NEWS:
First of all,let's start with the news of Andy Schleck's knee problem.Luckily it seems that his injury isn't too serious and so Andy should return racing already at the Ruta del Sol (21st of February).Considering that Fuglsang had a knee problem as well few days ago and that he blamed it on the new equipment,I believe that Andy may have some problems with the new materials as well.Of course,this is only a personal theory of mine.
Fangirl's cycling season officially started on Saturday when she saw her first cycling race of the year.Said race was the GP Donoratico,won by Alessandro Petacchi.There was a funny moment when,with about 1 km to go,Bernucci (the man who was leading the "Lampre train" in that moment) created a gap of some meters between him and the following rider.It was pretty funny since Bernucci apparently had no idea of what to do next and the final sprint was pretty strange also because of this fact.Petacchi's victory,however,was simply great.
Talking about the start of the season,I must say that the first cyclists that I saw this year were Vanotti and Tiralongo.The strange thing is that I didn't see them on tv on Saturday,but live on last Tuesday.In fact I came across them on the road outside my house,while I was waiting at a traffic light.Vanotti and Tiralongo were riding towards Almenno San Salvatore,so they had probably just ended a training session in the cold weather.This appearance was very unexpected and made me notice one thing: I don't like the new Astana new kit.It is too colourful,especially on the back.
On to other races: the Tour of Qatar.The first stage of this race was won by Team Sky,for my sister's happiness.In fact she immediately grabbed the chance to remember me that,right now,Team Sky has already won 3 races this year,whereas Saxo Bank hasn't won anything yet. Unfortunately it is useless to tell her that Saxo Bank will win both the Giro and the Tour this year because she refuses to believe it.
Yesterday's stage at Tour of Qatar saw a bad accident happening to Kurt Arvesen,who broke his collarbone twice in the last 6 months.And today it's even his birthday,poor boy.
Fangirl's cycling season officially started on Saturday when she saw her first cycling race of the year.Said race was the GP Donoratico,won by Alessandro Petacchi.There was a funny moment when,with about 1 km to go,Bernucci (the man who was leading the "Lampre train" in that moment) created a gap of some meters between him and the following rider.It was pretty funny since Bernucci apparently had no idea of what to do next and the final sprint was pretty strange also because of this fact.Petacchi's victory,however,was simply great.
Talking about the start of the season,I must say that the first cyclists that I saw this year were Vanotti and Tiralongo.The strange thing is that I didn't see them on tv on Saturday,but live on last Tuesday.In fact I came across them on the road outside my house,while I was waiting at a traffic light.Vanotti and Tiralongo were riding towards Almenno San Salvatore,so they had probably just ended a training session in the cold weather.This appearance was very unexpected and made me notice one thing: I don't like the new Astana new kit.It is too colourful,especially on the back.
On to other races: the Tour of Qatar.The first stage of this race was won by Team Sky,for my sister's happiness.In fact she immediately grabbed the chance to remember me that,right now,Team Sky has already won 3 races this year,whereas Saxo Bank hasn't won anything yet. Unfortunately it is useless to tell her that Saxo Bank will win both the Giro and the Tour this year because she refuses to believe it.
Yesterday's stage at Tour of Qatar saw a bad accident happening to Kurt Arvesen,who broke his collarbone twice in the last 6 months.And today it's even his birthday,poor boy.
The second stage of the race,however,was won by Gert Steurs,who was part of a two man breakaway together with Wouter Mol.
Steurs' victory was very emotional,since the Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator rider remembered his former teammate Frederik Nolf,who died in his sleep during the Qatar race 2009,as soon as he crossed the finish-line.
Today's stage of the Tour of Qatar instead was won by Tom Boonen.Not a big surprise,I'd say. The sprint was unfortunately ruined by a crash in which Gerald Ciolek broke his collarbone, joining Arvesen and Crozza in the list of "riders who broke their collarbones in Qatar".Vuelta a Mallorca: I tried to search a live broadcast of the race,but I couldn't find it.The first stage was won by McEwen in front of Koldo Fernandez and Oscar Freire.Best Saxo Bank rider was the young Jonas Aaen Jorgensen,whereas André Steensen got the best climber jersey.
The second stage was won by Oscar Freire in front of Greipel and Cardoso.8th was Kenny Van Hummel,whereas the best Saxo Bank rider was,once again,Jorgensen (20th).Marycz came in 29th,whereas Frank Schleck was 184th.According to the news I have,Chris Anker Sorensen took part in yesterday's race.Unfortunately,the only Sorensen who appears in the Race Classification is Nicki.Now,the question is: did they confuse the Sorensens as usual,or did Saxo Bank's team manager decide to have Nicki racing rather than Chris at the very last moment?
RANDOM LINK: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ :after all this time,you've learned to recognise this link,haven't you? This time Chris talks about the beginning of the season and says that he's looking forward to it.
"There is something special in starting to race again.The numbers to pin on the jersey.The smell of the camphor cream that we put on the legs to warm them (...).The nervousness before of the races.Jens Voigt who sits immersed in a gameboy game and then suddenly looks at the clock and shouts 'Ooooh no not again,now I really need coffee'!"
Anyway Chris Anker also talks about one big disadvantadge of the season's beginning: the fact that riders have to shave their legs before of starting racing.About this fact,he writes: "I know it is a little feminine,but first and foremost it is a tradition and it's important to keep tradition in cycling.Then it helps our masseurs,who have to massage us very often.And then,shaved legs are aerodynamic.Teams and sponsors spend a lot of money in order to develop aerodynamic clothes and materials,and it would be stupid to ruin everything because of a pair of hairy legs".
"There is something special in starting to race again.The numbers to pin on the jersey.The smell of the camphor cream that we put on the legs to warm them (...).The nervousness before of the races.Jens Voigt who sits immersed in a gameboy game and then suddenly looks at the clock and shouts 'Ooooh no not again,now I really need coffee'!"
Anyway Chris Anker also talks about one big disadvantadge of the season's beginning: the fact that riders have to shave their legs before of starting racing.About this fact,he writes: "I know it is a little feminine,but first and foremost it is a tradition and it's important to keep tradition in cycling.Then it helps our masseurs,who have to massage us very often.And then,shaved legs are aerodynamic.Teams and sponsors spend a lot of money in order to develop aerodynamic clothes and materials,and it would be stupid to ruin everything because of a pair of hairy legs".
TOTALLY RANDOM LINK:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/celestino-to-captain-semperlux-axevo-haibike-team :this link is oh so surprising to me because team Axevo often takes part in the mountain bike races in which also my sister competes.As a direct consequence of that,I usually see half of the team-Celestino included-at least once pro month during the mountain bike season,whereas my sister has the chance to train with Oscar Lazzaroni once pro week.Actually,that little lucky girl last month even had the chance of training together with Morris Possoni.This made her jump around the house for a lot of time,feeling lucky because she was one of the first Italian people to see the new Sky jersey live (yes,it doesn't take much to make my sister happy).
(pic by Bettini)
Eheh,it looks like I'm succeeding in my mission of spreading the Chris Anker love all around... ;)
RispondiElimina