Yes,I know that I should have written "Beste" and not "Best" in the title,but since I've got a poetic licence (aka the freedom that poets and other artists have to ignore grammar rules because what they are making is poetry or art),don't get too shocked by it.Anyway,poetic licence or not,the message I wanted to give with that title is the following: the Fucking Amazing Jens Voigt,also known as His Amazingness,is the new race leader at the Paris-Nice.Of course me's very happy for Jens,since he's not just a great athlete,but also a great person.
Today stage of the race was shortened of 53 kms after that a lot of snow fell on the parcours (funny thing,if you consider that the nickname of the race is "Le course au Soleil").The stage was eventually won by the Slovakian rider Peter Sagan,20 year old.
The Liquigas rider arrived 2nd yesterday and rode a very good prologue on Sunday,so he's really showed very good skills in these days.And don't forget that he was born in 1990,therefore he is extremely young.
Second in today's stage was Joaquim Rodriguez,while 3rd was Roche.Jens Voigt,Toni Martin and Contador crossed the finish-line 2 seconds after the winner.The previous leader,Lars Boom,got 27" of delay from Sagan and lost the jersey that,as already said,is now on the shoulders of His Amazingness Jens Voigt (who,whereas sir Lancelot,ehm,someone else starts to show his age,can still ride in a very great way).Congratulations Jens!
Second in today's stage was Joaquim Rodriguez,while 3rd was Roche.Jens Voigt,Toni Martin and Contador crossed the finish-line 2 seconds after the winner.The previous leader,Lars Boom,got 27" of delay from Sagan and lost the jersey that,as already said,is now on the shoulders of His Amazingness Jens Voigt (who,whereas sir Lancelot,ehm,someone else starts to show his age,can still ride in a very great way).Congratulations Jens! PS: Yesterday's stage of the P-N was won by William Bonnet,a Boygues Telecom rider.As already mentioned,Sagan came 2nd.Grega Bole,Lampre's rider,crashed with about 1 km to go and he decided to leave the race.Together with him,also Toni Martin,Jimmy Casper and Dan Martin fell.
Frank Schleck hasn't lost any second in the GC in the last 2 days and has now 1'06" of delay from Voigt.Tomorrow stage is supposed to be hard,with the riders arriving on the Col du Mende.
TIRRENO ADRIATICO:
Today's stage of the Italian race was characterised by a very bad weather.At the moment the weather conditions in Italy aren't normal at all,since in March the sun should start to shine and the rain should be the only "precipitazione atmosferica" allowed.Anyway it seems that not just Italy,but also other countries are experiencing strange weather conditions.For example,Robert Gesink had a lot of problems while trying to arrive in Italy because of the snow in Spain (more on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-nearly-stranded-in-spanish-snow ).
Anyway,back to the race: Grabovskyy (whose surname was written as "Grabovsky" until last year) was the first brave rider to launch an attack,but he didn't have good luck.With about 12 kms to go,Urtasun Perez and Terpstra attacked as well.Again,they didn't have any luck.
Today's stage of the Italian race was characterised by a very bad weather.At the moment the weather conditions in Italy aren't normal at all,since in March the sun should start to shine and the rain should be the only "precipitazione atmosferica" allowed.Anyway it seems that not just Italy,but also other countries are experiencing strange weather conditions.For example,Robert Gesink had a lot of problems while trying to arrive in Italy because of the snow in Spain (more on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-nearly-stranded-in-spanish-snow ).
Anyway,back to the race: Grabovskyy (whose surname was written as "Grabovsky" until last year) was the first brave rider to launch an attack,but he didn't have good luck.With about 12 kms to go,Urtasun Perez and Terpstra attacked as well.Again,they didn't have any luck.
On the descent of the climb that the riders had to face towards the end of the stage,Paolini, Breschel,Lastras and Gerdemann broke away from the group.Team Sky's men in black caught them with few hundreds of meters to go."It's over for these riders",one of the two Italian chronists said.And instead,Gerdemann managed to counter attack again and win the sprint,while Lastras came 2nd and Breschel was 3rd.
PS: Since writing the results of a race that ended more than 2 hours ago is apparently a very complicated thing,I haven't found any news about Andy's placement yet.Anyway Frank wrote on his Twitter that his brother is feeling good,so I believe he probably crossed the finish-line with the first group of riders.
Random Link:
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry362372.html :In his last blog entry, Chris Anker Sorensen says that he thought it was spring,but that he changed his mind after starting the Paris-Nice prologue on Sunday.Then he talks about the riders pre-TTs routine and says something that my online translater translates as "Gustav Larsson is always very focused and during the warm up he always makes his way into his own little world".Then,talking about His Amazingness Jens Voigt,Chris says that,since there is a white jersey for young riders,there should be a special grey jersey also for over 35-year.Of course me completely approves this idea,because the grey jersey would probably belong to Jens Voigt for at least 11 months and 2 weeks pro years.
(Pic 2 and 2 by AFP,pic 3 by Scanferla)
I also approve an idea with the special jersey, but I think it shouldn't be grey. Grey is saying "You are old!" Is Jens or Stuey looks or feels old? Nope. So let it be... um... purple?
RispondiEliminaJa, Der Jens ist der bestest cycling Der Jens ever!
RispondiElimina@ Anne: I completely agree with you: a purple jersey would be much better than a grey one!
RispondiElimina@ Sansen: You're totally right.And he's not just a great rider-he's also a great man!