At this year Tour de France there are just two riders from Norway: Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd. And this afternoon Edvald won the 6th stage of the Tour, whereas Thor managed to keep the yellow jersey for the 5th day in a row. Considering how the Norwegian chronists reacted when Arvesen won a Tour stage a few years ago (get ready to hear some histerical screams /laughs and take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFhiIK7wyk&feature=related), I wonder what they did this afternoon.
Actually, I don't have much to say about today's stage. The day began with two topics of discussions: the crashes of the previous stage and the argument between Petacchi and Rojas. According to the Spaniard, Petacchi was having problems following Cavendish, so he got on the wheel of the British rider by overtaking Alessandro. Ale - Jet didn't enjoy this fact and hurt Rojas with his fist, so that the Spaniard couldn't breathe properly for a few seconds.
However, Petacchi has another version of this story. In fact he said he was on Hondo's wheel when Rojas dangerously overtook him in order to get on Cavendish' wheel. Petacchi reacted by putting his hand on José's hip, but he didn't actually hurt him (that's what Alessandro said).
After crossing the finish-line, the two riders kept on fighting. 'Petacchi is a pig!', Rojas said; 'Rojas is a s***!', Petacchi claimed after getting onto the team's bus. It's always nice to see two riders getting on in a pacific way, isn't it?Actually, yesterday wasn't a very good day at all for Rojas. Ok, he did end 3rd on the stage, but he lost the green jersey because, according to the jury, he and Boonen had been unloyal towards Cavendish at the intermediate sprint.
Anyway. Back to today. Tom Boonen decided to start the stage in spite of the crash of the previous day, whereas Ivan Velasco didn't start because of a broken collarbone. Sylvain Chavanel, who really looked in pain, managed to finish the stage, whereas Vasil Kiryenka crossed the finish-line 27 minutes after the winner and was forced to abandon the race.
The breakawayers du jour were Lieuwe 'The Beast' Westra, Johnny Hoogerland (again), Anthony Roux, Leonardo Duque and Adriano Malori. With about 50 kms to go, Malori and Westra said 'adieu!' to their breakaway companions and decided to continue the race on their own. Adriano and Lieuwe are both very strong time trialists, but unfortunately this afternoon they were chased by Omega - Pharma Lotto and by Columbia.
With a few kms to go the riders had to face a steep little climb and that's where Malori's chances of victory faded away. With about 15 kms to go, in fact, the Italian rider had abandoned Westra in order to continue his adventure all alone. Unfortunately, good luck wasn't on Adriano's side this afternoon and the Lampre rider was caught with just 3 kms to go. As a little solace, Malori (who was the last rider in the GC of last year's Tour) was awarded with the 'most combative rider du jour' prize. A very good thing, if we consider that Adriano is still very young and is one of the most talented riders of the peloton.
The winner du jour was eventually decided by a sprint. Vinokourov was seen at the head of the race, but he didn't attack. Vanendert, on the other hand, created a little gap between himself and the peloton, but it was just a consequence of the fact that he was pulling too hard for his teammates to follow him. Voeckler ('V' was the magic letter in today's finale) instead attacked intentionally, but couldn't go very far.
When the sprint began, it looked like the favourites were Thor Hshovd (who considered winning today's stage as one of his main goals of the season) and Philippe Gilbert. Also Goss looked in a great form, just like Feillu. And instead, the man who crossed the finish-line first was the young Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was wonderfully helped by Geraint Thomas.
Edvald was very moved after the victory, also because his parents were there to watch him (not a great news, considering that the Boasson Hagen family is always present at the French race ;) and because this victory came after a difficult period for the Norwegian. A few days ago in fact the Sky rider had to deal with herpes zoester and didn't even know whether he would have been able to race the Tour. Not taking part in the French race would have been a bad blow for Edvald who, after an exceptional 2009, had lots of health problems in 2010. Anyway, BH managed to grit his teeth and, today, he was awarded with his first TdF victory. Chapeau!
While Boasson Hagen was already celebrating with his teammates, Levi Leipheimer angrily rode towards the finish-line. The Radioshack rider crashed against a guard-rail with 4 kms to go and lost a minute to the main GC contenders. Luckily, he didn't suffer any injury - just a bruised elbow.
So, this was today's stage of the TdF. As far as the Giro Donne is concerned, the Mortirolo stage was won by Marianne Vos, who's getting 'pinker' day after day. However, the other girls (Pooley, Guderzo, Arndt...) are ready to create her problems in the next stages.
(Pic by AFP)
@language studies ;)
RispondiEliminaLieuwe is Frisian for the Dutch word "leeuw", which means lion in English.
Vos just means fox and I'm ashamed of the media in my country to almost totally disregard her victories. She's just such a big champion and at the same time clever and nice. Almost all the media attention here goes to Robert Gesink (although today they had to pay some attention to Johnny Hoogerland ofcourse), but I don't think Gesink will ever be a great champion and Marianne Vos is!
So happy for Edvald Boassen Hagen :D
RispondiEliminaOf course the Norwegian victory opened up for a "rivalry" between Denmark and Norway (as with anything - really - anything else :P). Chris was asked after the stage what the Norwegians can since they've won stages and have the yellow jersey and the Danes have nothing so far. Chris said, brilliantly, "They can sprint."
And as their is tradition for, they played the finish with the Norwegian commentators afterwards (three times, actually :P) Here's a link, if anyone's interested in a laugh: http://tour.tv2.dk/article.php/id-41517956:tv-kommentatorer-amok-efter-sejr.html
Just when Edvald crossed the finish line you could actually hear the Norwegian commentators through the wall between them and the Danish commentators!
Barbara,
RispondiEliminaI think the way Vos is being overlooked is typical of the way the media treats women's cycling in general. Ignore them unless someone poses with their clothes off (ie. Liz Hatch and Victoria Pendelton). It's so sexist and it drives me crazy.
That's my rant for the day.
Brenda
I'm also happy for Edvald "Eddy" Boasson Hagen! Sporza interviewed him last night and he's such a nice, relaxed guy :-) Very deserved win and cool that his parents were there to celebrate it with him.
RispondiEliminaI agree with Barbara and Brenda, it's just unbelievable that they ignore women's cycling and even when Vos has the pink jersey, they hardly show anything of it! I really hope this will change someday, but I fear it won't.
@ Barbara: I didn't know that Westra's name meant 'Lion'! Ok, I've just found a new (cuter) nickname for him (I called him 'The Beast' because, apparently, this is his nickname in the peloton) :D
RispondiEliminaAnd Vos means 'Fox', how interesting!
Marianne is such a great champion, she's just 24 but she's already won almost everything. If a male rider won so many races as her, newspapers would consider him the best rider ever. But unfortunately Marianne is a lady, and women cycling gets no attention at all. This is so unfair! I can understand that Gesink is racing the Tour and is one of the best Dutch riders, but Marianne is definitely better (sorry Robert, but results speak clearly :P)
@ Susanne: Edvald is such a nice guy, he surely deserved this victory!
Chris Anker, it's impossible not to love him. I've told my father about his 'why don't they build a bridge on Passage du Gois?' reflection and he couldn't stop laughing! Really, the man is hilarious.
Mwhahaha, Norwegian commentators freak me out! I've showed the vid to my sister and she couldn't stop laughing either! 'EDVALD BOASSON HAGEN, EDVALD BOASSON HAGEN, WAAAAAA!'
Simply amazing. And it's amazing also the fact that you could hear their screams while listening to the Danish chronists! Did Rolf say anything about his colleagues, or did he just ignore them? (yes, I'm falling in love with Rolf ;)
@ Brenda: You're so right about women cycling! Italian cycling magazines wrote more pages about Monia Baccaille's calendar (she posed in a bikini) than about Giorgia Bronzini's victory at the Worlds, it was insulting!
Unfortunately, the cycling world can be very sexist. I think this can be seen every year at the Giro, when they:
1. make Playboy female models (who wear just a swimming costumes, shoes and the famous rabbit ears) walk around after (or before) every stage. I did see men howling at those girls in San Pellegrino and it was humiliating.
2. choose the so called 'madrina' of the Giro. They always choose attractive women who don't know anything about cycling, whereas they could choose someone as good as Marina Romoli, a poor Italian rider who, after being hit by a car last year, must live on a wheelchair.
Really, someone should do something for women cycling! I know a good blog about women cycling, but unfortunately it is just in Italian (link: http://ciclismorosa.blogspot.com/ ).
Does anyone know any other good blog about women cycling (possibly in English)?
@ Marleen: Edvald is a very nice guy indeed! My mother saw him after the Milan stage of Giro 2009 and she said he looked so shy! When she saw him, he was being interviewed by an attractive girl, who gave him a little birthday cake because it was his birthday. Guess how he reacted? He blushed red! How sweet! <3
This lack of attention to women cycling is insulting. Especially because, if then a rider wins the Worlds (as it happened here in Italy for three times in the last 4 years), everyone is ready to pay attention to the new World champion for a few days and say that they expected her to win. Some people are such hypocrites!
At one point the Norwegian commentators scream "We own the cycling world!!!" I laughed so hard! xD
RispondiEliminaThe Danish commentators were laughing at them while trying to commentate themselves. A Norwegian rider winning is almost as good as a Dane winning, so they were pretty excited too :P
I wish you would be able to understand him speaking Danish so you could hear him commentate properly yourself! Another thing about Rolf, whenever they show pictures from the camera in the box, he's always looking so moody and looking down :P
'We own the cycling world', puahahaha! That's hilarious!
RispondiEliminaPoor Danish commentators, it must be hard to do your job properly with someone screaming 'We own the cycling world!' next to you!
Poor Rolf, I always wonder how chronists can find topics of discussion to keep their audience interested for so many hours! It must be a tiring job!
RE WOMEN CYCLING:
RispondiEliminaGirls, I've previously asked you whether you knew an English blog about women cycling... Well, I've found one myself! :D
Take a look at: http://www.ciclismoinrosa.net/ . Ok, the first page looks slightly chaotic, but at the top there is an English flag: click on it and everything will magically turn to English!
Unfortunately the blog (which is the most interesting part) is just in Italian, but on the first page there are some news and there's even a link to the website's YouTube channel, which shows us the last kms of the stages of the 2011 Giro Donne! Yay!