Tour Down Under Resume + Australian National Championships Resume:

It's been another busy week here at miss Fede's place, with all the exams-preparation going on and a respectable amount of my time being spent insulting those who caused the Costa Concordia's tragedy. I spent a day on Isola del Giglio some years ago and I'll always remember it as one of the best days of my life. The sea was simply wonderful and, when I dived into the cold, high water next to some rocks, far from the main beach of the island, I immediately discovered a marine paradise . Colourful fish, sea stars, even a spiny lobster, all living peacefully in the wonderful clean water. And now, this amazing scenery is likely to be destroyed by a tragedy caused by a few stupid people. And don't even get me started about all the people who lost their lives because of someone's stupidity and arrogance!

As far as my exam preparations is concerned, the first exam of my university career was last Wednesday. My professor hasn't corrected my test yet, but I'm pretty optimistic about my mark.

As far as my other exams are concerned, I'm having a 'How to use a computer' test this week and an 'Italian Language' test in 10 days time. In these days however I'm also studying 'Linguistics', which I find very fascinating and interesting, and 'Italian Literature', the most hateful and useless subject I have to study this year.

However. After giving my 50 cents about Isola del Giglio's tragedy and after giving you some useless, boring info about how my university life is going, let's start talking cycling. Or, better, let's start talking about the the Australian National Championships and about all the stages of Tour Down Under.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Also this year the big cycling season has taken off in Australia. A few days before the beginning of TDU, the land of the kangaroos chose its new national RR champion in a 162 kms long race. Said race was won by Simon Gerrans, who is the only Aussie to have won a stage in every single Grand Tour. Gerrans won the race with 2" of advantage on Matthew Lloyd and Richie Porte.

Right after getting the victory, GreenEdge's Gerrans was extremely happy. "This is one of my proudest moments in cycling", he told Cyclingnews. The Flying Aussie also had a special mention for his team, which had 16 riders (!) lined up at the start of the race in Buniyong. That, according to Gerrans, created extra pressure around the GreenEdge guys, since everyone expected them "to try and win the race and really utilise the guys that we had." GE eventually had a very active role in the race, with guys like Durbridge, Bobridge, O'Grady and Meyer taking part in every important action.

Whereas GE had 16 riders taking part in the Australian Championships, poor Matthew Lloyd was the only Lampre rider to take part in the race. Still, the Victorian was eventually second. Lloyd was very happy with his result, especially because it marked the end of a terrible period for him. In fact in the last 12 months Matthew (who had won the Australian National Championship back in 2008) has been hit by a vehicle twice while training and, most important, he has been fired by his former employers, team Omega-Pharma Lotto. Now, however, Matthew is 'back in the hood' (quote by himself) with Lampre and he's incredibly happy about that.

The  third rider to cross the finish-line after Gerrans and Lloyd was Richie Porte, who was the protagonist of a super effort towards the end of the race. During the last lap of race (each lap was 10 kms long)  in fact he, Gerrans and Lloyd formed a breakaway. All of a sudden, however, Lloyd launched a solo attack and Richie was the one who closed the gap from his Lampre colleague. After the race Richie congratulated Gerrans on the new victories and had many good words for his new Sky teammates Hayman, Sutton and Rogers.
4th in the men race was Adam Hansen, 5th instead  was an-inform Will Clarke.

The women national championship was won by Amanda Spratt, a 19 year-old who races for GreenEdge. Spratt launched a solo attack with 30 kms to go and crossed the finish-line 45" before Tiffany Cromwell and Rachel Neylan.

As for the TT races, the winner of the women competition was Shara Gillow, who had won the national TT championship also in 2011. The Green Edge rider got the victory ahead of Taryn Heather and Bridie O'Donnell, whereas Amanda Spratt was 4th. The men race instead was won by neopro Luke Durbridge. Luke is the U23 World Champion in the discipline and at the National Championships he rode 7 seconds faster than his GreenEdge teammate Cameron Meyer, who took the silver medal. "I train all the time with Cam and we were sort of trash talking each other leading into it, we're really good mates", the 20 year old said about besting his teammate. Third in the race was Michael Rogers, whereas 4th was another neo pro, Michael Hepburn. 5th was Richie Porte, 6th was Cameron Wurf and 7th was Travis Meyer, who has just come back racing after he underwent surgery on his left external iliac artery in July.

One of the pre-race favourites, Jack Bobridge, crashed within the first km of the race and had to retire from the race.

TOUR DOWN UNDER:

A few days after the Australian Championships were raced, some of the biggest stars of the ProTour took part in the Down Under Classic in Adelaide. The race was always controlled by the sprinters' team and the 9 brave rider who tried to go on a breakaway never gained more than 25" of advantage on the peloton. However one of the breakawayers, neo pro Nathan Haas, got some good results by winning 3 of the intermediate sprints. The race was strictly controlled by Lampre, Rabobank and Lotto Belisol. When Mark Renshaw punctured in the last lap, Rabobank's place at the front was taken by Sky.

Lotto Belisol's lead-out train (which was formed by Jurgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg, Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson) was simply perfect and André Greipel managed to get the victory ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Heinrich Haussler. After the finish-line, the German had good words for his team and for Greg Henderson in particular. "I think the guys were awesome. I just needed to stay on the wheels. I saw Rabobank and Sky - they couldn’t pass so I think that meant we have a lot of horsepower in our team", Greipel said after the race. Greg Henderson had some very good words for his captain too, as after the race he told Cyclingnews: "You know how much power he’s got. I’m leading out at 70km/h and he just comes past me. I just don’t understand how anyone can go so fast. You’ve seen it. He’s right up there with the likes of Cavendish. The two are going to have a great rivalry this year".

4th in the race was Rojas, whereas 5th was the surprising Steele von Hoff.

After the Down Under Classic, the ProTour cycling season officially took off with Tour Down Under's first stage, which featured 149 kms from Prospect to Clare. The riders had to race in a terrible heat and often had to deal with the strong headwind. 4 brave men (Rohan Dennis, Marcello Pavarin, Martin Kohler and Eduard Vorganov) formed a breakaway right after the beginning of the stage and the last of them, Rohan Dennis, was caught with 15 kms to go. O'Grady did a great job at the front in order to close the gap from the adversaries, whereas his teammate Durbridge couldn't fully help him because he had problems caused by the heat.

The road that led to the finish-line was slightly downhill, so that the peloton reached a very high speed and that Will Clarke decided to launch a brave but useless solo attack. With 800 meters two Vacansoleil riders touched each other's wheels and crashed, causing a domino effect inside the peloton. As a consequece of the crash, Jurgen Roelandts broke a vertebra, whereas 40 year old Guesdon broke his hip. The French rider wanted to end his career on the 8th of April, after Paris-Roubaix, but his plan is now in doubt. "The doctors seemed optimistic about his quick recovery but it's difficult to envisage that he'd be on the start line of Paris-Roubaix in less than three months from now", FDJ ds told Cyclingnews. Then he added: "Fred wasn't emotional about the accident and the consequences. During the time I spent with him, he didn't talk about cycling at all. He never said it's game over. He was happy to be treated very well and his only concern was that he couldn't talk to his wife who was at work with no mobile phone." Let's hope Guesdon will manage to recover quickly then!

Anyway, let's go back to the race. Right after the crash, all the riders who hadn't crashed had to recreate the lead-out trains for their captains. Greipel was very far from his Lotto teammates at that point, and Petacchi launched an early sprint in order to surprise his adversaries. Still, Greipel was much faster than the Italian and he got the victory in front of him and Hutarovich. Right after the finish-line Greipel didn't look very happy and he had some critics for Petacchi. "I’m lucky that I won today," the German told Cyclingnews. "There was a massive crash with 800 metres to go. My pedal got touched and I lost positions from about 5th to 20th, but I managed to bridge the gap. Then Petacchi went from left to right, he didn’t care about the crash. He’s a big star but he shouldn’t do this. Two of my team-mates crashed as a result. All I care about after winning this stage is how they are". The Lampre rider denied any wrong-doing and the race commissaries agreed with him.

4th in the stage was Fabio Sabatini, whereas 5th was Bennati. You can watch the highlights of the day here.

The second stage of the TDU led the riders from Lobethal to Stirling. 1000 meters after the beginning of the 148 kms long stage, the brave Martin Kohler and former LT rider Will Clarke went on a breakaway together. The two young, hard-working guys were allowed an initial 11 minutes advantage. Kohler's goal of the day was getting the leader jersey, which at the beginning of the stage was on Greipel's shoulders. After winning two intermediate sprints (thus getting some seconds of advantage on Greipel in the GC) and with still many kms to go, the Swiss rider decided to return to the peloton, whereas Will Clarke continued his lonely adventure at the head of the race. With 20 kms to go Clarke still had 10 minutes of advantage on the peloton, which now started to race in order to catch the Tasmanian. With 10 kms to go Clarke's gap on the peloton was down to 4 minutes and 20", and with 5 kms to go it was down to less than 3 minutes. Still, Will really gave it all and eventually managed to win the stage after climbing the Stirling hill for 4 times. The UNI SA rider was worn out after the stage and he didn't even have the strength to raise his arms while crossing the finish-line. After the finish-line, the Tasmanian told Cyclingnews: "This is unbelievable really. This is the biggest win of my career. It's my first win in the WorldTour. I knew my form was good - but this is unbelieveable. Kohler probably thought it was not worth keeping going but the peloton gave me more time and I thought 'you guys have to chase me hard to catch me'. I was dying in the last ten kilometres. Team Manager Dave Sanders was telling me to go for GC. It's amazing that a breakaway rider can stay away for so long. It's sort of my speciality to keep going".

Second in the stage was Michael Matthews, whereas 3rd was Simon Gerrans. 4th was Valverde, 5th was Boasson Hagen. The peloton reached the finish-line 1'02" after Clarke. You can watch the highlights of the stage here .

 

 

The 3rd stage of TDU led the riders from Unley to Victor Harbour. As soon as the stage began, Eduard Vorganov, Jan Bakelant, Thomas de Gendt and Matt Brammeier went on a breakaway. However, the 4 riders had to abandon their hopes of victory with about 40 kms to go. The most active teams at the front were GreenEdge (who had Matthew Goss as main sprinter), Lotto Belisol (Greipel's team), RadioShack-Nissan (Bennati's team) and Rabobank (Renshaw and Matthews' team). The stage winner was eventually decided by a bunch sprint, in which André Greipel showed all his power once again. The German outsprinted Hutarovich and Boasson Hagen, who suffered a puncture in the last part of the race. 4th was Renshaw, whereas 5th was the eternal McEwen. Daniele Bennati was 8th, Jacopo Guarnieri was 6th. By achieving this victory, André Greipel got back the leader jersey from Martin Kohler. In spite of this, the Lotto rider told Cyclingnews that this year he wasn't going to win the final GC of the race. "The Willunga stage [Stage 5] is too hard for me to win GC this year", he sincerely admitted. "With two stage wins, we've already reached our goal. We can't have everything and we just take it day by day". As well as saying that, Greipel also dedicated his victory to Jurgen Roelandts, who broke his sixth cervical vertebrae during the first stage of the race.

While Lotto was happy with the day's result, Rabobank was frustrated because its riders had missed a podium spot. The team's main sprinter for the day should have been Michael Matthews, but the Australian couldn't follow his lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, who eventually got the 4th position in the sprint. After the stage, Renshaw said that that was completely normal. "Michael and I still have to sync a little bit – we're definitely not on the same level as myself and Cav, but that comes with time", he told Cyclingnews. Matthews, on the other hand, was very angry with himself. "Mark did an awesome lead-out but I just wasn't there to finish it.It's just experience: it's my first time trying to follow him…I'm really disappointed.", the young rider told Cyclingnews.

The 4th stage led the riders from Norwood to Tarunda. After 28 kms of race McCarthy, Kadri, Ruben Perez and Smukulis formed a breakaway. They were caught with 29 kms to go, at the bottom of a Cat. 1 climb called 'Mengler Hill'. Rohan Dennis was the first rider to reach the top of the climb, followed by Javi Moreno, Simon Gerrans, Thiago Machado, Jack Bauer and Linus Gerdemann. In the meanwhile, Greipel was struggling at the back of the peloton and he eventually got dropped. BMC made a good job trying to make the race hard for Greipel and just 40 riders didn't get dropped on the Merger Hill climb.

The race eventually ended with a sprint between the riders who hadn't got dropped on Merger Hill. Michael Matthews tried to win in order to get the leader jersey, but 4 guys were faster than him: Boasson Hagen, Bennati, Ciolek and Freire, with the Spaniard taking the victory ahead of the Italian and of the German riders. "It was a difficult finale. I knew I had a really good chance to win," Oscarito told Cyclingnews after getting the victory. "The race was hard, it was better for me. I'm happy to score the team's first victory of the year after joining Katusha".

Greipel eventually crossed the finish-line 7 minutes after Freire, together with many other riders.

Martin Kohler was very happy to be back in the leader jersey, whereas Michael Matthews claimed that he wanted to get the ochre jersey for himself on the following day. "The jersey I want is Ochre," he told Cyclingnews after the stage. "I'll try to get it tomorrow. It's unfortunate that I missed it today by only two seconds. Not having the jersey today takes a lot of pressure off you but it's also better to be ahead of everyone else."

The 5th stage of TDU led the riders from McLaren Vale to the Old Willunga Hill and had a uphill finish. The breakaway du jour was formed by O'Grady, Miyazawa, Haas, De Gendt, Fenn and Goddaert. Going into the final 75 kms Lotto, Radioshack and BMC tried to create some echelons. Matthew Lloyd and other 30 riders lost contact from the main peloton, but they managed to get back on the leader group after some kms. In the meanwhile, the breakawayers's advantage was getting smaller and smaller as a consequence of BMC, Movistar and GreenEdge's hard work at the front. As soon as the first climb up to Willunga hill began, Garmin's Haas said goodbye to his breakaway companions and launched a solo attack. He was the first rider to get on the top of the climb, followed by De Gendt and by Rohan Dennis, who sealed himself the King of the Mountain Classification by topping the climb in the third position.

With 20 kms to go, Voigt and Rojas started working hard at the front of the bunch. That caused the end of Haas' lonely and brave adventure at the front and reduced the number of riders in the main bunch to 20. These twenty riders were Dennis, Machado, Madrazo, Gerrans, Bakelandts, Rogers, Valverde, Boasson Hagen, Gutierrez, Pate, B. Sulzberger, Matthews, Kohler, Rojas, Ballan, Thomas, Moreno, Bauer, Ciolek and Gerdemann.

At the bottom of the final climb Sulzberger punctured, whereas Dennis, Pate and Machado attacked. Movistar however soon closed the gap between those riders and Valverde and did the same when Michael Rogers attacked. Simon Gerrans was the following rider to launch an attack and this time only Valverde could resist the Aussie. The Spaniard eventually outsprinted the GE rider, who received the ochre jersey as consolation prize for not winning the stage. "It’s such a big deal for GreenEdge to take the lead into the last stage in their first world tour outing so I’m thrilled and really rapt with the whole team’s performance, they have really supported me all week so I really can’t thank the guys enough", Gerrans told Cyclingnews after the stage.

Valverde was very happy too after the stage and, just like Gerrans, he thanked his teammates for their hard work. "My team has been perfect today. I couldn't have won without them. It's a really emotional moment for me. This win is for all those who have supported me during my time off the bike. The stage suited me", he said in an interview to Cyclingnews. "We put the team at the front, and to finish it off - it's a perfect comeback for me". Alejandro seems to be as fast and as strong  as he was back in 2008 and I'm sure that not many riders welcomed the news of his victory with joy. After all, we shouldn't forget that Valverde has been one of the strongest Classic riders of the last few years...

The last stage of the TDU took place in Adelaide and was just 90 kms long. The day started with a very particular situation, since Gerrans and Valverde were 1st 'ex aequo' in the GC. Still, the ochre jersey was on the Australian's shoulders because of the number of placements he had collected during the race.
As soon as the last stage began, a very big breakaway was created by B. Sulzberger, McCarthy, Durbridge, C. Meyer, Maaskant, Hansen, Lagutin, Hayman, Izagirre, Trentin, Cimolai, Van Avermaet, Cimolai, Voigt, Bonnet and Jorgensen. Unfortunately for GreenEdge, this break was soon caught by the peloton, led by Rabobank. Before of the second intermediate sprint Bakelandts, Sicard and Cameron Meyer formed another breakaway and this time they managed to stay clear from the peloton for a while. Sicard and Bakelandts eventually gave up with 6 kms to go, whereas C. Meyer launched a solo attack with 4 kms to go. Still, Lotto, Lampre and Liquigas weren't going to let Meyer win and they pulled hard in order to catch him.  The stage winner was decided by a bunch sprint once again, and once again the stage winner was André Greipel, who outsprinted Renshaw and Petacchi. Gerrans eventually won the overall classification.


So, this was my little resume of the Australian races that took place in the last few days. Unfortunately I could just read the race reports on the newspapers and on some websites, so I apologise if there are any mistakes in my post. Moreover, if you haven't had enough about Australia yet, I suggest you two interesting links:
- on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gallery-riders-get-the-chance-to-meet-adelaides-other-locals you can find a selection of photographs showing some riders playing with kangaroos and koalas before the beginning of TDU.
- on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wouter-mol-on-his-2012-tour-down-under-as-the-obscure-pro instead you have a very funnny story about Wouter Mol's TDU. In fact it seems that this yar Wouter was adopted by many Australian supporters, who decided to keep a special eye on him and even gave him some presents.

That's really all for the moment, folks. Have a good evening!

The 2012 season is beginning: list of the ProTour teams with their rosters and their kits

Ladies and gentlemen, the off-season officially ends in 24 hours time (or less) and me still hasn't written that famous 'pronounciation post' I had promised you months ago. Oh, anger. Unfortunately me is pretty busy at the moment, since on Wednesday I'll face my first university exam ever. And guess what? Yes, it's a Russian exam. And yes, I'm getting crazy working on it. The other day I spent two hours crawling (yes, crawling) in the university bibliotheque, looking for a book about the topic of the exam (why all the Russian books have to be on the lowest shelfs?). Teacher had said that it would have helped us to understand the topic of the exam, but unfortunately it just helped to get even more confused. Oh, panic.

By the way, I've decided to take a break from studying, so here I am, looking for news about the cycling world. Recent articles say that Contador's TAS sentence has been postponed again, that Frank Schleck might race the Giro and that Acqua&Sapone guys are mad at Giro's new director because he didn't give them a wildcard. My 50 cents about these facts? First, I just hope the Contador's case will come to an end soon. And yes, I hope Alberto will be cleared. In fact, what would happen if he was banned? In my opinion, that would be just a terrible bad blow for cycling. Instead, if Alberto was cleared, we could just stop talking about that case and start discussing something else. Oh, and talking about Conti's case: Becca has recently suggested that Riis had his team camp held in Israeli because one of the judges who will decide Contador's fate actually comes from there. Fascinating theory, isn't it?

On to the Schleck/Giro telenovela, I do think that Frank has the skills to win the Giro. However, I also think that Jakob Fuglsang (who's been preparing the Corsa Rosa since last year) would probably go nuts if he was told that in May he'll have to work as a helper for Frankie... Actually, Jakob has already expressed his discontent with the team situation in some interviews and I think his feelings are completely understandable. Still, I don't think the Dane has to worry about Frankie racing the Giro. After all this time, in fact, I've finally understood that the brothers consider the Italian race just as a 'consolation prize' (copyright by Figgy ;)) for those who are unable to win the Tour. After all, better go to California and make the sponsors happy rather than win a useless race like the Italian one.

On to the Giro's wild cards, I really do not understand Acquarone's choices. In fact, I would have given wild cards to Colnago, Androni, Farnese Vini and I would have chosen Acqua & Sapone over Team NetApp. This latter team has a really interesting project, I know, but I think it's evident that its riders aren't actually as strong (or, at least, as famous) as Acqua&Sapone's Garzelli and Betancur. Acquarone said that he didn't give a wild card to A&S because he wanted to give a prize to the young German team, which seems to care a lot about the Corsa Rosa. Still, I think that sport is sport, and that people should just pay attention to the cyclists's values when it comes to inviting them at races. Poor Garzelli (who won the Giro a few years ago) wanted to end his career during the 2012 Giro, but now he'll have to choose whether to continue for another year or to end his career during another race. Personally, I think Stefano would have deserved a bit more respect and consideration, given all the emotions he gave to the supporters in the last few years.

Anyway. After giving my 50 cents about these matters, let's talk a bit about the teams that will surely take part in every important race of 2012: the ProTour teams. Since I haven't blogged at all during the last week, here's a long post featuring a description of every team of the 2012 proTour. Enjoy!

AG2R: The French team has a good roster, just like last year. Although Cyril Dessel stopped racing and Le Lay and Champion changed team, during the winter Ag2r signed some good riders like the Italian sprinter Manuel Belletti and the Frenchman Jimmy Casper. Moreover the team gave a contract to the neopro Berard and to some less known guys, like Gazvoda, Zargari and Shpilevsky. As well as those riders, the 2012 roster of the team includes Bérard, Bonnafond, Bouet, Cherel, Dupont, Elmiger, Gadret, Gastauer, Georges, Goddaert, Hinault, Houanard, Kadri, Krivstov, Lemarchand, Minard, Mondory, Montaguti, Nocentini, Peràud, Perget, Ravard, Riblon and Roche. 

Although the French team is often underestimated, I think it has the right skills to surprise the supporters throughout the year. Gadret is an exceptional climber and perhaps he could give la Vuelta a go. Also Dupont and Roche are very good GC riders, whereas guys like Riblon and Casper know what it takes to win GT stages. Moreover the roster features talented guys like Elmiger, Cherel, Gastauer, Kadri and an expert rider like Nocentini, who wore the yellow jersey for many days during 2009 TdF.

 As far as the 2012 kit is concerned, it is the same as last year's one.

BMC:  Bmc is probably one of the strongest team of the 2012 ProTour and, in my opinion, it is surely the most complete one. During the off season the team lost Kristoff, Kroon, Louder, Beyer, Murphy, Barton, Butler and Zahner, but it signed some other promising guys. As far as the North Classics are concerned, BMC can count on Thor Hushovd, Alessandro Ballan, George Hincapie, Manuel Quinziato and Mark Burghardt. Talking about the Ardenne Classics instead the BMC roster includes His Majesty Philippe Gilbert, Greg Van Avermaet, Mathias Frank and good all rounders like Santambrogio and Santaromita. As far as GTs are concerned, instead, BMC can count on Evans, who is one of the biggest favourites for the 2012 Tour de France. Moreover, BMC has an interesting rider like Taylor Phinney and some great time trialists like Van Garderen, Pinotti and Bookwalter. The team also includes fast guys like Blythe and Cummings, all rounders like Lodewyck, Morabito and Schaer, young guns like Roe, Wyss, Eijssen and Kohler and more experienced riders like Moinard. In my opinion, on paper this is the best team of 2012.

As far as the 2012 kit is concerned, it is very similar to 2011 one, as you can see in this pic by Pinotti: http://twitpic.com/81p5bw .

EUSKALTEL EUSKADI: The Basque team is ready to rock the climbs also this year, after a very successful 2011. De Larrea, Castroviejo, Aramendia changed teams, while Sesma and Isasi retired. Their places on the team were taken by good old Astarloza (who is back after his ban), Cobedo, Garcia Ambroa and Saez de Arregi. The team is as good as usual and it's ready to give it all on the GT climbs. In fact this year Anton and Nieve have a favourable parcours in the Vuelta, whereas Samuel Sanchez could try his luck at the Tour (don't forget that he was 4th there a few years ago).

The team also features guys like Azanza, Bilbao, Cabedo, Cazaux, Izagirre, Landa, Martinez de Esteban, Minguez, Oroz, Perez Lezaun, Perez Moreno, Urtasun, Velasco, Verdugo, Txurruka and the promising Sicard.

Of course the 2012 kit is the same as it was in 2011, in 2010, in 2009, in 2008, in 2007 and so on ;)

FDJ: The French team lost Meersman and Sulzberger, but it signed Veikkanen, Rasch, Boucher and the neopros Ellissonde and Demare. I'll surely keep an eye on this latter rider, because he was the winner of the 2011 U23 Worlds in Copenhagen. As far as the other riders are concerned, FDJ's roster includes talented guys like Offredo (who last year did very well in the Classics) and Jeannesson (who lost the TdF white jersey on Alpe d'Huez). Moreover the team features Roy (who doesn't remember his breakaways during the 2011 TdF?), Pinot, Pineau, Roux, Bonnet, Boucher, Bouhanni, Chainel, Courteille, Ellissonde, Gerard, Ladahnous, Mourey, Rollin, Soupe and Vaugrenard. Also Vichot and Delage are on the team, just like the experienced Guesdon (who won the 1997 Paris-Roubaix), Geslin as well as the fast Hutarovich. Another important rider on the roster is 'The Nose of France', mr. Fedrigo. I missed him during last year TdF and I can't wait to see him racing in a GT again!

As for the kit, the 2012 one is almost identical to the 2011 one.

GARMIN CERVELO: Garmin lost some important riders during the off-season, especially because most of the Aussies on the team decided to sign a contract for Green EDGE. Still, the biggest name to leave the team was Hushovd, who decided to sign for BMC. However Garmin was very active on the market and signed a lot of interesting guys. While Bobridge, the Meyer brothers, Wilson, Hushovd, Lancaster, Dean and Rasch all left the team, Garmin decided to give a contract to LT/Radioshack's former riders Wegmann, Rosseler and Hunter. Moreover it signed Fernandez, Howes, Rathe, Haas, Bauer, Kreder, Dekker and Alex Rasmussen, who had been fired by HTC last year.

Garmin is as good as usual as it still has some very good riders. As far as sprints are concerned, we have Farrar, Fischer, Rasmussen, Haussler (which hopefully will overcome all the problems he's had in the last years!) and Hunter. As far as TTs are concerned, instead, the team features guys like Danielson, Rosseler, Millar, Talansky (keep an eye on him this year!) and Zabriskie. The team also has some good climbers like Daniel Martin, Le Mevel and Vanmarcke (I expect good things from him), young guns like Stetina and Navardauskas and some good Classic riders like Vansummeren and Maaskant. Garmin also decided a second chance to Thomas Dekker (who was one of the most promising young riders back in 2007) and has on its roster good all rounders like Danielson, Howes, Bauer, Klier, Kreder and Rathe, as well as a GC rider like Vande Velde.

As for the kit (http://www.slipstreamsports.com/), it is NOT the same as 2011, as it is white and covered in argyle patterns (team Sky and the rest of Cycledom thank the Garmin designers for making their lives easier during the 2012 season).

GREEN EDGE: This team is the biggest news of the 2012 season. Green Edge has some excellent Australia) sprinters like Goss (winner of 2011 Sanremo), Bobridge, Cooke, Davis, Dean, Lancaster and the Meyer brothers. The team also features Beppu and good old Robbie McEwen, as well as Daryl Impey, who is back at a top level after his awful crash at 2010 (or was it 2009?) Tour of Turkey. As far as the Classics are concerned, Green Edge is ready to rock the cobbles together with the young Keukeleire and Langeveld and the experienced O'Grady. As far as the GTs are concerned, we have talented guys like Weening, Sulzberger, Vaitkus, Wilson and Gerrans, the famous 'climbing sprinter'.

 The team also signed Mouris, Kruopis, Teklehaimanot, Albasini, Docker, S. Clarke, the good time trialist Tuft, HTC's Howard and two exceptional neo pros, Michael Hepburn and Luke Durbridge. Don't tell anyone, but I'll bee rooting a lot for Michael this year!! 

As for the kit, you can see it on http://procyclingtv.com/first-look-greenedges-cycling-kit-for-2012/ :)

KATUSHA: After talking about the Australian national team, let's talk about the Russian national team. My future employers, ehm, sorry, the Katusha guys have improved their roster a lot during the off-season and this year they're likely to get their best results ever. Although Pozzato, Karpets, Vanderbergh, Hoste, Ovechkin, Trusov, Mironov, Pliuschin and Arguelyes left the team and Ivanov (winner of 2010 Amstel) retired, the Russians have signed a few great riders this winter. Who? Well, first of all there is Freire, a guy who's won a few important races in the last 10 years. Then they signed Menchov, who this year is one of the TdF favourites. Moreover they gave a contract to Vicioso (winner of the 3rd stage of the 2011 Giro), Florencio, Kritskiy, Tsatevich, Belkov and Haller. Katusha also signed the neo pro Selig (who already got a pro victory during his stagiaire period at Leopard Trek), Lampre's Spilak and the promising Smukulis. As well as those new riders, the 2012 team roster features some good all rounders like Brutt, Caruso, Horrach, Ignatenko, Isaichev, Kuschinskiy, Losada, Porsev, Trofimov, Vantomme and Vorganov, who will give a big hand to the team leaders during the GTs. Moreover, the Russian team can count on the promising sprinter Galimzyanov, on the experienced Paolini and Ignatiev and on a great climber like Rodriguez.

As for the 2012 kit, it is almost completely red and it doesn't featured the skyline of Moscow anymore. Here's a pic of it: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/katusha-announces-new-kit-sponsors (ps: why didn't they take a pic of Menchov rather than of Freire?!?)

LAMPRE: The Italian team during the winter break has lost Gavazzi, Kasheckin, Spilak, Kondrut and Balloni, whereas Loosli retired. On the other hand, this team signed interesting guys like the young Cimolai, the brave Stortoni, the neopros Anacona and Graziato, the good sprinter Viganò, the talented climber Possoni and the good old Matthew Lloyd, who was second during the Australian National Championships. As far as the rest of the roster is concerned, Lampre features some great sprinters (and lead out guys) like Petacchi (of course), Hondo, Bole, Bono, Marzano, Mori and Spezialetti. Moreover the team can count on all rounders like Bertagnolli, Buts, Kvachuk and Righi and on a talented guy like Ulissi.

The Italian team also includes Cunego (who last year showed some very good things), Niemiec (please, let him go for the GC in the Vuelta!) and Scarponi, who still hasn't decided whether he'll race the Giro or the Tour. Moreover, the Italian team features Adriano Malori, a very promising Italian time trialist.

As for the kits, it is the same as 2011.

LIQUIGAS: The green team (yes, the kit is the same as in 2011) has a very talented roster also this year. After losing Cimolai, Guarnieri and Ponzi, Liquigas signed two very good neo pros (Agostini and Moser), the promising Sarmiento, the fast Ratto and the young Canuti. The 2012 roster features also some good all rounders like Agnoli, Agostini, Bodnar, Da Dalto, King, Longo Borghini and the experienced Vanotti. The team also has a great sprinter like Viviani, an exceptional helper like Szmyd and some very young and talented guys: Peter Sagan (don't forget that he was born in 1990!) and his brother, Nerz, Paterski, Koren, Marangoni and Capecchi (winner of a stage during the 2011 Giro). As for the GTs, Liquigas has Basso and Nibali. Ivan will go for the Giro, whereas Nibali still hasn't decided his schedule. The team also features a good time trialist like Duggan and a good climber like Salerno.

LOTTO BELISOL: Lotto lost a lot of strong guys during the winter, given that Bakelandts, Gilbert, Blythe, Lodewyck, Voucher, Veikkanen and Vandousselare left the team and Aerts retired. Still, the team managers decide to invest on the young riders and signed 4 neo pros: Van der Sande, Bulgac, D. Vanendert and Cordeel. The team also signed Billie, Vangenechten, Henderson, Bak, Meersman, Sohrabi, Van Leijen and Robert.

The 2012 team is formed by lots of good all rounders and by some very talented climbers. As for the sprints, the team will be able to count on Greipel, Hansen, Henderson, Roelandts and Sieberg. Moreover the team will be able to count on all rounders like Bak, Debusschere, Deahaes, Dockx, Kaisen, Lang, Neyens, Reyens, Vandewalle and Willems. Moreover, Lotto has kept some of the most talented climbers of the former Omega Pharma Lotto. In fact Lotto Belisol features in its roster Bart De Clerq (winner of a stage at 2011 Giro), De Greef, Van Den Broeck  and Jelle Vanendert (winner of a stage at the Tour). Don't underestimate this team when it comes to winning mountain stages at the GTs! You can see their kit on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lotto-belisol-releases-more-2012-kit-pictures .

MOVISTAR TEAM: Movistar has great expectations on the 2012 season and it can count on a very competitive roster. Although it lost Garcia Acosta (who retired), Perez Sanchez and Pasamontes, in fact, during the winter the Spanish team signed Vuelta winner Cobo, Italian eternal promise Visconti and the 2009 Vuelta winner Valverde. Alejandro was one of the best and complete Classic riders before his ban, will he still be competitive after all those months? Let's hope so. The team this winter also signed Herrada, Bazan, the promising Castroviejo, Quintana and Karpets. Movistar can count on a competitive GT team, given that its roster includes climbers like Amador, Arroyo, Bruseghin, Erviti, Intxausti and the above mentioned Valverde and Cobo. The Spanish team also features Pardilla, Plaza Molina and a fast all rounder like Ventoso. Moreover it features a very good time trialist (Konovalovas), a wonderful (I can't think of any better adjective to describe him) rider like Kiryenka, a good sprinters like Rojas Gil and a super strong all rounder like Lastras. Moreover the team features interesting all rounders like Samoilau, Costa, Gutierrez, Herrada, Iriarte, Madrazo, Moreno Bazan, Plaza Molina and Sanz.

As for the kits, you can see it here: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10800/Photo-gallery-Riders-show-off-2012-Movistar-and-Team-Sky-kit.aspx . Btw, can I say that I don't like the Italian national jersey at all? The traditional one is better!

OMEGA-PHARMA QUICKSTEP (not to confound with Lotto Belisol): OPQ has a very interesting line up, which is a good mixture of good old Quick Step and good old Omega.  This winter the team lost De Maar, Seeldrayers, Malacarne, Engels (who retired), Reda, Robert, Van Impe, Cappelle and Tratnik, but it signed some very good riders like neo pro Trentin (one of the strongest Italian neos).

As for the Classics, OPQ can count on Tom Boonen and Chavanel. As for the sprints, OPQ can count on Ciolek, Steegmans and Chicchi, whereas the team will be very competitive during the TTTs thanks to guys like the Velits twins, Grabsch, Rabon, the Velits twins, Leipheimer and Toni Martin. As for the GTs, OPQ can count on Leipheimer, Cataldo, Toni Martin and on one of the Velits twins (I can't remember which one :P) who, in my opinion, are likely to do very well at the Tour.  As for the rest of the team, it is formed by excellent all rounders like Terpstra, Brammeier, Bandiera, Fenn, Devenyns, Golas, Pineau (winner of a stage during the 2008 Giro), De Weert, Devenyns, Kwiatowski (who is a very promising rider), Pauwels, Vandenbergh, Vandewalle, Van Keirsbulck, Vermote, Maes, Golas and Zdenek Stybar. You can see the team kit on http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/ . Why does it remind me of Leopard Trek's one?

ASTANA: Astana was very active during the winter and it signed some very good young riders. On the other hand, it lost Di Gregorio, Clarke, Vaitkus, Davis, Stangelj and Lorenzetto (those two latter riders actually retired).

As far as the sprints are concerned, this year Astana can count on Gavazzi, Guarnieri and Bozic. As for the Classics, the Kazakh team will rely on the eternal Vinokourov, on Gasparotto and on Maksim Iglinskiy. Still, this team will have its best line up during the Grand Tours. In fact Astana roster includes lots of young promising guys like Brajkovic, Kiserlovski, Masciarelli, Kreuziger and some older guys like Vino and Kasheckin. Moreover the team includes excellent climbers like Seeldrayers, Silin and Kessiakoff and a great helper like Tiralongo. The rest of the team is former by good all rounders like Bazayev, Dyachenko, Fofonov, Grivko, Gruzdev, Kangert, V. Iglinskiy, Murayev, Nepomnyachsniy, Renev, Zeits and Petrov (who won l'Aquila stage of 2010 Giro).

The kit is the same as usual.

RABOBANK: This winter Rabobank lost Weening, Langeveld and Freire, but it gave a contract to Mark Renshaw and to two promising young guns, Bol and Keldermann. The 2012 roster is very good, as it features good sprinters like Boom, Bos, Brown, Renshaw, Matthews and Breschel. I really can't wait to see what Renshaw, Matthews and Breschel will do this year, so I'll keep an eye on them throughout the season. The team also includes promising GT riders like Gesink, Kruijswijk and Mollema and some great stage winners like Luis Leon Sanchez. Moreover the team includes very good all rounders like Barredo, Clement, Flens, Garate, Leezer, Martens, Niermann, Tjallingii, Van Emden, Van Winde, Verneltfoot and Wynants.

The kit is the same as 2011.

SAXO BANK: Saxo Bank let Cooke, Porte, Didier, Larsson, Steensen and Bellis go and I'm very sorry about all these departures. On the other hand, it signed Juul Jensen (who's already attracted the attention of many fangirls ;)) , Paulinho, Pires, Lund, Margaliot, Kroon, Vinther, Miyazawa and Cantwell.

The team features some very talented young riders like Boaro, Juul Jensen, Majka, Marycz (can't wait to see him at the Giro!), Pires and Tanner. Moreover it features two sprinters (los Haedos) and lots of great all rounders, which will support Contador throughout the season. Amongst them we have Gustov, Hernandez, Lund, Navarro, Noval, Tosatto, Paulinho and Nicki Sorensen. As for the Classics, Nuyens will try to rock the cobbles again together with Klostergaard, whereas Kroon and Chris Sorensen will do their best in the Ardennes.

As far as the kit is concerned, you can see it here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/gallery-saxo-bank-show-off-2012-team-kit/201063 . I really like it, even I don't really love the eagles. Still, theybrought a lot of good luck last year, so I can understand why they didn't delete them from the jerseys ;)

SKY: During the winter Gerrans, Henderson, Cummings, Augustyn, Possoni, Downing and Pauwels changed team, whereas Arvesen, Cioni and Carlstrom retired. On the other hand, Sky gave a contract to the neo pro Puccio, to Siutsou, to Henao, Rowe, Porte, Pate and, dulcis in fundo, Eisel and Cavendish.

As for the sprints, this year Sky can count on the World champion, on Eisel, Dowsett, Appollonio, Stannard, Sutton, Swift, Hayman and Hunt. During the GTs instead it will be able to count on Wiggins, which will be supported by great climbers like Froome, Henao, Lovkvist and Uran and by excellent all rounders like Barry, Zandio, Rogers and Porte, who could also try his luck at the Giro. Moreover Sky can count on Thomas, Flecha and Boasson Hagen for the Classics and on some talented time trialists for the TTTs (amongst them we have Pate). Other talented all rounders are Knees, Kennaugh and Rowe.

The kit is the same as usual.

VACANSOLEIL: 2010 cycling market wasn't very good with Vacansoleil, as both Mosquera and Riccò were soon fired. Still, this year the Dutch team gave a contract to some very good guys like supporter's hero Van Hummel, the talented Denifl and Valls, the former SB rider Larsson and the former LT Mortensen. Moreover Vacansoleil signed Boeckmans, Lindeman, Markus, Marczynski, Morajko, Novikov and Van Impe, whereas it lost Golas, Mouris, Bozic, Belkov, Van Leijen and Gardeyn.

 The 2012 roster includes strong Classic riders like Leukemans, Devolder, De Gendt, Poels and Westra, Carrara, De Gendt, Lagutin, Marcato and Hoogerland. Moreover the team can count on Roman Feillu and Pim Lighthart's sprinting skills and on other talented guys like Veuchelen, Selvaggi, Pavarin and Keizer.

The kit hasn't been officially unveiled yet.

So, that's all for the moment (and, probably, for the rest of the week). Let's ready to the start of the season folks!

PS: I'm having troubles with answering comments, so I'll try doing it tomorrow. Apologies!

2012 Cycling Season: Radioshack Nissan Trek Presentation + 2012 Calendar:

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2012 cycling season is ready to start - or, better, it has already started for some riders, like the surprising 17 year-old Caleb Ewan, who has recently won the second stage of Jayco Bay Cycling Classic ahead of a tough guy like Allan Davis.

While someone has already resumed racing, for some other teams it is still 'presentation time' - and yes, I'm talking about Radioshack Nissan Trek. In this random post me offers you some useless thoughts about this team and a list of races we can look forward to in 2012. Enjoy!

1. RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK (or what else it is called) ROSTER + NEW KITS:

Exactly one year ago, me was a thrilled Italian supporter who couldn't stop thinking about the launch of team Leopard Trek. Although the project never really hooked me, after the team presentation I decided to give Becca's boys a chance. All the secrecy surrounding the new team had annoyed me, just like the whole 'we're the best team of the world' propaganda. Still, as I already said, after the team presentation I felt much happier about that new team and I was really looking forward to the first races of the season. Unfortunately, Leopard Trek turned out to be a very good team, but with some fatal flaws: Cancellara for example didn't have anyone to help him in the North Classics, whereas the tactics of the team  seemed a bit, well, 'strange' on a few important occasions. 

During its first year of life in the world of Cycledom, Leopard Trek had just one important result: the Tour of Lombardy, in which the surprising Swiss Oliver Zaugg took the first victory of his career. As far as the other results, we have a second place in Sanremo, a second place in Flanders, a second place in Roubaix, a second and a third place in Liége, a second and a third place at the Tour, a third place in the TT Worlds in Copenhagen. Many other teams would love to have a season like that, but unfortunately mr. Becca (and the supporters) weren't satisfied. So what did the Luxembourgian businessman decide to do? Simple: he had his team melted with RadioShack, he had Bruyneel as new ds and he created a brand new team. Said team, just like Leopard Trek last year, is considered one of the strongest teams of 2012. Still, will the Schleck brothers manage to win any race this year? Will Cancellara take back his crown of TT World King? Will Kloden and the good old Lance's boys get good results too? These are just some of the questions to which the 2012 cycling season will bring some answers.

In the meanwhile, Becca's boys have presented their new jerseys, which are a fusion of LT and Radioshack's old kits. Judging from the kits, it seems that this year there will be about 26 Luxembourgian national champions in the peloton - seriously, do you think that a short-sighted supporter like me will really be able to tell Frank Schleck's jersey from the ones of his teammates? If you do, well, I must thank you for your esteem, but I really have to tell you that you're overestimating my sight-skills. However, apart from the little '30 Luxembourgian champions in just one peloton' problem, I think we can say that the designers at team LT did a decent job. The shorts are black (*sighs of relief coming from all over Cycledom*), the jerseys have maintained a stripe of LT's famous light blue (yes, girls, now it's official: we won't have to throw away our blue nail polishes and, most importat, we can keepon sporting them at races!!) and they've added just a very little stripe with Radioshack's colours on. After all, things could have been much worse.

On to more serious things, let's talk about team Radioshack's roster. As far as sprints are concerned, the Luxembourgish team can count on Daniele Bennati (will he manage to have a crash-free season? We hope so!), Hayden Roulston and the German champion Robert Wagner. The boys for the North Classics are Cancellara (of course), Hermans, Monfort, Rast and Posthuma. As far as the Ardenne's Classics are concerned, everyone's attention will be on the Schleck brothers, who will surely be helped by strong guys like Didier, Fuglsang, Gerdemann, Popovych and Voigt.
Talking about the Classics, I hope Oliver Zaugg will be able to go for himself on a few occasions this year. After his victory in Tour of Lombardy, the boy'd fully deserve it!

On to the other riders, we have climbers like Rohregger, Zubeldia and Machado, who last year came to the Giro with great hopes. As for the GC riders, as well as the Schleck brothers we have two tough guys like Horner and Kloden. Add the young Fuglsang and Machado, and you have a super strong team for the Grand Tours.

Talking about the rest of the roster, Irizar is a good rider who defeated cancer back in 2002 (more on: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/feb03/feb28news2) . Sergent is a very young time trialist who's already ahd good results. Other young riders are the fast Nizzolo, the promising Oliveira, the American road race champion Matthew Busche, the 23 year-old Ben King, the 24 year old Toni Gallopin and the neo-pro George Bennett. Talking about Bennett, you can check out his blog on http://georgebennettcycling.blogspot.com/ . Last but not least, Radioshack has also signed one of the best breakawayers out there, the young Jan Bakelandts. Great choice guys!

Still talking about team Rant, on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-maintains-tour-de-france-focus there's a lovely article in which Andy Schleck explains his 2012 goals. The key sentences of the article are the following ones: "I've been three times second in the Tour so I think it would be a step back in my career if I say 'I'm not going to win the Tour, so I'll try and win the Giro' .I want to win the Tour. I don't want to go back and start with the Giro and see if maybe I can go back and reach the level to win the Tour. If I never win the Tour, then maybe I might choose the Vuelta or the Giro one year, but for now the goal stays like it was last year. I want to go for the Tour and that's priority. The Giro is a beautiful race and so is the Vuelta. But nothing else for me in the whole world of cycling is the Tour de France and it never will be." In other words, Andy doesn't want to focus on any GT apart from the Tour, because for him no other race is as important as the French competition. Actually, mr. Schleck said that racing the Giro would be 'a step back in his career'. Luckily guys like Contador and Menchov don't see things in this way, otherwise their cvs could be much worse!

2012 CYCLING CALENDAR:Talking about calendars, however, let's forget team Radioshack for a while and let's focus on the 2012 cycling season. Here in fact you have a list of the most important/beautiful races of 2012. Enjoy!

January: the 2012 cycling season will officially take off on the 15th of January with the beginning of Tour Down Under. Many riders are already in Australia, ready to start the race, and amongst them we have Davide Viganò, who's ready to give it all for his new captain Alessandro Petacchi. Apropos: the Italian still hopes to be able to ride the 2012 Olympic race in London and is determined to win some Giro stages in front of Cavendish. We'll see some nice sprints this year!

Immediately after the end of Tour Down Under, a new race is ready to begin: I'm talking about Tour de San Luis, which will have a very good start list also this year. Moreover, in these days the roads of New Zealand are choosing the new national cycling champions of the country.  Allez Leopards! (yes, I know, that's an old-fashioned battle scream, but it had just begun to grow on me :P)
February: to the cycling supporter in me, February is probably one of the worst months of the year. After the excitement of the first races, in fact, we have a few competitions which me can't usually watch because of irrelevant things like school and so on. However, said competitions are the Tour of Qatar, which begins on the 5th of February and usually has a wonderful start list full of amazing sprinters, and the Tour of Oman. This year this latter race will include the Schleck brothers in its start list. Considering that last year the only mountain stage of the race was won by Gesink, perhaps we can hope to see the brothers getting good results. Other February races are le Tour de Langwaki (where Guardini last year got some amazing victories), Giro di Sardegna (which I really love), Het Nieuwsblad, Trofeo Laigueglia and Gp Costa degli Etruschi.
March: Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen: March is the cycling month, no doubts about that. The cycling season ends its warm up with Eroica, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, then it definitely takes off with Milan-Sanremo. Last year 'La Primavera' (one of my 2 favourite Classics) was simply wonderful, with Goss taking a great victory and Scarponi racing at his best. This year we're likely to see a different Classicissima, since Cavendish has already said he wants to win it. Still, he'll have to beat lots of tough guys in order to get the victory ;)
After 'la Primavera', the calendar continues with E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Harelbeke, which is the appetizer of the North Classics: right after that race in fact we'll have Gent-Wevelgem, one of the most fascinating races of the year.
April: April is a holy month for cycling supporters and this year it begins with fireworks: on the 1st of April in fact Nick Nuyens will be fighting to win his second Tour de Flanders and show that his 2011 victory wasn't just a matter of luck. Amongst his adversaries there will be the usual known faces: Cancellara, Hoste, Gilbert, Chavanel, Hushovd, Devolder... Will Boonen and Pozzato reach their top form too? Time will tell. A week after Flanders, Paris-Roubaix will offer a one-way ticket to history to a lucky rider: who will receive the cobblestone-prize one year after Van Summeren?
As the cobblestone riders will fight against each other in the north of Europe, the climbers will be battling in Vuelta al Paìs Vasco, which begins on the 2nd of April. Thirteen days later they'll race Amstel Gold Race and they'll try to beat the unstoppable Philippe Gilbert. And remember, this year AGR is like a general proof of the Worlds race: don't forget that the 2012 World champion will be decided by the Cauberg!
Right after AGR, the climbers will face Fleche Wallonne and Liége, the Queen of the Ardenne's Classics: will Valverde be back at his top level after 2 yearsof ban? Will the Schleck brothers manage to improve their 2011 result? And will Phil Gil win again near to his home? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in about 4 months time :)
May: As known, May is the Giro-month. This year the Italian race is less difficult than usual, but it includes some terrible stages anyway. Amazing, isn't it? However, as usual, don't expect too many good riders to arrive in Italy in May: after all, the money of Tour de Gila and Tour of California will be calling!
June: This year June is a very rich month. As well as the Tour appetizers (Tour de Suisse and Dauphine Libére), this year the Tour de France itself begins in June. Hopefully that will bring good luck to a certain Luxembourgian rider born in June 1985... :P
July: Look out, look out, dear readers! This year July offers us the Tour of Poland, the Tour de France and, surprise surprise, the Olympic road race! This time the scenery is London and the parcours is for sprinters: will Cav manage to win the olympic title less than one year after winning the Worlds? Will Petacchi be allowed to race? Will Freire end his career after winning the Olympics? Or will a breakaway surprise us all?
August: Given the amount of hours that we'll spend watching cycling races in July, August offers us a whole week of rest from super important races. Then, on the 6th of August we have Eneco Tour starting, whereas a week later we have la Clasica de San Sebastian. Sea, heat, riders who will be tired because of the Tour and the Olympics... After la Clasica, we'll remain in Spain for la Vuelta: in 2011 the Spanish GT was extremely exciting and I'm sure things will be the same also this year. The month ends with GP Plouay and the Hamburg Classic.
September: The last month of the season, unfortunately, is already here. It takes off with the Canadian races (Québec and Montreal), it continues with the Worlds in Valkenburg (will Phil Gil win?) and it will end with the Giro di Lombardia. And guess what? The Schlecks may even decide to race it!
October: The 10th month of the year will offer us Tour of Beiing as well as the wonderful Paris-Tours (which now inheritates the title of 'race of the falling leaves' from Lombardia) and some Italian races like Giro dell'Emilia. Then, it will be time to talk about 2013 ;)

So, this is a quick resume of what is waiting for us behind the corner. I'll obviously do my best to follow all the best races on television and I'll also try my best to go watching a few races live. So far I think I'll go just to one/two stages of the Giro, to Tour of Lombardy and perhaps to Milan-Sanremo and Giro dell'Emilia. Still, it's a long way to October and last year taught me not to plan anything too early. So, let's just daydream about the upcoming season - and hopefully we'll find ourself sitting on a climb in September, waiting for the riders to ride past us, before we can even realise it.