In spite of all the problems miss Fede has had over the last days (her telephone doesn't ring anymore, her wallet pretended to disappear making her feel desperate, Logic forced her to swallow her pride a few times in order to stop childish battles), here she is with a post about what's been going on in Cycledom over the last days.
First of all, you probably know that today UCI announced which the 2011 ProTour teams are.
On http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/507898/uci-announces-2011-proteams-early.html you can find a list of all ProTour and continental teams, which I write below in case you're too lazy to click on the link above:
UCI ProTeams
Ag2r (FRA)
Garmin-Cervélo (USA)
Katusha (RUS)
Lampre-ISD (ITA)
Omega Pharma-Lotto (BEL)
Quick Step (BEL)
Rabobank (NED)
Saxo Bank SunGard (DEN)
Sky ProCycling (GBR)
Team RadioShack (USA)
First of all, you probably know that today UCI announced which the 2011 ProTour teams are.
On http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/507898/uci-announces-2011-proteams-early.html you can find a list of all ProTour and continental teams, which I write below in case you're too lazy to click on the link above:
UCI ProTeams
Ag2r (FRA)
Garmin-Cervélo (USA)
Katusha (RUS)
Lampre-ISD (ITA)
Omega Pharma-Lotto (BEL)
Quick Step (BEL)
Rabobank (NED)
Saxo Bank SunGard (DEN)
Sky ProCycling (GBR)
Team RadioShack (USA)
ProTeams renewed or received its first licence
BMC Racing Team (SUI) 2011-2014
Euskaltel-Euskadi (ESP) 2011-2012
HTC-Highroad (USA) 2011-2014
Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA) 2011-2014
Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project (LUX) 2011-2014
Movistar Team (ESP) 2011-2013
Pro Team Astana (KAZ) 2011-2013
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro (NED) 2011-2013
I'm very glad to see that Euskaltel managed to get its Pro Tour license also this year, while I'm simply entusiasthic about knowing that Vacansoleil now is a ProTour team too. This means we'll see a lot of breakaways starring Johnny Hoogerland in 2011 GTs and this is something I'm really looking forward.
Btw, one important name is missing from the list above: Geox in fact didn't manage to get a ProTour license. This news ruined Fangirl's day, since now it isn't known whether Denis Menchov will be able to take part in all the most important races of the world next year. Stupid ProTour system.
Btw, if you thought that I had forgotten about the team of the Schleck's brothers, don't worry: dulcis in fundo, Team Luxembourg got a 4 year long Pro Tour license and this is a very exciting news for me. Btw I'm also glad to know that Saxo Bank got a ProTour license too, since for Bjarne failing to reach this little target would have probably been the most terrible blow of the last 12 months (at least imo).
Talking about Team Luxembourg, Brian Nygaard said that he's obviously satisfied with this new Pro Tour license (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brian-nygaard-weve-done-our-homework ). However he added that he's not going to reveal the main sponsor of the team before of January and he also said that the final line up of the team will be known soon. Imo I've already been waiting a bit too long for knowing these details, but probably guys at 'Team Luxembourg-Schleck the best, fuck the rest' think that all this mistery is good for the team. Let them believe so then.
However, here's the line up of the team so far. Nice to see that there are some young Italians too!
Will Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisors), Stefan Denifl (Cervelo), Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil), Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), Davide Viganò (Team Sky), Giacomo Nizzolo (neo), Bruno Pires (Barbot Siper), Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia), Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step), Dominic Klemme (Saxo Bank), Linus Gerdemann (Milram), Fabian Wegmann (Milram), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank), Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil), Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank)
And now, to celebrate this happy news, I'd suggest you all taking a look at the old vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH6EV3mjofI&feature=player_embedded . It lasts just 15 seconds and, if you haven't seen it before, it is very likely to make your day. I know that the oldest supporters have probably already seen it (I first saw it back in 2008), but I also know that some of my readers in 2008 didn't even know who Andy Schleck was (nothing bad in it, don't worry; I'm not going to begin an 'I'm the oldest Schleck fan of the Blogosphere!' fight ;) and so this vid might be very enjoyable for them. Moreover, it contains the official anthem of Andy's supporters from all over the world: Allez Andy, allez Andy, allez Andy...
Anyway, let's now forget about Andy for a while and let's talk about Saxo Bank. Although Andy and Frank have left the team, I won't start ignoring SB completely from now on, especially because Chris Sorensen is one of the few guys who've remained faithful to Bjarne over the last months (and, if you still hadn't realised it, Chris is one of my 3 favourite riders).
Will Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisors), Stefan Denifl (Cervelo), Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil), Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), Davide Viganò (Team Sky), Giacomo Nizzolo (neo), Bruno Pires (Barbot Siper), Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia), Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step), Dominic Klemme (Saxo Bank), Linus Gerdemann (Milram), Fabian Wegmann (Milram), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank), Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil), Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank)
And now, to celebrate this happy news, I'd suggest you all taking a look at the old vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH6EV3mjofI&feature=player_embedded . It lasts just 15 seconds and, if you haven't seen it before, it is very likely to make your day. I know that the oldest supporters have probably already seen it (I first saw it back in 2008), but I also know that some of my readers in 2008 didn't even know who Andy Schleck was (nothing bad in it, don't worry; I'm not going to begin an 'I'm the oldest Schleck fan of the Blogosphere!' fight ;) and so this vid might be very enjoyable for them. Moreover, it contains the official anthem of Andy's supporters from all over the world: Allez Andy, allez Andy, allez Andy...
Anyway, let's now forget about Andy for a while and let's talk about Saxo Bank. Although Andy and Frank have left the team, I won't start ignoring SB completely from now on, especially because Chris Sorensen is one of the few guys who've remained faithful to Bjarne over the last months (and, if you still hadn't realised it, Chris is one of my 3 favourite riders).
This evening I'm writing about this team because I wanted to inform you that between the guys who are racing for SB next year there will be also Tosatto (he was the best Italian rider in Melbourne in my opinion), Gustov and the young Italian Manuele Boaro. It's nice to see young Italian boys turning professional with such important teams like SB and Team Lux, and I think it is also a great relief to know that Tosatto has finally found a new contract for next year. He completely deserved it!
Talking about SB, on http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry388829.html there's the latest entry of Chris Sorensen's blog. In it the Dane says bad things about a book that he's recently read ('it took me a lot to read it, not because it was in English but because it was very bad') and he also expresses his surprise at discovering that we Italians call 'Russian salad' the Italian salad (or, at least, that's what my translater says). This makes me wonder: does a salad that foreign people call 'Italian salad' actually exist, or is Google Translater translating worse than usual?
To close this post, then, here's a link about Jakob Fuglsang: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/6440/Jakob-Fuglsang-dreaming-of-Tour-de-France-leadership.aspx .
Here instead there's a vid ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YPlkTFd_U ) that Mar (thank you girl!) pointed out to us some days ago. It is probably one of the most fangirlistic videos that I've ever seen and I'm sure that Cancellara, Fuglsang and Schlecks' s supporters are going to enjoy it very much :)
Talking about SB, on http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry388829.html there's the latest entry of Chris Sorensen's blog. In it the Dane says bad things about a book that he's recently read ('it took me a lot to read it, not because it was in English but because it was very bad') and he also expresses his surprise at discovering that we Italians call 'Russian salad' the Italian salad (or, at least, that's what my translater says). This makes me wonder: does a salad that foreign people call 'Italian salad' actually exist, or is Google Translater translating worse than usual?
To close this post, then, here's a link about Jakob Fuglsang: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/6440/Jakob-Fuglsang-dreaming-of-Tour-de-France-leadership.aspx .
Here instead there's a vid ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YPlkTFd_U ) that Mar (thank you girl!) pointed out to us some days ago. It is probably one of the most fangirlistic videos that I've ever seen and I'm sure that Cancellara, Fuglsang and Schlecks' s supporters are going to enjoy it very much :)
That's all for now, good night to everyone.
PS: As you probably know, on this blog it is possible to leave comments even if you don't own any Google account. In that case, the comments will appear as written by an Anonimo.
PS: As you probably know, on this blog it is possible to leave comments even if you don't own any Google account. In that case, the comments will appear as written by an Anonimo.
Over the last days I've noticed an increase of the 'Anonimos' commentators on this blog. Since talking to different Anonimos without knowing whether they are the same anonimos that wrote to me some days before is a bit strange, I have a little favour to ask you: if you don't own any Google account, could you please sign your comments? I don't want to know your true names, a number or a letter would be enough. You know, I'd like to know if I'm always talking to the same person or if there are different Anonimos around this blog ;)
Thank you very much for the attention and wish you all (again) a good night :)
A big YAY! for Johnny Hoogerland! :D:D
RispondiElimina(and I just watched swimming Jakob for the I-can't-remember-how-many-th time)
I immediately join you in the YAY!! for Johnny. That boy really deserves to race the most important races of the schedule! And I'm also looking forward to what Leukemans will do in the North Classics. He rode them very well last year!
RispondiEliminaThat video is so enjoyable that many fangirls could spend a whole day looking at it! ;)
You got me really hooked with the salad enigma! For my limited experience, outside Italy Italian salad is normal salad, only vegetables, with only olive oil and vinegar. Sometimes Italian salad is also our "panzanella" (which outside Italy is anything with bread crumbs in it :P). According to Wikipedia, Russian salad is known also has salad Olivier, the Italian chef who invented it (in Russia, just because we are not that much confused :P). Sorry for the digression but cooking is my big big big passion.
RispondiEliminaSpeaking of my passion, the video with Jakob cooking pancakes could be my new idea of heaven ;-)
Francesca
@ Francesca: your comment got me interested in the salad mistery too, although I'm not that keen on cooking and I don't like salads that much :)
RispondiEliminaOne of the most hateful consequences of studying languages in a liceo is that in 5th year you're able to talk about literature in 4 different languages, but the first time you go to a foreign country alone, and you decide to go to the restaurant, you won't be able to order a decent dish in any possible way -actually, you won't even be able to understand anything that's written on the menu.Therefore, my linguistic knowledge won't help us in this search of information about the misteryous Italian salad.
Anyway. I tried to look for some information about the Italian salad too, but I found different pictures of it and in some of them the salad was a panzanella, in others it was a Caprese. I also read something about Caesar Salad, which was created by an Italian who had emigrated to Mexico.
On http://allrecipes.com/recipes/world-cuisine/europe/italy/authentic-italian/salads/viewall.aspx?page=1 there's a list of 'Italian salads', but I don't know if it is actually very accurate.
I have the impressiong that this salad mistery is actually tricker than it seems, especially because I remember my Russian teacher telling me that our 'insalata russa', in Russia, is actually called 'Stolichniy salad'. At the same time however the definition of 'russian salad' can also be applied to the Olivier Salad but also to Vinaigrette.
It is strange to talk about salads on a cycling blog, but it's actually a very funny and interesting topic. For example, I've just discovered that, apparently, Stolichniy salad was created by one of Olivier's former helpers, who 'stole' the idea of his former chief to create his own salad (which the critics of the time considered much worse than the original one). Amazing.
However my conclusion about the matter is that it probably exists a salad that people in foreign countries call 'Italian salad', but I'm afraid we'll never know to which salad foreign people actually refer to (unless someone suddenly turns up in this comment area and gives us a big help...).
The video with Jakob cooking pancakes is really great, although it makes me a bit envious because his cooking skills are much better than mine. Actually, my only culinary skill consists in being able to prepare a warm cup of chocolate by using a coffee-pot - and you definitely need a special talent to do something like that...
Me too studied languages, but I remember we studied culture also, so we knew welsh rabbit was cheese and what to expect with spotted dick :P
RispondiEliminaI can definitely rule out Caprese, which has its own identity all over the world, and I stop here otherwise you'll have to endure a lecture on emulsions!
You'll need to teach me chocolate with a coffee-pot, I was under the impression an explosion might occur :P
Francesca
You studied languages too? That's great! I would love to study something about local culture too, but my English teacher thinks it is better to know everything about James Joce's 'Dubliners' than to know how to order something eatable in an English restaurant.
RispondiEliminaLet me know if you find a solution to the salad mistery, since I've got interested in it too now :)
Preparing chocolate with a coffee-pot isn't actually that difficult, you just have to put cacao rather than coffee in your coffee pot. This discovery occurred 2 years ago, when this very absent-minded girl got confused between cacao and coffee and managed to obtain an eatable and tasty chocolate in spite of her mistake.
Another languages-studier.. It's true, I learned everything about Shakespear but I didn't understand a word of it. Those teachers never taught me usefull english, like being able to read what's in your salad... But I can't help you with the Italian-salad issue. I only know caprese... (delicious btw)
RispondiEliminaIt looks like the 'useless English' problem is common in a lot of European schools ;)
RispondiEliminaActually, my English teacher probably thinks that teaching my classmates and I how to order food in a British restaurant is a kind of insult to our intelligence. Too bad that, when I went to London last year, I couldn't even order a bottle of sparkling water (luckily my uncle was with me and he prevented me from asking a waiter whether he could bring me a bottle of 'water with bubbles in it'...). Or perhaps English teachers believe that, even if we go to England without knowing the names of the food, we'll be able to survive by eating fish and chips daily.
Perhaps 'Italian-salad' is a word used just by the Danes to indicate a certain kind of salad. If so, it may not be easy to solve our mistery...
Here's another YAY for Vacansoleil and especially Johnny Hoogerland :) Can't wait to see them in all the WorldTour races next year, they deserve it!
RispondiEliminaThat's funny.. I'm also all about languages! I already liked studying languages and cultures in highschool and now I study Swedish (Scandinavian languages) and English at uni :)
You study Scandinavian languages at Uni? That's great!!
RispondiEliminaBtw it's funny to see that we're all very keen on languages, we all go to school/university and we all like cycling, isn't it?
I really love studying languages, I find it easy and I also like learning facts about countries different from mine (I actually have a big passion, which I consider a bit insane, for some parts of the British history like the Gunpowder Plot or the reign of Henry VIII) :)
Back to cycling, I join you in the pro Vacansoleil YAY too ;) Although the fact they've become a ProTour team means that Riccò's now allowed to race the 2011 Giro, I can't help being happy for guys like Hoogerland, Marcato, Carrara and Leukemans.As you say, they really deserved it!