Last stages of the Giro (and SB team for Tour of Lux):

Here's what happened in the last few days at the Giro:

On Monday there was the Monte Petrano stage,probably the hardest of this Giro.The weather was terribly hot and the riders were really exhausted after the stage.Popovych and Cunego during went on a breakaway during the stage,but they couldn't manage to win the stage.

Before of the last climb all the GC riders (except Lovely Lovkvist who was dropped very early in that stage probably because of the hot weather) were all together,but then there were some attacks of Di Luca and Basso and then finally Sastre managed to get away from the other main riders and went to win the stage.Menchov wheelsucked Di Luca during the whole climb and eventually passed him and arrived second.Basso came in 4th.Young Masciarelli came in 6th,a great result for him.And talking about young riders I can't forget to say that Emo Boy lost his white jersey during monday's stage (you can imagine someone's reaction).The jersey went to Seeldrayers.Third in the white jersey classification is now Francis De Greef,who's riding a very good Giro (he's 20 th in the GC).

Sastre's victory was very nice,especially because he seems a very relaxed,quiet boy.He's not arrogant at all and seems very disponible.After the race an Italian journalist interviewed him,she was really worn out because she had to run in order to get near to him and he welcomed her with a very relaxed and calm "Ciao" that made me laugh a lot.

On Tuesday there was the second rest day of this Giro and few riders went to see the cities that have recently been destoyed by an earthquake in Abruzzo.

Yesterday there was the Blockhaus stage.Everybody was expecting a lot from Sastre,but the Spanish rider unfortunately lost 1 minute and some seconds from the other GC riders.The stage was won by Pellizotti,second came Garzelli and third was Di Luca.Menchov lost 5 seconds (plus 8 seconds of bonus) in the last meters.Unfortunately some stupid people ruined the premiation by whistling (?) firstly the Maglia Rosa Menchov (how you dare?!?) and then Garzelli,that after the premiation even broke into tears.Probably those stupid "supporters" (?) had already begun to suffer the distance from football stadiums and so decided to go all together on the Blockhaus to show how asshole they are.

Today's stage was pretty nice,there was a big breakaway (25 riders) that included also Sexy Bankers Bak and McCartney,Scarponi,Seeldrayers,Masciarelli,Lovely Lovkvist,Visconti,Siutsou, Grabovsky,Visconti,Pate,Gavazzi,Cardenas,Devenyns and other guys.

At the end just few riders managed to stay in front and McCartney and Devenyns often tried getting away and winning the stage.Unfortunately they had no success and at the end the stage (whose finish line was on a little short climb) was won by Scarponi in front of Cardenas and Pate.Sexy Banker Bak came in 4th.Tomorrow there' the Vesuvio stage.Di Luca will desperately try dropping Menchov,while other people might try going for a stage victory.

Anyway,if somebody enjoys watching videos in which Russian people talk Spanish,there's an interview with Menchov on this link: http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/Giroditalia/it/28-05-2009/tutti-contro-menchov-50463194874.shtml .This interview is mainly about the fact that an Austrian judge wants to hear Menchov in a doping inquest.Now I wonder,couldn't that judge wait 5 days before of telling all the world about this story? No,she couldn't.Anyway,here's a little translation of what Menchov says (notice how many times he says the word 'tranquilo'):

"I'm calm.I already said it yesterday,it's an old story and I'm not surprised that it has come out now.There's no problem at all for me,everything's gonna end quickly.I feel strong and I'm very confident for tomorrow's stage and for the last TT.I have nothing to show,I feel as confident as at the start of the Giro,I'm going to run my race and nothing will stop me.I can't explain why my name has come out right now and why they've decided to use it in the right moment".

Also Scarponi (who speaks after Menchov) has said that he can't explain why Menchov's problem has come out in those days.

Talking again about Menchov: he's said he really likes Dostoevskij books and that he enjoys fishing.Perhaps at this year Tour he and the Schleck brothers may go fishing together...

And talking about the brothers,here's the SB team for Tour of Luxembourg (3-7 June): the Schlecks,the Sorensens,Arvesen,Breschel,O'Grady and Larsson.
Dauphine Libere instead will be run by Ljungqvist,Van Goolen,Kroon,Hoj,Kolobnev,Fuglsang, Bak,Arvesen and Breschel.

(Photos REUTERS)