Vuelta start list:

To everyone's joy,La Vuelta begins tomorrow evening with a TTT in Sevilla.Here's the start list of the race.

AG2R LA MONDIALE: Kadri, Riblon, Bonnafond, Dupont, Arrieta, Turpin, Roche, Nocentini, Hinault. The French team begins la Vuelta with a decent squad. Turpin is pretty fast, while Riblon has won a stage at the last Tour de France. Nocentini is motivated because he's in Bettini's long-list for the Australian Worlds, while Roche is a rider who can go both for the GC and for the stage victories.
ANDALUCIA CAJA SUR: Marchante, Corbas, Garcia, Ruiz, Bazan, Ocana, Perez, Abeja, Alcolea. Ok,I admit it: the only Andalucia's rider I know is Marchante, who came 5th in La Vuelta's GC in 2006. Actually, the only thing I know about this team is that their website, imo, is a bit too...pink.
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Dyachenko, Fofonov, Gasparotto, V.Iglinsky, Jufre, Renev, Zeits. Astana's squad for la Vuelta doesn't include nor Vinokourov,nor Contador,but is pretty good anyway. Gasparotto is fast and will surely try to go for a stage victory, while Davis is good sprinter. All the Kazakhs on the team then will probably be very motivated because each of them probably wants to be in Melbourne on the 3rd of October.

Anyway, reading the names in Astana's squad, a little silly question has popped into my mind: how can those riders talk between each other? Do Gasparotto and Davis talk Russian, or do the Kazakhs speak English better than their chief Vinokourov does?

BOUYGUES TELECOM: Bichot, Bonnet, Gene, Pichot, Quemeneur, Rolland, Sprick, Vogondy. First thing to notice, in this team there are two guys (Bichot and Pichot) whose surnames are almost the same. Therefore, get ready to confuse them for the next 3 weeks. Bouygues (when will I learn to write this word without looking it up somewhere?) ' team is pretty good, too. Bonnet is pretty fast, Rolland is an interesting young rider, while guys like Vogondy and Sprick are breakaway lovers.
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Arroyo, Bruseghin, Erviti, Garcia Acosta, Lopez Garcia, Pasamontes Rodriguez, Molina, LL Sanchez, Uran. You must know that, in order to write this start-list, I had to check the websites of every team who's taking part in the race becaue I couldn't find any recently updated start list anywhere. On some websites it was simply impossible for a person of my intelligence to find the Vuelta squad of the teams, so you can imagine my joy when, as soon as I clicked on CDE's website,the words 'Composition du Team Caisse d'Epargne pour le Tour d'Espagne' appeared in front of me. Too bad that those words sent you to a picture of the riders,and not to a decent list of names.

Anyway, CdE's squad is very good. Bruseghin had a lot of bad luck this year, but I think he can show something good in Spain (also because he's in the famous Bettini's long-list as well). LL Sanchez is very strong, although perhaps he'll be a bit tired after the Tour. Arroyo is a solid GC rider, while Uran is one of the strongest young climbers out there.
CERVELO: Bos, Cuesta, Deignan, Denifl, Florencio, Hushovd, Pujol, Tondo, Sastre. This is the last GT for Cervélo test team, who won't continue his activity next year (read Deignan's astonishing explanation of when he was told about the problem on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/deignan-the-riders-are-always-the-last-to-know ).

Anyway, the team squad for la Vuelta is very good. Bos is very fast,just like Hushovd. Deignan is a strong rider too, while Tondo is a very good climber and will be Sastre's main helper. Talking about Sastre, I must admit I'm a bit sceptical about his podium chances at la Vuelta, although he looks really motivated.

NB: does the end of team Cervélo mean that next year the Schleck brothers will probably have the chance of riding that brand of bike?
COFIDIS: Dumoulin, Gallopin, Kern, Labbe, Minard, Moncoutie, Pauriol, Sijmens, Zingle. The team could have been better with Taaramae, but the Estonian had some health problems and was forced to skip la Vuelta. Moncoutié will be the team leader and on his side there will be breakaway guys like Pauriol, Kern, Sijmens and Dumoulin.
EUSKALTEL: Igor Antón, Intxausti, Koldo Fernandez, Gorka Verdugo, Egoi Martínez, Amets Txurruka, Mikel Nieve, Juanjo Oroz, Pablo Urtasun. In spite of Samuel Sanchez's absence, Euskaltel has a good team. Anton is a good rider, Fernandez is fast,the other guys are breakaway experts.
FOOTON-SERVETTO: Benitez, Cardoso, Cheula, Duràn, Gutierrez, Mata, Pedersen, Valls, Vitoria. Cardoso is a very good climber, Cheula is an all-rounder and Valls demonstrated that he's a very promising rider at this year Tour.Talking about Valls, me wonders: isn't it too much, for a 23 year-old rider, to ride 2 Grand Tours in just 2 months time?
FRANCAIS DE JEUX: Bonnaire, Cazaux, Chavanel, Cherel, Hutarovich, Le Mevel, Meersman, Offredo, Vichot. Le Mevel is a good climber,Hutarovich is fast (and has recently got his first pro Tour victory),Offredo was 3rd in Plouay,Vichot is a promising rider,all the other team riders are breakawayers.
GARMIN: Danielson, Dean, Farrar, Kreder, Millar, Peterson, Vandevelde, Wilson, Zabriskie. Very good team that has high chances of winning tomorrow's TTT. Millar, Zabriskie and Vandevelde (welcome back Christian!) are TT specialist, Farrar is one of the strongest sprinters of the world, while Kreder and Peterson are two young riders.
HTC COLUMBIA: Bak, Cavendish, Eisel, Goss, Roulston, Siutsou, Van Garderen, M. & P. Velits. As usual, the whole team will work hard in order to bring Cavendish to victory. Siutsou is a good climber, while Van Garderen is one of my favourite young riders and is in a very good shape.
KATUSHA: Joaquim Rodriguez, Karpets, Pozzato, Caruso, Galimzyanov, Gusev, Horrach, Ignatiev, Kolobnev. Katusha has a very complete and good team. Pozzato is already dreaming of becoming World Championship and get a new commemorative tattoo,Rodriguez will be up there with the best riders on la Bola del Mundo and on the other climbs (imo, if he's recovered from the Tour,he will be a strong GC contender),Gusev is back after a ban (and I remember that he was strong,some years ago), Karpets is a good climber, Ignatiev is a very good all-rounder, just like Kolobnev.Apropos: will Kolo finally get a stage victory in a GT? He would surely deserve it.
LAMPRE: Bole, Furlan, Hondo, Kasheckin, Marzano, Mori, Petacchi, Pietropolli, Righi. Lampre has a very good team, although CONI's judgement about Petacchi's affaire is threatening the race of the Italian sprinter. Everyone knows who Petacchi is, but on this team there are also other fast guys (Hondo and Furlan), good all-rounders, and Vinokourov's secret brother Kasheckin, back after a 2 year ban.
LIQUIGAS: Bennati, Finetto, Guarnieri, Kreuziger, Nibali, Paterski, Santaromita, Willems, Zaugg. Excellent team, this one. Nibali has a lot of pressure because, after the Giro, he's official become the Savior of the Clean Italian Cycling.He said he doesn't like pressure, but he'll have a teammate, Kreuziger, with which he'll share it in the next 3 weeks. Zaugg and Willems are excellent helpers, Santaromita is in good form, Finetto, Guarnieri and Paterski are very young riders. Guarnieri,in particular,is very fast,just like Bennati, who is the eternal promise of the Italian sprint.What health problem is going to trouble Daniele in the next 3 weeks? The survey is open.
MILRAM: Eichler, Foerster, M.Fothen, Roels, Froehlinger, Schroeder, Sentjens, Terpstra, Voss. Foerster is fast, Terpstra is a breakaway expert.
OMEGA PHARMA LOTTO: Bakelandts, Delage, Gilbert, Hoste, Kaisen, Jean-Christophe, Van Avermaet, Van Goolen, Vanendert. Good team this one. Gilbert finally honours with his presence a Grand Tour, Van Avermaet, a few years ago, got some really good results in the Spanish race, everyone knows who Hoste is, and Van Goolen finally gets his GT chance.
QUICK STEP: Barredo, Cataldo, De Weert, Maes, Malacarne, Samoilau, Stauff, Tosatto, Weylandt. Samoilau is a good GC rider, Malacarne is a very promising rider, just like Cataldo, and Barredo is one of my favourite Spanish riders.Too ba that Boonen is still having health problems.
RABOBANK: Ardila Cano, Freire, Garate, Kozontchuk, Langeveld, Martens, Menchov, Ten Dam,Weening. After many years of Rabo-love, Menchov finally decided to change team and so this is his last GT with Rabobank. The chance of saying 'goodbye' with a last victory are high, although I haven't seen many smiley photos of the Russian lately (every time there are too many pics of him smiling during race presentations and so on, it means that Menchov is going to win something important-it's true!). Freire is back after his operation, Langeveld is a very good rider, just like Garate and the other guys on the team,who will surely sacrifice themselves for Menchov once again.
SAXO BANK: Cancellara, Haedo, Klemme, Klostegaard, Larsson, Lund, O'Grady, los Schlecks. Just like this Vuelta will be the last chapter of the Menchov-Rabobank saga, it will also be the last chapter of the Schlecks-Saxo Bank story. I'm obviously sad for that and I hope that the guys will be able to say 'farewell' to each other with a last victory.

Tomorrow's TTT clearly suits this team,which has guys like Cancellara, Larsson and O'Grady. Haedo is the team's sprinter, Klemme and Klostegaard are all-rounders,Lund will help the Schlecks on the climbs. Then, last but not least, the Schleck brothers. Frank has recovered from his TdF's crash, while Andy is always Andy,aka 'the guy who lost this Tour just because of a fucking chain'.Otherwise, he would have won, no doubts about that.
SKY: John-Lee Augustyn, Carlstrom, Gerrans, Kennaugh, Lovkvist,Nordhaug, Stannard, Swift. Augustyn is a good rider, Gerrans is one of my favourites climbing sprinters (he's considered a sprinter but won stages with an uphill finish both in the Tour and in the Giro), Nordhaug is a former mtb rider, Swift is one of the most promising young sprinters of the peloton, Stannard is just 23 and is a track rider just like the 21 year-old (!) Peter Kennaugh (look out for him!).As far as Lovely Lovkvist is concerned, well, I just hope he'll get better stage results than in the Tour.
XACOBEO GALICIA: Mosquera, Veloso, Cruz, Dapena, Fernandez, Isaichez, Serafin Martinez, Rabunal, Rodriguez Iglesias. This unknown team (whose website isn't in Spanish, but in Galician) features my favourite Spanish rider, Ezequiel Mosquera. The man can climb and,imo, it's a pity that he can take part just in la Vuelta but not in other GTs.

So,these are the Vuelta riders.It's been hard to find the most recent start list, but finally I made it. Now,it's time of podium predictions!

According to miss Fede's magic powers, the 2010 Vuelta's podium will be formed by Frank Schleck, Menchov and Nibali (the order has been chosen by Fangirl, read it the other way and you get Logic's prediction).Anyway,look out also for Mosquera, Kreuziger and,if he races as he used to do 2 years ago,also to Sastre. As far as Andy Schleck is concerned, don't cut him out of your prediction either.

PS: looking at the quality of some of the teams teams taking part in the race, a little question appeared into my mind: why didn't Vacansoleil get invited? If someone has an answer,please tell me.

Random Tuesday Post (Updated):

No,miss Fede didn't take a pause from her blog because she had decided to escape to the sea in order to meet again her latest 'love'. No, she didn't do that, especially because she doesn't have enough money to do so. Simply, the lack of her posts over the last days was due to the fact that she's recently been pretty busy with her offline life and with organising plans that always ended up with her meeting her love by chance and her love moving to the cold Bergamo to stay with her. Girls, follow my advice: never fall in love with someone who lives 500 kms away from you!! ;)

RANDOM LINKS DU COMEBACK:
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry380839.html and http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry380453.html : hoping that you didn't forget about him during my absence, here are the links to Chris Anker Sorensen's latest blog entries. A friend of Chris' parents complained about the lack of new blog posts during the first part of August and, to resolve the problem, Chris wrote two new entries in just 5 days (*wow!'*). In those entries he talks about how low his morale was during the week between the end of the Tour and San Sebastian, says he had a good holiday near Venice with his girlfriend and he also gives an important tip to cyclists who travel a lot: always put your cycling shoes and cycling helmet in your hand-luggage, and not in your suitcase. Chris took this advice from Lars Bonde and luckily he followed it also during his flight towards San Sebastian. In fact,on that occasion his suitcase got lost,but he could race with his cycling shoes and his own helmet anyway.

http://www.bergamonews.it/sport/articolo.php?id=17037 : interview with Alessandro Vanotti. Ale is a great rider and an excellent helper who, unfortunately, broke his collarbone and ended his season last week. I wish him a very fast recover and hope to see him back on the roads (of Bergamo and of the rest of Europe) very quickly.

http://www.schleckfans.com/ : as you probably already know, Frank Schleck and Martine celebrated their religious wedding on Saturday. On the official website of the brothers there are some pictures of the celebration. Obviously,miss Fede wishes Frank, Martine and the little Leea a long, healthy, happy and serene life together as a family!!

MARKETING NEWS:
As everyone already knows, next year Menchov and Sastre are racing for team Geox-la scarpa che respira ('The shoe that breathes'- that's what the motto of the company says...). As well as Menchov, Rabobank will also lose Posthuma, who hasn't announced his new team yet.

As far as Saxo Bank is concerned, the Danish exodus is going on, since Anders Lund has announced he'll leave the team as well.

AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA:
The Worlds are coming nearer and nearer, so here are news about some national teams.
ITALY: As every year, here comes the time of the season when miss Fede becomes more patriotic than usual. It seems that Bettini won't take Petacchi and Bennati 'down under', while it seems that the captain of the Squadra will be Pozzato (can you imagine what he will do to the rainbow jersey if he becomes World Champion???). Also Visconti and Paolini will probably race in Melbourne, while there are about other 10 riders (Ginanni, Nibali, Cunego, Tonti, Pinotti,Santambrogio, Tosatto, Oss, Belletti,Ballan and Nocentini) on Bettini's long-list.
AUSTRALIA: the road race team will be formed by Baden Cooke, Allan Davis, Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Matthew Goss, Mathew Hayman, Stuart O'Grady, Michael Rogers and Wesley Sulzberger. As you can see, both McEwen (*noooo!*) and Haussler (poor Heinrich had too many troubles this year) didn't make it to the selection. The team however seems very good to me, especially if you consider that in it there are guys who can sprint, guys who can work and guys who can climb. As far as the TT team is concerned, it will be formed by Rogers and by Richie Porte (yay!).
GERMANY: the road race team will be formed by Marcus Burghardt, Bert Grabsch, André Greipel, Danilo Hondo, Christian Knees, Sebastian Lang, Tony Martin, Marcel Sieberg and Fabian Wegmann. Germany has some good cards to play, since Greipel and Hondo are very fast and Sieberg is a member of Columbia's lead-out train. Martin and Grabsch will race also the TT race (and they could also get a medal). Anyway this selection of riders leaves Fangirl with an unanswered question: DOES GERMANY COACH REALLY WANT TO FLY TO MELBOURNE WITHOUT THE FUCKING AMAZING JENS VOIGT?!?

UPDATE:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-rules-himself-out-of-world-championships .Andy Schleck announced that he's not going to take part in the Worlds this year, because he wants to focus on Tour of Lombardy. I think that this is understandable if you consider that this year the Worlds are very far from Luxembourg and their parcours doesn't suit Andy very much. As well as that, if he ends la Vuelta, it will be difficult for him to fly 'down under' and race there in just 2 weeks time.

Andy's decision however is going to have bad effects on the quality of the Luxembourg team that we'll see in action in Melbourne on the 3rd of October. In fact, also Frank and Laurent Didier may decide not to race the Worlds, while Kim Kirchen hasn't taken part in any race since he suffered a heart attack in June.

Random marketing reflections du comeback: Schleck-Contador-Riis, Riccò and more

To the joy of everyone except me, I'm back in the cold and rainy Bergamo after 2 weeks spent at sea with my best friends. It was probably the best holiday of my life so far,especially because my friends and I behaved in a totally stupid way half of the time.

Many remarkable things happened over the last 2 weeks.I discovered that I can stand Lady Gaga's 'Alejandro' (it's hard,but I can make it),Waka Waka (I actually start to sing and dance every time I hear it) and that horrible 'tamarrata' called 'Panico Paura' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSERMhD_VFw&feature=player_embedded ); I lost 3 kgs (*a big smile appears on her face*); I once went to bed at 4 am and woke up spontaneously at 8 am (at 1 pm I had to run to the bar and drink a coffee,but it doesn't matter); we ate pizza at 1.30 am; two of my friends received promises of marriage (a few minutes later,one of the future husbands was discovered behind a tent,kissing another girl); I 'learnt' to dance merengue; after a long night in the disco I was woken up at 7.30 am by the terrified screams of my best friend ("There is a frog in the bathroom!!) and went to save her; I thanked God for making a thunderstorm begin 2 minutes after the end of the party beach of Ferragosto; I discovered I can dance 'liscio' even if I'm wearing high heels; and then,obviously,I fell in love with the usual 'good-looking but impossible (for job reasons)' boy and had the feeling of being in a film when,on the eve of my departure,he came up to me and asked me for a last dance together.I don't fall in love very often,but when I do, well, I do it seriously.

Anyway,now I hear you ask: how did you manage to keep up with cycling while you were on holiday,distracted by blue-eyed boys,frogs and so on?

Well,let's say that in the first days I bought La Gazzetta everyday.Then I had to stop because my friends didn't want to lose their precious time in queues inside the supermarket when there was a free Gazzetta available in the bar.Therefore,from the 5th day I began to read La Gazzetta in the bar,although sometimes it wasn't available. As far as races in tv are concerned, I managed to watch just GP Carnago (Basso won) and then, on a rainy day, I bought BiciSport of August (I was going to burn it after reading Beppe Conti's article, but my friends stopped me).

Talking about cycling, while I was away some marketing news came. For example, Contador will officially go to Saxo Bank (who remains as main sponsor of Riis' team), Breschel will go to Rabobank, Riccò to Vacansoleil, Kreuziger to Astana (together with Kiserlovski), Greipel to Omega-Pharma Lotto, and O'Grady, Fuglsang and Voigt are close to the Schleck's new team.

Let's now try to use my little brain and write some opinions of mine about the 'Schlecks-Contador-Riis' affaire. I've read some theories about Contador going to Saxo and the Schlecks going away, but I totally refuse the one known as 'They sabotated Andy's bike!". Come on, it's obvious that Riis, the mechanics, whoever else would have gained much more money if Andy had kept the yellow jersey in Bagneres De Luchon and won the Tour! And then,it was Andy who made a mistake by changing gear and no one could have planned that he would have had a problem with his chain at that moment!

As far as his teammates are concerned,then,it's true that the team wasn't as good as it seemed on paper. Nevertheless, I'm sure that they did everything they could to help Andy. They gave Andy their support,but it simply wasn't enough. I'm sure that they would have loved to see Andy winning the Tour, because in that case they would have entered cycling history together with their captain (and more money would have entered their wallets...).

I've read also some observations about Riis' comments after the infamous 'Chain stage'. Ok,Riis didn't look particularly pissed off that day,but I believe that, even if he had gone to the journalists screaming "That fucking bastard has stolen the Tour from my boy!!",things wouldn't have changed at all.Perhaps,they would have got worse since,imo,such behaviour would have been a sign of weakness.

So,I don't share the sabotage theory at all.

As far as Contador's employment is concerned,then,I think it's obvious that,without the Schlecks, Riis wanted to have a new strong Grand Tour rider inside his team. Knowing that Specialized would have helped him, he decided to try to have Contador. That's life,that's cycling, that's what every intelligent ds would have done. Fangirl obviously doesn't approve this fact ('Bjarne will reveal Andy's secrets to Contador!!!'), but Logic does.

Logic also tells me one thing. Seen from outside, many people (especially those who live in the public eye) seem to care just about feelings, friendship, loyalty and all those kind of things. But, after all, they care about money as well. You can't make a living out of friendship, loyalty, love,etc. To survive, you also need money and you also need to be cunny . That's why Bjarne employed Contador and, probably, that's why the Schlecks left Saxo Bank. It's obvious that we don't know everything about what really happened inside the team. We don't know it and, probably, we'll never know it. But still, Logic doesn't see anything bad in Riis in employing Contador. Heart and business don't get on at all, unfortunately.

As far as the new team of the Schleck brothers (apropos,what will its new name be? 'New Luxembourg'? 'Auchan'? 'We're the cutest brothers of the peloton'?) is concerned,then, I think they probably had some problems with Bjarne and took the chance of getting rid of him. They were offered the chance of creating a new team, without Riis, in which they could have decided their teammates, their ds,and so on. They were offered the chance of honouring Luxembourg with a new team. Probably,they were also offered a higher salary.

In these cases,you spend more than one night thinking about what to do.You feel you have the chance of your life and you probably don't want to let it slip away. Eventually, they decided to go away. We can agree or not with that move, but it's not our life we're talking about. It's their lives, so they have the right of taking decisions for themselves.

In a few words, Andy and Frank took an important decision in their lives. Bjarne took another one to compensate the decision the brothers. That's it. We can think that the Schlecks had no reason to leave Riis and we can think that Riis was unloyal in employing Contador, but this won't change anything at all. It's their lives- we're just watching.

On to other marketing moves, anyway, the new team of the Schlecks will probably be formed by guys like Didier,Voigt,O'Grady, Fuglsang and Gerdemann.

Matti Breschel instead is leaving Riis in order to go to Rabobank.I think that was understandable already from April,when he had mechanical problems in Gand-Wevelgem and in Flanders.And then,if Cancellara stays with Riis,Matti would have always been the second choice of the team.

As far as Astana is concerned,so far they've made some interesting marketing moves.Kiserlovski and Kreuziger are both very interesting riders and they may become great Grand Tour riders in the future.Vinokorouv then said he's going to race also next year (if I was Contador,I would be worried),so the team will be strong also in the next season.

Last thing to say for today,Riccò is going to Vacansoleil. 'Can someone explain me this move,please?',I've heard many people ask. Perhaps,I have understood something about it (I can understand why Riccò makes some moves rather than other ones and this worries me...).

So,let's start from the beginning (more or less) of the story. You sign a contract with a team at the beginning of 2010. You say you're outraged because your team wasn't invited to the Giro (although you knew that your chances of racing la corsa rosa for that team weren't actually that good). Quick Step,a Pro Tour team who always gets invited to Grand Tours,wants you to ride for them. With them you could race la Vuelta and all the other big races of the season.You pretend you're going to sign a contract with them,but then,in August, you decide to go to Vacansoleil,a team who wasn't invited to la Vuelta. Why? And why in August?

Now, you're going to read my personal explanation of the matter. It could be right but it could also be a total bullshit. Therefore,fasten your seat belts and follow me.

Perhaps right now the Cobra isn't in good form and prefers to skip la Vuelta (a bad result there would be seen in a very negative way from those who don't like him) in spite of everything he's said over the last months. Going to Vacansoleil now,he could skip la Vuelta,but he could race Lombardy Tour, a race that suits him (his old team, Flaminia, probably won't be invited to that race).

Vacansoleil then has great projects for next year. Leukemans,Hoogerland,Marcato and Carrara are good riders,add Devolder and Riccò (I'm not that blind to deny that the Cobra has talent) and you get a good team.Riccò probably chose this team also because,if compared to Quick Step,its riders are more suitable to Grand Tours rather than to classics.In Quick Step's Grand Tours' squad there are always some 'untouchable' riders: Boonen and his helpers, Chavanel, Barredo... With Riccò they should change some things. Instead,Vacansoleil already has good climbers like Marcato and Carrara and can still buy some interesting riders.And with riders like Riccò, Devolder, Hoogerland, Leukemans and so on, it will surely be invited to some of the best races of the world.

So,that's my explanation of Riccò's decision.As said,it might be true,but it could also be a total bullshit.

After writing my opinions in such a chaotic way (if you've understood them,you're veeeerry clever),here I end this random post.It's time to turn on the radio,put on the cd I bought on holiday and get depressed while thinking about him!