Yes,Petacchi got a stunning victory in today's TdF stage that ended in Brussels.
The stage,however,was characterised by many crashes,especially during its last part.With about 1,5 km to go,in fact,Mark Cavendish (and not Jeremy Hunt,as I first thought) didn't see a curve (that's the only possible explanation for what he did) and crashed.Cavendish involved in his crash also 3 other riders and between them there was also Oscar Freire,who at the moment of the crash was in a perfect position (right behind Petacchi,my personal favourite of the day).Also Lorenzetto (he's an important man for Petacchi's sprints) crashed. Cavendish however soon hopped on his bike again and tried to chase the peloton alone.At a certain point he made a sign to a cameraman,that someone kindly intertpreted as 'What a pity!' but that I personally interpreted as 'An asshole ruined my race!!! Grrrrr!!".Considering Cavendish' personality,and considering that he blamed Lorenzetto for the crash,I think I can declare that my interpretation was probably better than the other one.
With 700 meters to go,everything was ready for the sprint but,suddenly,the peloton broke into 2 parts because of a crash.A bike flew,someone (Rogers?) crawled on the asphalt,while someone else was trying to take his bike away from the other ones.Morale of the crash: just 20 riders (more or less) could take part in the sprint.Amongst them however there were still some fast guys like Petacchi, Farrar, McEwen and Lancaster. But then,after an attack by Lancaster,also Farrar was involved in a crash.Or,better,his bicycle was.In fact Mondory fell and his bike found itself attached to Farrar's rear wheel.The Frenchman kindly sent Farrar to that land,and the American did the same with the Frenchman.In fact,since none of them could take part in the sprint,the boys probably prefered to demonstrate their love for each other in this way. After all,men have particular ways of showing their love for other men.
Eventually Petacchi finally emerged as a winner from this waterfall of crashes.He was really strong today and his sprint was very long.Therefore,chapeau to him.After all,we Italians may not be the best footballers of the world (South Africa tragically demonstrated it),but we do know how to sprint.Or,at least,some of us (not me) do.Therefore,look out for us also in Melbourne this September (I've warned you...).
Back to the race,second came Mark Renshaw (the best sprinting helper of the world),third was Hushovd,4th McEwen (who lives in Belgium and wanted to win this stage),5th was Ladagnous and 6th was the great Daniel Oss.7th was Rojas,8th Knees,9th Perez Moreno,10th Roelandts.
As said,the stage was characterised by a lot of crashes.Those crashes however occurred not just in the finale,but also in the first part of the stage.Poor and brave Adam Hansen was very unlucky,since he broke his collarbone in an early crash.In spite of this he managed to finish the race anyway and,in a moment of great braveness,he even smiled at the camera.What a hero.
Another crash instead was the one starring David Millar,Ivan Basso and a dog.Yes,a dog.It ran happily through the peloton for a while,but then it met Basso and Millar.Anyway don't worry: both Ivan and David didn't have any problems after the crash,while I have no news about the dog.The thing that had the worst consequence after the crash was one of Basso's shoes.Ivan was in fact forced to change it while riding and,believe me,that really scared me.So I'm asking a little favour to Frank Schleck: if you ever have to change a shoe during a race,could you please change it after you've stopped your bike? We'd be really thankful for that.
As far as the GC is concerned,things have remained the same.Aka,Fabian is still in yellow.The green jersey instead is now on Petacchi's shoulders and,hopefully,it will remain there for a lot of time.
The first attackers of this year Tour (I think it's correct to mention them) were Lars Boom,Perez Lezaun and Wynants.In the last kms of their brekaway they were also joined by the promising young champion of Moldovia,Alexander Pliuschin.Talking about him,his white plastic watch caused me to nickname him 'mr.Plastic chic' (yes,that's how those watches are called in Italy; and yes,I'm very childish as far as nicknames are concerned).
Talking about the Schleck brothers,I saw them riding quietly to the finish-line with the other team guys,so I guess that everything's okay for them.I don't know whether some of them crashed,but Chris Sorensen has told TV2 reporters that 'today was a fine,although stressful,day',so I suppose that no one in the team got injured this afternoon (if you have more news,free to tell me).Oh,and talking about Saxo Bank team: am I the only one who has noticed (and approves) Matti Breschel's new glasses?
GIRO D'ITALIA FEMMINILE:
Today's stage,a 16.9 kms long TT,was won by-guess who?-Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (19 victories this year).And,considering that tomorrow's stage is flat,Ina could win her 4th stage in a row.Impressive,isn't it?
Here's the top 12 of the stage:
1 Ina Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) HTC Columbia Women 0:21:50
2 Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervelo TestTeam 0:00:21
3 Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:22
4 Linda Villumsen (NZl) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:23
5 Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0:00:24
6 Shelley Evans (USA) US National Team 0:00:43
7 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0:00:51
8 Amber Neben (USA) US National Team 0:00:52
9 Alison Starnes (USA) US National Team 0:00:54
10 Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervelo TestTeam
11 Evelyn Stevens (USA) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:55
12 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno
The stage,however,was characterised by many crashes,especially during its last part.With about 1,5 km to go,in fact,Mark Cavendish (and not Jeremy Hunt,as I first thought) didn't see a curve (that's the only possible explanation for what he did) and crashed.Cavendish involved in his crash also 3 other riders and between them there was also Oscar Freire,who at the moment of the crash was in a perfect position (right behind Petacchi,my personal favourite of the day).Also Lorenzetto (he's an important man for Petacchi's sprints) crashed. Cavendish however soon hopped on his bike again and tried to chase the peloton alone.At a certain point he made a sign to a cameraman,that someone kindly intertpreted as 'What a pity!' but that I personally interpreted as 'An asshole ruined my race!!! Grrrrr!!".Considering Cavendish' personality,and considering that he blamed Lorenzetto for the crash,I think I can declare that my interpretation was probably better than the other one.
With 700 meters to go,everything was ready for the sprint but,suddenly,the peloton broke into 2 parts because of a crash.A bike flew,someone (Rogers?) crawled on the asphalt,while someone else was trying to take his bike away from the other ones.Morale of the crash: just 20 riders (more or less) could take part in the sprint.Amongst them however there were still some fast guys like Petacchi, Farrar, McEwen and Lancaster. But then,after an attack by Lancaster,also Farrar was involved in a crash.Or,better,his bicycle was.In fact Mondory fell and his bike found itself attached to Farrar's rear wheel.The Frenchman kindly sent Farrar to that land,and the American did the same with the Frenchman.In fact,since none of them could take part in the sprint,the boys probably prefered to demonstrate their love for each other in this way. After all,men have particular ways of showing their love for other men.
Eventually Petacchi finally emerged as a winner from this waterfall of crashes.He was really strong today and his sprint was very long.Therefore,chapeau to him.After all,we Italians may not be the best footballers of the world (South Africa tragically demonstrated it),but we do know how to sprint.Or,at least,some of us (not me) do.Therefore,look out for us also in Melbourne this September (I've warned you...).
Back to the race,second came Mark Renshaw (the best sprinting helper of the world),third was Hushovd,4th McEwen (who lives in Belgium and wanted to win this stage),5th was Ladagnous and 6th was the great Daniel Oss.7th was Rojas,8th Knees,9th Perez Moreno,10th Roelandts.
As said,the stage was characterised by a lot of crashes.Those crashes however occurred not just in the finale,but also in the first part of the stage.Poor and brave Adam Hansen was very unlucky,since he broke his collarbone in an early crash.In spite of this he managed to finish the race anyway and,in a moment of great braveness,he even smiled at the camera.What a hero.
Another crash instead was the one starring David Millar,Ivan Basso and a dog.Yes,a dog.It ran happily through the peloton for a while,but then it met Basso and Millar.Anyway don't worry: both Ivan and David didn't have any problems after the crash,while I have no news about the dog.The thing that had the worst consequence after the crash was one of Basso's shoes.Ivan was in fact forced to change it while riding and,believe me,that really scared me.So I'm asking a little favour to Frank Schleck: if you ever have to change a shoe during a race,could you please change it after you've stopped your bike? We'd be really thankful for that.
As far as the GC is concerned,things have remained the same.Aka,Fabian is still in yellow.The green jersey instead is now on Petacchi's shoulders and,hopefully,it will remain there for a lot of time.
The first attackers of this year Tour (I think it's correct to mention them) were Lars Boom,Perez Lezaun and Wynants.In the last kms of their brekaway they were also joined by the promising young champion of Moldovia,Alexander Pliuschin.Talking about him,his white plastic watch caused me to nickname him 'mr.Plastic chic' (yes,that's how those watches are called in Italy; and yes,I'm very childish as far as nicknames are concerned).
Talking about the Schleck brothers,I saw them riding quietly to the finish-line with the other team guys,so I guess that everything's okay for them.I don't know whether some of them crashed,but Chris Sorensen has told TV2 reporters that 'today was a fine,although stressful,day',so I suppose that no one in the team got injured this afternoon (if you have more news,free to tell me).Oh,and talking about Saxo Bank team: am I the only one who has noticed (and approves) Matti Breschel's new glasses?
GIRO D'ITALIA FEMMINILE:
Today's stage,a 16.9 kms long TT,was won by-guess who?-Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (19 victories this year).And,considering that tomorrow's stage is flat,Ina could win her 4th stage in a row.Impressive,isn't it?
Here's the top 12 of the stage:
1 Ina Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) HTC Columbia Women 0:21:50
2 Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervelo TestTeam 0:00:21
3 Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:22
4 Linda Villumsen (NZl) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:23
5 Marianne Vos (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0:00:24
6 Shelley Evans (USA) US National Team 0:00:43
7 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0:00:51
8 Amber Neben (USA) US National Team 0:00:52
9 Alison Starnes (USA) US National Team 0:00:54
10 Iris Slappendel (Ned) Cervelo TestTeam
11 Evelyn Stevens (USA) HTC Columbia Women 0:00:55
12 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Team Valdarno
Unfortunately I just have the top 12 because that's what cyclingnews offers me right now.And,since they don't appear in the top 12,unfortunately I don't have any news about the results of important riders like Hausler,Cantele and Pooley.So,I suggest you taking a look at cyclingnews later in order to know more.
Every year someone lets their dog cross the rode as the racers come...
RispondiEliminaI noticed that as well and I wonder,is it so hard to keep your dog away from the riders while they come? I mean,to watch a cycling race you often have to wait hours and,if the stage is flat,the riders usually come and go in less than a minute.Is it so hard to control your dog for a single minute? Really,Logic sometimes is incredibly amazed by the lack of intelligence of some people.If you are a sadistic asshole and want the riders to crash,show them a screenshot taken from Pozzato's Sidi commercial,but don't use your poor dog at least!
RispondiElimina