Frank winning a criterium in Lux + San Sebastian Start List:

The "Tour de France Gala",a criterium held yesterday in the city of Luxembourg,was won by Frank Schleck in front of Ballan and Kirchen.4th was Little Bro' Andy.On these 2 links (http://station.lu/newsDetails.cfm?id=24378 and http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/35958/%2040000-bei-sportfest-in-rot-weiss-blau.php) there are lots of pics from yesterday's race.

In the meanwhile,the Tour of Denmark is going in a great way for Saxo Bank team.In fact the 1st stage was won by Matti Breschel,while the 2nd one was won by Nicki Sorensen (who's also wearing the leader jersey now).The previous rider to wear the leader jersey was Breschel.

Tomorrow there will be la Clasica de San Sebastian.Here's a not-complete start list:

Caisse d'Epargne:Valverde,Joaquin Rodriguez,Oscar Pereiro,David Arroyo;strong team,I must say.And considering that tomorrow's one is a Spanish race,I think that Caisse d'Epargne riders will do their best to try and get a good result.

Astana:Contador,Paulinho,Zubeldia,Brajkovic,Noval; Everybody knows who Contador is,but also Janez Brajkovic is a very good rider:he did well at the Giro this year and he also came in 2nd in Lombardy Tour 2008.And considering that Contador may be tired after winning le Tour,the Slovenian rider may be the team leader.

Liquigas: Pellizotti,Kreuziger,Nibali,Vanotti; of course me hopes that Vanotti will get a good result in tomorrow's race because of territorial reasons.

Quick Step: Sylvain Chavanel,Davis,Barredo,Cataldo,Devolder,Tosatto,Pineau,Devenyns.

Katusha: Ivanov,Karpets,Petrov,Mazzanti,Pozzato.Will HGS try to get a good result after a "slightly" disappointing Tour? The answer will arrive tomorrow.

Saxo Bank:Andy Schleck,Chris-Anker Sorensen,Kolobnev,Larsson,Bellis and Bochmann are the riders who will form the team for tomorrow's race according to Saxo Bank website. Cyclingnews instead says that between the Saxo Bankers racing in Spain tomorrow there will be also Frank Schleck,Nicki Sorensen and Kurt-Asle Arvesen.Considering that Sorensen the Older is racing the Tour of Denmark right now and will be racing in his home country until August the 2nd and that Kurt Arvesen started training again just 2 days ago,me thinks that the true Saxo Bank team will be formed by los Schlecks, C.A.Sorensen,Kolobnev, Larsson,Bochmann and Bellis.

Silence-Lotto: Evans,Lang,M.Lloyd,Van Den Broeck,Van Summeren.

Rabobank:Freire,Menchov,Garate,Boom,Langeveld.Looking forward to see Lars Boom.

Eusaltel-Euskadi: Astarloza,Egoi Martinez,Samuel Sanchez,Perez Lezaun,Verdugo.
Lampre: Cunego,Spilak,Bandiera.
Garmin: Vande Velde,Millar,Zabriskie,Dean,Hesjedal,Pate.

AG2R: Nocentini,Arrieta,los Efimkins,Roche,Dessel.
Cofidis:Duque,Moncoutie,Kern,Minard,Moinard,Pauriol,Taaramae.Pay attention to Taaramae, the boy has talent.

Français des Jeux: Casar,Joly,Di Gregorio,Le Mevel,Roy,Veikkanen.
Milram: Wegmann,M.Fothen,Gerdemann,Rohregger,Velits.

Boygues Telecom: Voeckler,Fedrigo,Arashiro,Bonnet,Lefevre,Pichot,Rolland,Trofimov.
Fuji-Servetto: Cobo,De La Fuente,Capecchi.Why isn't Capelli scheduled???
Contentpolis-Ampo: Galparsoro.
Columbia: Kirchen,Lovkvist,Pinotti,Possoni.Of course somebody here at home is happy to read that a young Swedish rider is scheduled to ride tomorrow,while someone else is dreaming of a good result for Possoni and Pinotti.

NB: I don't know why,but yesterday I remembered what Kirchen said in April:"the Schleck brothers won't finish in the Top 10 at the Tour" (see post: http://fede-myblog92.blogspot.com/2009/04/kirchens-last-prediction-they-schleck.html ).Well,I guess someone up in Lux has changed his mind after having seen what the brothers have done over the last 3 weeks...

(Pics by Serge Waldbillig and Christian Kemp)

Andy :"I can beat Contador,I just have to work hard.My brother Frank helps me even with packing my suitcase.The Giro? I may come back next year"

Here's an interview that appeared on today's Gazzetta dello Sport and was made by Marco Pastonesi.In it,Andy talks about the Tour and also about his relationship with Frank.And he says he hasn't got a girlfriend...

Andy Schleck:12° in the overall classification and winner of the white jersey in the Tour 2008, second in the overall classification and winner of the white jersey in the Tour 2009.
Andy,are you happy?
Yes.I went to the Tour to win it,but Contador was stronger than me in the mountains and in the TT.
Will you ever be able to beat him?
Yes,but I'll have to work hard and improve again if I want to beat him.
A day to forget in this year's Tour?
The one of the Aubenas stage.I believed it would have been an easy stage,instead we rode "a bloc" all day.And the following day there was the Mont Ventoux.
A day to remember?
The day of the Mont Ventoux because of the climb,of the people and of the race.And also because that day I was really strong.
If you hadn't waited for your brother Frank,that day you could have won on the Mont Ventoux. Have you got any regret?
Without Frank I wouldn't be here.We live together,we train together and we race together.With a difference:he's demonstrated that he's able to run without me,I haven't demonstrated to be able to race without him.We had a dream in this Tour de France,and that dream was to arrive both on the final podium in Paris.And we made everything to make that dream come true.
Tell us about Frank.
Same glasses,same shoes,same team uniform: until some years ago,people used to get confused between us.Some years ago I learned how to imitate Frank's autograph and so I signed lots of photos,t-shirts and hats pretending to be him.Once,during a Liege,Rebellin,Cunego and Bettini chased me because they were convincted I was Frank.Now I've got the national champion jersey,so it's harder to get confused between me and Frank.And actually,my foot number is 44.5, Frank's one is 42.And our glasses are different,not just because of the frames but also because Frank's ones are graduated.And I'm taller than him.
Are you always roommates during the races?
We share the things we have to bring with us:you bring this thing,I bring that one.And we have a lot of fun.Playstation,IPod with speakers,techno and dj music.
They say your room is always the most untidy one.
It's my fault.Until some time ago I always used to pack my things at the last moment and I used to throw everything in the suitcase in a random way.I was always afraid of forgetting something. Sometimes it happened that our soigneurs had to go back to an hotel to recuperate the things I had forgotten there.But now I've got better.

Back to the Tour:what was the best place?
I love the Provence.
Did you have fun during the race?
Yes,I had a lot of fun.And at the end of the race I didn't even feel that exhausted.
Is it true that Armstrong asked you to go in his team next year?
No,I've never heard anything like this from Armstrong.I've got a contract with Saxo Bank until the end of 2010 and so I'm going to race for this team until then.
What's your schedule now?
I'm racing the Vuelta,but I won't ride for the general classification.I'll prepare myself for the World road race Championship and for the Tour of Lombardy.
Is it possible to race 2 Grand Tours and try to win them in the same year?
Yes,I believe it's possible.
Are you going to race the Giro in 2010?
I don't know,I hope so.There's a chance to see me on the Italian roads next year.
Have you got a girlfriend?
No.
Italian girls (ndr;and not just them,I guess) will be happy to read this news.
Italian girls are very beautiful.

NB: Yesterday the Stiphout criterium was won by Contador in front of Andy and Frank.Here are some photos from the race: http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=15336
(Pic by Tim De Waele)

L'Equipé: Andy Schleck avec Armstrong?

Yes,that's the title of a news that appeared on L'Equipe website this morning (here's the link http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2009/).The little article says that Andy may leave Saxo Bank to join sir Lancelot's new team,Radioshack.It seems that the main problem in this "trade" is that Armstrong doesn't want to employ also Frank in his team because the American thinks that Frank's presence may "brake" Andy's performances.

I don't know if this is just a non-sense rumour (L'Equipé is considered to be a good newspaper),but I hope Andy won't go to Radioshack.In fact if Andy starts to race with Armstrong,I don't think he will have a leader role.And I don't want to see one of my favourite riders acting as a helper at Le Tour for a rider I don't like.

Armstrong has created a lot of problems to Contador during the Tour and I don't want this to happen also with Andy.Between the Spaniard and sir Lancelot now there is a "words battle" on.Contador in fact has said that "My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero,he is a great rider and has completed a great race but it is another thing on a personal level,where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will."Armstrong responded via Twitter by writing:“Seeing these comments from AC.If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team.W/o them he doesn’t win.” Armstrong also wrote:“Hey pistolero, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. What did I say in March? Lots to learn.Restated.A champion is also measured on how much he respect his teammates and opponents.You can win a race on your own, not a Grand Tour.”

I think there's no need to say who I'm supporting in this "battle" and that I don't want to see a battle like this,maybe next year,between Andy and sir Lancelot.So,I hope that Andy won't go to Radioshack next year.

Anyway,let's talk about better things.Andy won yesterday's Criterium in Booxmer,Netherlands, by outsprinting Koos Moerenhout.Frank came in 3rd.I've found an article in Dutch about the brothers and the criteriums they're racing in the next days (that's the link:http://www.sportwereld.nl/wielrennen/3397101/%20Broers_Schleck_lsquoon_tourrsquo.html).I can't understand Dutch,but with the help of my online translater I've managed to understand few things.Here they are:

Frank said:"We came here directly from France and we will stay in the Netherlands until Wednesday.I have no idea of how our performances have been received at home,I haven't read any newspaper yet.On Sunday I spoke with my father on the phone.Yes,Dad is proud.''

The goal of the podium in Paris hasn't been achieved,but the winner of stage 17 says that "is too early to look back on this year Tour".

Andy instead said that he's really proud of the performances of him and of his brother."We are the only riders who have attacked,I am proud of this.We have no regrets.''On Thursday the brothers will race a criterium in Luxembourg."That is certainly going to be a big party,''says Andy.The Schleck brothers will fly to the Spanish Basque Country on Friday evening with a private jet;in fact,on Saturday there's the Clasica de San sebastian.

For what I understood,the brothers will race a criterium in Stiphout (netherlands) tonight,one anohher criterium in Chaam tomorrow,"the Tour de France gala" in Luxembourg on Thursday and another criterium in Hamme on Friday.After racing in San sebastian on Saturday,the brothers will race in Belgium on Monday: Frank will be in Roosendaal,Andy will be in Lommel.

Talking about Criteriums,Cav won one of them yesterday evening.Designa Grand Prix (a race held in Denmark) was won by Aleksejs Saramotins of Team Designa Køkken.Second came the Emaciated Chickenman Michael Rasmussen,while 5th was Chris-Anker Sorensen.

On the 29th of July begins the Tour of Denmark.The Saxo Bank team for that race will be formed by Lars Bak,Nicki Sorensen (isn't he tired after the Tour?),Matti Breschel,Jakob Fuglsang,Frank Hoj,Kasper Klostergaard,Anders Lund and Alex Rasmussen.

(pic by Kochproductions.nl)

Ah,the Champs Elysées: Cavendish's victory + Jerseys' winners:

And so the last day of The Tour de France 2009 has come and gone.As usual the first part of the stage was faced by the riders with a calm pace and you could see some curious things:Armstrong talking to Devolder,Cav talking to Contador (how did they understand each other? Does Cavendish speak Spanish?),the yellow jersey wearing a Spanish flag as if it was a mantel,the Schleck brothers talking to each other and joking with Larsson...It looked a bit like the last day of school.

Then,after having ridden for few kms in the center of Paris,some riders went on a breakaway; the brave (and not enough tired,I wonder?) boys were Beppu,Barredo,Coyot,Wegmann, Dumoulin,Pichot and Veikkanen.But the Champs Elysées are the Champs Elysées,aka "the place where every sprinter of the Earth would love to win someday".And so Columbia started to pull to make the team' sprinter achieve his dream.And Cavendish won,for the 6th time in this TdF.Second came Renshaw,his teammate."Not to win here would have been a crime",said Cavendish."The Tour,Paris,the triumph arc (ndr;do you call it in this way in English?)...For a sprinter this stage has an incredible worth.Perhaps this is my best victory.I didn't win alone: my team is formed by incredible professionists,riders that know how to prepare a sprint and how to stand pressure.I'm proud of my Tour.Last year I won 4 stages,then I had to retire on the mountains.This time my goal was to arrive in Paris and to win some stages;the green jersey for me was just something more,not the main goal.I arrived in Paris and I won 6 stages.It's true,I didn't win the green jersey,but Hushovd has been more costant and tenacious than me.I'm not disappointed,I'll try to win it next year".

As you have probably understood from what Cav said,the green jersey was finally won by the Norwegian Thor Hushovd,who said that "Cavendish is the best sprinter in the world". Btw,I think Hushovd completely deserved this jersey because he made great efforts to achieve it,going on breakaways also during very hard stages.
The polka dots jersey instead was won by mr.Pellizotti and this caused a great euphoria here in Italy.I pretty like Pellizotti,so I was happy about the fact that he's won this jersey.The Italian rider also won the "most combactive rider" award and I think he deserved it: he was often at the head of the race,trying to win some points for the polka dots competition.

As usual,Pellizotti went on the podium with his son and his daughter,while his wife (interviewed by Italian tv) broke into tears as soon as the Liquigas rider stepped on the stage.The team award was won by Astana ahead of Garmin and Saxo Bank.Astana team was formed by Contador,Popovych,Zubeldia,Armstrong,Rast,Murayev,Paulinho and Kloden.The only rider of the team that got retired was Leipheimer.

Saxo Bank riders all ran a good Tour,in my opinion.Andy (2nd in the overall) and Frank (winner of the toughest stage and 5th in the GC) were just amazing;los Sorensens were very good as well: Nicki won a stage and came in 31st in the GC,while Chris-Anker came in 34th (this was his first Tour de France),worked a lot for the Schleck brothers (just like all the other riders of the team) and also found the time to update his blog almost daily.Larsson came in 50th (I'm sorry for his fans out there,but now it's official: Saxo Bank website isn't going to post any vid with him) while Fab Fab finally came in 91st after having won the first TT and worn the yellow jersey for almost a week.Stuey O'Grady instead finally came in 124th (he worked a lot for the Schleck brothers as well).Unfortunately Kurt-Asle Arvesen and Jens Voigt had to retire during the race.Kurt was in Paris this afternoon,while Jens is still in the hospital.It may sound boring,but I wish him again a fast recover.He's a great rider and a a great person.

Talking about Saxo Bank riders,Andy Schleck won the white jersey,aka was the best young rider at the Tour also this year.Andy is 24 year-old and has won this classification twice,just like Pantani and Ullrich (Ullrich actually won it 3 times).Of course,while Andy was on the stage,the Yeti thing suddenly appeared.I'm afraid that Andy will never get rid of it...And then,of course,the podium: On the highest spot there was Contador,winner of 2 stages and of a TTT in this year's Tour.He was the strongest rider,no doubt about that.He looked really happy on the podium and,after the end of the whole race,he admitted that he had some problems with Armstrong during these 3 weeks of race,
On the other 2 podium spots there were Andy Schleck and sir Lancelot.Here are some things I've noticed during the prizegiving...
1st: Andy is taller than Contador even when he's on the second spot of a podium and Contador is on the first one.
2nd: the guy at your left is incredibly good-looking.
3rd: sir Lancelot isn't twittering! Oh my,is that the true Lance Armstrong?
4th: the trophies.I couldn't find a photo with them yet,but they were slightly... disappointing.Contador's trophy was pretty,but take a look at the Giro's one and you'll probably start to think that,after having given everything for 3 weeks,perhaps the TdF winner would deserve a trophy slightly more big.
And then,the trophies for the 2nd and the 3rd rider of the overall were the same.And what were they? They were glass plates.Or at least,they looked like glass plates. Let's find some better cups for next year,ok?

In conclusion,congratulations to all the riders who ended the race and to everyone who made efforts to make the race interesting.

Frank 5th in the overall after Mont Ventoux stage:

You all know I'm a Schleck fan and you all know I don't like Armstrong that much,so I think you can easily guess how I felt immediately after today's stage.
Things actually started well: the Specialized commercial with Frank showed on television (me wonders what my relatives thought about it),the Saxo Bank riders working hard in the first part of the stage,los Sorensens pulling hard at the beginning of the climb (Italian chronists always start to talk about how riders' faces change when they're riding full gas every time they see Chris-Anker Sorensen pulling at the head of the peloton,me wonders why...),a breakaway with some good riders...

And then the news of the fire burning near to the Mont Ventoux: I don't know why,but as soon as she heard about it,Fangirl thought something involving Bruyneel,a bottle of petrol and Armstrong's third place.Logic immediately stopped this thought,fortunately.
During the first kms of the climb,after the forcing made by both the Sorensen,Frank attacked many times,but Armstrong always followed him,just like Wiggins and Kloden did.Then Andy attacked,but just Kloden got dropped.Then little bro attacked again and Contador was the only rider that was able to follow him.Frank didn't follow his brother and so the situation remained the following for some kms: Martin and Garate alone at the head of the race,Andy and Contador (who were then joined by Nibali) behind.At a certain point Andy (together with Contador and Nibali) almost stopped to wait for Frank's group.

As soon as Frank got in his same group,Andy attacked again but just Kloden got dropped (he had came back in Frank's group when Andy and Contador were riding at the front).Then,in the last 3-4 kms,none of the GC riders attacked.
In the meanwhile,at the head of the race,Garate dropped Martin with 1 km to go,but the German rider then joined him again.At the last curve,where Szmyd made me scream of joy last month and where in 2000 Pantani won ahead of Armstrong,Garate outsprinted Tony and won the stage.
On the finish line,Andy sprinted and arrived 3rd (just like last year on Alpe d'Huez).4th was Contador,5th Armstrong and 6th,3" behind the Texan rider,came Frank.Wiggins arrived 10th,20" after Frank.And Frank,that is not a lucky boy at all,needed to gain 23" seconds on Wiggins to arrive 4th in the GC.So,the GC situation is now the following:

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:04:11

3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:05:24

4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:06:01

5 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:06:04

6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:06:42

Talking about the older of the Schleck brothers,Logic has noticed that without the TTT won by Astana,Armstrong would have arrived with Frank's same overall time.Anyway,Frank has said he's happy with his 5th place overall.
"I am very tired after an extremely tough stage but I am also happy and content. We tried with everything we have learned and had and we were on the attack all the way to the top so there is nothing to regret or feel sorry about”.Although Fangirl can't avoid to think that on Verbier's climb Armstrong arrived 29" after Frank (and in that occasion Kloden helped a lot the American rider) and that during Le Gran Bornard stage the ol' man from Texas lost 2 minutes from Frankie,Logic agrees with Frank's words and says that next year the older of the Schleck brothers will be on the podium in Paris.

Talking instead about Andy,after today's stage Little Bro' said that:"Contador has been the strongest rider of the Tour,every day he was at the front,he never had a bad day.He's a 'caballero'." "I'll try to win the Tour next year as well,but it will be difficult because Contador will be here again.Anyway,I'm younger than him and I can still improve"."I could have won today,but my second place in the GC wasn't in danger so I prefered to wait and try to help Frank.He could have arrived 3rd in the overall classificaton,but today Armstrong was very strong".

To close this post,a vid with His Amazingness: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1217 .Big Jens thanks everybody for their support and says he feels better than expected (even if "a bit" beat up). I wish him a fast recover again and I hope to see him back on the road soon.

Links about the Schleck brothers and Jens Voigt:

After 3 days spent watching Le Tour live (I'll talk about that experience in one of the next posts),here I am again.Lots of things happened in the last few days.

On the penultimate climb of yesterday's stage,the Schleck brothers managed to leave all the other riders behind.All the other riders except 2 Astana guys: Alberto Contador (who else?) and Andreas Kloden.Armstrong was behind,just like Nibali,Wiggins,Sastre and all the other GC riders.

On the last climb,Contador spoke to Kloden and then he attacked.Armstrong got really angry at Alberto after knowing this,but me thinks there was a misunderstanding between the 2 Astana riders (and that Armstrong should be the last rider to talk in this kind of situation).

During the last 14 kms at the head of the race there were just Contador and the Schleck brothers and after the final descent the victory went to Frank.Andy got 3rd,but he raised his arms up to the sky in a very joyful way.As soon as they crossed the finish line,the two brothers also hugged each other in a very moving way.Here are some links about what happened in the last few days:

http://newsticker.sueddeutsche.de/list/id/679610 :As you know,Jens Voigt crashed very badly on the Petite Saint Bernard descent.It was very strange for me to hear about that,because I was on the climb that day and to think that Jens crashed 3-4 kms after having ridden right in front of me is something of really sad.Fortunately he "just" broke his cheekbone (it must be absolutely painful) and had a severe concussion."I can't end my career in this bad way.I want to ride the Tour next year",His Amazingness said this morning.Bjarne Riis said:"Of course Jens can ride the Tour in 2010,for me there aren't any problem.He's still strong and he works a lot for the younger riders".When Riis talked to him on the phone immediately after the crash,Big Jens asked him: "What's my next race? Tour of Denmark?".Unbelievable.Of course I wish Voigt a fast recover and I have no doubts about the fact that,between 1 year,he'll be riding again the Tour.

Talking instead about the Schleck brothers,here's an article from L'Equipe (http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2009/20090722_194944_schleck-on-verra-au-ventoux.html ),while on this other link there's an article from Eurosport (http://www.eurosport.fr/cyclisme/tour-de-france/2009/on-a-fait-le-spectacle_sto2009942/story.shtml ).To the Gazzetta dello Sport,Frank said:"I'm really proud of myself,of Andy and of the team.We took our responsabilities.This morning on the bus we received a very good news: Voigt just broke his cheekbone.Then we decided our strategy:we had nothing to lose,so we tried winning.Andy motivated me,I sacrificed myself for him and the work I've done has been repaid.Andy helped him,and I'll give him back what he gave to me in the next days.This vicory can't be compared to the one I got on the Alpe d'Huez.When I started the Tour,I didn't feel great,but Andy,my family,my girlfriend and my teammates helped me. This victory is for Voigt and Arvesen,they were forced to abandon the race but they're always in our mind".
If you want to see a little vid about Saxo Bank's celebration of yesterday's victory,here's a link: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1141 .Let's hope that also on Sunday the guys will be able to celebrate a podium spot (or,it would be better,2 podium spots).
NB: There are some Saxo Bank's photos on TDW website,see "Rest Day:Saxo Bank".Some of them are really nice.
(Photos TDW,Panoramic and Equipe)

Fireworks on the climb towards Verbier:

Oh yes.Today,after 2 weeks of boredom,on the second uphill finish of the Tour,we've finally managed to see some fireworks.And the result was good.

So,what happened in today's stage? As usual,a breakaway went away during the first kms of race.The riders in the escape group were Hesjedal,Van Den Broeck,Spilak,Astarloza, Cancellara,José Ivan Gutierrez,Moinard,Moncoutié,Fedrigo and Flecha. With 20 kms to go,Spilak attacked and was the last rider to get caught with about 2 kms to go.Liquigas and Astana pulled very hard in the last kms before of the beginning of the 8 kms climb towards Verbier,but as soon as the climb began it was Saxo Bank's turn to set the pace.Voigt,los Sorensens and Cancellara set a very fast pace on the climb and after that team action there were just 5 riders left at the head of the race.Who were they? The Schleck brothers (yip de do da day!!!),Armstrong,Contador and Wiggins (!!!!!). All the other riders were behind.

With 5 kms to go,Contador attacked and Andy Schleck was the only rider that tried to chase him.The Spaniard soon gained 20 seconds on Andy,while behind the tempo got lower and some riders (Sastre,Nibali,Kreuziger,Vande Velde,Evans) managed to come back in Frank's group.Vande Velde was then dropped by the other riders,that began to attack one after the other.Also Frank attacked and was soon joined by Nibali and Wiggins.Also Sastre and Evans attacked and Armstrong remained alone with his teammate Kloden,that pulled for him.

The victory went to Contador,who crossed the finish line 43" before Andy.Third was Nibali (who ran a great stage ),while 4th was Frank,who arrived together with Wiggins and Sastre.They lost 1'06" from Contador,but they gained 29 seconds on sir Lancelot (and me thinks that Sastre pretty appreciated this fact).Sir Lancelot came in 9th,behind Evans and Kloden.10th was Kirchen,11th was Kreuziger and 12th was Tony Martin.The rider aus Deutschland lost the white jersey during today's stage and now that jersey is on Andy's shoulders.Rinaldo Nocentini,after 8 days in yellow,arrived 19th,2 minutes and a half after Contador (that is also the new maillot jaune).Vande Velde lost 2'41" seconds from Contador and has said that he would help Wiggins in the next stages.Surprising neo-pro Brice Feillu arrived 25th, 3'14" after the winner,while LL Sanchez was 28th with 3'17" of dela).Not-So-Smiley-in-those-days instead arrived 65th,6'27" after Contador.

"It's true,I have more pression on me in this Tour because of Lance.This victory makes me very happy.I really had to do my best to achieve it.I thought I could attack with 4 or 3 kms to go, instead Saxo Bank team set a very fast pace,I saw that a lot of good riders got dropped and I attacked.Now my situation is better than Armstrong's one.The team worked well and I'm sure they'll be working so good also in the next week.The Tour isn't over,I made an important step but I'll have to make other steps if I want to win.The third week is the hardest.This yellow jersey is different from the one of 2007,the presence and the resistence of Armstrong give it more value",that's what Contador said.

Armstrong instead admitted that Contador is stronger than him and said "I'll work for Alberto in the next stages and I'm very proud of being his helper".

Andy instead said: "Contador had the yellow jersey in Paris-Nice and he lost it there. The race will not be over until the Champs Élysées.He's a bit stronger than me,but he will have some pressure on him in the next days. t will not be a piece of cake for him.I don't think it is going to be Armstrong who will arrive behind Contador," he added.

Talking about the GC,here's the top 10 of the race:
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 63:17:56
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:01:37
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:46
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:17
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:30
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:51
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:03:07
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:09
10 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25

Tomorrow it will be the rest day,then there will be 2 tough stages.
(Photo Afp)

Stage 14:

Yesterday's stage was ruined by the death of a lady.She was crossing the street when a motorbike ran over her.Condolences to the family.

Talking about the race,well,there was the usual breakaway.It included lots of good riders,in fact the men in the escape group were Bennati,Ciolek,Voigt,Willems,Ivanov,Roche,Righi,Le Mevel, Minard,Roulston,Maskaant,Hincapie and Timmer.Voigt unfortunately punctured after 60 kms of escape,the wheel-change wasn't very fast and so His Amazingness had to come back in the peloton

The riders of the breakaway gained about 8 minutes of advantadge on the peloton and so Ag2r (after having said "No,we won't pull even if the yellow jersey is in danger") began to pull during the last 30 kms of the stage.In fact Hincapie had just 5 minutes of delay from Nocentini,so the team of the Italian rider decided to go at the head of the main group and give it all to try and keep the yellow jersey.Nicolas Roche,an Ag2r rider that was in the breakaway,obviously didn't pull a meter during the whole day.

With about 20 kms to go,the attacks between the riders of the escape group began.Willems was the first rider that got dropped.With 10 kms to go (after a Roche's attack),Ivanov made the decisive attack.Nobody managed to follow him and the Russian won.Second was Nicolas Roche,while third was Maaskant.After the stage,Bennati complained about Roche's behaviour :"He never pulled and the he was the one that attacked and made everybody begin to feel tired during the last kms.Ivanov attacked after him and finally won.Even if his father was a champion,Nicolas will never become a champion".Btw,the two riders talked to each other this morning and now things seem to have returned normal between them.

Of course after the battle for the stage win,there was the battle for the yellow jersey.During the last kms of the race Ag2r La Mondiale and Garmin really pulled hard and the yellow jersey remained on Nocentini's shoulders for 5 seconds.Columbia (and mr.Armstrong) were really angry at Garmin,but actually it was Columbia team that pulled very fast during the last km because they wanted Cavendish to win some points for the green jersey classification.And Hincapie didn't get the yellow jersey for only 5 seconds.

And,unfortunately for Columbia's riders,bad luck wasn't over for them: in fact,not just Hincapie didn't take the yellow jersey,but Cavendish created problems to Hushovd during the sprint and lost the few points he had won.Unbelievable.

(Photo Afp)

Frank's vid from Saxo Bank website plus 2 little news:

So,here are some vids from Saxo Bank website.
The first one (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1023) is Frank Schleck's "diary of the day".The Luxembourgian rider is struggling to finish a book and says that the Tour has been going on well for him.His pick for today's stage winner is Cavendish.
This other video (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=984) was made by Chris-Anker Sorensen in his hotel room and features also the other Sorensen,Nicki.Me thinks that the Schleck brothers would have fit perfectly in this vid.
The last vid from Saxo Bank website is the following: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1009 and it's an interesting little tour on the team bus.

Little news: according to Italian newspapers,Dean and Freire were shot by 2 boys of 16 and 17 year-old that wanted to feel strong emotions and kill boredom.Unbelievable.

Second news: Although yesterday Simon Spilak crossed the finish-line 45 minutes after Haussler and 23 minutes after the gruppetto,he's started today's stage.This because yesterday he encountered lots of fans and traffic on the descents and this clearly made him lose a lot of time.Hopefully today's stage will end up better for him.

13th stage:

Lots of things to say about this 13th stage.

First of all:Leipehimer abandoned the race.Yesterday he fell together with Evans and Rogers and broke his right scaphoid.Saxo Bank has lost Arvesen,Astana now has lost Leipheimer.

Second thing:the stage.Both Logic and Fangirl were awaiting for some GC riders to attack,but nothing actually happened.The weather was really horrible,lots of rain and just 12 degrees.

Immediately after 1 km of race,some riders tried to enter a breakaway.Those riders were Moreau,Haussler,Sylvain Chavanel,Perez Moreno,His Amazingness Jens Voigt,Garate and Uran. After some kms,at the head of the race there were just Perez,Chavanel and Haussler.

After the Schlucht climb,Linus Gerdemann escaped from the peloton but was caught again on the following climb,the Platzerwasel,where Perez was dropped from Chavanel and Haussler.One of the most active riders in the group was Pellizotti,who's won a lot of points for the polka dot jersey today.This happened also because Egoi Martinez was dropped by the peloton during the Platzerwasel climb.

At a certain point the younger of the Sorensens,Chris-Anker,started to set the pace in the peloton.Some riders lost contact,the advantadge of Chavanel and Haussler became smaller,but then the Dane rider's action ended and everything came back in order.Of course me was awaiting an attack of one of the Schleck brothers,so I was a bit disappointed when I realised that nothing was going to happen.

During the descent of the Platzerwasel,Haussler dropped on Chavanel and approached the following climb (the penultimate of the stage) alone.

On said climb (the Firstplan) Andy Schleck punctured and his teammates had to bring him back in the peloton.
During the same descent in which Haussler dropped Chavanel,Feillu and Txurruka decided to attack.Anyway Haussler's gap on the other riders (Chavanel included) was too big and the Australian-German rider could finally cross the finish-line alone.The "racing kangaroo" even broke into tears on the finish-line and that was a very moving moment.
"You could see on the finish line...the emotions were going crazy.I really tried hard today and that's why I couldn't hold the tears back.I was thinking, ‘Geez, we're at the Tour de France,I don't want to get second again like inSanremo.' I just didn't want to get second again like in Sanremo and Flanders".
"I only live 30 kilometres away from here,so it's pretty much like my training area," Haussler said."The beginning of the year,my form was really good,I was climbing really well and I knew I could win this stage,or have a go at it.But then,leading up to the Tour,the team had goals with Thor Hushovd in green and Carlos the defending champion."
The 2nd rider to cross the finish-line was Txurruka,while Brice Feillu came in 3rd.Chavanel was finally 4th.Andy Schleck came in 10th,while Frank was 15th.
The yellow jersey is still on Nocentini's shoulders,while the polka dot jersey is on Pellizotti's ones and the green jersey has returned to Hushovd.
Then,the last (and worst) thing to say about today's stage: someone shot at the riders.When I first read about this thing I thought it was a bad joke,instead it's all true.

While the riders were facing the Col Du Platzerwasel descent,someone shot at them with an air-gun and Oscar Freire and Julian Dean got hit.The riders actually heard 3 shots,but fortunately 1 of them didn't hit anyone.Freire was shot in the leg,while Dean was shot in his index finger.The 2 riders seem to be ok now and will be at the start tomorrow morning.

I don't think that words can describe what happened also because my kowledge of bad words used by English speaking people is not that great.I think it's useless to say that what happened is a very frightening and worrying thing and I can't even dare thinking about what could have happened if one rider was hit in the eye.At the moment I hope the Gendarmerié will soon find and arrest that a****** that shot at the riders.They already face great risks every single day and shooting at them is just an horrible thing.I wonder how the "person" that shot at the riders would feel if somebody shot at him/her while he/she's working.Probably it wouldn't be a great feeling but,in that person's case,it would be fully deserved.

(Photo Reuters)

Nicki Sørensen!!!!!

After Fabian Cancellara's stage victory,today there was another big win for Saxo Bank team.
This morning I was thinking a bit about today's stage and I suddenly had a strange ide : "Today Sorensen goes in a breakaway",I thought.Actually I was thinking about the other Sorensen,not about Nicki,but when I turned the tv on this afternoon and I saw that there was a Sorensen in the breakaway,I smiled.

Nicki's breakaway companions (the Saxo Bank rider was actually the last one to join the breakaway) were Lefevre,Egoi Martinez,Pellizotti (whose main goal of this year Tour is the polka dots jersey),Pauriol,Calzati and Fothen.The 7 riders soon gained some minutes on the peloton and,with 30 kms to go,their advantadge was still of 3 minutes and some seconds.
With about 22 kms to go,Nicki attacked and was followed by the only Calzati.I don't know why,but Sorensen's attack reminded me of Voigt's winning move in last year Giro,during the stage of Varese (that was finally won by His Amazingness).

The 2 riders remained at the head of the race for a lot of time thanks to the few seconds of advantdge that they gained with Nicki's attack.
With about 5 kms to go,on a little climb,the gap consisted of just 9 seconds and Sorensen decided to attack.He managed to drop Calzati and keep an advantdge of about 30-40 seconds on the following riders,so that he could cross the finish-line alone (and with a very surprised look on his face).
"I would like to have been in yesterday's break and today I grabbed the opportunity by riding to the front group on my own.But I had the strength and believed I was able to complete the plan to win.I was obviously a little nervous because Pellizotti was very strong but I did the right thing by attacking first.Of course I was tired by the end but everything worked out perfectly for me today.Now,maybe my chances of getting a job next year will be increased”,said Nicki after his first victory at La Grande Boucle.The Dane rider also won "the most combactive rider of the day" award.

Second was Lefevre,while Pellizotti came in 3rd.As you can imagine,during the last kms of the stage the Italian chronists were supporting Pellizotti in a great way.That was funny because of course I was supporting Nicki,so there was like a little battle going on between the chronists and me.

With about 1 km to go,Evans and Leipheimer crashed but didn't suffer any consequence.They arrived at the finish-line after all the other GC contenders but their delay hasn't been considered in the GC because the crash happened during the last 3 kms of the stage.

Tomorrow's stage (during which the riders will be allowed to use their radios) is supposed to be a tough one.Of course me hopes it will end up with another Saxo Bank's victory.

(Photo AP)

Interview with Frank "perturbed by the media focusing on Andy at the beginning of Le Tour" plus Random Links about Voigt:

Here's my usual random post.Here are today's links:
First of all,on this link you can find a video with His Amazingness Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=904 .It was made on the rest day and me thinks it's a very funny one,especially when Voigt talking about Arvesen...

Here instead there's the link to an interview with His Amazingness http://www.handelsblatt.com/journal/sonstiges/voigt-vielleicht-ist-das-die-letzte-tour;2432831 in which he says that "This could be my last Tour,because I'm already 38 year-old and there are lots of good young riders around,so I don't know if I'll be in the next year team". Fangirl instead says that this won't be Voigt's last Tour because His Amazingness will be in the Tour squad every time he wants to,despite all the good young riders around.The only reason for which His Amazingness may not be in next year's team is an alien invasion,which Logic considers to be not very probable.

On the following link (http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/news/%20article/%2010512/Focus-on-brother-Andy-%20difficult-for-Frank-Schleck) instead there's an interview in which Frank Schleck admits he has struggled to cope with media focusing Andy during the first days of the Tour de France.

Frank said that the constant questions over his status in the team and whether he would work as a domestique for 24-year-old Andy left him perturbed.
"It's true I suffered a little bit at the start of the Tour,although now I'm starting to feel more myself again.We're brothers and we are very close to each other,but I admit I found it hard to cope with all the questions at the start of the Tour about who was the team's leader and whether I would become his helper.It all really got to me,but that's the way I am.I can't change my nature overnight,".
Frank also said that this year the media pressure at the beginning of the Tour made him feel as if efforts were being made to drive he and his brother apart. "I got the impression that people wanted to drive a wedge between us,which I don't appreciate at all."
Frank also reminded that he is not finished as a possible contender himself.
"I still finished fifth in Paris last year and going into the penultimate stage time trial in Saint-Amant-Monrond I was still second in the overall standings.Obviously,if I have to help Andy I won't hesitate because I know if the shoe was on the other foot he would do the same.There's never a problem between us."
Looking at the final GC,Frank says that "Our only hope of beating the three riders in Astana that can win it,Armstrong,Contador and Leipheimer-because apparently Kloden is working too much to try and hope to win himself-is to have a 3 minute lead on them before the final time trial in Annecy".

No,not Arvesen!!

Yesterday stage was probably one of the most boring I've ever seen (together with the one that the riders run at last year Tour,after the discovery of l'affaire Riccò).The riders were protesting again the fact that they had to race without the radios and so the stage wasn't exciting at all.I think that radios are important for the riders' security and that,if someone wants to experiment something new,they have to ask the riders whether they want to try a new experiment.Otherwise,I think there's no point in obliging the riders to do what ASO and UCI say.

Anyway,with or without radios,4 riders decided to form a breakaway.Yesterday it was the 14th of July and so the Frenchmen really wanted to achieve a good results.Therefore,3 riders (Hupond,Vaugrenard and Dumoulin) of the breakaway were French.The intruder was Russian Ignatiev,who didn't pull a meter for a very long time.

The breakaway never gained too much time on the peloton,so at the end the peloton caught the 4 riders in a pretty easy way (even if Ignatiev ventually gave his best to try keeping few seconds of advantadge).The last rider to be caught was Hupond.

The sprint was a dangerous one,in my opinion,with lots of curves.This is always strange,'cause you always see the riders riding on long,large streets without curves,but when it's sprint time,well,the streets become narrow and full of curves.Mistére du le Tour.

The sprint was won by Cavendish on Hushovd and Farrar.The Columbia's rider also managed to get the green jersey after yesterday's sprint and so,if today you see something that looks like a frog inside the peloton,don't worry:it's not a frog,it's Cavendish.Unfortunately yesterday's stage didn't end well for Saxo Bank team:in fact Kurt-Asle Arvesen was involved in a crash early in the stage and had to be examined by the race doctor more than once.He was really suffering and at the end when the peloton's pace became faster he was dropped.After the stage the rider was brought to the hospital,where the examinations showed that the he has broken his left collarbone.
"I'm extremely disappointed by the way the Tour ends for my sake.It has been my main objective of the year and I have been riding hard to get ready for it.I had no chances of avoiding the crash and it is a very sad situation for me to see everything disappear.Naturally I wish the remaining eight riders good luck with the rest of the race”, the rider said.

The fracture is so severe that Arvesen will have to undergo an operation as soon as he returns in Norway.That's a very sad thing because Kurt-Asle is a nice rider and seems to be a very nice person.
Regarding Arvesen's crash,here are the rider' reactions:

Andy Schleck said:"He is one of the most important riders in the team,he was one of the captains who took important decisions.Now we are without him,there is not much else you can say. Crashes happen and sometimes you break things, he was unlucky today."
Older brother Frank said:"It's a big hit for us to lose Kurt.It's going to hurt us for the race,not just losing a friend after ten days,that is a real bummer."
Big Jens Voigt said the lack of information played only a minor role in the drama.
"A motorbike hit a spectator who fell into the road, another rider went across his (Arvesen's) wheel and he crashed,It was one of those things you can't foresee-the chaos was there.The only bad thing was that it took us ten minutes to find out he had crashed and that was by someone in another team.With a radio we would have known that straight away,what happened,if he's good, if he's bad and whether he will come back into the peloton."

Of course I wish Arvesen a fast and full recover.

Stage 7 and 8:

Yesterday's stage and today's stage saw the riders face some very tough climbs,even if me thinks that facing the Tourmalet as last climb with still 70 kms to go is a crime against humanity.Or at least,it's a crime against cycling fans and cyclists.Especially if you consider what usuallly happens on Le Tourmalet when the riders have to face it at Le Tour.Last year for example the Tourmalet was faced in the Hautacam's stage and Csc riders made a great job on that climb,dropping big guys like Cunego and Valverde (Andy got dropped on Hautacam,but that's another story...).

Anyway,yesterday's stage included 3 climbs,le Port d'Envalira,le Col de Port and le Col d'Agnés. Unfortunately between the last of them and the finish-line there were 40 kms. :(

At the beginning of the stage lots of riders attacked.Between them there were also Cadel Evans (!) and Andy Schleck."It was a long way to go," said the Luxembourgian after crosing the finish-line,"but if you don't try,you don't win.So sometimes you need to risk a little bit."

Unfortunately for us fangirls,Andy got caught by the peloton after few moments,while Evans managed to stay for some time at the head of the race together with Casar,Cancellara,Zabriskie,Martinez,V.Efimkin,Kern,Hushovd (who won 2 bonus sprint and is the new green jersey),Flecha and Hincapie.
After the stage,Andy said:"We had Fabian in the escape group but he's had a stressful week behind him,so he didn't make it according to the plan,which was that we attack behind him and then he helps us from the top of the Col d'Agnès climb until the end.Maybe we have to use our head a little bit more in the future and not spend energy uselessly."

With 75 kms to go at the head of the race remained just 4 riders:Luis Leon Sanchez,Mikel Astarloza,Vladimir Efimkin and Sandy Casar.

On the last climb Andy Schleck attacked,but the Astana's quartetto (Kloden,Leipheimer, Armstrong and Contador) immediately caught him,while the yellow jersey Nocentini lost contact from Schleck's group.The Italian finally managed to join again that group before of the top of the lat climb.

Since LL Sanchez is a "dangerous" rider for the GC,Nocentini's team began to pull during the last 40 kms and so Vladimir Efimkin (Nocentini's teammate) stopped helping the other 3 riders of the escape group.Anyway the 4 riders of the breakaway managed to arrive at the finish-line with still 1 minute of advantadge on the other riders.

With 4 kms to go Efimkin attacked,but he was caught with 500 meters to go by Sandy Casar,who was followed by LL Sanchez.The spaniard then outsprinted the Francais des Jeux rider and won.That was a very good news for Caisse d'Epargne team,whose rider Oscar Pereiro Sio abandoned the race during yesterday's stage.

It's funny to notice that LL Sachez won his first stage at Le Tour on the 11th of July 2008 and yesterday it was the 11th of July 2009.The GC leader after yesterday's stage was still Nocentini.Other Italian rider Franco Pellizotti instead arrived 14 minutes after the winner.

In yesterday's stage Andy finally came in 20th,while Frank was the 25th rider to cross the finish-line.Chris-Anker Sorensen instead came in 29th and managed to stay with the best riders on the last climb.That was funny because,when he went to set the pace on the last climb,Italian chronists snobbed him a bit by saying: "Here's...(moment of hesitation:it's one of the Sorensens,but which one? Being full of doubts,the chronist decided not to risk and just said Chris' surname) Sorensen,a teammate of the Schleck brothers,who will set the pace for...(moment of hesitation) 500 meters.Looking at his face,I think he will get dropped as soon as he leaves the head of the leader's group".And instead he didn't get dropped.

Today's stage,as I said in the beginning of this post,was a strange one,since between the last climb (which was the Tourmalet,not a little unknown climb) and the finish-line there were 70 kms.On the Col d'Aspin 4 riders attacked:they were Duque,Fedrigo,Pellizotti and Voigt.Oh yes. Jens Voigt attacked,but got dropped on the Tourmalet (Duque instead was dropped already on the Aspin). :(

The last kms of the race were pretty exciting,since the peloton pulled by Rabobank's and Caisse d'Epargne's riders had just 1.30 minute of delay from Pellizotti and Fedrigo.The 2 riders managed to keep 30 seconds of advantage during the last km and then the win went to the Frenchman Fedrigo,who was faster than Pellizotti at the sprint.

"In the finale, I had the same feelings as in 2006. The race unfolded in the same way:a breakaway of many riders at first,then a finish with only two riders. Today,I was in front,and the strength that I saved on previous stages allowed me to win," said Fedrigo,whose nickname (poor boy!) is ‘le nez de Marmande' (The nose of Marmande). With 4 kms to go,when the peloton was going full gas,Andy punctured (!!!!!),but fortunately Big Jens was there to help him.

“I have previously been quoted for saying that I'm getting too old for breakaway,but today I was motivated by these exact words.Unfortunately I was not able to keep up with the pace of Pellizotti and Fedrigo.Instead I got the chance of helping Andy who had a puncture at a very critical moment a few kilometres from the finish line.Now I'm looking forward for the rest day tomorrow”, said the F-A Jens Voigt after the stage.Yes,because after flying with a plane towards the city of Limoges,tomorrow the riders are having their deserved rest day).

The yellow jersey is still on the shoulders of the Italian rider Rinaldo Nocentini.Second is Contador,while third is sir Lancelot.

>(Sanchez' s pic is by Corvos)

Interview with Andy plus Random Links...

So,here are today's random links...
First of all,on the following link (http://www.saxobank%20takingthelead.%20com/?p=675) there's a Specialized commercial with Fabian Cancellara.
Yesterday's Saxo Bank diary was Kurt-Asle Arvesen's one,wholse link is the following: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=770 .
Here (http://www.lalsace.fr/fr/sports/article/1781076,219/Andy-Schleck-Contador-est-moins-fort) instead there's an interview in French with Andy.Here are some of the things he said:

"Contador is strong,but not as strong as I thought.There's not a big difference between us.I felt very good yesterday".

"Armstrong has managed to remain with the best riders on a climb like yesterday's one,so he must be considered an adversaire for the GC".

"It won't be easy to beat Contador.Frank and I have to attack in the mountains,during the last week of the race.The TT isn't on our side".

"I think that the rivalry between Armstrong and Contador won't damage the Spaniard,'cause he's strong also from a mental point of view.And then Astana seems to be a very united team,even if the press says that things are different".

"From Carlos Sastre,I've learned how to stay calm.I'm a pretty nervous rider,I always like attacking...".

"This year the Tour's parcours is a bit strange.I think the Pyrenees won't make a big selection.In the Alps there's le colle du Romme (Borg Saint Maurice-Grand Bornard stage),the toughest climb of the whole race.The Colmat stage will be another tough one.Lots of riders won't expect it and may not be ready on that day.But we will be ready".

"Lots of people say that I've got talent.But if you've got talent and you don't train,you don't achieve any good result.I think every young rider of the peloton has talent.Someone has more talent of the other riders,but everyone has talent."

"One of my advantdge is that I know myself very well.I know when I need some rest and I know when I have to do something else to distract me from cycling.At my debut,some people told me I had to find my own path.I think I've found it.I also know some little tricks of cycling.For example,on the rest day some people ride their bikes for an hour and then drink a coffee.You don't need to go to your office every time you need a coffee,do you? Drink it but don't go out with your bike! Other people instead wash their bikes.On the rest day,you should do something different from cycling!".

"Cycling is my passion,my job,but there are other things in life.For example,there's my home,my family.Without my family,I wouldn't be who I am right now.I'm a boy whose feet are sticked to the ground.I don't need a Ferrari or an expensive car.After stopping with cycling,I would like to have a normal life.To have a family and so on.Now I'm living my dream,but there's a life outside cycling".

Journalist:your brother is still tidier than you,is he? "Yes,but I've got better! (laughs)".

"At the beginning of a career,I think that young riders shouldn't listen too much to what this people and that people say.At the beginning o this season I had some problems with my knee.At a certain point,I said:I do this.I've got a lots of respect for a lot of people,but inside my head the only person I listen to is Kim Andersen:he's like a second father to me".Last but least,here's the usual link that sends you to Chris-Anker Sorensen's blog ( http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry325545.html ).The title of this post is a usual question of mine: "Is Jens Voigt the rabbit of Duracell's adverts?".The other great question of the day is "How can an Austrian talk Australian".
During today's entry then there's also a little mention for Andy:"In yesterday's stage there was also a deja-vu,since for the third stage in a row,Andy Schleck has forgotten to take his feed-bag while we were riding in the food zone.To be a little forgetful is very typical for Andy,and that's what makes him so worthy of the nickname of "Cousin ġuf" (used among us Danes)".

7th stage:

After 6 days of racing,yesterday the riders of La Grande Boucle had to face the first mountain stage.The finish-line was on the Arcalis climb,which is 10 kms long.
Although the stage was supposed to be very hard,9 brave riders (Kuchinsky,Kern,Pinau, Riblon, Frohlinger,B.Feillu,Egoi Martinez,Nocentini and José Ivan Gutierrez) formed a breakaway with still 200 kms to go.The "fellowship of the 9" (when the Italian chronists called the riders of the breakaway in that way,I couldn't avoid wondering myself things like "Where's Gollum? And who has the ring?") soon managed to gain some minutes of advantadge on the rest of the peloton.
With 55 kms to go the breakaway riders had an advantdge of 12 minutes on the rest of the peloton.Meanwhile,Cancellara punctured twice and showed his amazing descent-skills to all the people who were watching the stage.

At the beginning of the Arcalis climb,the 9 breakaway riders still had about 6 minutes of advantadge.With 5 kms to go,neo-pro Brice Feillu (not to confuse with his brother Romain,that is much shorter than him) attacked and left all his companions behind.He eventually managed to win in a great way.
"I believed I had a chance,as it was a finale to my taste,"said Feillu."With four kilometres to go,the gap was still the same,about 10 seconds,I think. hen it increased about 10 seconds every kilometre,but in the last kilometre it went down again and I got really frightened.I really dug deep then."

Brice's victory made Romain Feillu cry."When I heard of his victory on the radio,I started to cry",he said .The older of the Feillu brothers cried until the finish-line and arrived 28 minutes after his brother.
The first rider to cross the finish-line after the 23-year-old Brice was Cristoph Kern,who was then followed by Frohlinger and Nocentini.Nocentini needed to gain at least 3.14 minutes on Armstrong and Cancellara if he wanted to wear the yellow jersey.Meanwhile Fabian had lost contact from the main group and Cuddles,ehm,Cadel Evans had attacked.The Aussie was soon caught by the group of the main GC riders,and the next to attack was his teammate Jurgen Van Den Broeck (7th in last 2008 Giro's GC).When the other Silence-Lotto rider got caught,it was Contador's turn to attack.He soon gained some meters on the group of the best riders,pulled by Andy Schleck.Unfortunately Andy and the others didn't manage to catch the Spaniard,who crossed the finish-line after 8 of the 9 breakaway riders (poor Kuchinsky crossed the finish-line 11 minutes after B.Feillu) and 3 minutes after Nocentini.And so the Italian managed to get the yellow jersey."For me, this is incredible. When I jumped into the break this morning, I never thought about taking the yellow jersey.I rather thought about a stage win". 21 seconds after Contador (who said:"I would have liked to get more time on the other GC riders,but I'm happy anyway"),the main contenders for the overall classification crossed the finish-line.Together with Andy and Frank Schleck in the GC group there were also Evans,Wiggins (who lost 6 kgs during the last 12 months),Leipheimer,Armstrong,Tony Martin (didn't xpect him to be so strong in the mountains!),Menchov,Sastre,Karpets and Vande Velde.Nibali arrived 10 seconds after them,Pellizotti and Kloden after 23".Kirchen lost 52" from los Schlecks' group,while Kreuziger lost 1 minute and 1 second.The best Saxo Banker was Andy (yip de do da day!),11th,while Big Bro Frank was 13th.Chris-Anker Sorensen was 48th (he crossed the finish-line 6'14" seconds after Feillu),while Cancellara and Larsson arrived together 9 minutes after the stage's winner.
Talking about the GC,first is Nocentini,while second is Contador (he has 6 seconds of delay from the Italian rider) and 3rd is Armstrong (8 seconds).Andy is 9th (1'49" of delay),while Frank is 13th (2'25").Andy is also 2nd in the young rider classification,with 49" seconds of delay from Tony Martin.
(Photos Reuters)

Video with the Schleck brothers!

Yesterday was the turn of the Schleck brothers in the Saxo Bank video updates from Le Grande Boucle,here's the link http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=699 .It's a really funny one,hope you like it!

Stage 6:

Yesterday's stage was a interesting one,since during the last 1500 m the riders had to face the Montjuich climb.The race yesterday was completely held in Spain;in fact it began in Gerona and ended up in that wonderful city whose name is Barcellona.Unfortunately it rained a lot,and so there were some crashes.

The breakaway du jour was formed by Auge,Chavanel,Txurruka and Garmin's Millar.With 29 kms to go,Millar attacked and none of his breakaway's companions joined him.The British rider was finally caught with just 2 kms to go,at the beginning of the Montjuich climb.

Lots of riders wanted to stay up front,so there was a lot of confusion.Feillu attacked,then HGS tried to attack as well but was immediately followed by Rojas,Freire and Hushovd.The sprint saw the victory of the Norwegian rider,while second was Freire and third was Rojas."I get my head together to be strong. I just know that finishes like this one or the one last year fit me well - and if they are the only chances I have to win, then I have to take them",said Hushovd after the stage."In the first week,Sastre gave me the chance to do what I wanted,so now I will try to support him.Of course,the green jersey is really important but we also have to help Sastre as much as we can."

Best Saxo Bank rider was Cancellara (10th),who kept the yellow jersey.Andy Schleck was 13th,while Frank was 25th.

As I said before,there were lots of crashes yesterday.Fortunately,none of the Saxo Bank riders was involved (I was worried about someone,but he didn't fall).

"It was unbelievably slippery on the roads today because of the mixture of dust and large amounts of rain we got on the course but fortunately we all got through the stage without any accidents",said Andy after the stage.

Between the riders who crashed there were Farrar,Rogers,Haussler (who crashed twice),Ten Dam,Arashiro,Hincapie,José Marchante,Boonen,Spilak (he also crashed twice) and Sapa.Luckily,none of them had to abandon the race.Some riders lost contact from the head of the race just because of all these crashes.Between the unlucky guys there was poor Denis Menchov,who is now 64th in the GC.(Photo Reuters)

Links and pics regarding the Schleck brothers:

Lots of articles about los Schlecks in these days! Here are some links and some pics.

First link: http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/31737/andy-schleck-nach-meinem-geschmack.php .Here you can find an interview in German with Andy.The Luxembourgian champion says that "he may try something in today's stage".Then he continues the interview saying that "nearly all the race favourites are in the first part of the GC". "The Astana team is really impressing,it has Contador,Armstrong and Kloden."."In the TTT we gained important seconds on the other possible GC contenders,so I think I can be happy of these first days here at the Tour.Until now my Tour has been good,but the road to Paris is still very long.I feel very good and I'm very happy about the fact that between few days we'll be in the mountains.The Pyrenees (ndr;how do you call them in English?) will be very tough,but I think that the Alps will decide who the strongest rider is".

Second link: http://www.lavoixdessports.com/Tour-de-France/Actualites/2009/07/09/%20article_andy-schleck-attend-tranquillement-son-h.shtml .It's an interview (in French) with the younger of the Schleck brothers.In this interview he says again that the Pyrenees "won't be as selective as the Alps,even if I think there may be big delays already on the Arcalis climb.I'm very impatient to see Armstrong on the climbs.During the Giro,even if he was still recovering from his injury,he was really impressing".Then he continues by saying that "Last year,my main goal was to finish the Tour.This year things are different.In 2008I had a very bad day and I lost 9 minutes,but I don't think this will happen again.Yes,I think I can win.There's a very strong team behind me."About the Astanas,Andy says:"I don't think that Armstrong's presence in the team will cause problems to Contador.Contador is strong also from the mental point of view.And I'm sure that,if he's in front of Armstrong on the Pyrenees,all his teammates will help him.They won't make the mistake of creating a war inside the team".

And now,time for some pics...Do you remember the big,furry,white creature who terrified me in the Tour of Luxembourg? Well,it's followed our boys also at Le Tour de France...Here it is,together with Andy (Pic taken by Serge Waldbillig,a very good photographer).Here instead you can see the saddles of the Schleck brothers.The boys have good taste,"Blues Brothers" is my favourite film ever!!Here is the last link regarding the Schleck brothers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0syjgfa6z_s .It's a vid in which Frank speaks Luxembourgian.I wonder,are his hair just wet,or has he been corrupted by the Katushas men and has started to use Gel?

To close this post, here are 2 other (totally random) links:the first one (http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry325245.html) connects you to Chris-Anker Sorensen's blog.The second one (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?cat=50) instead sends you to Saxo Bank's website,in the Rider's diary section.Today it's the turn of Nicki Sorensen.Watching his face,I absolutely believe him when he says that yesterday's stage was extremely tough!!

Stage 5:

Finally the Festival of the favourite rider (or team) that wins the stage in which he's the favourite seems to have come to an end.Yesterday's favourite was Cavendish,but the Englishman with the frog kit didn't win.And that's already a news.
So,yesterday stage arrived in Perpignan (last year I passed 3 weeks between Canet en Rousillon and La Grande Motte,something tells me that I've chosen the wrong year to go there...) and started in Cap d'Adge.

After few kms,Voeckler,Sapa,Hutarovich,Geslin,Timmers and Ignatiev formed a breakaway.It seemed to be a hopeless breakaway,especially when,with about 30 kms to go,the advantadge of the 6 men on the peloton was of just 40 seconds.But then things changed and the advantadge of the 6 men surprisingly started to increase.With 6 kms to go,Ignatiev attacked and Sapa got dropped.The Russian attacked again with 5 kms to go and this time Geslin was the one who lost contact from the other riders.The next to attack was Voeckler,that managed to cross the finish-line all alone.Second came Ignatiev,who managed to cross the finish-line few tenths of second before of Cavendish and the rest of the peloton. After the stage,Voeckler said,"I didn't calculate any of this at all.I thought that it was impossible that we'd keep our advantage,because we only had 50 seconds left with 35 kilometres to go.I told myself,even if we get through,there are two riders from the same team,one of which (Hutarovich) is really fast in the sprint.But once I got the gap,I went flat out,and when I got under the flamme rouge and still had 10 seconds, I started to believe it."
The funny thing was that yesterday was the 8th of July,and that on the 8th of July 2004 Voeckler managed to wear the yellow jersey at le Tour for the first time in his life."I didn't think once about the fact that it was today,"the Frenchman said."I was told after the finish line. ìThis morning,we only celebrated Jean-René's birthday...but I didn't win for him today! Of course,I'm happy I won because the future of the team is not really safe, so this victory means a lot to us.If it can help the team to continue its adventure, then that's perfect.I remember five years ago, we got another sponsor after my ride in yellow,too".
The day didn't go well for poor Robert Gesink.He fell during a descent and,although he broke his left wrist in the crash,managed to cross the finish-line with 9 minutes of delay from Voeckler. :(
The yellow jersey remained on Cancellara's shoulders.For infos about los Schlecks,see next post.

(Photos:Afp,Luc Claessen)

New Andy's diary plus post TTT interviews:

Lots of articles about los Schlecks in these days...Here's Andy's diary,under it you can find my translation of a German interview with the brothers.

Schleck machine
Twitter-mania hits the peloton as Andy gears up for the mountains of the Tour
Damn this Twitter malarkey. Sorry everyone but I’ve just joined the 21st century and signed up to Twitter–the fastest growing way tell the world about each time you brush your teeth, blink or even think about blinking.A friend recommended I should join,I’ve been on it for the last week and I’m starting to get used to it now,although don't expect any Tweets from the peloton.
But my main focus,unsurprisingly,has been on the Tour de France.As you’ll have seen it’s been a hard but exciting race so far,from the stage in Monaco,to the cross winds on stage three and then the lung-busting effort in yesterday’s team time trial.
Everything got off to a great start on Saturday. The hotel in Monaco was the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in and I didn’t really want to leave. As for my performance in the time trial, I was pretty happy to finish in the top twenty.When I crossed the line I thought I’d done badly but that’s always the way with racing against the clock, isn’t it? There are times when you think you’re flying up the climbs and when you finish you’re way down and then there are times like Sunday when you feel like you’re dragging yourself along and then you end up with a respectable time.
I guess it shows that I was really digging deep. I’ve put a lot of work into my time trialling this year. You could be forgiven for thinking I had my feet up the day after I’d won Liege but instead I was out testing my time trial bike at 10am. If you want to lay the foundations for success you have to start early.
I can’t move on without talking about Fabian.He has been immense in both time trials. You could see how strong he was in yesterday’s team time trial when he was pulling the entire team along.
Personally,it was a very hard stage.It’s difficult to describe just how tough the team time trial is. In an individual test you can ride at your level and adjust the level of pain by backing off but in a team effort you can’t do that.You have to adapt to the efforts of others. I could have gone a bit faster on the climbs, perhaps, but on the flat run in I couldn’t pass Fabian,who was doing an incredible 75km/h!
Overall,the team are happy with the performance.We don’t have the same amount of time trial specialists as Garmin,Columbia or Astana,so to beat two of those teams and retain the yellow jersey is a great result for us.Hats off to Astana though, they were the strongest team.
However,I have to join the chorus of rider that criticised the course.This is the Tour de France and the organisers can pick any road they want to.So why seek out some of the smallest and most dangerous roads in the country?
The next big test will come on Friday when we climb up towards Arcalis.I can’t really predict what exactly will happen but I know the race is going to split up and we’ll see just how good my form is on the final climb.I’ll give it everything and I hope I can stay in front and maybe even a little bit further in front, if you know what I mean.
But Friday is just one day,every day is hard at the Tour and you need a lot of energy for the final week of the Tour.
Speaking of which, it’s time for dinner and then some much needed rest

Here's the other interview:

After crossing the finish-line of the 39 kms TTT in Montpellier,the riders needed some moments to recuperate a bit of energy before of going to speak with the journalists,and so we had to wait a while before of talking to them.Btw,a French journalist didn't want to wait,so he went right in front of Frank Schleck,that had just finished his race.The rider watched him and probably decided to say his opinion about him later,so he just made a brief statement: "I've never ridden my bike so fast in all my life! The parcours was extremely tiring,I really had to fight".After saying that,he rode away.It was really hard to interview his brother Andy as well,since there were lots of journalists who wanted to talk with him."The parcours was really hard,sometimes it was even dangerous.The amount of crashes doesn't surprise me.I have to thank and respect Cancellara,Larsson and Voigt.They did an amazing job,especially during the last kms their rythm was really high.Frank and I pulled during the short uphill parts of the stage and during the last kms,which were flat and in which there was a lot of wind that came from behind.In that part of the race we were riding at 70 km/h.In that point Frank and I clearly had some problems,since we weight about 15 kg less than our teammates.We don't have enough strengh".

With about 10 kms to go,Lance Armstrong was the new virtual leader of the race.Andy Schleck says that the American deserves respect."We have worked a lot in these days and between few days there are the first mountains.We'll have to wait and see how the race goes,then it will be up to Frank and me.But anyway we have to say "Chapeau" to Lance."

Random links: on Saxo Bank website (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=589) there's this funny vid with the FA Jens Voigt,in which he shows his suitcase and then explains why he's a genius.The same explanation can be applied for people whose room is always "a bit" untidy.

On this othe link instead (http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry325094.html) there's the last entry of Chris-Anker Sorensen's blog.