Randomness du comeback:

After 14 days of holiday during which I had a lot of fun,read a lot of books (Bill Bryson rocks!) and had many meetings with jellyfish (they all ended up with someone-me,a member of my family or another unlucky tourist screaming:"F****** animal,you got me!"),here I am again.Lots of things have happened in the last few days: the FA Jens Voigt has returned racing,Italian team for the Worlds is almost ready (and it includes mr.Pozzatolocks,unfortunately for me), Kroon,Burghardt,Hincapie,Ballan and Santambrogio have decided to go to BMC team, Boasson Hagen,Lovkvist,Thomas,Arvesen and lots of other riders have signed a contract with Team Sky,Kirchen has decided to go to Katusha,Bak and Goss have signed with Columbia,Berlusconi has made me feel ashamed of being Italian...And then of course there were the 2 news regarding the Schleck brothers.As you probably already know,Andy left the Vuelta because he was ill (I don't know why,but an Italian journalist wrote:"he's got talent,but he still has a lot to learn".Does it mean that expert cyclists know how to avoid illness?),while Frank had to leave the race because in order to face a surgery operation on his left knee.

Frank was operated yesterday in Gand,Belgium,and won't be racing until 2010."The problem actually began back in the Basque Country Tour in April where I was wondering about how the classics would turn out from my part.I did OK through the spring but I could tell that my knee was not feeling as it should be.After my break from racing everything went really well,although the problem still appeared now and then.After the Tour of Luxembourg and the Tour de Suisse the pain returned and I must admit that I had some really tough days during the Tour where most days darkened because of the knee.Fortunately managed to finish the race and make some results with the team which I am enormously proud of.But now it has come to a point where an operation is the only way out,so I can be ready again for the next season.I am sorry that this season ends like this but after all,I have been in progress continuously since February and it makes it worth while finishing the season now.The most important thing is that after surgery I can compete without pain when the new season starts”, Fränk said.According to the doctors,he will be able to get back on the bike after four weeks and without permanent injury.

"Frank has had big problems with his knee and the decision to abandon the Vuelta to have surgery is the only right thing to do.He has now been riding with pain since April and the following year and in principle the rest of his career in mind we have to take the situation seriously.Fortunately,he will soon be on the operating table and although he stands in front of a long break he can easily make up for the new season.He is obviously not happy to drop out of the Vuelta and miss the World Cup and Lombardy,where he could have done really well.However,he can look back on a great season and look forward to next year's challenges without having to endure the pain”,said Kim Andersen.

Of course I wish Frank a fast recover and hope he'll come back even stronger next year. Unfortunately this news completely destroyed Fangirl's project for the "Perfect Worlds Road Race Podium in Mendrisio".In fact her dream podium for the Worlds would have been the following: 1st Frank,2nd C.A. Sorensen,3rd Andy Schleck.Fangirl would have liked to see C.A. on the podium because Logic has finally convincted her that a Dane rider will end up on the Worlds podium and also because her ideal race-finish would have been very similar to the Grand Bornard one,with Frank winning and Andy 3rd,very happy and with arms raised up to the sky.

But since Frank won't be racing the Worlds,Fangirl's new perfect podium is the following: 1st Andy (who else?),2nd C.A. and 3rd an Italian rider (Cunego or Garzelli).

As you probably know,the Vuelta is still on.Today's stage was won by a great David Moncoutié.Second came Mosquera,while 3rd was the race leader Valverde.Evans punctured with about 15 kms to go and lost over a minute from Valverde,Gesink and Basso.Also Danielson lost a lot of time.

When the Vuelta began,I thought that the final Top 5 could have been formed by Evans, Valverde,Basso,Gesink and Fuglsang.Unfortunately Fuglsang is already out of games, but the other 4 riders are all in the high rankings of the GC.

Tomorrow's stage will be another hard one,and perhaps Jakob could do well there.In this way he would be the 2nd rider of Saxo Bank to win a stage at this year's Vuelta,since Fab Fab has already won 2 TTs.
Regarding other Saxo Bankers,Haedo won a stage at the Tour of Missouri some days ago,while Matthew Goss has won Paris-Brussels this afternoon.