Lots of news to comment, dear readers, and just a few free moments to talk about them. How annoying.
So, let's start from the saddest part ever: as you could understand from my last post, yesterday the Belgian city of Gand hosted the funeral of WW Special. I decided not to watch the vids from the funeral in these days because I know they would really bring me down - and right now I can't actually allow myself to spend a day crying.
However, I did risk to break into tears while reading today's Gazzetta and other reports from the funeral. Fabian Wegmann and the boys who carried the coffins looked so sad and An Sophie and her sister were really destroyed. Even Wouter's father, a firefighter who had always looked very controlled here in Italy, was a broken man. May his son rest in peace forever and ever.
As our dear blogmate Figbash has recently pointed out in one of her last comments, on http://www.roadid.com/Wouter/ there is a simple way to help the family of Wouter: you just need to buy a bracelet which costs 15 $ - all the money will go to An Sophie and to her daughter. So, what are we waiting for? Let's all get one!!
So, let's start from the saddest part ever: as you could understand from my last post, yesterday the Belgian city of Gand hosted the funeral of WW Special. I decided not to watch the vids from the funeral in these days because I know they would really bring me down - and right now I can't actually allow myself to spend a day crying.
However, I did risk to break into tears while reading today's Gazzetta and other reports from the funeral. Fabian Wegmann and the boys who carried the coffins looked so sad and An Sophie and her sister were really destroyed. Even Wouter's father, a firefighter who had always looked very controlled here in Italy, was a broken man. May his son rest in peace forever and ever.
As our dear blogmate Figbash has recently pointed out in one of her last comments, on http://www.roadid.com/Wouter/ there is a simple way to help the family of Wouter: you just need to buy a bracelet which costs 15 $ - all the money will go to An Sophie and to her daughter. So, what are we waiting for? Let's all get one!!
CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME...
Talking about happier things, Andy Schleck was second in yesterday's ToC stage. He was outsprinted just by Horner and he was really satisfied with his result. "This is my first race back and I really didn't know where I would sit," Andy told Cyclingnews. "I knew that I was not lazy and that I was working hard. On the bottom when Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer went, I was a little bit in the red zone. I wouldn't say that I took it easy, but I went a little slower and went in the group behind. Linus Gerdemann (the team leader) was just a little bit behind the group and I thought that he could catch up with us but, in the end, he didn't," he added. "The last kilometre I tried everything I had. I was surprised by second place. I feel confident for Mt Baldy." We're looking forward to it too! However, has Our Glorious Leader done something to his hair? They looked a bit longer in some recent photos...
Still talking about ToC, Jens Voigt had a bad crash the other day. "I survived today so that is a good sign", Voigt said yesterday. "The good thing is that I didn't lose much skin but my hand hurts and I can't really move it, also I can't really use it. I will go and have an x-ray tonight to see if anything is broken, at least I would know the recovery and what to do next. My shoulder is functioning and I have a contusion and hopefully my hand is not broken". Let's hope everything's alright with good old Jens!
(Little suggestion: to read more about ToC, visit http://eisenandy.blogspot.com/ ).
Talking about happier things, Andy Schleck was second in yesterday's ToC stage. He was outsprinted just by Horner and he was really satisfied with his result. "This is my first race back and I really didn't know where I would sit," Andy told Cyclingnews. "I knew that I was not lazy and that I was working hard. On the bottom when Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer went, I was a little bit in the red zone. I wouldn't say that I took it easy, but I went a little slower and went in the group behind. Linus Gerdemann (the team leader) was just a little bit behind the group and I thought that he could catch up with us but, in the end, he didn't," he added. "The last kilometre I tried everything I had. I was surprised by second place. I feel confident for Mt Baldy." We're looking forward to it too! However, has Our Glorious Leader done something to his hair? They looked a bit longer in some recent photos...
Still talking about ToC, Jens Voigt had a bad crash the other day. "I survived today so that is a good sign", Voigt said yesterday. "The good thing is that I didn't lose much skin but my hand hurts and I can't really move it, also I can't really use it. I will go and have an x-ray tonight to see if anything is broken, at least I would know the recovery and what to do next. My shoulder is functioning and I have a contusion and hopefully my hand is not broken". Let's hope everything's alright with good old Jens!
(Little suggestion: to read more about ToC, visit http://eisenandy.blogspot.com/ ).
GIRO TIME!
Now, let's finally talk about the Giro. Yesterday's stage was very thrilling, while today's and Tuesday's ones weren't that great. Or, actually, they weren't that great if you, like me, were able to see just their last 3 kms (stupid school...).
The Teramo stage (that arrived after a rest day and after a long transfer by plane, after which an exhausted Pinotti could finally get in his hotel room at 1 am) was won by Cavendish after that Petacchi had actually worked as his lead-out man. Poor Alessandro in fact paid the bad day at the office of his friend Hondo, who wasn't that good the other day. Talking about helpers who haven't been that good lately, poor Szmyd has a bronchitis (you were wondering why he had disappeared, weren't you?), whereas Agnoli is on antibiotics. Oh, and talking about Liquigas and bad luck: Basso has had a very bad crash while training on Etna, he got 15 stitches in his face but now he's fine.
Back to Mark's victory, it wasn't very appreciated by Ventoso, who got second. 'The team cars helped him to remain in the time limit on Etna!', Francisco claimed right after the finish-line, together with other riders. Chicchi on the other hand said that 'Cavendish, the other gruppetto riders and I did everything on our own, we recuperated even 2 minutes from the leading group in the last kms of race!" (wait, are you telling me that Cav rode stronger than Contador and Nibali on Etna?!?). Mark instead said that 'Ventoso'd better shut up, I could tell many things about him too". A recent news, however, says that a supporter vid shows Chicchi and another gruppetto riders getting helped by their team cars on Etna. Will this be true?
Talking about another polemic, Mario Cipollini has said that, in his opinion, Cav doesn't lead 'the athlete life'. In fact, according to 'The Lion King' (which is Mario, and not Simba), Cannonball ate too many ice creams before the beginning of the Giro and so he is a bit fat.
Fat or not, Cavendish won even today's stage in Ravenna :P Today's stage actually had a very tricky finale and in fact at the last curve there was a little crash involving Sacha Modolo. However, it looks like no one got seriously hurt.
Second behind Cav was a great Appollonio, third was Petacchi.
Talking about riders who've recently got injured, poor Kristof Vandewalle is racing with very bad facial wounds after a crash on Wednesday. That stage was very exciting, although Scarponi didn't show us the attack he had promised.
At the beginning of the day Nibali had tried enter a breakaway in order to force Saxo Bank to work a bit and that was a very good move. Then other guys broke clear from the peloton and Vincenzo went back in the group.
The breakawayers du jour were all really good: Christophe Le Mevel, Daniel Moreno, Marco Manzano, Valerio Agnoli, Fabio Taborre,Carlos Alberto Betancourt, Simone Stortoni, Steven Kruijswijk, Ignatas Konovalovas,Tiago Machado and Lars Petter Nordhaug. Le Mevel was the virtual Maglia Rosa of the race for a lot of time (apropos: when was the last time that a French wore the pink jersey?), but then he had to give up to his dreams of glory.
Betancourt attacked bravely, but blew up on one of the last climbs, just like Stortoni. Moreno and Konovalovas (love this guy!!) instead were caught with less than 1 km to go (damn!!), on the Castelfidardo final climb. The victory there went to John Gadret, a peculiar Frenchman who prefers the Giro to the Tour and who worked in a grapewine until he was 23. All the GC riders ended the race together.
Talking about GC riders, Contador has recently said that: 'This Giro could be won in the hotel' (Evilness reminds me that Pinotti and I had already understood that thing in December 2010). Therefore the other day he decided to skip the pos-stage press conference with the Maglia Rosa. How nice.
Talking about Contador, I haven't replied to the comments that were left after my last post: don't worry, I'll do it as soon as I have enough time. Moreover, now Optimism is definitely leading the match against Pessimism, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's stage. Wir gehen nach Oesterreich, wie schoen!!!
Now, let's finally talk about the Giro. Yesterday's stage was very thrilling, while today's and Tuesday's ones weren't that great. Or, actually, they weren't that great if you, like me, were able to see just their last 3 kms (stupid school...).
The Teramo stage (that arrived after a rest day and after a long transfer by plane, after which an exhausted Pinotti could finally get in his hotel room at 1 am) was won by Cavendish after that Petacchi had actually worked as his lead-out man. Poor Alessandro in fact paid the bad day at the office of his friend Hondo, who wasn't that good the other day. Talking about helpers who haven't been that good lately, poor Szmyd has a bronchitis (you were wondering why he had disappeared, weren't you?), whereas Agnoli is on antibiotics. Oh, and talking about Liquigas and bad luck: Basso has had a very bad crash while training on Etna, he got 15 stitches in his face but now he's fine.
Back to Mark's victory, it wasn't very appreciated by Ventoso, who got second. 'The team cars helped him to remain in the time limit on Etna!', Francisco claimed right after the finish-line, together with other riders. Chicchi on the other hand said that 'Cavendish, the other gruppetto riders and I did everything on our own, we recuperated even 2 minutes from the leading group in the last kms of race!" (wait, are you telling me that Cav rode stronger than Contador and Nibali on Etna?!?). Mark instead said that 'Ventoso'd better shut up, I could tell many things about him too". A recent news, however, says that a supporter vid shows Chicchi and another gruppetto riders getting helped by their team cars on Etna. Will this be true?
Talking about another polemic, Mario Cipollini has said that, in his opinion, Cav doesn't lead 'the athlete life'. In fact, according to 'The Lion King' (which is Mario, and not Simba), Cannonball ate too many ice creams before the beginning of the Giro and so he is a bit fat.
Fat or not, Cavendish won even today's stage in Ravenna :P Today's stage actually had a very tricky finale and in fact at the last curve there was a little crash involving Sacha Modolo. However, it looks like no one got seriously hurt.
Second behind Cav was a great Appollonio, third was Petacchi.
Talking about riders who've recently got injured, poor Kristof Vandewalle is racing with very bad facial wounds after a crash on Wednesday. That stage was very exciting, although Scarponi didn't show us the attack he had promised.
At the beginning of the day Nibali had tried enter a breakaway in order to force Saxo Bank to work a bit and that was a very good move. Then other guys broke clear from the peloton and Vincenzo went back in the group.
The breakawayers du jour were all really good: Christophe Le Mevel, Daniel Moreno, Marco Manzano, Valerio Agnoli, Fabio Taborre,Carlos Alberto Betancourt, Simone Stortoni, Steven Kruijswijk, Ignatas Konovalovas,Tiago Machado and Lars Petter Nordhaug. Le Mevel was the virtual Maglia Rosa of the race for a lot of time (apropos: when was the last time that a French wore the pink jersey?), but then he had to give up to his dreams of glory.
Betancourt attacked bravely, but blew up on one of the last climbs, just like Stortoni. Moreno and Konovalovas (love this guy!!) instead were caught with less than 1 km to go (damn!!), on the Castelfidardo final climb. The victory there went to John Gadret, a peculiar Frenchman who prefers the Giro to the Tour and who worked in a grapewine until he was 23. All the GC riders ended the race together.
Talking about GC riders, Contador has recently said that: 'This Giro could be won in the hotel' (Evilness reminds me that Pinotti and I had already understood that thing in December 2010). Therefore the other day he decided to skip the pos-stage press conference with the Maglia Rosa. How nice.
Talking about Contador, I haven't replied to the comments that were left after my last post: don't worry, I'll do it as soon as I have enough time. Moreover, now Optimism is definitely leading the match against Pessimism, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's stage. Wir gehen nach Oesterreich, wie schoen!!!
HaHa Fat Cav- I'm still giggling over the comments about his weight. He did retaliate by mentioning he was the only cyclist to make the list of the most marketable athletes!
RispondiEliminaThe giro in recent days has seen such bitching and fighting and comments sniping about each other and a bit of biffo in yesterdays stage. I mean who needs reality TV. I was concentrating on TOC but the giro is much more entertaining.
I watched a little of WW's funeral but not to much as didn't want to get upset again. I thought his partner was so strong. She looked heartbroken and when she came out of the church she kept clutching her tummy which was so sad.
I don't want to go on about the sadness and despair of the death of WW and the funeral that I think has affected so many of us more than we could have thought possible.I agree it a wonderful gesture to support the family
I am also not trying to trivialise his passing but to lighten the situation I would like to say the following about the service:
. Tyler Farrar is much better looking than I remember
. David? (the LT hottie) needs to rethink those white frame glasses
. How hot did Fabian look in a decent suit and it wrong to drool over someone at a funeral service?
. Where did Tom Boonens hair go?
Well off to see some more saga on the giro! Jen
The scenery on the climb up the Grossglockner was gorgeous--mountain stages are so atmospheric, they lend a kind of grandeur to the occasion. I could honestly watch a donkey slowly make that ascent...
RispondiEliminaI was pleased to see Rujano hang on to the end, though I had hoped Nibali could stay on Rujano, or Contador's wheel. The chronists for Universal Sports commented that apart from athleticism, Contador’s efficient pedaling technique, and gear selection, contribute to his success on the mountains. Quote, "He isn't killing his legs on these climbs." For me, if he cycles like this through the weekend, he'll have enough maglia rosas to cover all the pillows in his house :P
See again: http://www.ciclismoafondo.es/preview/2c90a89c2ffbff43012ffcf573e7009b.image
http://www.ciclismoafondo.es/preview/2c90a89c2ffbff43012ffcf5eee400ad.image
You’ve probably heard that Stefan Denifl, and Oscar Freire, had about a 2 minute lead on the peloton on stage 5 of the Amgen yesterday, with 20km or so to go. Unfortunately, Stefan’s tire went flat, and he narrowly avoided a disaster with the Team Car:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/gallery/casey-b-gibson-photos-from-stage-5-of-the-2011-amgen-tour-of-california_174618/attachment/amgen-tour-of-california-stage-5-15
Notice the “share the road” with bicycles sign in the background of that horrific picture.
Poor Stefan. I could see that he was determined to try and win yesterday’s stage for Wouter, and the team. I hope he gets his chance. Also, the commentators kept saying he was from France, then Germany, and riding for Saxo Bank :P I need a summer job, perhaps I can apply for work as a commentator? Of course, I would have learn to control my unbelievable bias for my favourites (Go Andy! Go Ryder! Go Tyler! Go soigneur for Leopard Trek etc), and not cover my eyes when the race gets too intense.
Kick butt on the exams, Fede. You will survive them. I survived mine, and achieved better results than I deserved, considering that I spent the majority of the study period watching Classics races.
@Jen: Fabian always looks hot but yes, even hotter in a decent suit. I loved that his shirt was red on the inside. He probably doesn't have anything more decent than that :P
RispondiEliminaThat picture of Stefan's crash is horrible. Poor Stefan, he and Freire could have lasted.
Anyway, those commentators are just dreadful! I usually watch British Eurosport when I watch streams but I'm pretty impressed by this Radioshack Tour Tracker-thingy - if it hadn't been for Phil Liggett and that other guy (what's his name? :P). It is not that hard to comment on cycling! They kept calling Stefan "Denfille" too - he is NOT French!
But it was so much worse yesterday at the TT. Can't they see what we see? The riders' names were on the screen (!) and they still didn't get it right.
OK, rant over. Being a commentator would be fun - and Figbash, we would definitely be better than those guys despite our obvious cheering for Andy :P
I've been enjoying watching the Amgen on the Radioshack Tour Tracker too--if for no other reason than that the stream doesn't collapse every few minutes. It's almost a sport in itself, having to hit the refresh button every few minutes, and always at crucial moments in the race :P
RispondiEliminaI do wonder if Phil Liggett, MBE, and his co-host don't have access to a screen. They said Jakob Fuglsang was wearing the Norwegian flag jersey, and that he was the Norwegian National Time Trial champion! I remember thinking two things:
1) That's bad news for Denmark, they've lost a citizen, and Day Birger et Mikkelsen have lost one of their biggest customers :P
2) Since when did Norway drop the blue Scandinavian cross from their flag?
@ Jen: I don't know why, but I can't help liking Cav :P However, I do believe he's a bit fat. Actually, weight has always been a problem for him. In his book he says that: 'When I'm fat, I don't win. If I don't win, I get depressed. When I'm depressed, I eat chocolate. If I eat chocolate, I get fatter. If I get fatter, I win even less and get more depressed. And here we go again'. That must be a terrible thing!!! However, there's no doubt that, when he's in top condition, Mark's the fastest sprinter of the world (together with Petacchi, perhaps).
RispondiEliminaThe Giro is always the best Italian soap opera of the year. There are people arguing, marriage proposals, strikes, terrible scandals, tribunals and mysteries. It's much better than 'Beautiful'!
An Sophie was really strong at the funeral. Her sister cried more than her, it was strange to see that happening! Luckily An Sophie seems a very strong woman and I think she'll be the best possible mother for her little daughter.
White glasses are cool in Italy, that's the problem :P
And yes, Farrar is hot, just like Cancellara.
I watched a few images of the funerals and I would have loved to go hugging Fabian Wegmann. He's always smiling and laughing and it was strange to see him in such a bad situation.
He was Wouter's roommate and, moreover, his wife is pregnant too. I wonder how he must feel in these days...
@ Figbash: Grossglockner is great, I was there in 2002 and I loved the scenery and the view you can get from there!! Actually, I think Austria is one of the most gorgeous countries of the world. It has such breathtaking sceneries!
I'm afraid that all the pillows in Contador's house are already covered by yellow, pink and amarillo jerseys. Perhaps now he'll start giving the jerseys and some of his pillows also to his friends and familiars :P
Oh my God, I hadn't seen that image of Stefan's crash yet!! I'm so happy he's fine, it could have been another tragedy!
Some chronists can really say stupid things on some occasions. I mean, how can you say that Jakob is Norwegian? Every person with two eyes could tell that by looking at Jakob's TT skinsuit!!
I think it'd be fun to apply for a job as cycling chronist. However, I'm afraid I'd stop talking during the sprints - I always need to watch the replays to understand who won and 'who is who' during the final km :P Moreover, my 'French R' (as a friend of mine has recently called it) wouldn't help me :P
The last days have been tough not just because of the exams, but also because of the treatment that a teacher has given to my class in his last two lessons. He's supposed to be our 'coordinatore' (the teacher who should find compromises between students and his colleagues), but the other day, while ranting about us, she did pass the line. First he called us 'people who aren't serious, who are incoherent, who can't live in this world'. Yesterday instead he called us 'licensed goose' (which, in Italian, is pretty offensive) and 'deficienti' (from the Latin word 'deficio', 'to lack of something' - of intelligence, in this case).
Obviously this thing has really influenced my mood in the last days, since I don't think I deserve such a bad treatment.
@ Susanne: Poor Fabian hasn't got a good taste when it comes to clothes. But still, we love him as he is ;)
Stefan 'Denfille'? Oh gosh, how do they pronounce Italian names then?
I remember that, when I was a little soccer lover, I would often play soccer on my playstation and in the meanwhile I would pretend I was commenting my own players' deeds. It was fun! (and yes, I did have some mental problems back then)
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Fede D: My high school class used to have issues which ended up in confrontations similar to what you've experienced. I'm sure it wasn't meant for you so don't feel bad <3
RispondiEliminaI never know what's going on the bunch sprints xD And I'm lousy at telling who's in front from that stupid camera angle they always tend to show the sprint in :P
Hey, I used to comment on myself playing FIFA too :D Nothing wrong with that *coughs* Of course I still talk to myself in public so maybe I'm not the best judge of what's sane and what's not :P
Their Italian is not that bad, I suppose. Since they thought Stefan was French I guess they were just trying to pronounce his name correctly :P
I missed them mistaking Jakob for Norwegian! It just gets worse and worse :P I think it's bad enough they keep calling him 'foolskank'.
(And DAY would totally go bankrupt if Jakob didn't shop there :P)
Fede: I wouldn't be concerned about not being able to distinguish who is who in the sprints—all I see is blur of colours. The Eurosport and Versus commentators are often guessing themselves, and no one is really certain who the winner is, until they review the video. I would love to see a serious fan of the sport, and a woman covering these things!
RispondiEliminaAlso, I agree with Susanne, don't take anything your teacher has to say personally. Maybe he's just ranting about youth in general--older people are always deploring the state of the world, and society. Also, if he thinks the students at an Italian liceo are bad, send him to the average North American high school. He’s going to meet some of the most hopelessly empty-headed, shallow people on earth. Actually, some of the first-year university students aren’t very impressive either. I say that as an old person, and a Canadian :P
Susanne: I think I would personally go bankrupt if I ever shopped at DAY Birger et Mikkelsen. I don’t think I can even afford a scarf there :P
I know that my teacher's words weren't for me, but sometimes it is very hard to behave as usual when you have such stupid people around you.
RispondiEliminaHe behaves as if the 'bad ones' were the students, whereas I do believe that, right now, the bad ones are the teachers. I had 8 tests in 6 days this week and next week I haven't got nothing to do - not a single test, not a single oral examination. This lack of organisation is so frustrating!!
Moreover, that teacher told us we're not serious people. That is golden coming from someone who is a total hypocrite, since he always says one thing to us and then says the opposite to his colleagues!
@ Susanne: One of the Italian chronists at the Giro started working in cycling last year and he said that he was very afraid of commenting sprints. The first sprint he ever commented was the one won by Wouter Weylandt in Middleburg. On that occasion the chronist immediately guessed the name of the winner and, when WW Special passed away, he was very sad because, since that day, he had always kept a special eye on him :(
Well, talking to yourself in public isn't that bad ;) Sometimes I start smiling like a fool on the bus just because I think about something entertaining - then I realise that the woman next to me looks frightened, and I go back to my normal face :P
'Foolskank'? Doesn't 'skank' sound a bit like 'skunk'? If so, poor Jakob!
@ Figbash: It would be really great to have a woman commenting races. Luckily, here in Italy one of the most famous cycling journalist is a woman. She doesn't comment races, but she makes interviews during the Tour, presents 'Il Processo alla Tappa' during the Giro and last year she even had the honour of presenting the route of the Giro.
Yes, poor Jakob. Last night they managed to change it to 'Fooglesang' after several tries (and that is acceptable :P) It was really funny: 'And there's Jakob Fool... Foogle... Fooglesang!' Ha, ha xD
RispondiEliminaThey got Stefan right too. They even stopped calling him 'Denfille'. Only, it wasn't actually Stefan, it was Martin Pedersen :P
I smile too. And laugh sometimes. Oh well :P
Italian chronists say 'Fooglesang' too, whereas the Eurosport ones simply go for 'our friend Jakob from Leopard Trek' in order to void problems ;)
RispondiEliminaI can't believe it! Mistaking Stefan 'Wild Hair' Denifl for Martin 'Not that Tall' Pedersen? They look different on a bike, don't they?
Re smile and laughs: LOL!!
Martin and Stefan look very different on a bike. Martin is so tiny compared to everyone else. And Stefan was wearing bandages because of his crash. I think it was the fact that they were both wearing white glasses that threw them off a bit. Or maybe they're just plain stupid? :P
RispondiEliminaI'm afraid your final question may contain the right answer :P Come on, Martin and Stefan, it's not that difficult to understand 'who is who'...
RispondiEliminaI think we'd be much better than those guys at commenting races, espcially because we've been doing it for years ;)