchen (cycling),Gilles Muller (tennis), Mario Mutsch (football),Sasha Palgen (gymnastique),Andy and Frank Schleck (cycling), Mike Schumacher (athletic),Marc Seidel (canoeing),Raphaël Stacchiotti (swimming).
The nominees for the Women's title instead are: Christine Mailliet (swimming),Liz May (triathlon),Marie Muller (judo),Ni Xia Lian (table tennis) and Srah Rolko (swimming).

According to Le Quotidien (and also to both Logic and Fangirl),it seems that the person who has more chances to win the male title is Andy Schleck.Btw,here's the translation of Le Quotidien article:

Andy Schleck should be named Sportsman of the Year 2009.Last year the award was won by Kim Kirchen.

Another cyclist is going to win the Luxembourgish Sportsman of the Year award.In the last years,we've actually got used to this.Who else but cyclists can get the trophy for best sportsman? And,talking about this year,who if not Andy Schleck can win the award?

Andy's brother Frank is a big contender for the title,since he won a great stage at this year Tour de France.Both Frank and Andy in fact rode a great TdF and saved the Grande Boucle from being terribly boring.In fact the brothers were the only ones who tried to create problems to Alberto Contador.Until the end of the race the Schlecks remained on guard,just like they do when they go hunting.Unfortunately for them,the door to the Tour's success remained closed and Alberto Contador won the race for the second time in his career.

Abroad,Andy Schleck is now considered Contador's strongest contender;however,Andy gets on well with the Spaniard,who instead had problems with getting on with Lance Armstrong during this year Grande Boucle.

This year both the Schleck brothers also got terribly close to arriving on the final Tour podium in Paris.In fact Frank's final fifth placement and Andy's second one behind Contador made many cycling lovers (also outside of Luxembourg) very happy. But what will probably allow Andy Schleck to get his first award in the annual Sport Gala is the beauty of his Liége-Bastogne-Liége victory,that is also the most beautiful classic for climbers.

"There are 2 great classics in cycling,which are very different from one another and suit different kinds of riders.I know that many people think that the the most beautiful classic is Paris-Roubaix,but I keep on thinking that the nicest one day race is Liège-Bastogne-Liège.And I don't say this just because I've won that race this year",says Andy Schleck (...).

Andy Schleck made a masterpiece and wrote some pages of cycling history when he won this year's Liége.His attack on the Roche aux Faucons,nineteen kms from the finish of the race,was amazing.In his triumph,Andy even had the time to notice the Luxembourgish flags that the supporters had put near to the finish-line.Later,he found himself in the arms of his brother Frank,who had just recovered from his horrible crash in the Amstel Gold Race,and then passed from hug to hug until he reached his mother Gaby,moved to tears by the emotion.Andy was no longer the little boy who used to hold his father's hand on the côté de Bastogne every time that the Schleck family went to see the Doyenne.

From the Roche aux Faucons to Ans,during this year Liége,people could only see Andy' slender silhouette,so thin and so strong at the same time.After years during which the victory was decided in a sprint between the strongest climbers (sprint that in the past took away the victory from Frank's hands twice),Andy decided to attack with 19 kms to go and managed to put his sign on the race.He had planned to attack in that point already 2 days before of the race,but this wasn't a sign of arrogance or of aggressiveness,it was just a sign of great self-confidence.The self-confidence that only great champions have.«L'envol d'un faucon» ("the flight of the hawk"),as L'Equipe journalists defined it.

"With his attack on the Roche aux Faucons,Andy Schleck flew over la Doyenne with all his class",they wrote the day after Andy's triumph.Andy was immediatrly compared to Eddy Merckx and to Bernard Hinault,who wrote great pages of the cycling history on the Liége roads. But in the end,the best tribute to Andy's victory probably came from Lance Armstrong, who never won the Doyenne. "During one stage of the Tour he congratulated on my victory and told me that he had never seen a rider dominate the Liége classic as I did in April.That compliment,made by Armstrong,really pleased me,»Andy says.It is probably with the same pleasure that the 72 members of the Luxembourgish Sport Press will give the victory of this year's award to this young rider.

FIGNON ET FAE:

http://www.sporten.dk/tour-de-france-etaperne/andy-schleck-fignon-et-fae :in an interview with Cycle Sport,Andy said that Laurent Fignon is a "fæ",Danish word that my friend Google Translate translates with "fool".Here's my translation of the article as it appeared on Sporten.Dk:

The most of the time,Andy Schleck is a rock of calm and serenity.But don't go to him and say that his brother Fränk braked him during the 2009 edition of the Tour de France (...).The 2 times winner of the TdF Laurent Fignon critiziced the behaviour of the Schleck brothers during this year Tour by saying that Frank braked Andy's possibilities during this year edition of the race.

-What Fignon wrote about the relationship between Frank and me during the Tour,all those things about Frank braking me and so on,they were really stupid.I respect Fignon for what he achieved during his career,but people like him don't understand how important Frank is to me. When Frank is with me,I can ride better.Frank has been a a cyclist for a long time now and so he's very good at understanding how a race will develop.And we like to work well for each other-,Andy Schleck said.-I really would have loved to see Frank on the Paris podium with me. When he won the Grand Bornard stage at the Tour,I was actually more pleased than when I came in 2nd in the final GC",Andy concluded.

First pics from Saxo Bank boot camp:

First of all I must say a big "THANK YOU" to Anne (http://outandaboutcycling.blogspot.%20com/ ),since it's her who found these pics.The link to see all the pics is http://sport.rtl.lu/news/fotoen/3131/overview/1 and I really suggest fangirls taking a look since I haven't posted all the pics.Anyway,here are few of them:
Andy and His Amazingness Jens Voigt in a very "boot camp" mood.
Me likes those socks...
Andy (again) riding his bike (where was Frank while the most of these photos were taken,fangirl wonders?).

More pics on http://sport.rtl.lu/news/fotoen/3131/overview/1 .The photographs were taken by Erny Klein.

Few Random Links:

After a super busy week,here I am again.I haven't written anything in the last days not just because of the lack of news,but also because I had a lot to do between school and other random things that happened to me this week.For example this week I had to cope with a Jeohvah's Witness who wanted to save my soul and gave me a free copy of a very funny magazine.This scene happened on Wednesday evening,while I was risking to die of hypotermia (ok,I'm exaggerating) because the bus I had to take had a delay of 15 minutes (it may seem a normal delay,but I always get annoyed when a bus is late and I've been waiting for it for almost 45 minutes).Well,there I was,looking very tired after a long day of school,when this woman came up to me and offered me a magazine.I read the title and my reaction was "Oh man,I've come across a Jeohvah's Witness for the first time in my life!" Luckily the woman realised that I wasn't in a very religious mood in that moment,so she just asked me few questions about my relationship with the Bible and religion and then told me that I had to love the Bible if I wanted to get the etern life as a premium.Then she disappearead in the fog.

On Monday instead a man in a car stopped me to ask for information (he wanted to know the direction for my school).Then,after hearing my answer,he asked me whether I wanted to get in his car and help him to find his way to my school.It's unbelievable to think how disgusting men can be...

Anyway,I don't want to bore you any further with my personal tales,therefore here are few cycling links.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/breschel-joins-saxo-bank-teammates-on-mountain-climb :during Saxo Bank's boot camp,Matti Breschel twisted his ankle.Btw he's now alright and even joined his teammates in a night trip on a Fuertaventura climb.The boot camp is now over and Fangirl is waiting for some info about it to come out in the Net.
http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1870 :that's a really nice interview with His Amazingness Jens Voigt,in which he talks about the past,the future,the present,the Tour's fall and his children (also Andy Schleck is mentioned in it).
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ :Chris Anker Sorensen updated his blog before of the beginning of the boot camp,that's the link.
http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/nicki-s-touren-overskygger-alt :After giving so many links about CA in the last weeks,I couldn't keep on ignoring the other Sorensen,right? If someone's interested,on that link there's a good (even if short) interview with Nicki (I didn't know he lives in Italy!).
http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1898 :nice video interview with the Schleck brothers (both wearing suits).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTUaj2K10z4 :if you like tribute videos starring the Schleck brothers and/or you break into tears every time you see the images from the 2009 Liége and/or the Grand Bornard stage,that's a link you may enjoy.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bettini-accused-of-tax-evasion: yes,after Rebellin,also Bettini is having tax evasion problems.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pereiro-admits-retirement-is-very-probable :I really hope that Pereiro will change his mind,he's a very good rider and IMO he doesn't deserve to end his career in this way.

Article about Andy + Frank talking about his marriage

Article about Andy:
http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/%20artikel/%2059394/moechte-die-tour-de-france-einmal-gewinnen.php (German).This article appeared on Luxembourg Wort's website and a big part of it is a repetition of what Andy already said to Le Quotidien.Here are the "new" parts:
Andy talking about boot camps: "Taking part in a boot camp is always very interesting.You never know what to expect.Bjarne and Co.always find something new for us.You learn how to push yourself over your limits and how to go over them.Team spirit and unity become stronger during these camps,since you can't get over the camp's proofs if you and the other guys don't work as a team.During these camps you can also see someone's leadership skills in a very fast way".

Andy about 2006 boot camp: "It's the 6th year in a row that I take part in one of these camps.In 2006 we were in South Africa and my roommate was Bobby Julich.The evening before of the beginning of the camp we decided to watch a film because we thought that we would have been woken up shortly past midnight.At about 2 am we saw a man wearing a military uniform come to our room's door,therefore we began to get prepared in order to be ready when they called us for the beginning of the camp. Unfortunately we waited for someone to come and wake us up until 6 am.Bobby and I didn't sleep at all that night,therefore we were terribly tired even before of the camp's true beginning.However I don't make this kind of mistakes anymore...".

Andy's plans for the December month: 10th of December:Sportive Press Association Gala.After that he will go skiing for few days.

Andy about Contador:"Alberto is a simple guy,with both feet down on Earth.You can laugh a lot when you're with him,he's a nice guy and we get on very well. Unfortunately he's also a very strong rider,perhaps the greatest talent of the last 10 years.It's a pity that I've had to come across him during my career.Anyway,he's not unbeatable".
Andy about the Tour: "I want to win the Tour at least once in my career.I will try everything in order to make this dream come true.I still have to improve in the TTs,but I'm working hard on that and I keep on improving.The Tour is special also because of the unity that it race creates inside a team,since during it you live together with your teammates and you suffer with them for 3 weeks.This year I was really sad when the Tour was over.On the penultimate day I really had to fight with my emotions.For 3 weeks you just think about the cool beer that you'll drink as soon as you arrive in Paris,on the Champs Elysées.Then the last day comes and you're overflown by sadness".
About the Tour of Flanders:"I'd like to run the Tour of Flanders (4th of April) next year,but the big problem is the race's collocation in the calendar.In fact the Tour of the Basque Country,which is the best preparation you can have if you want to have a very good form for the Ardenne's classics,begins just one day after the Flanders".
Random off topic du interview: When he's in top form and isn't moving,Andy's heart beats 28 times pro minute.

Article About Frank:

http://www.sporten.dk/ovrig-cykling/pa-knae-i-badeshorts (Dansk).With a little help from my friend Google Translater I've tried to translate this article,here's the (hopefully good) result:

Frank Schleck has a big smile on his face.After all,he has lots of reasons to smile.Although it wasn't planned and he was wearing a swimsuit and a pair of swimming slippers,he proposed to Martine-the girl who has been his girlfriend for the last 9 years-and she said "yes".

"It was fantastic",Frank said."Andy knew of my will to propose to Martine and we talked about it during the whole travel to Curaçao.Andy suggested me waiting until the closing ceremony,but the right moment actually came during the opening party.We had just finished to swim and we were looking at fireworks.Andy came up to me,poked me in the ribs and told me that it was the right moment. I just got on my knee,in swimsuits,and made my proposal.Luckily Martine said yes",Frank said.

The marriage day hasn't been decided yet,but it will be after 2010 Tour de France.Therefore Martine has over half a year to organise the party,since Frank doesn't want to take part in the wedding organisation."I said to her: 'I will marry you,but you'll have to organise the wedding.I don't want to hear anything about it,it's up to you to organise a nice big party and to invite all the guests",Frank said.He knows it may be an expensive experience."But I pay to get rid of the problems",he laughs.

Although Martine had wanted to marry Frank for years,the older of the Schleck brothers had said that wedding wasn't for him for lots of years.Now however he's changed his mind."Martine is the perfect girl for me,she knows me very well and she always helps me.No one can change my mind about my decision of marrying her",said Frank.

(pic by Serge Waldbillig)

Andy: "I'm already focused on the Tour"

Here's the translation of an article about the Schleck brothers taken from Le Quotidien (link: http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/6571.html ).I've translated it from French to English and,since I know French even less than Russian (I am not joking),you should read the translation made by myself just if you know French as bad as me.Otherwise,you'd better read the original French article.

In the case your French is as bad as mine,here's the translation (and don't get too angry if something doesn't make sense!!):

ANDY SCHLECK:"I'M ALREADY FOCUSED ON THE TOUR"
His victory in Liége-Bastogne-Liége.His relationship with Frank and their common future.His ambitions.His winter training.Alberto Contador.Andy Schleck doesn't hide anything in an interview with Denis Bastien.

We could,or should,have begun our interview with Andy Schleck with this question: how do you feel at the end of 2009 year?

Instead Andy made us wait few minutes before of telling us how he feels about the end of this season and about the new year approaching.And the answer to the question is that,at the end of 2009,Andy Schleck feels very good."I've never,never felt so well before in this period.I had the best holiday ever in Curaçao,together with my brother and my mother.Too bad that my father didn't come! Now I'm really looking forward to meeting again my teammates.Really,I think I've never been so motivated before..."
Andy,you stopped your season in September with the Mendrisio Worlds.Have you had the time in the last two months to enjoy the results you've reached this year?
"The Liége's victory made a dream of mine come true.I didn't realise immediately what I had done,although I was aware of the importance of that race.In my opinion,the Liége is even more beautiful than the Paris-Roubaix and I knew I could win it.I got to know that it had been a long time since a rider last won it with an attack in the final kms just after the race.That made me feel proud of what I've done.I think I made something big.One day,during the Tour,Lance Armstrong said to me:"I'd never seen a rider win that classic as you did".I liked that compliment,yes,I was pretty proud...
And then July came,together with the Tour de France.Your second placement in the GC,Frank's 5th one...
To me,the best moment of the race was Frank's victory in Grand Bornard.That stage,it was a family thing,a very big one,really.We were really motivated also because of Voigt's crash the previous day.
What was,in your opinion,the best souvenir from the 2009 Tour de France?
It may sound strange,but to me it was a moment on the Mont Ventoux top.At a certain point, right after the stage,while I was on the podium,I looked at the blue sky,that was very beautiful on that day.There weren't many people around,so I started to think.I will always remember that moment.It was the day before of the Paris stage,there was this wonderful blue sky and I realised that the Tour was nearly over.I was incredibly happy,I think often about that moment...
The last TdF has increased your popularity,that was already very big.How do you see this fact?
I feel a great pride for me,for my family and for my country.For example,the other day I was in Germany.Someone told me: "Luxembourg? The country of cyclists?".Some time ago,people used to match Luxembourg with Banks.Now people match Luxembourg with Cycling.I'm proud of having given a contribute to this.And it's true that this happened because of the Tour, the biggest race of the world.And the Tour also allows me to get my salary,I'm aware of it and I really can't complain.
That's what people call "Notoriety"...
Yes,but I also know that all this could stop very fast.Cycling is a dangerous sport.You can fall,you can get hurt...Just think about that young Italian rider that died while training (NDR;the Italian junior champion,Anthony Orsani,died on Sunday after having a bad accident with a car while training).Everyday,while you race,you play with your life.Sometimes you think about it.If you fall and have a serious crash,then your life can go back to zero.But luckily,training here in Luxembourg is pretty safe.It's a kind of paradise if you want to train without risks.
Talking about the 2009 season,do you regret what happened during the Vuelta and during the Worlds?
After the Tour,I felt in a great form and I did some criteriums.Then,all of a sudden,I started to feel the fatigue.An enormous fatigue.For one week,I just didn't want to talk about cycling or to hear someone talk about it.I was fed up.Even watching a race on television was unbearable to me.Then I take up training again to take part in the Vuelta.Frank told me:"We're racing the Vuelta and then the Worlds".And so I trained very well and went at the departure of the race.
Then you decided to retire...

Yes,the night before of a stage (NDR;Andy left the race during the 8th stage) I suffered from gastrititis,so I decided to go home.At home I trained again,but in my mind everything was already over.I had the desire of going fishing or going out walking with my dogs.And the Worlds were a disaster for me.So I decided not to race the last races of the season.I told Riis and Andersen: "I stop here.If I want to have a good 2010 season,I have to rest a while".
What's the result of this choice?
I can say that the decision of stopping racing was really good,I'd never trained this way before.After the holidays,I made lots of different things.On Friday,Frank and I trained for 6 hours! It was the first time I trained so much.We're also doing some weight training,some swimming and of course we're riding our bikes.That's good to have a good basis.I really want to go back racing,to meet the boys again (NDR;the first team meeting is on Saturday with the traditional boot camp.After a week of boot camp the riders will train for a week.Before of that,the Schleck brothers will be in Denmark for a sponsor event).
You're really impatient!
I'm really happy,that's true.I'm varying my training.I'm also going to ski for 4 days! I rememver that in 2007,before of my first Giro d'Italia,I went skiing for a week between the Paris-Nice and the Criterium International...
Let's say that you've found again the pleasure of riding your bike again...
I'm training without stress in these days and so I'm having a lot of fun.In this period I usually ride in the woods on a Specialized Cyclocross bike.That bike is a little jewel!
Talking about the 2010 season,your team seems a bit weaker...What do you think about it?
I don't think that we'll have a weaker team.Not for the Grand Tours,at least.Karsten Kroon was a precious rider for the Classics,but with a guy like Jakob Fuglsang we'll be very strong anyway.Last year for example he worked in a great way during the Liége.
Also Kurt-Asle Arvesen has changed team.
Yes,he's changed team as well,but he'll always remain a friend of mine.And the same worths for Karsten.They've changed team,that's life.We remain friends.One day,I may run for another team as well.It's normal when you're a cyclist.
Your contract ends in 2010 and so all the best teams of the World would love you to race for them.It seems that Radioshack is really interested in you...
Talking about my future,one thing is clear and sure,I'll never go in a team without Frank! My future will always be chained with his.It will be a "two guys package" or nothing,even if this will involve earning less money.But at the moment I don't have any problem with Saxo Bank,I'm happy to ride in this team.I'm really happy at the idea of seeing all my teammates again,this idea makes me feel good.
How has your behaviour towards your teammates changed during these years?
I've been a pro for 6 years now.I'll always remember the chances that Riis gave me when I was younger and I'll always be thankul for this.Talking about my relationship with the other team riders,I like it when the new pros come and ask for advice.For example,sometimes the new riders want to oganise their training programme basing themselves on my own programme,but I always suggests them not doing so.I tell them to do their own programme,thinking about their own skills,that's how they can improve step by step.

It seems that you have a great control not just during the races but also during the trainings...

I've got experience,but I'm still too nervous during the races.I'll never thank Frank enough for the guide role he has towards me.During the decisive moments,he can always read the race very well.He tells me to pay attention to this or to that.I'm sure that,without him,I would have never came in 2nd in a Tour de France.

Talking about Frank:he's recently said that you've made a deal.You win the Amstel Gold Race,he wins the Liége.Do you agree with him?

Absolutely,this would be amazing for us.Of course we can't know in advance how the races will end up,but I'd love to win the Amstel,while Frank instead has everything it takes to win a Liége. However,it will be important to take part in the Liége at 100% of form.That's why it could be too dangerous for us to race the Tour of Flanders.In the next years,we may race it...
After the Classics you'll have your second seasonal goal,the Tour de France.

The Tour,I'm already focused on it! To win the Tour,since it's my main goal,I think I still need to improve in the TTs.In this period I'm working on my legs,on my arms and my back in order to get better in the TTs,even if I don't want to take on too much weight.Anyway,I think that I've already got better in the last years and that I may keep on improving.

Will Contador become even stronger in the next years?

The main goal of my career is to win the Tour,that's clear.And right now,Contador is stronger than me.I would have preferred not to come across him in my career,I would have preferred it if he had raced 10 years ago! He's got a great,great talent.Perhaps he's even stronger than Lance Armstrong.

How can you beat him?

Sometimes he shows some weaknesses,just like he did in the Paris-Nice.Therefore he's not unbeatable.But to beat him,we really must do everything in a perfect way.Anyway,I do what can be done.If I I give my best and I can't win,I'll be happy anyway,since I'll have given my best to try and win the Tour.And if I don't even make it to the podium,I won't die because of it.For the moment,the big favourite of the race is Contador.

Will Contador's team be his weak point next July?

No,since in 2010 there isn't any TTT at the Tour.If there had been one,then yes,the team could have been a weak point for Contador.In the next Tour,he'll probably have 2-3 good grimpeurs in his team to help him in the mountain stages,but his problem will be the cobblestones.In the 3rd from Wanze to Arenberg he may suffer,while Frank and I will be able to count on cobblestones specialists like Fabian,Stuart and Matti (Cancellara,O'Grady and Breschel).If there's a way to crate problems to Contador,we'll do it.Therefore we will train a lot and make a recognition of that stage.

NB: A Beautiful Freak left a link to her blog under one of my previous post.Since it is a very interesting one,I give you the link also here: http://mahoela.blogspot.com/