Giro dell'Emilia,Coppa Sabatini and Saxo Bank news:

Today there has been one of Fangirl's favourite race,the Giro dell'Emilia.It's a very hard race,one of the hardest of the season in my opinion,since the riders have to ride over the San Luca climb (the one faced by the Giro riders during the Bologna stage this year) 5 times.

Fangirl of course had high hopes for the Saxo Bank guys and was in a great "Allez Chris-Anker!!" mood this afternoon.Of course Chris wasn't the only good rider in this race;in fact at the start of the race this morning there were also Kolobnev,Fuglsang,Gesink,Evans, Basso,Szmyd,Lovkvist, Soler,Cunego,Basso,Horner,Pozzovivo,Sella,Vinokourov,Pinotti,Monfort and many others.

After 44 kms of race Vladimir Duma (Ceramica Flaminia),Vitaly Kondrut (ISD),Aristide Ratti (CarmioOro - A-Style) and Alain Van Der Velde (Centri della Calzatura) escaped from the group.Duma lost contact by the first climb of San Luca,while the remaining three riders led by 1'40" over the top.
Things changed after the second passage on San Luca's climb.In fact Sexy Banker Jakob Fuglsang decided to attack and managed to form an escape group together with Vinokourov, Gesink and Thomas Lövkvist.

When she saw that her beloved Tommy was in the breakaway,my sister went crazy and turned the video recorder on.After that,she watched me grinning and said: "If Lovkvist wins,you'll give me 13 euros".I replied:"Lonkqvist (ndr;yes,that's the way Italian chronists sometimes call him) is not going to win.Chris-Anker Sorensen will win.Anyway,I accept your offer:if Lovkvist wins,I'll give you 13 euros;but if Sorensen wins,you'll give me 13 euros".My sister accepted the deal and after making it we started to support our riders in a very Fangirly mood.

On the penultimate passage on the San Luca climb,Soler decided to attack but couldn't catch the "escapados".With 2 kms to go and the San Luca climb to face for the last time,the 4 breakaway riders in fact had 15" of advantadge on Swede Kessiakoff,while other riders (Cunego,Pozzovivo, Kolobnev,Sorensen,Evans,Tiralongo,Basso and others) had to recuperate 35".

During the first part of the climb Fuglsang seemed to be the strongest,while Lovkvist seemed to have some problems.During one of the hardest part of the San Luca,Jakob attacked and was followed just by Vinokourov.Vino then litterally blew up,while Gesink and Lovkvist rode past him and managed to join Jakob again.

The victory was decided in a 3 men sprint.Said sprint was won by Robert Gesink,while Fuglsang came in 2nd and Lovkvist was 3rd."Obviously it was a tough race but since the Vuelta I have been strong although I have not trained as much as earlier in the season",said Fuglsang after the race."For me it was not surprising to be in the finale today because I am still keen on going for the victory and I am still motivated despite the long season,I've been through in my first season as a professional."

Robert Gesink instead told the Gazzetta dello Sport:"I didn't expect to win today,but I'm very happy because after a very unlucky season I really needed a good victory.My knee is feeling better now and during the last days I went to see the Lombardia's finale.It's a tough race,just like the ones I like.I'm going to try and win it".

4th was Cadel Evans,who managed to pass Vinokourov during the last meters of the climb.The Kazakh finally ended up in 5th.6th was Kessiakoff,while 7th was Kolobnev.8th was Chris-Anker Sorensen,who raced very well even if he's ill.Best Italian rider was Tiralongo,10th,while Spaniard Fernandez came in 9th.

The other race I managed to watch this week was the Coppa Sabatini.This race is held in Tuscany and the riders who race it have to face a climb during the last few kms.

This year the race was the first one in which Cadel Evans showed everyone his rainbow jersey. He received a lot of attention and was really happy about this."I felt as if I was everyone's champion,it was a great feeling",the Aussie said after the race.

Evans made his debut in pro cycling world 10 years ago in the Coppa Sabatini and on Thursday ,just like on that September day of the last century,his jersey number was 96.

Anyway,let's talk about the race.

By km 20,25 riders escaped from the peloton.Said riders were Philippe Gilbert and Cadel Evans (Silence - Lotto),Giovanni Visconti,Ruslan Podgornyy and Bartosz Huzarski (ISD),Leonardo Bertagnolli,Alessandro Bertolini and Luca Solari (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli),Davide Malacarne (Quick Step),Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Centri Della Calzatura),Domenico Pozzovivo,Marcello Pavarin and Alan Marangoni (CSF Group - Navigare), Luca Mazzanti and Nikita Eskov (Team Katusha),Cristiano Salerno,Riccardo Chiarini and Matteo Montaguti (LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini), Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez,Diego Caccia,Daryl Impey and Giampaolo Cheula (Barloworld),Vladimir Duma and Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia -Bossini Docce) and Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro - A Style).

The victory was finally decided between these 24 riders (Cheula was dropped before of the last kms) also because all the other riders got retired before of crossing the finish-line.

Evans made a great work to help Gilbert to win,while ISD worked really hard for Visconti.The race was finally won by the Belgian Silence-Lotto rider,while Visconti came in 2nd.3rd was Bertagnolli,while Malacarne came in 4th.

"Cadel was superb",said Philippe Gilbert (who can speak Italian very well) after the race."He made a great work on the last climb.I stayed calm and waited until the last 200 meters.Roberto Damiani,our ds,had told us before of the start: 'with just 14 teams,it's going to be hard to control the race.Pay attention to the breakaways,it's better to stay at the head of the race than at the back'.He was right".Gilbert,who made the decisive move by attacking 20 kms after the start of the race,is now scheduled to race Paris-Tours,Piemonte,Lombardia and Gp Nazioni.
Visconti (who won this race twice in the last few years) said:"This race suits me.To arrive second after Gilbert isn't a disappointing thing.He's a great rider.Perhaps I could have started the sprint before of him.I wouldn't have won anyway,but perhaps I would have managed to lose in a better way".

SAXO BANK NEWS:
Here are 2 links to some articles about Saxo Bank team.
The first link (http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/opening-doors-comes-naturally-for-porte) is about Richie Porte,a 24 year-old Tasmanian rider who's just signed a two year contract with Team Saxo Bank.Me wishes him good luck and a good career between pro riders.
The other link (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ljungqvist-to-retire-rejects-contract-offers-from-armstrong-riis ) instead is about Marcus Ljungqvist's retire from competitions.The 34 year-old Swede rider said he's going to end his career tomorrow at the Paris-Tours.Btw Marcus has said that he will remain in cycling world also after his retire from competitions.