Random Post about Random Things:

Ladies and gentlemen, the last two weeks have been full of interesting things, both in the world of cycling and in my offline life. For example, me passed her IT exam and her Russian exam and had to face two earthquakes in three days, whereas Contador got two victories and Basso got married. Anyway, let's go in order.

Let's start this post by talking about the uninteresting thing: me. Last Thursday, at 9.06 am, I was woken up by the noise produced by my bedroom door, which was shaking. At first I thought my cat was trying to open it, but then I realised that also my bed was shaking, therefore I understood that my cat had nothing to do with what was going on. Here's the faithful reproduction of what went through my mind during those seconds: 'Uhm, the bed is shaking, as well as the door, so I suppose we're having an earthquake. Shall I get up and find shelter under my table desk? Naah, this earthquake doesn't seem so dangerous right now. If it gets more violent, I'll get under that table. Otherwise, I'll just stay here. Geez, stupid earthquake, you're not allowing me to sleep as long as I'd like to!!' Yes, these were my thoughts during those 10 seconds - and yes, I'm much better than Joyce at using the 'streams of consciousness' technique.

About 48 hours later, however, we had our 'Earthquake, take 2' special show. I had just come home after my IT exam and, while walking down the corridor in my house, I heard that the door of the shower was shaking. Still, the lights in the bathroom were off. So I screamed to my sister: 'Hey, what are you doing in the bathroom?' Surprisingly, my sister appeared behind me and told me: 'I'm not in the bathroom'. Less than a second later, she screamed: 'What the f**k?', whereas my mum yelled: 'Earthquake'  and I went: 'Geez, again!'. Luckily this earthquake didn't last long and didn't cause damages either. As soon as it ended, sister said she wished the earthquake had destroyed her school, whereas I started laughing while thinking about my poor best friend, who was facing her IT exam in that very same moment. In the evening I phoned her and she told me that taking that exam 'was a weird experience. The computer screen started shaking, just like the lights and the windows. Still, I remained calm and kept on doing the exercises. We had just 30 minutes to do them all and I wasn't going to fail the exam just because of a stupid earthquake'. Nice way to see things, isn't it?

However. Whereas last week was the 'earthquake festival' here in the North of Italy, this week instead has been a true 'snow festival' in the whole country. The funny thing is that the schools here in Bergamo didn't close, because 'the roads inside and outside the city are perfectly clean, so there's no danger for the students who must take the bus to get to their schools. The only dangerous area is the one around **** (aka miss Fede's village), since the main road there is already covered in ice '. How. Lucky. However, luckily in these days I don't have to go to university, so right now I'm enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, drinking a lot of hot chocolate and hoping that the roads in the Upper City won't be covered in ice when university starts again. The Upper City of Bergamo in fact is full of uphill and downhill little roads, which can become extremely slippery when it rains. Considering this fact, I really don't want to think about how slippery the roads there can get when they're covered in ice.

Anyway, enough about me: let's now talk cycling. I have many different things to tell you about, so let's start immediately.

First of all: the 27th of January was the 'Memory day', aka the day of the year dedicated to the memory of the poor people who died in the Nazist lagers during World War II. Perhaps you don't know it, but one of the people who saved the lives of many Jewish during the war was a cyclist, a certain Gino Bartali. Between 1943 and 1944 in fact the Italian cyclist rode his bike from Florence to Assisi (380 kms) on about 40 occasions. During those 'trainings' he wore a jersey with his name on it, so that people  could recognise him. Even the German soldiers would  recognise him and they often stopped him in order to ask him some cycling-related questions. Bartali used to answer and, then, he continued his long journeys. Luckily no one ever controlled his bike, since the TdF winner used to hide false identity cards and false passports under its saddle and inside the handlebars. Then, when he reached Assisi, Bartali gave the false identity cards to the nuns of a local convent, which took them to Jewish people who, thanks to those false IDs, could safely travel to the South of Italy, which at the time was already controlled by the Allies. Thanks to Bartali's journeys, about 800 people could be saved. As well as travelling to Assisi, Bartali often travelled also to Genova, where an international fund raising organisation used to give him some money for the Jewish Community of Florence. Moreover, when the Nazists first reached Florence, Bartali hid 4 Jewish people inside his house. A true hero, on and off the bike, that's for sure (read more here ).

After telling you this story, which I considered very important, let's start talking about Tour de San Luis, cyclo-cross and more.

First of all: the cyclo-cross World Championships in Koksijde. I could watch just the recaps of the race, so I can't describe you how it actually unfolded. Still, I know who the winners of the different categories were. The Junior Men Race was won by Mathieu Van der Poel (Netherlands) in front of Wout van Aert (Belgium) and Quentin Jauregui. The winner, Van Der Poel, comes from a very special family: his father Adrie in fact was cyclo-cross World champion sixteen years ago, whereas the father of his mother is (fasten your seatbelts) Raymond Poulidor.

The women race was won by Marianne Vos (what a surprise...), who ruled the race and crossed the finish-line 37" earlier than her teammate Van Den Brand and than the Belgian Cant.

During the men competition the Belgians eventually took revenge on the Dutches and took the first 7th positions in the race. The winner was Albert, second (with a delay of 24") was Peeters, third was Pauwels. First non-Belgian rider was Czech Radomir Simunek, 8th.

On to the Tour de San Luis, the first stage was won by Francesco Chicchi. The Italian sprinter was considered one of the possible Italian leaders for the Copenhagen Worlds, but last year he had a very disappointing season and didn't win any race. Luckily, this seems a much better year for the Omega Pharma rider, who outsprinted JJ Haedo and Richeze. While talking about the 1st stage of Tour de San Luis, a special mention goes to the hail and the rain that caused the riders to pull to the side of the road and seek shelter from the storm.

Also the second stage of the race was won by Francesco Chicchi. This time the Italian outsprinted his teammate Boonen and Jake Keough. "I was supposed to help Boonen's sprint in the end, seeing as that was what we had decided during the morning meeting," Chicchi told Cyclingnews. "I started the sprint with Jimmy Casper and Tom right on my wheel. About 300 meters from the finish line I looked behind me and I didn't see Tom anymore". Tommeke added: "With one kilometre to go I thought I'd lost the sprint. There was a little incident and I lost maybe 10 or 15 spots and Chicchi didn't see me. I came back to the front on Casper's wheel, then I was on Chicchi's wheel. He started the sprint, then I started my sprint, and in the last 50 metres we saw each other side-by-side. We both put our hands up, none of us jumped, and it was nice".

The third stage of the race had some climbs on its menu and its final winner was Alberto Contador, who outsprinted Leipheimer in order to get the victory on the top of Mirador del Potrero. Tour de San Luis' organisers had done their best to secure Alberto's presence in their race and the Spaniard paid him back in a great way.

Vincenzo Nibali, who finished in the top 10, was pretty angry after that stage. 'Contador says he has 7.5 kgs of extra weight to lose and that he's just started training, Leipheimer says he's just started training too. Am I the only fool who starts training hard already in the middle of the winter and then gets these results?', he asked a Gazzetta's journalist.

The 4th stage was a 19.5 kms long TT, which was won by Leipheimer. Second in the race was Nibali, 3rd was Stefan 'the doper' Schumacher. I usually give a second chance to every rider (Riccò included), but please don't ask me to do the same with Schumacher. Before being banned in 2008 in fact he had already resulted positive to the anti-doping at least twice, but on both these occasions he said that diarrhea had altered his blood-results and, surprisingly, judges believed him. I've always thought that this was simply ridicolous and, when Schumacher was eventually banned, I actually considered it a great relief. Now he's back, and I'm not happy about it. However.

On the following day the riders had to climb up to Mirador del Sol and Alberto Contador won once again. This time he outsprinted local rider Daniel Diaz and Leipheimer. Watching Leipheimer and Contador (who're both targeting the Tour) racing so well, so early in the season, me would like to compare them to some other riders I know way too well. Still, I know that that comparison would just make me angry, so I'll leave it to you, my dear readers. Alright, I know that right now Conti wants to show he doesn't need Spanish steaks to win races, but I think that the fact that both he and Leipheimer are already on such a good form is pretty impressive. Anyway.

The 5th stage of the race was won by Elia Viviani, who outpsrinted JJ Haedo and Guardini. Italy has a lot of faith in these two young sprinters, which are both very talented and have already achieved many victories. Actually, Gazzetta adores them so much that it can't stop praising them. Let's hope this won't put too much pressure on their shoulders!

The last stage of the race was won by Tom Boonen, who's determined to do well during this season. In an interview to la Gazzetta' the Belgian also said that he's just gone back living in Belgium. 'Lore (his girlfriend) told me she wanted to work in Belgium', Tommeke told the Italian newspaper, 'so we decided to move back there. If bad weather creates me problem, I'll simply go training in Spain'.

Second in the stage was Guardini, third was Richeze. Boonen's teammate Leipheimer won the GC ahead of Contador and Daniel Diaz.

Let's now talk about three little random news, just like I often do on this blog. First of all, Ivan Basso has recently married his wife Micaela with a religious ceremony (the couple had had his civil marriage already 11 years - and 3 sons - ago). The ceremony was very simple and it was attended by a few selected guests. Basso told a Varese newspaper that marrying Micaela 11 years ago was his biggest victory (*chorus of 'how sweet!!!' from all over the world*).

Second news, some of you may already know that Cadel Evans and his wife Chiara have recently adopted Robben, a little African boy. Talking to 'la Gazzetta' about this choice, Evans has said: 'Now everything is different. After training I don't stop for a cappuccino anymore, because I know that Robben is home with Chiara, waiting for me'. How sweet!

After this sweetness-immersion, something funny: Katusha's General Manager Hans-Michael Holczer has promised that, if Menchov wins the Tour de France, he'll walk all the way from Paris to Moscow (source: Cyclingnews). Perhaps I could join him, couldn't I? :P

Last but not least, a sad news: last week Mino Baracchi, creator of the 'Trofeo Baracchi', passed away in his hometown, Bergamo. The Trofeo Baracchi originally was an individual time trial race for amateurs, but from 1949 it became a two person team time trial race and it was open also to professionals. The last edition of the race was ran in 1991 and it was won by Toni Rominger. Amongst the champions who won this special race there were Fignon, Saronni, Moser, Hinault, Maertens, Gimondi, Petterson, Ocana, Mercx, Anquetil, Stablinsky, Motta, Baldini, Coppi, Magni and Defilippis. The race was Fausto Coppi and Eddy Mercx's last one and was won by Moser 5 times.