A Fangirl in Mendrisio:

The first thing I saw on Sunday morning,the day of the Men Road Race at the World Championships of Mendrisio,was my alarm clock.It was ringing and it was showing me that it was just 6.45 am.Normally,when I wake up so early,some questions like "Why am I doing this? And why can't I go where I have to go in the afternoon?" always strike my mind.On Sunday instead I didn't ask myself anything:I knew that I had to get up that early if I wanted to arrive in Mendrisio before of the start of the race,and I was really excited at the idea of seeing my favourite riders "live".

30 minutes after getting up I was in a car,heading towards Chiasso.As soon as my family and I got there,we got off the car,walked towards Switzerland,entered in Switzerland by foot (that was cool!),got into the train station and got on the first train to Mendrisio.
As soon as we arrived in Mendrisio,my family and I started to walk towards the start of the race. At a certain point we heard some people screaming and we noticed a bus riding on the road in front of us.It was a bus like the ones that people normally use when they go on a school trip,so I was pretty surprised when I realised that the vehicle was actually carrying the Italian riders to the race start.The Italian tifosi (there were plenty of them around) of course became really excited and started to scream things like "Bravo Cunego!","Forza Ragazzi!","Andiamo a fare poker!".After a while some people started to scream "Paolo you're the best!","Paolo please give me your autograph!" and Logic got a bit confused."Who's Paolo?",she started to ask herself.

The answer came when she noticed that one of the men who were walking near to the Italian bus was Paolo Bettini.He was looking relaxed and happy and he also stopped to talk to some people. After managing to get over the entusiasthic Italian tifosi and the Silence-Lotto/Belgium bus,my family and I found ourselves outside of a big gazebo where supporters couldn't enter and where 3 Canadian riders and a rider from Belarus were sitted.I was looking at the gazebo,trying to recognise the Canadian riders,when I suddenly heard my sister whisper,in a very delighted way, the name "Thomas Lovkvist".I turned my head towards her and noticed that,inside a little Columbia bus near to the gazebo,there were 2 Swede riders,Thomas Lovkvist and Marcus Ljungqvist.Fangirl went:"OMG how gorgeous Swede men are!" and immediately tried to get rid of Logic,but Logic was ready to stop her before she could do something stupid.Lovkvist was looking as handsome as always,drinking coffee and talking to Ljungqvist.Marcus was looking really relaxed as well and often smiled and laughed.Of course my sister immediately started to take pics of Lovkvist and to behave like Fangirls normally do when they meet their favourite riders,while me instead was thinking random things like "Uhm,Lovkvist wasn't that thin in May...He's probably lost some weight.And Marcus doesn't look so thin,so good-looking and so tall on tv!"
Anyway,after a few minutes I started to look for Luxembourgian bus and,as soon as I found it,I went towards it.Andy Schleck was there,but disappeared inside the bus after few seconds. Fangirl wanted to jump over the barriers and get on the bus,but Logic stopped her and Fangirl decided to calm down for a while.
While I was there,waiting for Luxembourgian riders to appear,I could see some cyclists riding to the start.For example,I spotted De Greef (Fangirl had another attack of craziness when she saw him),Farrar,Visconti,Freire,Cunego,Paolini,Rene Mandri,Vinokourov and the Swede riders.
As soon as Lovkvist and Ljungqvist left their bus,my sister came up to me and I could finally use my photo camera.Here are some pics I've taken:
Luxembourg bikes (Andy's bike is the first one): Johnny Schleck:
Kim Kirchen (I know,I'm not a good photographer):
Jean Pierre Drucker:
After about 15 minutes,Andy Schleck finally appeared.Fagirl was speechless:she'd never seen Andy so close before,and was obviously really excited.Excited,and speechless.So speechless that,when Andy rode past her and signed some autographs,she couldn't even tell him "Good Luck" or things like that,but just let him go without even thinking about jumping over the barriers and ask him some stupid things that would have caused Andy to call the police in order to protect his own security.
Of course,as soon as Andy disappeared,Fangirl recuperated her voice and started to shout at Logic:"Why didn't you wake me up when Andy was there? I could have said him something, instead...It's your fault!" Logic thought that Fangirl had a point there and tried to distract her by bringing her in front of the Cervélo/Norwegy bus.There Fangirl could see Thor Hushovd,Stein Remme (photo below) and Kurt-Asle Arvesen.

The funny thing about Arvesen is that I'd never seen him before of Sunday.To solve this problem,on Sunday I managed to see him not just at the start of the race,but also other 14 times. Because of this,if someone now asks me "Who did you see at the Worlds?", my answer is always the same:"I saw Arvesen! And then Andy Schleck,Hushovd,Farrar,Arvesen,De Greef, Vinokourov,Arvesen,Martin,Evans,Kirchen,Arvesen,Ramme,Rogers...Did I mention that I saw Arvesen?" Btw,after watching the Norwegian riders I walked in front of the Astana/Kazakhistan's bus.There I could see Valentin Iglinsky (photo below),while outside of Rabobank/Holland's bus I could see Karsten Kroon.

However,the moment of the race start was soon approaching and nearly all the riders had already left their buses,so my family and I decided to direct ourselves towards the Novazzano climb.While I was walking there,Fangirl asked Logic whether she'd seen any Dane rider at the start."No I haven't.What about you?" "I didn't see them either.Where were they?",Fangirl asked."I don't know.They were probably in the Italy/Spain area,that's why we didn't see them. Anyway don't worry:you're gonna see them in 20 minutes time".Of course Logic was right.In fact,during the following hours,I could see every Dane rider pretty well.
As soon as the race began,my family and I started to walk from a place to another and managed to notice many different supporter's groups.In fact there were lots of Italian,Swiss,Belgian,Dutch and Norwegian tifosi on the parcours and it was really nice to see them all together,laughing and supporting their riders.The Belgian had their own place with a big screen just for them,the Norwegian had taken possession of an area with some tables and a big screen and had shared it with some Irish supporters.The Kazakhs were near to Pozzato's tifosi,while the Luxembourgians had their own place as well.
Belgian then kept on screaming "Tom Boonen,Tom Boonen,Tom Boonen",while the Swiss battle scream was "Vola Fabian!".Also the Spaniards were very entusiasthic and kept on screaming: "Espana,Espana,Espana!" every time the peloton rode in front of them.The Italian instead kept on screaming their national anthem.
Lots of funny things happened to me during the race,but it would be too long to describe them all.Anyway,here are some pics I took during the race (sorry for the bad quality):
Here's Kurt-Asle Arvesen:

This one instead is Thomas Lovkvist:
Francis De Greef:
Fabian Cancellara:Pierrick Fedrigo:Chris-Anker Sorensen!Laurent Didier:
Matti Breschel:
Alejandro Valverde:

With 2 laps to go,my family and I moved to the last km of the race.There was a big screen there,but the comment was in Dutch and I couldn't see properly because of the flags between me and the screen.Anyway I already knew that Andy had abandoned the race,so I was in a really "Allez Chris-Anker!" mood.
Eventually Evans turned out to be the strongest.He rode past me in a very fast way and everyone-Swiss,Italians,Belgians and so on-clapped their hands at him.It was a really nice moment.
After Evans,Kolobnev and Rodriguez came,followed by Cancellara and Gilbert.And then also the other riders arrived,one after the other.
When the last rider had ended his race,I moved towards the "podium area" and watched Evans' premiation.

After the premiation (and after having seen Italian chronists,Davide Cassani and Auro Bulbarelli, waving to the crowd) I could go back to the start area.There I saw Edvald Boasson Hagen, Arvesen (twice!) and Millar giving interviews.Michael Rogers instead was outside of Australia's bus showing everyone his 2 beautiful daughters.Outside of Columbia/Sweden bus I could see Thomas Lovkvist again,while Tom Boonen was chatting with some supporters outside of Belgium bus and Cancellara was alone,head in hand,looking really disappointed outside of Switzerland bus.Btw,near to Columbia's bus I could also see Toni Martin.He was there with his family,with a pump in his right hand,looking relaxed and happy.He kindly gave me his autograph and smiled at me.
After meeting Toni,I went outside of Luxembourg bus and could see Joel Zangerle,an U23 rider. Random thought? "Man,he looks soooo YOUNG!!!"
Then,after meeting Zangerle,I saw Pozzato.He was outside of Italy's bus together with Ballan and was talking with some supporters.That surprised me and I must say that,since that moment,my opinion about him has slightly changed.
Finally,at 7 o'clock pm,after having walked through the whole start area,my family was ready to go home.Unfortunately,someone (Fangirl) didn't want to leave.
"Have you seen any Dane rider here in this area?",she asked to Logic."No I haven't"."So you don't know where they are?"."No,I don't"."But they must be somewhere!",Fangirl cried."Yes,but unfortunately I don't know where this somewhere is.Anyway,I think they're using a Saxo Bank bus,so if we find a Saxo Bank bus here around we should manage to find the Dane riders as well"",Logic added,noticing that Fangirl was looking a bit disappointed.
In that very same moment,Fangirl noticed a very little Saxo Bank bus near to her."What about that?",she screamed hopefully."Naaah,look more carefully.There are bikes and wheels in it.I don't think a single person could manage to enter in that bus,let alone 6 men.",Logic said."But where are the Dane riders,then?",Fangirl asked again."I don't know",Logic answered.At that point,Fangirl had an idea:"Hey,I could ask Uncle Bjarne whether he knows where the Dane riders are!" "Great idea,but you don't have Riis' telephone number,right?"."No,but I can see him"."What the hell are you saying?"."Take a look,Uncle Bjarne's there!",Fangirl screamed.And,surprisingly,she was right:Bjarne Riis was right in front of her,walking towards..."The Dane bus! He's surely going to congratulate the boys on their amazing ride!" "No, you must be wrong"."Well,why don't we follow him and see who's right and who's wrong then?", Fangirl proposed.Logic looked disgusted at the idea,but decided to give it a try.
Sadly enough,Fangirl and Logic soon found out that Bjarne wasn't going towards the Dane bus. "Hey,he's going to the car park!",Fangirl stated in a very disappointed way."Yes,and I don't think he's lended his car to the Dane riders,so it's high time you stopped following him and come with me at the station",Logic said.Of course,Fangirl had to obey.
So,this was my day at the Mendrisio Worlds.It was a great day (even if I couldn't find the Dane bus anywhere),I had a lot of fun-even if my podium predictions turned out to be oh so terribly wrong!-and I hope I can go to another cycling race soon.
NB: All the pics that appear in this post were taken by the worst cycling photographer of the world,aka ME!