Gilbert wins Amstel Gold Race:

Well,at least my prediction about the race winner (Gilbert) was right.Of course Fangirl would have been much happier with a Schleck's victory, but the brothers have other 2 chances to grab a victory in a Spring Classic and so I think we shouldn't feel desperate about today's result.
Today's race was as nervous as always.Amstel has lots of curves and lots of riders want to win it every year,so it's always difficult to take part in it.Frank Schleck crashed in the first kilometers of the race (an evil member of my family couldn't hold back a laugh when they heard about it...), but managed to continue without problems.Andy had a mechanical problem while riding on the Cauberg at the beginning of the race,but then he quickly got back in the peloton.
As far as the volcano is concerned,some riders who yesterday were reported to be blocked in their countries luckily managed to get in Maastricht before the start of the race.For example, Chris Froome arrive in Team Sky's hotel this morning at 3 am (and he was at the start in Maastricht at 9 am...),while Iglinskiy luckily made it to the start as well.And some of these riders,this morning,even had to face a long anti-doping test.Unbelievable.
The longest breakaway of the 45th edition of Amstel Gold Race was formed by Wrolich (who had driven to Maasricht from Austria),Valls (who had got to Holland by car from Santander) Scheirlincx, Delfosse, Hupond, Van Vooren and Van Groen. They were caught with about 50 kms to go and at that point Saxo Bank started to set a high tempo at the head of the peloton.
On the Kuisberg Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) attacked and a shiver went through my familiars' spines as they confused Marcato and Carrara (Carrara comes from Bergamo and we Bergamasks are always very supportive of our riders).
On Eyserbosweg (hope I spelled it correctly) Andy Schleck attacked (yay!) and rode past Marcato. He was followed by Gilbert,Cunego,Frank Schleck,Kreuziger,Nibali,Kolobnev and Hoogerland and at that point Fangirl was simply happy.Even the sight of Pozzato's commercial (yes,the one in which he's naked and oiled up) couldn't shock me that much,since I was too concentrated about the race.
On the Fromberg it was Frank Schleck's turn to attack and only Cunego,Gilbert and Kolobnev were able to follow him.Unfortunately they were recaught after the Fromberg and at that point Serguei Ivanov,last year winner,attacked.His attack was really impressive and in that moment I felt guilty for having undersetimated him. However Gilbert soon reached him together with Cunego,Kolobnev and Frank Schleck. "Where's Andy?!?",Fangirl cried."I don't know", Logic answered. Soon Kolobnev attacked and Frank's group was joined by "the mass",aka other 20 peloton riders determined to make their winning way towards Cauberg by pushing hard on their pedals.Fangirl let a bad word escape from her mouth and Logic scolded her off for that.
On the Cauberg Kolobnev was soon got caught.De Waele attacked,causing much surprise to Fangirl and much entusiasm to Logic ("I've told you that Bert is a good rider!!",she told Fangirl),but when Gilbert stood up on the pedals and went away,well,the fight for the second place began.This fight was a battle between Hesjedal and Gasparotto,which was won by the Ryder,ehm,rider from Canada (yes,I know that joking on people's name is childish,but this time I couldn't avoid it).De Waele was 4th,Kreuziger was 5th,Cunego was 6th and Marcato 8th.Frank Schleck ended the race 7th,while Andy was 18th.Nicki Sorensen,whose orange glasses are simply wonderful and demonstrate the great taste that los Sorensens of Team Saxo Bank have when looking glasses are concerned,was 62nd,while Fuglsang was 79th.All the other Saxo Bankers didn't end the race.
"Our team took control of the race with 130 kms to go",Frank Schleck told l'Equipe after the race."We tried to make the race as hard as possible,there was no other way to win .When I found myself in that little group of 4 men,I wasn't in an ideal situation.Gilbert and Cunego in fact were with me and also Kolobnev and Ivanov were really dangerous.Even if we had arrived on the Cauberg in 4,Gilbert would have won anyway".Actually,considering Gilbert's condition,I think that Frank is right: the Belgian (me wonders whether he's becoming a Boonen's rival as far as fame in Belgium is concerned) was simply the best today. Andy told l'Equipe that he was a bit disappointed after the race."I was strong,but I had some cramps right in the end,during the sprint.They were probably the consequences of my attack on the Eyserbos. Anyway I had to attack there,because we couldn't afford to wait until a bunch sprint. Anyway,I feel good for Fleche and Liege".
So,that's what the brothers said.In my opinion,it's understandable that they're disappointed: winning in order to dedicate the victory to Leea would have been simply wonderful,but I think they shouldn't have regrets because they did everything they could.The race was really chaotic and the team tried to control the race as long as possible but in the end the brothers didn't win. It happens.On Wednesday however there's another big Classic- and Huy's wall is far harder than the Cauberg,so I think Andy (who theorically won Fleche also in 2009) and Frank will be able to give battle to everyone there.
By the way,although this week is full of races and will probably be full of articles about the brothers, I apologise with you,dear reader (yes,me likes imagining that there's someone who reads my posts), but I won't probably publish everything I'll find for the simple reason that I've got 6 school tests (yes,6) in the next 6 days,so I'm snowed under with school work right now(yes,the English test will be about idiomatic expressions regarding weather).If you're asking why I'm writing these words if I'm really so snowed under with work,I just tell you that this morning I woke up pretty early (early for me,at least) in order to study the 50 pages about European problems in 1848.

Anyway,while waiting for a Schleck's victory in Fleche,I close this post with a little list of random things that have just come into my mind:

1: the Italian chronists pronounciated the name "Sastre" as "Sartre" (like the philosopher) for unknow reasons during today's broadcast of the race.

2: they didn't mention Arthur until the 45th minute of the live broadcast .

3: they said that Belgians are as disappointed as us Italians for the lack of victories over the last months.Me wonders,did they see the Tour of Lombardy or were they already on holiday?

4: this time I won't be boasting about my perfect winner prediction like I did last time with my Sanremo's prediction.

5: Nicki Sorensen's glasses are really nice,almost as nice as Chris Anker's violet ones (yes,I know I've already mentioned it,but I couldn't avoid repeating it).

6: how cute is the pic of Frank showing that pink bracelet (is it a bracelet?)?

(Pic 1 by Bettini,pic 2 by Waldbillig)