In this nice evening I've decided to break my scholastic isolation by writing another post on this blog. After all, I don't mean to study the 25 pages that my philosophy teachers sent me via e-mail the other evening at all and then I'm too excited to get down to some serious studying right now. The reason of my excitement, if someone cares about it, is that I've managed to pass the written exam of the Italian driving license. Everyone here in Italy considers it a very easy thing to do, but me was unlucky and received the most difficult test (everyone in the exam gets a different test, so that they can't copy each other) between those available for the exam. In spite of this, I passed, so I've even watched today's Vuelta stage since 4 pm as 'a celebration gift to myself'.
Today's Vuelta stage, as you probably know, was a TT and had a very surprising end. The winner in fact wasn't Cancellara (and that's already a news), but one of the Velits twin, Peter. He really looked surprised after the finish-line and I found him very tender during the post-race interview. When the journalist asked him whether he thought of reaching a podium in the Vuelta,in fact, Peter almost excused himself by saying 'Sorry but I'm not thinking about that now'. He looked so surprised!
Second in the stage was a very good Menchov, while third was Cancellara. Eurosport's Italian expert, however, had the impression that the Swiss didn't give it all to win the TT and perhaps he's right.
Anyway the ones regarding the eventual stage winner weren't the only surprises that this TT gave to the supporters. In fact this stage also brought some changes in the GC. As predictable, Nibali got the red jersey, but he probably felt a cold shiver running down his spine when he suddenly punctured and noticed that his mechanics were really confused and didn't know whether to change his bike or his wheel. Btw I think the mechanics were even more shocked and terrified than Nibali on that occasion, since I clearly heard one of them scream 'Corriiiii!!' ('Go!') in a very nervous way after helping Nibali.
Talking about punctures, a poor rider (sorry but I can't remember who he was) punctured after the first 10 meters of his TT. Not the perfect way to start such a hard stage,isn't it?
Anyway, Nibali's puncture wasn't the only surprise that has regarded the GC contenders today. In fact Rodriguez lost about 4 minutes from Nibali and is now 5th in the GC. Then, Frank Schleck clearly did his best but couldn't improve his 4th position in the GC, as I had hoped, because both Velits and Mosquera raced amazingly well. In particular, me was terribly amazed by Mosquera's stage. Not just did he manage to keep his 2nd place, but he also gained time on Nibali!!! And with La Bola del Mundo waiting to be climbed by the riders on Saturday, a 39" gap between Nibali and Mosquera isn't big at all. So we can say that, with less than 5 stages before of Madrid, the Vuelta's victory and its podium are still to be decided. Therefore, let's stay glued to the screen in the next days!!
MARKETING NEWS: Fedrigo is joining Français des Jeux next year, while Mosquera has received an offer from Movistar. Hopefully he'll accept it, since he can always make races exciting and it'd be great to see him racing also in the classics or in races like the Tour and the Giro.
WORLDS: Italian team will be formed by Pozzato (who'll be the captain of the squadra), Nibali, Paolini, Gavazzi, Oss, Bruseghin, Tosatto, Pinotti (yay!) and Visconti. The team seems very good to me and I hope they'll race well in Melbourne.
As far as the women team is concerned, Italy probably has one of the strongest team between the ones that will be at the start of Melbourne's race. In fact the national team will be formed by Guderzo (who is world champion right now), Baccaille, Bastianelli (world champion in 2007), Berlato, Bronzini (world champion on the track), Callovi and Cantele.
ABSOLUTELY SAD MOMENT DU POST:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/head-injuries-claim-casarottos-life : I know that it sounds rhetorical, but I really don't feel like ignoring this bad story. Poor Tomas Casarotto, an Italian 20 year-old rider, died yesterday after crashing against a car 4 days ago, during Giro del Friuli. Words fail me in front of a tragedy like this.
Today's Vuelta stage, as you probably know, was a TT and had a very surprising end. The winner in fact wasn't Cancellara (and that's already a news), but one of the Velits twin, Peter. He really looked surprised after the finish-line and I found him very tender during the post-race interview. When the journalist asked him whether he thought of reaching a podium in the Vuelta,in fact, Peter almost excused himself by saying 'Sorry but I'm not thinking about that now'. He looked so surprised!
Second in the stage was a very good Menchov, while third was Cancellara. Eurosport's Italian expert, however, had the impression that the Swiss didn't give it all to win the TT and perhaps he's right.
Anyway the ones regarding the eventual stage winner weren't the only surprises that this TT gave to the supporters. In fact this stage also brought some changes in the GC. As predictable, Nibali got the red jersey, but he probably felt a cold shiver running down his spine when he suddenly punctured and noticed that his mechanics were really confused and didn't know whether to change his bike or his wheel. Btw I think the mechanics were even more shocked and terrified than Nibali on that occasion, since I clearly heard one of them scream 'Corriiiii!!' ('Go!') in a very nervous way after helping Nibali.
Talking about punctures, a poor rider (sorry but I can't remember who he was) punctured after the first 10 meters of his TT. Not the perfect way to start such a hard stage,isn't it?
Anyway, Nibali's puncture wasn't the only surprise that has regarded the GC contenders today. In fact Rodriguez lost about 4 minutes from Nibali and is now 5th in the GC. Then, Frank Schleck clearly did his best but couldn't improve his 4th position in the GC, as I had hoped, because both Velits and Mosquera raced amazingly well. In particular, me was terribly amazed by Mosquera's stage. Not just did he manage to keep his 2nd place, but he also gained time on Nibali!!! And with La Bola del Mundo waiting to be climbed by the riders on Saturday, a 39" gap between Nibali and Mosquera isn't big at all. So we can say that, with less than 5 stages before of Madrid, the Vuelta's victory and its podium are still to be decided. Therefore, let's stay glued to the screen in the next days!!
MARKETING NEWS: Fedrigo is joining Français des Jeux next year, while Mosquera has received an offer from Movistar. Hopefully he'll accept it, since he can always make races exciting and it'd be great to see him racing also in the classics or in races like the Tour and the Giro.
WORLDS: Italian team will be formed by Pozzato (who'll be the captain of the squadra), Nibali, Paolini, Gavazzi, Oss, Bruseghin, Tosatto, Pinotti (yay!) and Visconti. The team seems very good to me and I hope they'll race well in Melbourne.
As far as the women team is concerned, Italy probably has one of the strongest team between the ones that will be at the start of Melbourne's race. In fact the national team will be formed by Guderzo (who is world champion right now), Baccaille, Bastianelli (world champion in 2007), Berlato, Bronzini (world champion on the track), Callovi and Cantele.
ABSOLUTELY SAD MOMENT DU POST:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/head-injuries-claim-casarottos-life : I know that it sounds rhetorical, but I really don't feel like ignoring this bad story. Poor Tomas Casarotto, an Italian 20 year-old rider, died yesterday after crashing against a car 4 days ago, during Giro del Friuli. Words fail me in front of a tragedy like this.
Imagine how startling it would be id Menchov was World Time Trial Champion. Egads!
RispondiEliminaI think it is horrible that Ballan is being left at home by Bettini; because of that I hope Pozzato is nowhere near the World Championship podium.
If Menchov became World TT Champion, Fangirl would probably be very shocked, since that victory would cause the Silent Russian to wear the World Champion skinsuit that belonged to Cancellara in every single TT of the year 2011. And, honestly, this idea doesn't appeal at all to this Fangirl.
RispondiEliminaOn the other hand, Logic really likes Denis, so she'd be glad to see him getting a good result in the Worlds.But the most important thing is, Pozzato mustn't win the Worlds, otherwise some dumb sponsor could give him the chance of taking part in commercials similar to the infamous Sidi's one- and I don't think my eyes could bear the shock.
As far as Ballan is concerned, I think that Bettini should have left Nocentini at home and brought Ballan in Australia.
Btw right now I really wouldn't like to be in Bettini's shoes at all.In fact,if in Melbourne the race ends up in a big sprint and no one from Italy gets a medal, journalists will surely dedicate him a nasty treatment and be ready to criticise every single choice of his.
Well, well, well... Nibali won and it was very right prediction. Good for you!
RispondiEliminaAnia
I'm very happy for Vincenzo, since his victory means a lot to Italian cycling and he's a very nice guy who really deserved this victory.
RispondiElimina