Fleche Wallonne and Random Links:

In live broadcast from "The Student's hell week",or something similar,here comes your miss Fede with a post about Fleche Wallonne and some random links.So: yesterday afternoon I started to watch Fleche Wallonne with about 34 kms to go,aka when the riders were going to face the mur de Huy for the second time. After the climb,Frank Schleck got some meters of advantage on the other riders.The cunny Roman Kreuziger, whose ability in speaking Italian never fails to amaze me, managed to follow the skinny Franky together with Tankink and Loosli. These two riders (who had already been part of a breakaway before joining Roman and Frank) never helped their breakaway companions during their attack and so after race both Roman and Frank were a bit angry at them."I followed Frank because he made a good move and then he's not that fast in sprints, so I could have beaten him",Kreuziger told Italian tv. "We worked well together, the problem was that Loosli and Tankink never cooperated with us".

Although Andy Schleck and Vincenzo Nibali tried to create problems to the poursuivants, Frank,Roman and the wheelsuckers were caught with 5 kms to go,after great efforts from Iglinskiy,Trofimov,Kolobnev and Ivanov.
On the last passage of the Mur,the first attack was launched by Kloden,who probably wanted to help his teammate Horner.Anyway attacking too early on the Muur of Huy doesn't allow you to save energy,so Kloden was soon recaught by the strongest riders of the peloton. Igor Anton then got out from the bunch at a very high speed,followed by Contador.The two Spaniards created a gap of a few meters and Fangirl started to get desperate."Nooooo,not Contador! Pleeeaaase!!! He's already won 2 Tours,1 Giro and 1 Vuelta,pleeeaaase,don't let him take also Fleche! And where's Andy? Oh Gosh,I can't see Andy! Booooh,Contador will win Fleche and Andy will lose! Boooh!",she cried. Luckily for Fangirl,who was already on the verge of a nervous breakdown because she had to watch Fleche and study philosophy at the same time, Evans soon emerged from the peloton and joined the two riders at the head of the race.Behind him there was Joaquim Rodriguez, personal favourite of mine. Evans pushed hard on his pedals and, accompanied by a Fangirl's scream ("Uhhhh! He goooot itttt!! Evansssss!!"),he crossed the finish-line with his arms raised up to the sky.Second was Rodriguez while third was Contador,who didn't look very happy on the podium.

I've finished second, fifth, ninth-I've finished in every position but first in Flèche Wallonne,so to win is fantastic",Evans told Cyclingnews after the race."It's the first time I've come here while preparing for the Giro d'Italia and so my periodization and training is in a bit of a different order",Cadel told Cyclingnews."It seems I came here with good legs and it's certainly my best result.I was second a few years ago but I'm very, very happy to have won.It's a good morale booster for the team. We've been close to victory but this is a good way to do it.Better late than never ."

Here's the top 10 of the race:
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 4:39:24
2 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
4 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:06
5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:00:09
6 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:11
7 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack
8 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
9 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions

Frank Schleck was 42nd (he arrived 47" after the winner) while the surprising De Waele was 11th.
"It was a good situation,I gave it a go and it didn't work out-it happens" Andy Schleck (9th) told Cyclingnews immediately after crossing the finish line in Huy.In my opinion,he got a good result,although perhaps at the beginning of the climb he was a bit too behind in the peloton (or was it just an impression of mine?).
As far as Frank is concerned, he said:"I think again our team showed its strength.We showed that we were strong and that the bond between my brother and me is very strong.I think we made an amazing ride today. I'm not going to give away our secret or say anything about our tactics for Sunday, but it isn't any real secret that we'll work for one another again on at Liège".
Of course the fact they're working for one another in Liége will obviously cheer up Italian chronists, who yesterday spent the whole afternoon complaining about the fact that Andy always rides for Frank and that,in their opinions,Frank "brakes" Andy's talent.As you might have understood, this is one of the reasons for which I prefer watching Eurosport (and risking to come across naked Pozzato...) rather than watching Rai (which I follow just for hearing the riders' interviews, which are always very good).
Imo, to say the truth, I think that Saxo Bank's tactic didn't work out very well yesterday.In particular,I think that Frank's try wasn't that good,since I believe you can't win Fleche Wallonne by getting at the bottom of Mur de Huy with less than a one minute gap on the adversaries. Actually,if a rider starts his action from far, I think that also a minute of advantage wouldn't be enough to win on Mur de Huy. Anyway that's my opinion,aka the opinion of a girl who doesn't know a lot about tactics and whose brain right now is burning after a week spent studying some stupid philosophers of the 17th/18th century.Bleah.
Back to the Schleck brothers,they gave their post race impressions also to l'Equipe.Andy said: "As agreed,after Frank's attack I started to work for him.On the final climb,I was just too tired to win".
Frank, as well as thanking his brother, complained for Tankink's behaviour: "Andy did a great job for me, I felt strong but in the breakaway I didn't have great companions.Bram Tankink never helped Kreuziger and me at all and he used the presence of Robert Gesink in the peloton as an excuse .In those circumstances,it was impossible for me and Kreuziger to arrive at the end of the race alone,in front of the whole peloton".

FLECHE WALLONNE FOR WOMEN: Yes,from now on me will try to talk a bit about Women cycling on this blog (at least during and after the most important races of the year).Yesterday's Fleche Wallonne (which ended on the mur of Huy also for the girls) was won by Emma Pooley,English rider of Cervélo Test Team,with 8" of advantage on Nicole Cooke.
I've seen just a very short video of Pooley's victory and it was really impressing. She got away from the peloton on the mur,after a few hundreds meters,and soloed to victory.Second,as mentioned,was a happy Nicole Cooke,while 3rd was Emma Johansson. Marianne Vos was 6th and crossed the finish-line together with World Champion Tatiana Guderzo.15th was Noemi Cantele.Here's the top 10 of the race:
1 Emma Pooley (GBr) Cervelo Test Team
2 Nicole Cooke (GBr) Grande-Bretagne 0:00:08
3 Emma Johansson (Swe) Redsun Cycling Team
4 Grace Verbeke (Bel) Lotto Ladies Team 0:00:12
5 Evelyn Stevens (USA) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:17
6 Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit 0:00:22
7 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno
8 Elena Berlato (Ita) Top Girls Fassa Bortolo - Ghezzi 0:00:27
9 Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:40
10 Eleonora Patuzzo (Ita) Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 0:00:42
15 Noemi Cantele (Ita) HTC Columbia Women 0:01:23

RANDOM SCHLECK LINKS:
ARTICLE ABOUT THE SCHLECK BROTHERS:

http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/86233/fraenk-schleck-der-sieg-war-in-reichweite.php :Article (with interviews) of Wort.Lu about the Fleche Wallonne raced by Didier,Kirchen,Andy and Frank Schleck. No translation made by myself is available because I'm still busy with those stupid philosophers of the 17th/18th century.

INTERVIEW WITH ANDY: http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/index.php/les-sports/10772-CYCLISME-fait-quon-devait.html :Andy,interviewed by Denis Bastien,said that yesterday's Fleche in his opinion didn't look like a Tour's stage because,in the Tour,he will be with Contador, and not behind him, on every single climb.

SAXO BANK LINKS:
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry367639.html :yes,Chris Anker Sorensen has updated his blog almost one month after the post in which he told the world "I've got a broken collarbone!". This time Chris talks about being isolated in Luxemboug with no airplanes flying to Denmark because of th Icelandic volcano we've all learned to love,ehm,hate over the last days. As well as that, he gives us an insight of how tough getting dressed with a broken collarbone and with no outside help is (however he also tells us that the other day he managed to wear his t-shirt without fighting too much with it). In addition,Chris also warns us about what can happen to you if you're a man, your right collarbone is broken and you have to face an antidoping test (yes,you're fearing the right thing). In addition he also tells us about his deep reflections made on the hometrainer. For example: why is a lizard called a lizard? Ok,I know that this question doesn't make sense in English,but in Danish 'lizard' is "firben", which in English would sound a bit like "4 legs". Therefore,Chris Anker wonders: "Why are lizards called '4 legs' when there are also other animals with 4 legs?"
Moreover,Chris also says that over the last weeks he's slept about 10 hours pro night (I envy him!), therefore he has about 50 "extra sleep" hours which he'll try to exploit during the Tour. "This fact could be an advantage for me when the Tour team selections will be made!",he's written.

INTERVIEW WITH BRESCHEL:
http://www.ciclismoweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2168:matti-breschel-il-pave-le-cadute-e-una-chitarra&catid=43:interviste&Itemid=61 :Just like the Schleck brothers bring along the fishing rod at every race they go to,Matti Breschel does the same with his guitar.Therefore, miss Fede can't do nothing but approve.

GIRO DEL TRENTINO AND RANDOM LINK:
GIRO DEL TRENTINO: Some Italian reporter has the courage to say "Trentino what a spectacle!" in spite of the fact that the podium of the second stage of this race was formed by Riccò (winner),Vinokourov and Basso.I feel neutral towards Basso,but my "emotion range detector" sees that anger is a feeling that both Vino and Riccò inspire in me every time I see them.

INTERVIEW WITH NIEMEC:
http://www.ciclismoweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2090:niemec-qmr-trentinoq-ci-riprova-sognando-in-rosa&catid=43:interviste&Itemid=61 :ok,you may not care at all about this Polish rider with a terrible name,but I've learned to appreciate him during Settimana Bergamasca (or how else it is called) and now I hope he can get a good result in Trentino,perhaps in front of Vino and Riccò.

(Pic by Waldbillig)