90 Reasons why you should always watch (and love) the Giro:

A funny Italian commercial shows a man who,in a shop,suddenly breaks into tears, causing other people to start to watch him.The shopkeeper immediately asks him what the problem is, and the man answers that “He’s just come back”.And that point,everyone becomes sympathetic and tries to cheer him up.In the end,you discover that the man has just come back from a cruise in the Mediterraneo.
Right now,miss Fede feels a bit like that man.As I mentioned in the last post in fact me went to see the last 3 stages of the Giro live,and now I can’t stop thinking about them.
After yesterday’s TT,me was thinking of publishing a post about every single rider that ended the Giro.But since I have a life outside blogging,and since it would take me a lot to write a post like that,I decided to abandon the idea (at least for now) and to publish a not very serious list of reasons why someone should watch (and love) the Giro.In particular,these ‘reasons why you should love the Giro’ are referred to this year edition of La Corsa Rosa.
While me keeps on feeling just like the man of the commercial (I’ve just come back and tomorrow I already have two school tests!),here is the list.Anyway don’t think that I’ve written it in just one day.Simply,I thought about during the long history hours at school,after that my best friend asked me the famous question,the one that goes “Why are you interested in cycling? And why do you spend your afternoons watching races rather than going out?” Well,here are 90 possible answers to her.If you have some others,feel free to add them.

YOU’VE GOTTA LOVE THE GIRO...
1) Because Italy,in spite of us Italians,is a wonderful country.
2) Because the Giro allows you to travel through Italy,without experiencing the riders' same pain.
3) Because after seeing the same 180 faces on tv every day for 3 weeks,you feel like they've become part of your family.
4) Because only true men can sport pink jersey while riding a bike.
5) Because only super true men can sport a pink jersey and pink shorts while riding a bike.
6) Because you must be very brave to sport pink gloves in a TT even if you don’t wear La Maglia Rosa (right Vino?)
7) Because Arroyo totally deserved the podium for the courage he showed by riding a pink bike during the whole last week of the race.
8) Because in the peloton there are 200 riders,everyone of them has a goal and everyone of them has a story.
9) Because,at least in cycling,there is nothing controlled by Berlusconi.
10) Because,while he was trying to find a good position for the Brescia sprint,poor Pozzato was hit by Sieberg,Brown and another rider I don't remember right now. If he was a footballer,he would have jumped off the saddle and started to cry like a baby. Therefore,respect to Pippo.
11) Because coming back home after school and finding a Gazzetta featuring 8 pages about cycling near to your overcooked pasta corresponds to pure happiness.
12) Because in cycling there are many winners,but also many losers.
13) Because Garzelli's 'Mickey Mouse' bandana is nice.
14) Because,if Garzelli wasn't bald,he'd be a hero for many Fangirls.
15) Because old people cheering for the riders on the climbs are cute.
16) Because old people cheering for the riders on the roof of their houses should be sent to a mental hospital.
17) Because Gigi Sgarbozza can't pronounce any foreign name.
18) Because studying Leopardi on the day of Recanati stage is priceless.
19) Because there are neo pros who manage to get the pink jersey.
20) Because there are neo pros who remain lanterne rouge (sorry,'maglia nera': we're in Italy) of the race for many many stages.
21) Because even the maglia nera can ride far faster than you.
22) Because Cassani's 'r' is hot.
23) Because Savoldelli's Bergamask accent is even worse than mine.
24) Because after hearing Savoldelli speaking you can't do nothing but scream "Pota,al'è de Berghem ol Saoldel!".
25) Because at the Giro there are guys who live 1 km far from your home.
26) Because at the Giro there are also guys who come from Argentina,from Tasmania,from Kazakhistan,from Japan and from Kenya.
27) Because there are guys like Belletti who win and cry on the podium.
28) Because there are guys like Monier who think they’re daydreaming when they win a stage.
29) Because there are memories on every corner of the road you face.
30) Because Fausto Coppi,Marco Pantani,Franco Ballerini,Valentino Fois and Fabio Casartelli are always here with us.
31) Because during the Giro young boys who can ride their bikes dream of becoming cyclists, while young girls who can speak English dream of becoming cycling journalists.
32) Because hearing Vinokourov speaking English makes you understand that,perhaps,your English accent isn't that bad.
33) Because Nibali's voice is the one of a boy who has a very bad cold.
34) Because Vinokourov is as charismatic as my Philosophy teacher.
35) Because Vinokourov is also as evil as my Philosphy teacher.
36) Because Petrov talking Russian to his wife after winning a stage was sweet.
37) Because Szmyd is the best helper of the world.
38) Because hearing your best friend telling you how hot Tyler Farrar is makes you understand that,after all,you're achieving results by preaching the 'cycling love' all around your classroom during the trigonometry lessons.
39) Because Saxo Bank's mechanic Pascal is a myth.
40) Because in order to watch a stage live,you find the courage to volunteer yourself for a bloody Italian test about Leopardi.
41) Because in front of the Giro you stop screaming 'Kant I Can't!!" and forget the Pilosophy examination that is waiting for you on the following day.
42) Because studying Kant at 11 pm the day before of the examination,as in the afternoon you were too busy watching the Giro,makes you feel like a cycling martyr.
43) Because cycling can cause your 'pre University vocational crisis' to get even worse.
44) Because starting from Holland is strange.
45) Because in this year Giro there was Chris Anker Sorensen.
46) Because Chris Anker Sorensen's grimacing face is the pure essence of cycling,together with Monier’s way of riding.
47) Because Chris Anker Sorensen updates his blog more often during the Giro.
48) Because now every time I say 'Chris Anker Sorensen' my relatives escape from the room where I am.
49) Because my grandfather is now convincted that Chris Anker Sorensen is my boyfriend (don’t worry,he isn’t).
50) Because if you want to win my father's everlasting respect you have to show him that you support Inter,and Chris Anker Sorensen did that on the morning of the Zoncolan stage.
51) Because spreading the love for Chris Anker Sorensen all around your family is not just nice. It's also easy.
52) Because I can't stop talking about Chris Anker Sorensen,although I know that by doing so I bore many people.
53) Because in the peloton there are some professors like Pinotti and Bookwalter.
54) Because in the peloton there are also guys like Matthew Lloyd,who studied Criminology at university for 4 years but then gave up everything in order to become a cyclist.
55) Because discussing tactics in the family is funny.
56) Because discussing tactics with your friends who don't understand anything about cycling is weird.
57) Because finding out that your schoolmate is a liar thanks to a conversation about cycling is nice.
58) Because,if your friends are true friends,they'll tolerate your cycling speeches even on the day of the English test.
59) Because trying to translate in Italian everything that the British chronists say is good training.
60) Because hearing Arroyo speaking Spanish,and misunderstanding everything he says,can really bring you down.
61) Because when your mother notices that Basso is hot it means that she's got good taste.
62) Because when your mother says that Nibali is handsome,you realise that she had a very tiring day.
63) Because when your mother says that Chris Sorensen is good-looking,you realise that in your genes there's a natural tendency for the Chris Anker's love.
64) Because,if you want to see a Giro stage live,you can make it without spending more than 10 euros.
65) Because some of the pros bycicles are art jewels.
66) Because Gianni Bugno drives Rai's helicopter.
67) Because the Italian spoken by some riders (Vinokourov and Sastre,for example) improves a lot in the third week.
68) Because hearing foreign riders say "Gratti,Grazzi,Grazi' rather than 'Grazie' makes you think that the Italian way of saying 'thank you' is the most complicated in the world.
69) Because Larsson,who won the last TT,is simply known as ''Veronica Andreasson's boyfriend''.
70) Because Gadret has a wife who knows Italian and makes her translate some pages of an Italian book about Pantani every day.
71) Because Marcel Wyss looks like a 17 year old boy,and instead is older than me.
72) Because I bet that you,like me,can’t imagine Vinokourov dressed in traditional Kazakhistani clothes.
73) Because Vinokourov always has the same expression,as long as he’s not freezing under the rain.And he smiles even less than Menchov.
74) Because when Pineau made that victory salute,me imagined the word “Roooock!!” coming out from his mouth.
75) Because the weather can suck even here in Italy.
76) Because Simoni,on the Tonale climb,wasn’t disappointed at all.Actually,he was as smiley as never before (believe me,I was there).
77) Because they played “Highway to Hell” as ‘podium song’.Too bad that Matthew Lloyd knows English.
78) Hey,the Aussies got 3 jerseys out of 4!
79) Because everyone would love to own a Girbecco.
80) Because Ivan the Charming won.
81) Kiserlovski,Mollema and Porte: young guns are coming!
82) Because Scarponi is hilarious (just look at his face).
83) Because Cameron Wurf doesn't believe he's raced a good Giro.

84) Because Montalcino's mud is unforgettable.

85) Because Savoldelli has found his heir (Nibali).

86) Because an Italian won.

87) Because Wiggins' nose is impressive.

88) Because Sastre and Evans finished the race in spite of some health problems.

89) Because L'Aquila stage will be remembered for a lot of time.

90) Because,after all,the Giro is always the Giro,aka the cycling race where there are the hardest climbs (sorry France,but Alpe d'Huez can't be compared to Zoncolan,Mortirolo,Plan de Corones or Gavia).

Pic by Ansa

Zoncolan and Plan de Corones: Ouch!!

Don't worry,the 'Ouch!' of the title doesn't refer to Floyd Landis' former team,but to how I felt watching the riders facing the Zoncolan and the Plan De Corones stages at the Giro.Crazy stages,to say the truth.Actually,me wonders how an organiser can put 2 climbs like that in a Grand Tour,after 3 weeks of pain,and then be angry if someone dopes.I'm not saying that they should ban hard climbs from Grand Tours (after all,the best stages always take place there) or that doping is understandable,but a last week of race with climbs like Zoncolan, Kronplatz, Mortirolo, Gavia, Aprica and Grappa is perhaps a bit too much for those guys,isn't it?
Anyway.The Zoncolan day was a really nice one,although I didn't enjoy the stage as I did back in 2007.This is probably due to the fact that in May 2007,during the Zoncolan stage,I had one of the first true 'Fangirl attacks' of my life.To cut a very long story short,I passed the whole afternoon on the sofa screaming "C'm on Andy,c'm on Andy,c'm on!!!" and feeling good because guys like Riccò and Di Luca had been dropped by my little hero in white.Some people could feel like making comparisons between Andy in 2007 and Richie Porte in 2010,but I assure you that Andy's exploit during the 2007 Giro was even bigger than the one that Richie is having now.Obviously you also have to consider that at the time Andy had been a pro for more than 2 years (Porte instead is a neo pro) and that the media interest around him (even if he never wore the Maglia Rosa) was far bigger than the one that there is now around Richie.
Anyway,back to the point: 2010 Zoncolan stage saw lots of tifosi (about 50 000 people) on the climb and many riders with very painful expressions.What impressed me most was that it was very hard for the riders to climb in big groups,so the majority of them climbed the mountain alone.It is more painful,but at least you don't have to wait your 'sufference companions' and you can hope to make your pain last less.
Basso was very strong and dropped Evans without even getting up on his pedals.I've never been a big fan of Ivan's riding style (I prefer guys who ride in a more spectacular way),but I have to admit that he was good on Sunday.Second was Evans and third an amazing Scarponi.I didn't believe he could race such a good Giro,so I have to apologize to him and to all the people (journalists in primis) who pointed him out as a Giro favourite already 2 months ago.
4th was a good Damiano Cunego,5th was Vinokourov and 6th was Sastre (Carlito,what hve you done?). 7th was Nibali (wait a few years and Italy will have a new good contender for Tour de France),8th was an exceptional, unbelievable, fantastic, amazing,wonderful,super Marco Pinotti from Osio. 9th was the very good Daniel Martin,while 10th was Gadret,who is racing a great Giro.He's a former mtb racer with a big love for Pantani,mountains are his terrain and so I think he'll be at the front also in the next stages.11th was a solid Arroyo,who kept his Maglia Rosa and showed that he'll be a strong contender for the overall victory.Wegelius was 15th and Richie Porte was 18th.Richie crossed the finish-line 4 seconds before of Chris Anker Sorensen, who probably helped him a lot during the whole stage.Italian chronists were pretty surprised by Chris' attitude over the last days.For example,they were surprised because after the Asolo stage Chris followed Porte also after the finish-line and complimented him a lot of times,although he had lost the Pink jersey.That's friendship,baby.
Chris,however,actually had his few seconds of glory on the morning of Sunday,when he rode to the start of the race with an Inter scarf in his hands.Unfortunately I missed the scene,but my father was very happy to see it and told me about it as soon as he saw me in the morning. Well,if Chris keeps on behaving this way,I think I'll manage to spread the Chris Anker's love all around the family in a very easy way.
Back to the Zoncolan stage,Garzelli lost about 9 minutes from Basso (the previous day he had lost 20 minutes from Nibali) and also Gerdemann suffered a lot on the climb.But after all,who didn't suffer on Sunday? Even I,as a supporter,almost felt the riders' pain.Actually,I think that it would be very nice to dedicate at least 2 lines to every rider who managed to end Sunday stage.Unfortunately,since it's studying,and not blogging,that makes me get good marks at school,I fear I have to avoid it.Anyway I let you know that I have more respect for guys like Cameron Meyer,Michael Morkov,Graeme Brown,Rick Flens,Gregory Henderson and so on than for the guys who got retired on the morning of the Zoncolan stage although they didn't have any physical problem.Therefore,a big Chapeau to everyone who made it to the Zoncolan top.

Another big chapeau obviously goes to all the riders who made their way up to Plan de Corones yesterday,Capelli included.Poor Ermanno Capelli in fact arrived out of time limit for just 19" and had to retire from the race.He had fallen two days before of Kronplatz and so he said he couldn't do any better yesterday because of the pain in his hip.I'm really sorry for him right now,since it's the second time he manages to run the Giro and it's the second time he has to retire because of a physical problem.Anyway don't worry Ermanno: you'll soon have other chances to show your skills.
Back to Kronplatz.The stage winner,as you may know,was Garzelli.I was really impressed by him,and Logic even has a few doubts about his result.A part of me says that Garzelli didn't ride as strong as Pellizotti did in 2008 (and that's good,if you consider that in 2008 it was even raining).And that same part of me adds that Garzelli never suffers the influence of rest days and that on the previous 2 stages he had rested.But still,I have some doubts.You're obviously free to disagree and say that I'm an hypocrite (I have doubts about Garzelli but I pretend everything's alright when Vinokourov wins Liége...): don't worry,I won't stop you (but then I'll ban you from here forever and ever...Perhaps ;) ).
Anyway,back to Plan de Corones.2nd was Evans,3rd was a very good Gadret.4th was a great Nibali,5th was Scarponi and 6th was Basso.7th was an exceptional Uran,8th was Vinokourov,9th and 10th were two surprising riders,Cataldo and Petrov.Also Samoilau raced a great TT.
The funny thing about Vinokourov is that he's even less smiley than Menchov.And then,he says 'Ivàn' and not 'Ivan' with the stress on the 'i' and this sounds verrry Russian.
15th was Szmyd (if he had raced for himself,I think he would have won),16th was Arroyo,17th Porte and 18th Sastre.Chris Sorensen 'took it easy' (even if I don't know if you can actually take it easy on a climb like that) and came 60th.
Even if everyone is focusing on the Basso-Evans duel,Arroyo is proving to be a very hard adversary for them.And then,riding a totally pink jersey,he also showed to be a very brave man.And also his mechanic,who ran for 200 meters with a bike on his shoulders during the last terrible km of yesterday's TT,must be a very brave man.Liquigas ds also had to run during the TT,but that was caused by the fact that the motorbike on which he was riding fell twice during the last part of the race.

And so here we arrive to today,a day on which we finally saw the riders riding in relaxed way.Or at least,some of them rode in a relaxed way.In fact some guys entered a breakaway and one of them,Monier,got his first victory after 6 years in professional Cycledom.Second was Hondo and third was a young Dutch,Kruijswijk.Also Nicki Sorensen was in the breakaway,but he didn't have a lot of luck.
The GC men arrived after 10 minutes,pulled by Liquigas guys.That was funny,since Liquigas so far has pulled everywhere but towards L'Aquila.

So,these were the last 3 days of race at the Giro.As you can see,no pics for this post and this is due to a little problem.In a few words,my new computer (the one on which I usually write my posts) has abandoned me on Monday and so I'm back to my old,big and sometimes slow pc. Therefore,if you notice more spelling mistakes than usual in this post,it's probably because I'm not used to typing on my old keyboard anymore.
Little ommunication to all readers out there: hopefully my new post will arrive after the Giro finish."Why?",I hear you ask.Well,simply,I've been awaiting this weekend since November because some of the stages are pretty near to my house,so I may (all this conditionals are due to scaramantic reasons) go to see them.If I do,be sure I'll write some 'Fangirl in action' posts.If you want to read my past posts connected to this topic,there should be some in October 2009,August 2009 and May 2009. Go there from the archive on the right of your screen,find the posts (A Fangirl in....),read them and,if you like them,click on the tag "Fangirl in action" to see the other ones (the one of October isn't actually that great,but those about the Tour de France really do rock!*).

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry371759.html : usual link to Chris Sorensen's latest blog entry.

* yes,I'm a modest woman ;)

Richie Porte lost the jersey-Nibali won a great stage: Random post with a resume of the last Giro stages

An unusually brief post for me this evening.
First of all,today's Monte Grappa stage was unbelievable.Nibali won after an attack on a descent (Savoldelli said that Vincenzo is his heir) and after a 14 kms solo TT. 30 " behind him came Basso,Evans and a super strong Scarponi.Behind them,alone,there was Vinokourov.Then,about 2 minutes after Vino,a group including Pinotti,Sastre,Karpets,Arroyo and other riders crossed the finish-line.And then,more than 1'42 after this group of riders,there were Richie Porte and Kiserlovski's group.As you may have understood from the title,Richie therefore lost the pink jersey and left it to Arroyo.By the way Richie showed his great talent once again today and Chris Anker Sorensen was an exceptional helper for him.

I'm pretty happy for Nibali's victory,since he really deserved a stage win in a Grand Tour after all these good results.And then,Szmyd worked like a man possessed to help him and Basso to get a good result.

Yesterday's stage was as nice as this one,especially because the victory went to a very young and nice Italian boy,Belletti.He was really moved after the finish-line and he broke into tears many times.He comes from Cesenatico,the place where the stage ended (and where Pantani lived),so he was obviously overwhelmed by emotions.

A 'bravo' however must be said to Craig Lewis,who launched a very good attack with 2 kms to go.And a 'not so good' should go to Katiusha for what they did with Karpets: leaving him alone for all those kms wasn't actually that smart...

On Recanati's stage,as you know,the winner was Pozzato.And I have to admit that,after all those stages,an Italian victory was desperately needed,so I warmly welcomed Pippo's victory.

The GC favourites showed all their pride on a little climb near Recanati and that was really nice to see.A thing that was definitely less nice was the fight that Evans had with Righi.I can understand that you're nervous,Cadel,but remember that you're not taking part in a soccer match.

Luckily the stage was too exciting for everyone to start reading 'L'Infinito' during the comment of the race.In fact.considering that on Thursday poor miss Fede had to study Giacomo Leopardi for the whole afternoon,you can imagine how she could have reacted if someone had started reading L'Infinito during the Giro stage of Recanati.

RANDOM LINK:

Sorry for all the Schleck supporters out there,but as you can notice right now I'm completely ignoring the Tour of California.Anyway this is due to reasons not depending on my will.In fact I have to wake up every day at 6 am,so staying up every night until 1 or 2 am to watch a cycling race isn't actually a good idea.
Anyway I know that Andy's not doing that good in Cali,but I think he'll be ok for the Tour.Last year he had problems even in Tour de Suisse,but then he came second in the Grande Boucle.And about his famous Facebook status,I guess it's just a joke.You don't write things like that on FB,unless they have a special meaning for some of your closest friends and you want to have fun with them and make the others become curious about what you wrote.

Anyway,here's the random link of the title http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry371427.html .Unfortunately for you it doesn't regard the Schlecks,but Chris Anker Sorensen,aka Fangirl's hero of the month.Chris has a very interesting theory about L'Aquila stage,and here it is: in a few words, Chris believes that all the GC riders were too busy looking for their rain jackets,gloves and so on and therefore they didn't notice the 56 riders that were escaping from the main group and so they didn't begin to chase them immediately. "It is somehow a paradox that Evans,Basso,Scarponi,Vinokourov and Garzelli have probably lost the Giro because they were getting their rain jackets",Chris wrote yesterday.As well as that,Chris tells us that the other night he spend more time in the toilet than in bed because he had some health problems (if you want to know more details,check his blog...).Luckily,after watching his efforts today,I think we can say he's feeling better.
By the way now I'm off: Milito's just scored his second goal in Champions League's finale,and I don't want to lose any more time from the Inter-Bayern match.In fact,knowing Inter,it may take other 38 years before being another time on a Champions League's finale,so I don't want to lose the last part of this match at all.Bye.

Richie Porte gets the pink jersey!

Yes,dear Saxo Bank supporters,this is the news du jour: thanks to an incredible nap that the GC riders and some ds had this afternoon,Richie Porte is now in the Maglia Rosa. If you haven't seen today's stage,I resume it to you in just one adjective: CRAZY!!!!

As you may know, the stage ended in L'Aquila,where an earthquake killed 300 people last April. The stage was very hilly and yesterday Vinokourov compared it to a little Liége and said that he would have attacked.Therefore,every other Gc rider was awaiting for a move from the Kazakhistani during today's stage.But unfortunately for them,they were so focused on Vino that they let 56 (56!) riders escape the peloton and get to the finish-line with a 12 minutes advantage.Oops...

The creation of the breakaway,as always,wasn't a quiet moment.At first some riders escaped,then some other ones joined them,then other ones as well...And eventually there they were,56 Giro riders at the front.And no one between the GC riders moved a finger to avoid that dangerous breakaway.

Amadio,Liquigas ds,said he didn't order his men to pull because he didn't think it was fair."There are other teams who want to win this Giro,they must pull as well!",he said.

Astana never pulled,probably because Vino wasn't feeling well even this morning.In fact in the last part of the stage (the weather was freezing also today here in Italy) he often had a very suffering expression on his face.At a certain point,he was even shivering from the cold,and Savoldelli said that perhaps he could have come down with temperature just like his teammate Gasparotto (who got retired this morning).Temperature or not,Astana didn't pull at all.

BMC probably wanted to pull,but Evans' helpers aren't actually that strong.Acqua&Sapone ds said that he was the only one to order his men to pull and complained about the lack of information during the race."The jury told us the gap between our group and the breakaway after they had gained more than eight minutes on us!".Jury,temperature,unfairness or whatever else, the fact is that the breakaway went away and in it there were dangerous guys like Sastre,Porte,Wiggins,Arroyo and Tondo.SB was also represented by Didier and by an amazing Chris Anker Sorensen.

As mentioned,soon the breakaway had a 8 minutes advantage on the GC riders.On the last climb the gap was up to 13 minutes and in the GC group all the helpers had disappeared.So big guys like Basso,Nibali,Vino,Evans,Scarponi,Cunego and Garzelli had to spend their own energies to reduce the damages and they eventually lost 12 minutes from the breakaway riders.

The winner of the stage was a very happy Evgeny Petrov (his last success dated back to 2002).After the finish-line he dedicated his victory to his wife and screamed her something in Russian.As obvious,I didn't understand a word.Second was a disappointed (he comes from Abruzzo) Cataldo,third was Sastre. Little thing to notice about the winner: he rode to the finish-line with a t-shirt.No 'mantellina',no gloves,no scarves for Evgeny: just a t-shirt.After all,he comes from Siberia.

Richie Porte arrived 13th,more than 12 minutes before Vino and the other guys.Therefore,the young Tasmanian now has the Pink Jersey and has almost 2 minutes of advantage on Arroyo and Kiserlovski.

Imo,what happened this afternoon was ridicolous.In fact I think that you simply can't let 56 (56,not 3) riders get away from the peloton on a hilly stage and hope you'll get them all back before the finish.But,apparently,some people in the peloton had a different opinion this afternoon...Well,it doesn't matter.

Anyway,the Giro now is even more open than before.Porte has the pink jersey and behind him there are tough climbers like Tondo,Sastre and Arroyo,who I don't think will lose more than 13 minutes from guys like Vino or Basso in the hard mountain stages.Didier is 9th,while Vinokourov is 12th,with a 9 minutes delay.Porte also has the white jersey and his team has been the best one so far.

Some riders today even crossed the finish-line 45 minutes after the winner.Luckily for them,the time limit rule wasn't applied and so they'll be able to start tomorrow's stage. Apropos,tomorrow's stage will end up in Recanati and is supposed to be a calm (and hopefully sunny) one.Considering where the stage is ending,I suggest you getting ready to hear someone reading a Leopardi's poetry tomorrow afternoon as the peloton arrives in the city near 'l'ermo colle'.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/porte-in-pink-midway-through-giro :interview with Richie.
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry370870.html : yes,Chris updated his blog and talked about his amazing win once again.As well as that,he says how it's like to get confused for Nicki very very often and he also tells a funny anedocte about Bobby Julich.Here it is.

We Italians often cheer on riders by screaming "Dài,dài",which is pronounced as the English 'Die'. Now,back in his first Giro Julich heard many people yelling at him: "Dài,dài!",and he spent a whole climb wondering himself why Italian people hated him so much and trying to answer them in a proper way (said proper way,obviously,was 'F*** you').Just then Bobby found out that 'dài',actually means "Allez",and not 'die'.Well,better late than never!!

CHRIS SORENSEN WINS A GIRO STAGE!!!!!!

Yes,Fangirl is happy.Entusiastich.Euphoric.Logic is desperately trying to get her back to her Chemics homework,but she is simply too excited to focus on school.
This afternoon,when she turned on the tv,Fangirl noticed a Saxo Bank jersey in the breakaway. "Has the rider with the black and white jersey a strange style?",I asked my mother."Yes",she answered.In that very same moment,Cassani said the names of the breakaway riders.And between them there was also Chris Anker Sorensen from Hammel,Fangirl's hero.

I've been following Chris since 2007,so I've always considered him 'a special' rider between the ones I like.When I started to follow Frank and Andy in fact they were already famous (or they were becoming famous),instead Chris was a totally unknown rider in August 2007,during the Tour of Germany.So unknown that the chronist exchanged him for Andy on one stage,although Andy that day had got retired.Me believed the chronist,although I kept on thinking that,since May 2007,Andy had changed a lot.Then,I found out that the rider with the white jersey wasn't Andy,but a certain Chris Anker Sorensen."Nice name",I thought.And since that day,and that mistake,me started to support Chris Anker.And today,therefore,has been a great day also for me.

I believe I'm not exaggerating if I say that I'm probably Sorensen's biggest Italian fan.And now that he's won today's Giro stage,I'll probably have to share him with the mass a bit more. Anyway,it doesn't matter-after all,people are more interested in guys like the Schlecks or so on,therefore I don't think that from now on there will be a 'Chris Anker hysteria' in Cyledom.

It's very funny to think that two months ago I was getting desperate because of his broken collarbone and now I'm here,cheering for his victory on a cold foggy day here in Italy.
From a partial point of view,today's one wasn't a great stage.But from my point of view,it will enter history.In the last kms I was calculating how many seconds the GC riders needed to gain on Chris at every km and I couldn't believe to my eyes when finally Chris won.His 'fishing rod' gesture wasn't as good as always,but that's understandable if you consider the tiredness of the day.

Right now Chris hasn't updated his blog yet (he's probably too euphoric to do that),but here I give you some links about the victory.

From : http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/anker-sorensen-wants-another-grand-tour-win-for-denmark : Chris Anker Sørensen claimed the fifth win of his pro career at the top of the Terminillo in the Giro d’Italia on Sunday and confirmed the reputation he had established with victory on the queen stage of the Dauphiné Libéré two years ago in La Toussuire. Last year he made his debut at the Tour de France at the service of the Schleck brothers.
“I’m really, really happy,” Sørensen said moments after winning at the top of the mountain closest to the Italian capital of Rome. “It’s a great victory. This is the first mountain stage of the Giro, which is one of the biggest races in the world. Seven weeks ago I broke my right collarbone, so I wasn’t sure to be here for the Giro. It’s an incredible comeback.”
Sørensen was victim of a crash during stage six of the Volta Catalunya. That day he said: “I hope for a miracle to let me be able to ride the Giro.” The miracle happened. The 25 year-old Dane was also smart enough to save some energy for the first uphill finish.
“I came to this stage fresher than other guys because I took it easy yesterday,” he admitted.
At Saxo Bank, Richie Porte has surprisingly taken on the task of riding for the Giro's general classification. The Australian moved up to sixth position at the Terminillo after David Millar (Garmin-Transitions), Vladimir Karpets (Katusha), and Milram's Linus Gerdemann and Thomas Rohregger were unable to stay with the favourites on the final climb.
Since his stage win at the Dauphiné, Sørensen has acquired a lot of experience in his role as a domestique in the mountains of the Tour de France, but it doesn’t mean he has given up his personal ambitions. Two years ago, he was regarded as Denmark’s new climbing sensation but asked reporters not to make any comparison with his compatriot Michael Rasmussen because he had a very different view of his sport than the famous “Chicken”, who had been kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France.
In the meantime, Jakob Fuglsang has attracted more headlines than Sørensen. “He’s a really great climber and there are other talented riders coming up from Denmark,” said the Terminillo stage winner. “It’s a good sign. Fuglsang is a greater talent than me and he time trials better as well. I’m convinced that Bjarne Riis will find another sponsor and we’ll be able to put together a team that will provide Danish cycling with another winner at the Tour de France and a first at the Giro d’Italia.”
Riis is rumoured to be close to announcing the arrival of a new sponsor for the team (ndr;see Sporten dk website for more news). Sørensen is already contracted to the squad for the next two years, but Fuglsang, whose current contract is due to expire at the end of this year, is being courted by other teams.

From: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/93rd-giro-ditalia-gt/stage-8/results :
Face grimacing, shoulders swaying and body rocking all over his bike, Chris Anker Sørensen went through his own private purgatory on today’s first real mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia, but it paid off in spades.
The Saxo Bank rider fought his way up the Monte Terminillo and emerged from the fog at the summit to hit the line alone and victorious, emulating famous past victors such as Gino Bartali, Luis Herrero, Pavel Tonkov and Stefano Garzelli. (...) Sørensen had been looking forwards to the first day in the mountains, and confirmed afterwards that he had saved energy to be ready.
(...) In the breakaway there wasn't a lot of cooperation,Sørensen was getting nervous and so he jumped away with 14 kilometres remaining.He was caught,but later joined up to a move launched by Stortoni with ten kilometres remaining. The Danish climber then pushed on alone with about six kilometres left, and began a long, agonising time trial towards the summit.

From: http://www.riis-cycling.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=2779
”300 meters to go, I was still doubting whether or not I was going to last all the way but I kept them behind me so I could celebrate the biggest victory of my career. I have never done this climb before but naturally, I was well-prepared and had done my homework studying the stage profile and I knew the climb would cause a lot of pain. When Stortoni launched his attack I was aware that I had to close the gap in my own rhythm to avoid a lactic build-up. At the same time I wanted to let him think that I was suffering more than I actually did so I could get him to work in front of me before I went away. The stage developed exactly like I wanted it to”, said a tired Chris Anker Sørensen after his heroic effort and announced his enthusiasm about the team spirit of the young delegation of Team Saxo Bank riders in Italy:
“The atmosphere on this team is unique and we have already achieved more than we expected. But of course we had a lot more confidence in ourselves than some critics of the team who felt that our line-up for the Giro wasn't strong enough. I guess we invalidated that assumption today. It's often best letting the legs do the talking,” concluded today's stage winner.

Obviously I can't do nothing but agree with Chris,considering that many people here in Italy even made stupid comments like "If Saxo Bank is that weak,they should have invited Riccò's team rather than them".

Dan Frost,ds,said: ”The situation was completely insane. On the final three kilometers I am in the car with goosebumps all over my body and inches away from being a nervous wreck screaming out the window, then screaming into the steering wheel while Pascal (mechanic) is hanging out the sun roof rooting for Chris (Anker Sørensen). He (Chris) is fighting relentlessly like a bear out there and truly honors the stage with this victory. His fight in the front of the race is an image of the way our whole team has been fighting for success in this race. They are all putting in everything they have to succeed as a rider and as a team. The only difference is that today the struggle was visible to everyone. We came to the Giro with no big expectations and this delegation of riders simply keeps surprising us all and they have now made the Giro a success for the team”.
Actually seeing the mechanic screaming at Chris from the car roof was really great,since it showed the great union of this team and,in that moment,Pascal simply was the human personification of Fangirl.
Of course La Gazzetta hasn't talked about Sorensen's victory in a proper way yet,but hopefully tomorrow there will be at least one page about his eroic deed.
Talking about the GC riders,Chris said: "I think they went with what they had.I had an advantage, I had previewed this stage and I was fresher than those guys. I had sat up and lost 25 minutes yesterday, I think that is one of the reasons I stayed away."

So,that's all for now.It's getting late and those stupid homeworks are still waiting to be made.Anyway I don't know whether my euphoria will allow me to focus properly on them.I just tell you that I'm so euphoric that,when 2 people I know very well exchanged Chris for Nicki and then (fear and panick) Chris and Michael Rasmussen,I didn't start to scream histerically.
With the images of Chris victory still in my mind,I close this post.Allez Chris! You're one of the best (and smartest) riders of Cycledom and all your hard work finally paid off.Keep on like this!!!

E' un gran bel Giro:

As an old theme song of a past Giro would say,the one that is taking place right now is a 'gran bel Giro',aka 'a very beautiful Giro'.So far in fact the race has been really entertaining (at least for us supporters) and there have been lots of surprise-victories and surprise-results.
In my last post I wrote about Richie Porte's white jersey,and I'm happy to begin this post with the news that Richie got it again today (and now he has a gap of a minute and a half on Agnoli). Watching him arriving to the finish-line together with Gustav Larsson,and seeing Larsson turning his head towards his young teammate and encourage him,was a really nice moment,one of those that can make you understand that,after all,cycling is also a team sport.
Anyway,do you remember the earthquake I wrote about the other time? Well,it doesn't hate Vino,that's for sure.In fact the ground trembled again yesterday morning,and Vino yesterday didn't have the pink jersey,so I've started to think that perhaps the Bergamask ground is a Petacchi's supporter,since it trembled on the days of Weylandt and Pineau's victories.And,as you probably remember,on both those days Petacchi lost in spite of being the main favourite for the stage victory.

Anyway,trying being more serious (and trying to forget about earthquakes), here's my random resume of the last stages: enjoy!

SAVIGLIANO-CUNEO:
After the rest day the riders had to face this team a time trial from Savigliano to Cuneo (32 kms).The pink jersey was on Vino's shoulders,the Maglia Bianza on Porte's ones.The favourite teams for the stage victory were Garmin, Sky, Liquigas, Saxo Bank,Katusha and Astana.The GC was still very 'short', so David Millar,Richie Porte and Nibali all had good chances to steal the jersey from Vino.
At the beginning of the stage the weather was cloudy,but it wasn't raining.Then,while team Sky was on the parcours,things changed and it started to rain cats and dogs and to hail.
When I turned on the tv BMC had the fastest time. However Evans unfortunately doesn't have a very strong team, so it was very probable for him to lose time in this stage.

Soon Katusha's men (whose ds has stated that Karpets can arrive in the Top 5 in the GC) obtained a better result.
Immediately after Katusha,it was Sky's turn to begin their race and,as already said,while this team was on the parcours the weather got verrry bad.In spite of this,the men in black managed to get the fastest time,to the joy of the British chonists of Eurosport.
In the meanwhile Cervélo got a decent time thanks to their very good time trialist (and very kind boy) Ignatas Konovalovas (ok,there were also Gustov,Tondo,ecc,but Konovalovas is der Best).

Garmin was unlucky because of the weather condition,and Millar failed in his attempt to wear the Maglia Rosa.Then Liquigas squad (Bodnar, Szmyd, Nibali, Basso, Vanotti, Agnoli, Sabatini,the promising Kiserlovski, Dall'Antonia) began their stage and they really rode at full gas on the whole parcours,in spite of the bad weather.Everyone had a role in the team and their performance was really nice to see.The boys in green got the new best time,to the joy of the Italians,who started to dream Nibali (or Basso) wearing the Maglia Rosa.

The following team,HTC Columbia,was fast,but not fast enough to be the best. Saxo Bank's existence was forgotten by RAI's cameras for the whole race and this led to the disappointment of the British chronists.The Italians instead were so daydreaming about Nibali that they didn't even realise that SB was riding as well.

The performance of the Danish team was a bit disappointing,although I think that this was due to the unexperience of the youngest riders of the team.

The last team to begin the stage was Astana.All the cameras were for Vino who on Wednesday seemed even more charismatic than usual (at least,this was my impression). In the last km however the Kazakhistani lost his composure for a while.In fact at that point of the race Astana was formed just by 5 men and,as you know,the time in TTT is taken on the 5th man of each team. Well,on Wednesday Vino briefly seemed to have lost his temper because Stangelj,the 5th man of Astana,with 1 km to go couldn't follow his teammates anymore.At the beginning Vino tried to encourage him,but then he looked really pissed off.

If I had been Stangelj,after the finish-line I woul have probably run away from my captain as fast as possible,since I would have been afraid that Vino could have hit me in front of everyone.Luckily for Stangelj, Astanaman returned as calm and cold as usual immediately after crossing the finish-line.Perhaps he understood that,firstly,he shouldn't have got so angry at Stangelj,but at the guys who gave in in the first part of the race. And then,perhaps,he also realised that he shouldn't have ridden so fast,if he knew that he had already lost 4 teammates.

Anyway,after the TTT the result was: 1.Liquigas 2.Columbia 3.Sky. Translated in the GC language,this meant that Nibali (with the stress on the first 'i',not on the 'a' as British chronists want you to believe) got the pink jersey.You've probably read about his role of 'savior of the Italian cycling',right? Some journalists even thought that in the next days he and Basso would behave like Cunego and Simoni did back in 2004 (ah,good old times...).Anyway,I don't see Nibali getting bloody angry at Basso or viceversa: they're just too good guys.Oh,and did I ever mention that Nibali's voice sounds like the voice of someone who has a permanent cold?

Wegelius,who had to answer a question about who,in his opinion,was going to be Liquigas' captain,said: "I think that Liquigas' men perfectly know the answer to this question".A smile on Amadio's face (he's Liquigas' ds) secretly confirmed that he actually knows who his team captain is.Obviously also Fangirl knows (or pretends to know) who the Liquigas captain is.And the answer is: Sylwester Szmyd,the Polish unbelievable climber and best helper of the world.

Btw.As far as the white jersey is concerned,as mentioned,Porte lost it to Agnoli on Wednesday. Anyway fear not,Saxo Bank tifoso: he got it back this afternoon.

So,on Wednesday evening the situation was the following: Nibali in the pink jersey,Agnoli in the white one,an Italian team as stage winner,Italian journalists celebrating in all ways-and celebrating so much that,the following day,Gazzetta had a big pic of Nibali on the front page,next to a pic of a footballer.It had been a lot of time since a cyclist last got that privilege.

STAGE 5: NOVARA-NOVI LIGURE:

This stage ended in Viale delle Rimembranze,which means 'boulevard of the memories'.A perfect name for the stage that went through Castellanìa,where Italian hero Fausto Coppi was born,and ended in Novi Ligure,where Girardengo lived.

Coppi,a true hero for many Italian people,died of malaria on 2nd of January 1960,when he was just 40 years old.So it was a strange coincidence to see someone who was born exactly 20 years after his death being part of an early breakaway. That someone was Jerome Pineau,whose last success (before Thursday) dated back to 2004.His companions were Paul Voss (green jersey), Arashiro and Flouchard.

Arashiro's decision to enter a breakaway was due to a funny reason.The Japanese rides for team BB Bouygues Telecom and lives in France, near the 'quartiere generale' of the team.In Holland, one of Boygues' team car broke down.How did the ds get another team car for Thursday? Simple: on Tuesday he asked Arashiro to phone his girlfriend and ask her whether she could drive the team car to Italy.After a lot of hours and 1300 kms,the girlfriend finally arrived to Italy with the funztioning car and in order to thank her,Arashiro entered a breakaway.How sweet.

With about 40 kms to go Lampre began to chase the riders at the front and Davide Cassani said the famous last words: "They're going to catch the breakaway with about 15 kms to go".

On the last little climb of the race,Voss got dropped and this caused some jokes about how the German will deal with climbs like Zoncolan and Plan de Corones.

With 10 kms to go,the 3 riders who had remained at the head of the race had a 58' gap on the peloton,which was now pulled also by some Columbia and Garmin's riders.At a certain point it looked as if the adventure was over for Jerome,Julien and Yukiya,but then thanks to a narrow road and two tight turns they made the gap become bigger.Then,when the situation looked very desperate once again,Arashiro sacrificed himself for his companions.He launched an attack,which worked as a perfect pull for the Frenchmen.The sprint was won by Pineau in front of Flouchard, while 3rd was the generous Arashiro.I think that the images of the two Frenchmen,one celebrating his victory and the other getting desperate,were really nice and very meaningful. Mors tua vita mea,like the Romans used to say.After the stage,on the podium there were Faustino and Martina Coppi,Fausto's sons,and that was the chance to talk about Il Campionissimo once again.Anyway Italian journalists didn't forget Costante Girardengo,another great Italian champion,and so his nieces were invited to talk to La Gazzetta.

4th in the stage was Farrar,while Nibali mantained the GC lead.


6TH STAGE: FIDENZA-MARINA DI CARRARA:

A hilly stage was on the menu of the Giro riders on Friday.Encouraged by Pineau's success,many riders (among them there was also Nicki Sorensen) tried to enter a breakaway.In the end the lucky ones were Bertogliati and Matthew Lloyd,a very good Australian rider who is just 26 and took up cycling a few years ago.

Honestly,I believed that the breakaway didn't have any hope yesterday,since the sprinters were probably already angry at having lost a chance on the previous day.As well as that Petacchi lives near Carrara,so he was probably super motivated.

Before of the last (pretty hard) climb,Petacchi even broke away from the group and tried to anticipate everyone.His plan however didn't work and he arrived in Carrara 4 minutes after the winner.Also other sprinters,like Farrar and Greipel,got dropped on the climb.On it the riders that were between the head of the race and the peloton (between them there was also the promising Sarmiento) were caught and this,later,would have led to a funny moment starring Danilo Hondo.

In the meanwhile,Lloyd had dropped Bertogliati and he was riding towards victory all alone.His emotion on the finish-line was really moving,and he defined the Giro as a 'romantic and wonderful race'.This meant a lot to the Italian tifosi,who all believe that the hardest mountains are in Italy,and not in France (and they're absolutely right,of course).Bertogliati came second and then Hondo won the bunch sprint.The German believed that he had won,so he raised his arms. Watching his face going from happiness to the "Oh Gosh,I behaved like a fool!" expression was pretty funny (luckily he was able to see the hilarious side of that moment as well).

A very bad thing that happened during the stage was Bonnafond and Tiralongo's crash (both the riders got retired).Andrea Masciarelli fell as well and he suffered from a micro-fracture in his cheekbone.In spite of this,he was at the start of today's stage.

During the podium ceremony,British chronists laughed very very very much because the song that the organisers choose for it was 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC. Ok,I know that on certain occasions 'We Are the Champions' by Queen is a boring cliché,but perhaps 'Highway to hell' isn't actually the perfect song to celebrate a victory.

After the stage,during the podium,there was also another great moment: the British chronists pronounced the name 'Nibali' in the right way.It was high time!

STAGE 7: CARRARA-MONTALCINO:

And so we come to today's stage,which was probably one of the most exciting I've ever seen.The gravel roads of the stage were in fact brown because of the rain and the mud,the riders' faces were unrecognisable (is this a word?),a Saxo Bank team car even ended up in a small ditch because of the mud, and Pinotti and the Saxo Bankers made a great race.

Obviously some riders and critics have said that a stage like that in a Grand Tour isn't actually a good thing for the riders,and I think they have a point.But man,I believe that today' stage is destined to enter the history of Cycledom because of his amazingness.In fact it was full of emotions: surprise,pain,disappointment,hate for the mud that entered the riders' eyes (ask Vinokourov for information),joy for the final victory of Evans,excitement for the tifosi.

The drama began with 30 kms to go,after that a breakaway formed by Nicki Sorensen (yay!) and Flens had been caught.At that point a crash (the first one to fall was Scarponi) involved Basso, Agnoli (white jersey), Sastre (who had just managed to catch the front group), Tondo and the Maglia Rosa Nibali.Horror and shock became common emotions among the Italian tifosi,as Nibali had problems with his bike,looked badly injured and the news came that,when Vincenzo crashed, Vinokourov had just attacked at the front.

Scarponi after the crash began his lonely chase towards the front of the race,while Sastre started to slip back in the race.Nibali,helped by his teammates,tried to reduce the 1'40" gap from Vino.

In the meanwhile the Kazakhistani had been joined at the head of the race by Cunego, Pinotti, Gadret (former mountain biker),Evans,Garzelli and other riders.

Gerdemann and Rohregger launched an attack,but they didn't have a lot of luck.Then,on a climb,Cunego attacked and he was soon joined by Didier (yayyyy!!!).Me was obviously really happy to see Laurent at the front of a big stage in a Grand Tour,together with big guys like Vino and Evans!

After a few seconds these last two riders abandoned their companions.With 9 kms to go anyway they were caught again by Cunego and Pinotti,while Didier and the good Arroyo got dropped.

In the meanwhile Nibali and Basso were both distant from the head of the race,Sastre was even behind them and Scarponi was making miracles and showing his exceptional form by recuperating seconds over seconds,all alone.

The quartetto of riders at the head of the race arrived in Montalcino in a compact way.There,on the last (but short) hard climb,Evans was the most powerful and got the stage in front of Cunego, who finally gave an answer to some critic comments that have been made about him in the last days.

3rd was Vino,who looked extremely tired after the finish-line.He kept on touching his eyes,probably because he had had more problems than others with the mud.4th was Professor Pinotti, who is in a great form.5th was Arroyo,6th Garzelli,7th a good Gadret,8th an unbelievable Scarponi, who arrived with a mud mask on his face.9th was Sarmiento,winner of 2009 Bio Giro,while Saxo Bankers Larsson and Porte were 15th and 16th.As said in the intro,Larsson often encouraged his younger (and far smaller) teammate and that was really nice to see.
Basso and Nibali were 17th and 18th and arrived 2 minutes after Evans.Sastre was 5 minutes down and crossed the finish-line with his teammate Tondo.Chris Sorensen was 24 minutes down and this result was a bit a surprise for me because I had believed Paolo Savoldelli when he had said that Sorensen was with Didier (although when I heard that and watched the tv screen I immediately thought:'Hey,since when is Chris that short?').
Anyway,before I close this post,here are 2 little things to notice:
First,in 1987 the Giro stage ending up in Montalcino was won by world champion Moreno Argentin.Today,another world Champion won in the same place.

Secondly,this Giro is talking English.Australian English,to be precise. Evans has won today (and wore the Maglia Rosa),Lloyd has the green jersey (and won yesterday),Porte has the white jersey.Chapeau to the Aussies!

Tomorrow's stage is the first mountain one and will have an uphill finish.Waiting for another exciting stage,I wish a good night to everyone.And please,dear ground,would you be so kind not to shake again tonight? We Bergamasks are pretty scared right now...

(Pic 1 and 3 by Sirotti,pic 2 by Riccardo Scanferla,last pic by Bettini)

Random Post about stage 2 and 3 of 2010 Giro d'Italia (including random randomnesses and personal opinions of mine):

In Italy we have a pretty famous way of saying that goes a bit like this: "You can see wheter a day it's going to be good for you since its beginning", aka from the early morning. Well, this morning many people I know (me included) were woken up at 4.15 am by a little (but frightening) earthquake. To show you the kind of ideas that my mind can produce after certain events,here I go with 3 reasons that, according to the dumb part of my brain, could have caused said earthquake:

Option 1: it was an unconventional way to say to all the Bergamo inhabitants "you're going to have a shit day" (losing the morning bus was too simple,eh?).

Option 2: it was a signal that the end of the World is really going to occur in 2012.

Option 3 (also known as 'the evil supporter's theory'): the Italian ground was protesting because Vinokourov got the pink jersey.

Although the earthquake was obviously caused by some tectonics movements, and not by Vino, I think that many people will probably decide to go for option n.3, especially if you consider that the ground trembled just a few hours after Vino's arrival in Italy. But since I'd like to treat Vino as a normal rider, I consider that theory just as something evil I (or at least the dumb part of my brain) came up with during a boring English lesson. In fact, I'm not that crazy to think things like "It's Vino's fault!" in the middle of an earthquake because, when you realise that your bed is trembling in the middle of the night, that isn't a very appropriate thing to think.Or, at least, it is not as appropriate as an unpolite (but meaningful) "What the fuck is happening?!?" followed by a "Oh Goooosh!" whispered in the dark and a "Did you hear it as well?!?" when you see someone switching on the light in the corridor. Actually,I was even a bit surprised by the fact that I managed to realise what was happening,since I usually sleep like a log at 4.15 am. And instead no, this morning I had to wake up and let my brain wander in a total random way before falling asleep again and having some nightmares (something related with Abruzzo). And to say that yesterday evening I even went to bed early.

Anyway,let's talk about cycling.As I already mentioned,right now Alexander Vinokourov is wearing the pink jersey and the Carovana Rosa has finally arrived in Italy after 3 amazing days in Holland. Yes, Holland. A nice country, that's for sure. Lots of green spaces, the sea, the typical cows, the black horses, the wonderful little houses, the windmills, the tulipans, bicycles everywhere, amazing supporters on the road... But,as well as that, very narrow and small streets which caused a lot of crashes during the first two stages of the Giro.

When you're going to race a Classic in Holland, you already know that you'll have to face said narrow roads. But when you're taking part in a Grand Tour, well, you'd probably expect the organisers to do their best to keep the riders out of danger at least until the true mountain stages begin, right? And instead no, Giro organisers are special. Not only are they planning to start the Giro from Washington in 2 years time (yes, that Washington, the one in the USA). Not only do they plan a Grand Tour with a rest day after just 3 stages (and risk to be blocked somewhere between Holland and Italy because of Arthur). Not only do they organise special dinners for the riders after their arrivals in Italy, with all the logistic problems connected to this (the riders landed very late yesterday evening). No, not only they do these things. In fact, they also organise incredible stages on very narrow roads full of traffic islands and tight turns.And then, unsatisfied, they also plan a stage finale with a tight turn with 250 meters to go and a long curve street in the last 250 meters. Yes, you've gotta love the Giro organisers.

As said, over the last stages there have been lots of crashes and here in Italy everyone pointed their fingers at the riders. And the funny thing was that also some riders pointed the fingers at their colleagues. "When I was a rider, the young guys had more respect for the older athletes!", some Italian former cyclist said."It's their fault if there are all those crashes!". Some chronists instead said that: "It's the first day of a GT,everyone wants to stay at the front,but at the front there isn't enough space for 200 riders,so the race is nervous and there are lots of crashes". Wiggins and Davide Cassani instead chose to support the "Those who fall are just distracted riders" philosophy. Pozzato, instead,opted for a usual commentary of his: "There are some people who can't ride at all, that's why there are so many crashes". Obviously, I think it's useless to underline that, between the guys who crashed during the second stage, there was also Filippo Pozzato. What a funny coincidence. Anyway,the point is: none of the Italian journalists/ chronists/ etc. pointed their fingers against the organisation of the race. On the other hand instead British chronists (yesterday I watched half of the stage in English) were all very angry at Zomegnan & Co., and even complained about the roads of some past Giri (I was really surprised by their ability in remembering all the stages with nasty asphalt that the riders had to face over the last years).

As you may have understood, me totally supports the theory of the British chronists; in fact, I think you simply can't plan a stage finish like Middleburg's one, because those strange creatures on bikes also have families and children. And then, I believe that a bunch sprint finish on a straight road is more exciting than a little sprint during a curve.

Anyway,back to the race.In spite of all the crashes I mentioned , just 2 riders got retired so far: BMC's Martin Kohler and Garmin's Vandevelde,who both broke a collarbone. They were very sad retires, since Vandevelde had crashed also during last year's Giro, while Kohler is a very young rider and so it must have been hard for him to end his Giro on an ambulance.Obviously I wish them both a good recover.

The second stage of the Giro,the one that ended in Utrecht,saw the first breakaway of the race, which was formed by Pirrazzi,Flens,Facci and Voss. The crashes were many, and also the Maglia Rosa Wiggins touched the ground in the last part of the race.With just 7 kms to go another big crash occurred and Wiggins, Sastre and Cunego lost 37" to guys like Basso, Nibali , Vinokourov and Evans.
In the meanwhile the battle for the victory was a sprinters' problem. In spite of a crash earlier in the stage, the fastest rider was Tyler Farrar, who outsprinted Goss (Greipel seemed very nervous during that sprint and he couldn't follow his teammate properly) and a very good Sabatini. Petacchi looked very disappointed after the stage (or is that his normal face?), while other Italian Sacha Modolo came 10th.Saxo Bankers Porte and Didier, in spite of being neo pros, both ended the race with the first group of riders.The only SB rider who crashed was Lund, who however was able to continue the race.
The Maglia Rosa went to Evans, who wore it for the second time in his career (the first time was in 2002).Just like the previous time, however, Evans had to give away the jersey after just one day.

The third stage of the Giro took place on the narrow roads between Amsterdam and Middleburg and the landscape in that part of Holland,with the sea and the green, was simply unbelievable. It had been said that this stage would have been dangerous because of the wind, and in fact many crashes occurred. Wiggins crashed twice, just like Pozzovivo, Modolo, Pinotti and Bruseghin (who left a big part of his shorts on the ground). Wiggo's last crash happened with 10 kms to go and created a fracture between the head of the race (which included Basso, Nibali and Vinokourov) and the rest of the peloton, which also included the Maglia Rosa Evans. Evans was as lonely as usual (his teammates were all behind) and so he really gave it all to try to come back on the lead of the race. He was helped in his effort by some Cervélo's riders (Sastre had been delayed as well), but unfortunately for Cadel his efforts were useless. The Aussie in fact crossed the finish-line 46" after the stage winner Weylandt. Wiggins, together with Cioni and other 3 Sky riders, crossed the finish-line 4' after the winner and 4' before Bruseghin and Pozzovivo, who's still having some problems because of his crash.
As mentioned, the winner of the stage was Wouter Weylandt, who was really brave in facing the tight turn before the finish-line at a great speed.Second was Brown and 3rd was Forster, followed by other German Hondo. Excellent 5th was the young Adam Blythe.

The Maglia Rosa fight was very thrilling, since Saxo Banker Porte had the same time as Vinokourov,who eventually got it for just 018'. Don't give up Richie: the team is good and tomorrow's TTT may allow you to take the Maglia.

Talking about Vino, well, you probably know what I think of his case. If you don't, here's a little resume of my opinion: he has made a big mistake.He has paid for that.Now he's back. Stop. It's not his fault if he's back, so I guess we just have to behave as if he was a normal rider (although it's pretty hard).

After the race I could hear Vinokourov talking dreadful English, and after hearing him speaking an apparently fluent French,me has taken an important decision: I'll study French as soon as possible. Still talking about Vinokourov: that man has a heart. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but just read (or translate) this article by Claudio Gregori and you'll understand what I mean: http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2010/maggio/08/intera_nazione_per_Vinokourov_Anche_ga_10_100508014.shtml According to it, in Amsterdam Vino came out with this sentence: "Even the tsar Peter the Great came here in 1697 with the false name of Peter Mikailov in order to study how the Dutch built their ships". Then, he also stated that "Puskin is great for the poetry, Tolstoj for the life". And then: "Inter will win the football Champions League.If they don't make it this time, they'll never make it". After hearing that he follows football, well, I guess we can officially declare that, after all, Alexandr Vinokourov from Kazakhstan is quite a normal man (I wasn't that sure when I read his sentence about Russian history and literature).

Anyway, I realise I'm straying from the point.So: after the first rest day, Vino has the Maglia Rosa and the young Tasmanian Porte is 2nd for less than a second.Tomorrow there's a 32 kms long TTT and, in my opinion, Saxo Bank has a golden chance to grab that jersey.Let's hope so!

(Farrar's pic by Elmar Krings, the other two pics by Ispa)

Andy's diary of May:

Ok,ok, I know that I've been completely ignoring the Schleck brothers over the last days, but every year in May I come down with Girite and can't focus myself on anything but the Giro d'Italia.To make up for that,here's the May entry of Andy's blog (see next post to read about the Giro).Enjoy!

Link: http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/andy-schleck/la-vuelta-a-aeropuerto

They say that the Tourmalet is tough, the Ventoux vicious, and the Bonette back-breaking, but nothing compares to the hardship, the graft and above all the suffering that comes with being in an airport for thirty hours.
They should make a race of it. The directors could drive around in airport buggies and we could keep in contact via hands-free phones. Each rider could have a trolley with all their food for the day and we could just do laps of the terminal. We’d drop Zabriskie as we speed past the comic shop, Jonathan Vaughters would take a tumble into Tie Rack, while you can insert your own jokes about who we drop at the chemists.
Finally, with just a select bunch of riders still at the front, the AFLD could do the frisking at the gate before Contador, myself and Lance give everything as we engage in a last ditch sprint on the escalator. My arms raised in victory, air hostesses would parade me around Duty Free.
"Will passenger Andy Schleck please make his way to gate 19. This is the final call for Mr Andy Schleck."
That’s me. Shit. I can’t believe that after thirty hours of sitting in Frankfurt airport I’m going to be late for my flight. Gate 19? Gate 19? Okay, I see it.
I came to the airport yesterday, but with the volcano and aeroplane mechanicals causing delays I’ve been forced to wait it out. But now, finally, I’m heading for California. The airport hasn’t been that bad to be honest. Despite the long hours, the queues and the boredom I’ve been okay. I struck up conversation with two strangers while I was waiting. One was an American guy on his way back from fighting in Iraq and the another was a young salesman. We got chatting and last night we went out for dinner together. It’s amazing the people you can meet in life just by luck or chance, and both these guys were really good people.
The Amgen Tour of California is a big race for me and the team. We have a lot of American sponsors and with most of our Tour de France team taking part it’s a great dress rehearsal for July. The daydream I’ve just recounted demonstrates just how much I’m thinking about the race already.
It’s some way off, but with the Classics out of the way it’s the new goal for my season. I’ve already ridden some of the cobbled sections from the first few days and I’ve spent some time on my time trial bike. It’s all about the Tour now.
But as I said, California is important too. I’m not going there with my best form – I’ve had roughly a week of easy to moderate training – but I’d like to come away from the US with a stage win, like Fränk did last year. It’s a tough route too and it’ll be hard on everybody racing.
One race that has looked really tough is the Giro. I managed to catch a bit of the first few stages and while I can’t comment on the route, I have to say that my teammate Richie Porte is doing a great job in his first Grand Tour. In case you don’t know, it’s also his first year as a professional and right now, going into the first rest day, he’s second overall and leading the white jersey competition. Impressive.
It reminds me of 2007, when I won the same competition and finished second overall. It’s a really long race and the last thing Richie needs is pressure on his shoulders right now, but I hope he does a good ride and if he stays upright, he’ll get the support from our team.
Right, I’m about to board the aircraft. I’ve just made it in time. I’d better get to my seat and settle in.
It’s going to be a fun ride. I’m glad you’re coming with me. Next stop, California.

It's Giro time!

Ok,I have to admit that I didn't watch the last part of yesterday's TT, a thing that I pretty regret right now.Anyway,it was for a good cause: I've told you about the Alpini Meeting in my town,right? Well,yesterday some relatives were going to see the city all covered in Tricolore,and they asked me whether I wanted to go as well. "There's the Giro",I said,and by doing so I made a revolt against me explode.My relatives said all the usual things they always tell me every time we have to go somewhere and I don't want to go with them because of a cycling race (those things are: "You're a girl,you're 17,all your friends are around and you're here lying on the couch, you'll regret not coming,ecc ecc") and when also another relative who didn't want to come told me that 1.the national meeting has taken place in my town just twice over the last 30 years and 2.that time trials are boring,well,I surrendered.In that very same moment,Bookwalter crossed the finish line of the TT and took the lead of the race,in front of Gustav Larsson.I took it as a divine sign that wanted me to go to Bergamo,so I got ready and went.My last words to the only familiar who was going to keep on watching the race was: "Look out for Richie Porte.He's young, but he seriously rocks".Prophetic words,I'd dare to say.

After leaving my house (and my tv) my mood was very bad for some minutes.Then however I found myself on a bus together with a bunch of Alpini singing their traditional songs and there I understood that perhaps I could have had fun in the city.And I did have fun,in the end.My good mood was eventually destroyed completely by ATB (the bus transport of the city),but that's another story.

Obviously,as soon as I saw my dad in the evening I asked him who had won the TT. "Things have remained the same since you left the house this afternoon", he told me."Oooh,Bookwalter has won? That's nice! And how was Porte?",I asked. "He was strong,really strong". Then I asked other information about the race and started to cheer for Bookwalter's victory. "Bookwalter?",my father asked me in a surprised way."It's Wiggins who won,not Bookwalter!",he continued to my surprise."But you had said..." "Ok,I got confused.Wiggins won."
This news didn't actually change my mood at all,since I'm happy with Wiggo's victory.In fact, I would have hated it if one of the main GC contenders (Evans,Basso,Vinokourov) got the jersey already on the first day.Wiggo instead is racing the Giro just to train (at least,that's what he said),so I'm happy it ended up this way.

"It kind of sounds corny, but I'm such a fan of the Giro and always have been since I was a kid. I know a lot about the history of cycling. To wear the pink jersey in the Giro is special. It's such an iconic jersey," Wiggins told Cyclingnews after the prologue. "I grew up watching videos of the Giro, seeing [Maurizio] Fondriest and [Gianni] Bugno wearing it.I realise what I have on my shoulders. And that's quite special in itself because it will hang on my wall for the rest of my life. It means a lot to me. To be able to enjoy that moment tomorrow, whether it’s for a day, two days, or however long, it's very special. To take it in such style in Amsterdam,is probably even more special."

Second was 26 year old Bookwalter,who made the same time as his teammate Evans.3" behind them was Vinokourov,who got the same time as Henderson (look out for him in the sprints!) and as Richie Porte,the very impressive SB neo pro.Talking about his result,Richie told Cyclingnews: "I don't know why there is such a difference (ndr; between me and the other riders).I was a bit nervous at the start.It might be because of my crash last week (ndr;in Tour of Romandie).Or maybe I rode too conservative. I guess I have to bang my head against the wall." Anyway then Richie said he's incredibly happy for being able to wear the first Maglia Bianca of 2010 Giro.
Going on with the placements,7th was Millar and 8th was Gustav Larsson.9th was Van Emden and 10th was Marco Pinotti.11th was Nibali,who during his ride had a problem with a pidgeon (and this demonstrated once again that pidgeons are the most stupid animals on the earth after human beings).Konovalovas was 18th,while Morkov was 19th.
Chris Sorensen was 176th and said he was really unhappy with his placement,and that he rode slowly because he was afraid of falling. Understandable,if you also consider that Chris rode when the asphalt was still wet.Worse than him was Capelli, Footon Servetto's man for the GC (at least according to the newspaper of my town,while me thinks that the GC man for Footon is probably Capecchi...).
Since Chris is the rider I'm going to support most during this Giro,here's the link to his last blog entry: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry369687.html .Surprisingly,in this year Giro he's sharing a room with Morkov,and not with Nicki Sorensen.Talking about that,he thanks not being roommate with Porte and accuses him of snoring too much during the night.
On to today's Giro stage,it is a flat one and should end up in a bunch sprint.I fear that, however, some of the riders are most worried for their comeback to Italy than for today's stage.In fact our beloved Arthur (the big ash cloud produced by that Icelandic volcano) is creating problems once again,many airports in Italy are closed and so the riders (but also the mechanics,the soigneurs,etc.) could be forced to get to Italy by bus (or by car or by train) rather than by plane. Hoping that this won't happen,I go to see the second stage of the race (this time without interruption,hopefully) and pay a lot of attention to time bonuses.

(Wiggo's pic by Bettini,Porte's one by Ispa)

Giro start list:

First of all,if you're a SB supporter,I send you to the post dedicated just to the Danish team that you can find on http://fede-myblog92.blogspot.com/2010/05/team-saxo-banks-giro-squad.html .Here instead you can find the whole start list of the Corsa Rosa,which imo will see one between Masciarelli,Pozzovivo and Bruseghin on the final podium.

BMC: Evans, Bookwalter, Kohler, Louder, Santambrogio, Murphy, Schaer, Stalder, Wyss. Evans is the main favourite of the race and is wearing numero 1.Will this bring good luck to him? Dunno,but Cadel is heading into this Giro with great expectations anyway.He's a strong time trialist and a good climber,so all the expectations about him are totally understandable.Kohler is a good young rider,while Santambrogio,the only Italian on the team,will probably want to give it all also to take revenge of the period when his team didn't let him race.
ACQUA E SAPONE: Garzelli, Andriotto, Donati, Codol,Failli, Masciarelli Andrea e Francesco, Miholjevic,Sarmiento. Sarmiento won last year's Baby Giro and Francesco Masciarelli is an excellent young rider.Garzell would love to get a stage victory and,in spite of the age,he could also get a good result in the GC.
AG2R LA MONDIALE: Bonnafond, Dupont, Efimkin Alexander, Gadret, Hinault, Krivtsov, Mandri, Ravard, Turpin.To Fangirl's joy, Mandri is racing.The team has lost Valjavec because of that bad story with the biological passport,so they will probably try to get good results with the breakaways.Attention to Krivtsov.
ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI-DIQUIGIOCANNI: Scarponi, Bertagnolli, Bertolini, Bertogliati, Loddo, Ochoa, Rodriguez, Serpa, Wurf. As every year, Diquigiovanni has a very good team.Wurf is a young promising rider,while Ochoa is a solid climber.Loddo is a good sprinter and the "Bert 3" (Bertagnolli,Bertolini,Bertogliati) have already won stages in the Corsa Rosa.Attention to Scarponi: he's one of the possible GC winners.
ASTANA: Vinokourov, Tiralongo, Gasparotto, Grivko, Jufre, Kireyev, Iglinskiy Valentin, Stangelj, Dyachenko.Maxim Iglinskiy is not racing,but his brother Valentin is.For the stage victories there is Gasparotto,while Grivko and Stangelj are professional breakawayers.Then there is also Vinokourov,who is a good cronoman (look out for him tomorrow) and would love to win the Giro,even if perhaps Mortirolo and Zoncolan are too hard for him.Tiralongo, who lives in in my area,is an excellent helper and a good climber.
BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM: Voeckler,Arashiro, Bonnet, Charteau, Caude, Gaudin, Le Floch, Trofimov, Tschopp. Tschopp and Trofimov are strong,while Voeckler is always ready to grab a victory.
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Bruseghin, Amador, Arroyo, Jeannesson, Kiryenka, Lastras, Losada, Uran, Zandio. Yes, the team is good.Bruseghin was 3rd in 2008 Giro (that was as hard as this one),Kiryenka won a stage in that same edition of the Corsa Rosa,Arroyo and Uran are promising riders.
CERVELO TEST TEAM: Sastre, Cuesta, Gustov, King, Konovalovas, Lloyd Daniel, Wyss, Rasch, Tondo. This is another excellent team.Sastre wants to win this Giro and his main helpers will be the old Cuesta and the experienced Gustov.Wyss is a young promising rider, Tondo is a good climber and Konovalovas won last year's TT in Rome.
COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE: Moncoutie, Blot, Buffaz, Cusin, Duque, Fouchard, Kriit, Sijmens, Valentin. Moncoutie and Duque are probably the strongest rider on this team.
COLNAGO - CSF INOX: Pozzovivo, Belletti, Modoli, Bisolti, Canuti, Marangoni, Frapporti, Stortoni, Zen. Nice young team.Pozzovivo is a excellent climber (look out for him also for the GC),Modolo was 4th in Sanremo and Frapporti is a very promising young rider as well.
FOOTON - SERVETTO: Capelli, Capecchi, Brandle, Cheula, Eibegger, Mayoz, Corti, Merlo, Pedersen. Capecchi is very strong,but me has a dream about this team: seeing Capelli winning a stage,although this would involve coming across this team's jerseys also on the paper edition of Gazzetta.

GARMIN - TRANSITIONS: Millar, Vandevelde, Farrar, Bobridge, Dean, Fischer, Martin, Meyer, Tuft.Look out for the team TT.Millar,Vandevelde,Tuft and Bobridge are excellent time trialists,Meyer is a World Track Champion,Dean,Farrar and Fischer are sprinters.And remember that this year Cavendish is not racing,so Tyler has some very good chances of victory in the sprints!
LAMPRE - FARNESE VINI: Cunego, Petacchi Simoni, Bono, Hondo, Marzano, Loosli, Righi, Spezialetti.Petacchi is a superb sprinter and has a good train (Hondo and Speialetti).Loosli is strong,Cunego could win stages (or will he go for the GC and upset Italian journalists?), while Simoni is an old lion who can always surprise.
LIQUIGAS - DOIMO: Basso, Nibali, Agnoli, Bodnar, Dall'Antonia, Kiserlovski, Sabatini, Szmyd, Vanotti. Allez Vanotti,allez Vanotti,allez...Ok,sorry for that.The team is strong,really strong.I don't know how Nibali's form will be,while Basso didn't look that good in Romandie.Dear ds Zanatta,if you accept suggestions from bloggers, here's mine: if Basso and Nibali both lose time in the first mountain stages, make them become helpers for Szmyd.He won't disappoint you.
OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO: Lang, Bakelandts, De Greef, Elijzen, Kaisen, Lloyd Matthew, Moreno, Wegelius.Wegelius is a very good rider, just like Lloyd,Lang (look out for tomorrow) and De Greef.
QUICKSTEP: Cataldo, Engels, Facci, Pineau, Reda, Samoilau, Tosatto, Velo Weylandt.Tosatto and Velo have always been good train members during the sprints,the trouble is that this team actually hasn't got a true sprinter...Will Velo go for himself? Tosatto by the way could also go for stage victories in some hard stages.Cataldo is another promising rider.
RABOBANK: Ardila Cano, Brown, Flens, Kozontchuk, Stamsnijder, Mollema, Van Emden, Weening. Freire gave up for sinusitis,and the team's sprinter is now Brown.Look out for Mollema.
SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM: Wiggins, Barry, Cioni, Cummings, Froome, Hayman, Henderson, Possoni, Sutton.Wiggins is here to train, so Possoni will have the freedom to do what he wants in hard stages.Henderson,Sutton,Cummings and Froome are very good riders,but a question remains: did Lovkvist decide to skip the Giro because he didn't want to meet my sister once again?
TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA: Greipel, Pinotti, Albasini, Goss, Hansen, Lewis, Rabon, Reynes, Steberg. Greipel is very fast,like Hansen, Goss and Lewis. The other riders are all-rounder,while Pinotti could surprise everyone tomorrow (Allez Marco!).
TEAM KATUSHA: Pozzato, Karpets, McEwen, Caruso, Horrach Rippoll, Ignatiev, Mazzanti, Petrov, Klimov. Pozzato will go for a stage win on the Strade Bianche stage,Ignatiev is also a good time trialist, Caruso is a good climber, Karpets a possible GC contender (not for the highest spots,though) and McEwen will get retired before the beginning of the last week.
TEAM MILRAM: Gerdemann,Forster, Fothen Markus, Roberts, Roel, Rohregger, Russ, Voss, Wegmann.Look out for Wegmann tomorrow (he's in good shape). Gerdemann is a good climber,while Voss could surprise.
TEAM SAXO BANK: Lund, Cooke, Sorensen Chris Anker and Nicki, Larsson, Didier, Haedo, Morkov, Porte.Allez guys! Dedicated post: http://fede-myblog92.blogspot.com/2010/05/team-saxo-banks-giro-squad.html .

So,this is the start list of the race.Wishing good luck to everyone,me closes this post and goes sleeping,hoping to be cheering tomorrow evening for a victory by a Saxo Banker or by Pinotti.

Team Saxo Bank's Giro squad:

Yes,finally,after 12 months of await,the Giro d'Italia is beginning once again.And,obviously, Fangirl is excited.Terribly excited.So excited that,the other day,she spent the whole bus travel to school thinking about the Giro and she decided that,between all the people who work at/in/for the Giro,those who she envies most are the journalists.Therefore,Fangirl spent a lot of her school time thinking about how nice it would be for her to be a cycling journalist.
Anyway,since it's almost Giro time,and since I have two days off,today I go with 2 useless posts: one includes the Giro start list,the other one (this one) is about Saxo Bank's Giro squad.

"Why do you have two days off?", I hear you ask.Well,simple: this year my town hosts the Raduno Nazionale degli Alpini ("Alpini's National Meeting") and so the streets of my town are full of men in militar suits and hats that cook cotechini and costine and drink a lot of wine.Since the Alpini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpini ) have put up their tents in every park/ piazza/ garden they have found (they come from every part of Italy and so they have to sleep somewhere here in BG), and considering that they've also taken possession of some schools (mine included), me has two days off. To make you understand the "Alpini fever" that keeps on making victims here in Bergamo, I give you a link to some pics regarding today's parade in the center of the town: http://www.ecodibergamo.it/galleries/Foto/1862/1/#top_galleries (please notice the Upper City's Walls covered with the Tricolore).

Anyway, it's probably time I started to talk about cycling.So,in this post you'll find some information about every Saxo Bank rider that is racing the Giro and,where possible,you'll find a link to the latest news about him. Enjoy.

BADEN COOKE:

This Australian rider of 31 is one of the most experienced boys that are racing the Giro for SB this year.This is his first season with the team, but he has already got some Top 10 results in races like Tour of Qatar,Tour Down Under,Tour of Oman and Tirreno-Adriatico.He also came 14th in Gand Wevelgem.In 2003 he won a stage in Tour de France and he also won the point classification of the race.Between his main results that are stage victories in Herald Sun Tour, Tour de Suisse,Tour Down Under,Three Days of La Panne and Tour of Poland.He's also won Dwars door Vlaanderen and Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen.To my disappointment,no news about his shape are available.

LAURENT DIDIER:

This Luxembourgian rider of 25 is a neo pro and this is his first year in Team Saxo Bank. He has a degree in Engineering and he used to race for Team Designa Kokka until last year.So far in the season he has showed he's a strong climber and he has been an excellent helper for the Schleck brothers during the Ardenne's week.He's not the first cyclist in the Didier family,since both his father and his grandfather were professional riders.In 2005 he won a stage of Fleche du Sud and the U23 Natonal Championship.In 2007 he won a race in Staargau and a stage of Friedens-und Freundschafttour (which,judging by its name,is probably the most peaceful sport competition of the world).This year his best result has been a 12th place in Hel van het Mergelland.

On http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/index.php/les-sports/11129-CYCLISME-Lobjectif-cest-terminer.html there's an interview with him made by Romain Haas.In it Laurent says that his main goal for 2010 Giro is arriving in Verona. He says that his form is good, that he's really anxious to begin because he wants to test himself during a Grand Tour and that the Giro reminds him of Andy Schleck's second place in 2007.

LUCAS SEBASTIAN HAEDO:

Lucas is the younger brother of JJ Haedo and this is his first year in Team Saxo Bank. Argentinian, this 27 year old boy is a sprinter,just like his brother.Last year,his first one as a professional rider,he won Nature Valley Grand Prix and a stage at Tour of San Luis.So far in the season he has already got Top 10 results in Tour of Oman and Volta a Catalunya.As well as that,he was also 4th in a stage of Tour de Romandie and this demonstrates that the boy is in good form.

GUSTAV LARSSON:

Gustav is a rider who doesn't need any presentation.Swedish,29 year old,he's probably the second strongest time trialist of the world behind Cancellara.He was 2nd in the TT race in Beijing 2008 and he was 2 also last year,in Mendrisio TT championship.In 2008,on a very hard parcours,he was 14th in the Giro GC.He hasn't had any success so far in the season,but tomorrow's Giro TT could be a good chance for him to show his skills.

If you want to follow him during the Giro,this is the link to Gustav's twitter,which he shares with his girlfriend (and professional cyclist) Veronica Andreasson: http://twitter.com/GustavVeronica.

ANDERS LUND:

This 25 year old Danish rider is an all-rounder and has been racing for Saxo Bank since 2007.He was second in the 2003 junior World Championship and he hasn't got any victory in the pro category yet.In 2005 he was second in U23 Liége-Bastogne-Liége and in U23 European Championship and this year he was 8th in a stage of Tour of Romandie,result that shows shows that he's in a good form.He indicated his teammate Porte as a possible surprise for tomorrow's prologue.

MICHAEL MORKOV:

In the Rasmussen-Morkov couple,Michael is the blonde one.He comes from the track world where so far he got many excellent results together with Alex Rasmussen.He's 25 and in 2009 he became World Champion in 4000 team pursuit,World Champion in Madison and won a Six days race in Copenhagen.On the road he won a stage of Giro del Capo,South Africa,in 2008.He he was also second in U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen,and this shows that the boy's got talent also on the road.

On http://sporten.tv2.dk/cykling/article.php/id-30373971:m%C3%B8rk%C3%B8v-er-giroklar-og-skadesfri.html there's an article with him written by Kasper Nielsen.In it Michael says that he's had problems with a knee for 4 months,but that now he can finally ride painfree. "Racing a Grand Tour is a dream that comes true for me.I obviously dream of winning a stage,but I also have to be realistic.I'm a good rider and my form is good,but I know that I'm not a climber and that I'll have to spend as less energy as possible during these 3 weeks,if I want to finish this race",he told Nielsen.If you want to follow Michael on Twitter,here's the link: http://twitter.com/michaelmorkov .

RICHIE PORTE:
I've talked about Richie a few times on this blog, so if you want to read a decent post dedicated just to him (and including one of the usual interviews whose questions are: "What's your favourite food? Do you miss your home? Do you like Italy?",ecc), I suggest you looking for the post that I wrote in February and that was completely dedicated to him.Richard is 25 year old and is an all-round rider.Last week he won a great TT in Tour of Romandie and last year,as a young rider,he got some good results,like a victory in a TT at the Baby Giro d'Italia.
Here's one of the latest article about him (there are dozens around the Net!): http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4070/Giro-dItalia-Saxo-Banks-Richie-Porte-ready-for-debut.aspx .Richie also has a Twitter page,whose link is: http://twitter.com/porteye .

CHRIS ANKER SORENSEN:
If you've been reading this blog for some time,you're probably aware of the fact that Chris is one of my favourite riders.Perhaps,he's probably Logic's favourite riders,because of his passion for historical books (yes,Logic has strange tastes).Even if Fangirls may not like him because he actually doesn't look as handsome as,say,Boonen or Bennati or one of the Schlecks,I assure you that this boy is great rider and a very amusing guy.
Chris Anker joined Saxo Bank in 2007 and that year he was 17th in Vuelta a Espana GC (he rode in support of Sastre on that occasion).In 2008 he won the Kitzbuhel stage in Tour of Austria and La Toussuire stage at Dauphine Libére.Last year he was second in the Danish National Championship and he won Japan Cup.
As you probably know,he should have ridden this Giro with good expectations for the GC,but then he broke his collarbone during Volta a Catalunya and everything was fucked up,ehm,his plans had to be changed,that's what I meant.After his injury,Chris has said that he would ride the Giro trying to win a stage and trying to build a good shape for the Tour.
One of the latest articles about him is this one: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4041/Sorensen-amongst-Saxo-Bank-riders-confirmed-for-Giro-wants-to-ride-into-form.aspx ,while if you want to follow Chris almost daily during the Giro, well,here's the link to his blog: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ .As you can see he updated it yesterday and he said that he's going to update it often during the Giro.In yesterday's post he wondered why the Giro has to start from Holland,which isn't actually that near to Italy,and he complains a bit about this.Anyway he quickly says that he's very happy to take part in the Giro,says that the Italian journalists "aren't surprisingly focused on me" and says that he's both nervous and happy for the Giro start.He then writes that he hasn't updated his blog in the last weeks because he says that probably his tifosi aren't interested in knowing that he defeated his 4 year old neighbour while playing "Mario Cart" videogame.

NICKI SORENSEN:
Last guy to be presented in this post,Nicki Sorensen is a 34 year old Danish all rounder.Last year he won an amazing stage at Tour and some years ago he also won a stage in Vuelta.Therefore,his main goal for this year Giro is winning a stage and become the second Danish rider to win stages in all 3 Grand Tours.However Nicki doesn't know whether he'll arrive to Verona,because he says that the 3rd week this year is probably too hard for him and that the Tour,not the Giro, is his main goal of the 2010 season (read more on http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4059/Saxo-Banks-Nicki-Sorensen-looks-to-complete-the-trifecta.aspx ).

LITTLE FAST GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO ARE GOING TO READ THIS BLOG DURING THE GIRO :
First of all,I won't update this blog daily during the next days because,surprisingly,I also have an offline life that is offering me many tests during the next 3 weeks.Anyway don't worry, I've reserved my precious 'justification' in philosophy for the last week of May because,when the teacher will be examining people on Kant,me will not probably be very present with her mind.
Anyway,the main aim of this last part of this post is: the differences between Nicki and Chris Anker Sorensen. First of all,you have to remember that they're not related.And then,look carefully at the pictures below: in the first one,there is Nicki,while in the second one,there is Chris Anker.

Why am I doing this,you may wonder.Well, I'm doing this because I don't know whether I'll be able to bear people confusing them every day during the next three weeks.No,I'm not talking about you,dear reader: I'm talking about the many chronists,photographers,journalists,ecc. that will talk/write about the Giro in the next days. For them,here I've organised a little course to make them discover the differences between Nicki and Chris.
Obviously,miss Fede can understand that,after a quick gaze on these two riders,the similarities could seem more evident than the differences. In fact,to say the truth,none of them is as good looking as one of the Schleck brothers.Then,they're both Danes,they both ride for team Saxo Bank and they also have the same surname.And they are permanent roommates as well.But,if you look carefully,you'll notice that they actually don't look that much to one another.I mean,one (Nicki) is blonde and has blue eyes,the other one (Chris) is less blonde and has brown eyes. And then,one of them (Nicki) usually wears orange glasses,while Chris wears violet ones. As well as that,their riding stye is very different.Nicki rides in a 'normal' way,while when you see Chris riding full gas,moving on the saddle,you can feel his pain. And remember: Nicki is the one who won a stage during 2009 Tour,while Chris is the one that about the Tour 2009 wrote a book.Clear?
So,that's all for now: obviously me wishes all of the best to the SB riders (but also to the other ones) for the next three weeks of race.Allez guys!
(Nicki's pic by Tim De Waele,Chris' one by Nielsen).