Vinokourov :D

Alright dear readers, just a few words about the Olympic cycling road race and about the opening ceremony (I'm in a great hurry, so I can't say a lot about them).

About the Opening Ceremony: I obviously loved the big Voldemort, the bike riders/doves, the music (Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Sir Paul McCartney, Queen, Sex Pistols, Who, Rolling Stones), the queen acting as Bond-girl, the amazing scenes related to the Industrial Revolution. I adored the team parade (some athletes wore exceptional typical clothes), Mohammed Ali's presence, Mr. Bean's show, the way they lit up the Olympic flame. On the other hand, I was very angry at Rogge for refusing to mention the dramatic Olympic Games of 1972. However, all in all, a very pleasant and funny ceremony.

Olimpic road race: Sky tried to control the race just like it tried to control the Tour, but this time things didn't go as planned. Cavendish didn't seem in great shape and the Germans, the Australians and the Belgians didn't really help the British team in the chase of the breakaways. The first breakaway was formed by interesting guys like Menchov or Pinotti, then Nibali attacked with a lot of kms to go and a big breakaway was formed. Great Britain seemed to believe that they could catch this breakaway again, but it didn't happen. Perhaps Wiggo & Co. overestimated their strength. Some riders (Nibali, Fuglsang, Van Garderen...) and some teams (Great Britain, Switzerland) put in some great performances, but in the end the victory went to one of the most intelligent guys in the peloton, aka Vinokourov. He and Uran attacked with 7 kms to go and then the Khazakhstan rider outsprinted the Colombian (slightly naive) climber in the final meters. 3rd was a good Kristoff (apropos, has anyone understood why Nordhaug attacked with about 20 kms to go?), 4th Phinney. Poor Cancellara crashed with a few kms to go and crossed the finish-line in tears.

During this race the riders couldn't use radios and therefore we could witness a few embarassing race strategies (Spain, I'm talking about you). Moreover, I got very angry when Eisel started helping Great Britain - as if Nibali had helped Sagan because they ride for the same team. Bleah!

Imo Great Britain made a mistake in letting so many riders go away. Also Germany however made a huge mistake by thinking the British could do everything on their own. Talking about Germany, I was surprised by the absence of Jens Voigt. How can you leave him home for such an important race?

Last but not least, a few words about Phinney: the boy ended in 4th (a good result), but perhaps he could have tried to launch an attack in the last kms of race. Still, Taylor is young and I'm sure he'll get a great result in the TT competition.

So, that's all for the moment - AAVL, it's party time!!! :D :D

Some thoughts about this TdF (plus little update about Vuelta)

Boring and predictable. These are the first words that come to my mind when I think about this year TdF. The parcours was probably designed by a monkey, especially if you consider that there were 100 kms against the clock and just 3 summit finishes. Moreover, this year the TdF organisers tried to insert new, unknown climbs in the parcours in order to make the race more exciting. And here I must say that, although I liked the Planche des Belles Filles climb, I didn't really love the ascent to Peyragudes (Peyresourde, 2 kms of descent, and 3 other kms uphill: not my kind of climb). Moreover, imo this Tour lacked of stages that could help grimpeurs to gain positions in the GC. For example, although the famous 'Tour of death' (Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde and 16 kms of descent to the finish-line in Pau) is part of the Tour history, it isn't that selective anymore; the infamous Mur de Peguere, a very steep climb, could have created some problems to Wiggins, but it was placed 40 kms far from the finish-line; during the Porrentruy stage then there were about 16 kms of descent between the last not-that-steep climb and the finish-line; during the stage to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine instead le Col du Grand Colombiere was faced with 40 kms to go. Launching an attack there, when Wiggins still had Porte, Rogers and Froome to rely on, would have been a tactical suicide for everyone. And whereas this Tour lacked of exciting, important climbs, it had a lot of kms against the clock. And, unfortunately for the already damaged grimpeurs, the two long TTs of the race were both completely flat, so that they perfectly suited specialists like Bradley Wiggins.

Much have already been said about this year parcours. Still, me would really like to know why the TdF organisers decided to create such a shameful route. In the last few years Proudhomme & Co. have taken some very patriotic decisions (for example, a few years ago they excluded Denis Menchov and Geox from the race in order to invite Saur-Sojasun), but this year good old ASO created a parcours that, at least on paper, seriously damaged the two promises of French cycling, aka Pinot and Rolland. The two young riders were strong enough to get good victories anyway and to arrive in the top 10, but me wonders what would have happened if this year the parcours had featured less kms against the clock and more steep climbs. To give you an idea of the importance that the TTs had this year, Gazzetta's journalists have made a few calculations and have discovered the following thing: Nibali (3rd in Paris with a delay of 6'09" from Wiggins) lost 6 minutes during the TTs, and 9" on the climbs. Nice, isn't it?

After talking about the parcours, however, let's talk a bit about the race itself. Or, better, let's talk about the riders who kept the race under control for 3 long weeks. Wiggo arrived in Liége with the role of favourite pinned on him and an amazing team on his side. Froome, Rogers, Porte... each of them could have been a captain in any other team of the world. The one who suffered most from this situation was poor Mark Cavendish: the world champion (who had to work even on the mountains to help his captain) had just one man (Eisel) that could help him during the chaotic sprints of the Grande Boucle. Nevertheless, Cav managed to win three stages anyway. In particular, I think that his triumph in Brive-La-Gaillarde was one of his most beautiful victories. As for the final stage in Paris, Cavendish won it for the 4th time in a row after having had the honour of seeing the yellow jersey working in his lead-out train. Still, on that day I was very impressed by Sagan: that boy could be a very serious threat to Cav even in London.

Back to team Sky, the fact that all the riders on the team just seemed to care about the GC often favoured the riders who wanted to go on a breakaway. And in fact this year there were many, many stages that were won by riders who survived a breakaway and on many occasions the peloton crossed the finish-line with about 10 minutes of delay from the daily winner. Luckily the fight for the stage victories were often very exciting and that was probably the most interesting thing of the race.

Still talking about Team Sky, let me spend a few words on Christopher Froome. The boy is strong, no doubts about that, and if he had raced for another team perhaps he would have won this Tour. Many got angry at him during the Peyragudes stage, when he kind of 'humiliated' Wiggins by trying to show that his climbing skills were better than Bradley's ones. Imo Froome on that occasion lacked of respect towards Wiggo, but all in all I think that, after the amazing work he did for his captain, Chris should be forgiven without problems. There aren't so many strong loyal helpers out there!!

Talking about the GC riders not belonging to team Sky, Vincenzo Nibali rode a very good race. Italian journalists have counted a total of 5 attacks to Wiggins during this race and 4 of them were launched by the Liquigas rider. Nibali is a very good and generous rider and I was very happy to see him on the final podium in Paris. Still, I'm not quire sure he can repeat this result next year, with Contador and Schleck racing as well.

Another very generous rider during this race was poor Vandenbroeck, who lost a few minutes in the GC because of the infamous Metz carnage. His team, Lotto, was very good especially at helping Greipel in getting victories. Talking about the German, I think he's a very good sprinter indeed. Still, he never really had a head-to-head fight with Cavendish and this explains the few doubts I still have about his strength.

5th in the GC (and first in the white jersey classification) was Teejay Van Garderen. The American helped Cadel Evans during the first two weeks of race, but then he could eventually race for himself - and that's the result. Van Garderen has always been one of the most talented GT riders around and this year he clearly proved what he's capable of. Give him a couple of years and imo you'll see him on the  Tour podium in Paris.

Talking about BMC, the American team began the race with one goal: helping Evans to win another Grande Boucle. Still, the Australian had a very difficult third week and in the end the best team rider was Van Garderen. I don't know what went wrong with Evans: perhaps, just like Basso, Menchov and many other riders, he's simply entered the last part of his long and successful career. Nevertheless, he ended the race in 7th.

6th in the final GC was Haimar Zubeldia,who has recently revealed that during the first part of the season he suffered heart problems. Now he's finally recovered and this 6th place definitely proves it.

8th in the race (in spite of all the kms against the clock) was Pierre Rolland. The Frenchman was probably hardly insulted by his colleague during the famous tacks-stage, but his Tour was very good anyway. The Europcar rider in fact managed to win the stage to La Toussuire (imo the hardest one of the race) and got a top 10 placement in the final GC. And this in spite of losing 11 minutes from Wiggins just because of the TTs. Chapeau Pierre!

9th in the GC was Janez Brajkovic. A good Tour for the Astana rider, who however never showed up in the battles for stage victories.

10th was an exceptional Pinot. The FDJ rider (who is just 22 years old) managed to win the Porrentruy stage and arrive in the top 10 in spite of the many TTs that risked to favour Andreas Kloeden, who seriously threated Thibaut's placement in the top 10. Still, the young French rider managed to get the 10th place in front of the experienced rider - and he did all this in his first Tour de France. Amazing, isn't it?

11th in the GC was Andreas Kloeden - now, let me spend a few words about Radioshack's Tour. I don't know how, but this time managed to win the final Team Classification during the race. Actually, one could realise that this was their only goal already in the first week, when Frank Schleck crashed in Metz and no one waited for him 'coz we fuckin' want the team prize, man!'. Radioshack surely had a very talented team (Jens Voigt was simply superb this year), but the boys seemed to fight against each other for the whole 3 weeks of race. Imo, someone in the team (the ds and the management) should seriously rethink their priorities. A serious cycling team racing the TdF in fact should probably try and get as many stage victories as possible, not try to get the first place in the team classification. Moreover, a serious cycling team racing the TdF should probably try to have a rider on the final podium of the race. Instead Radioshack decided to leave Fuglsang at home in order to take a tired American (Horner) in Europe for a three week holiday in France. Anyway. Imo the most positive riders on the team were Zubeldia, Voigt and Cancellara. In particular, the Swiss saved Shack's race by winning the first stage and giving them the 'we've already kept the yellow jersey for a week, we can be satisfied with this' excuse. Therefore, Radioshack guys should be really grateful to Fabian.

Talking about the other race prizes, the green jersey went to Peter Sagan. I've already talked a lot about the amazing talent of this boy and I don't have anything to add to what has already been said and written about him. Peter's a champion, that's all we can say.

Let's now talk a bit about the polka dots jersey. I actually have no words to describe how grateful I am to Thomas Voeckler for amusing me with his wonderful facial expressions during many of the boring days of this Tour. I really like T-Blanc, although every time he outsprinted poor Kessiakoff on the climbs I felt unbelievably sorry for the Swedish rider. However, Voeckler did an amazing job this year and I think he really deserved the polka dots jersey. Thomas is becoming a hero for the French and I can perfectly understand why. I'm sure that when he retires, someone will build him a statue on the Champs.

After talking about the polka dots jersey, let me spend a few words on the combativity award. You all know that Chris Anker Sorensen has always been one of the favourite riders of mine - and during this Tour he reminded me why I like him so much. Chris tried to enter in every single breakaway, just like his teammate Morkov and many other riders (LL Sanchez, Vinokourov, Voeckler, Voigt...). And he was in a breakaway when, during the Peyragudes stage, he cut his finger in a very deep way while trying to take a newspaper out of his wheel. In spite of the pain and of the blood that kept on spilling out of the cut, Chris managed to end the stage in 24th and went on racing until he reached the Champs Elysées. There he could climb on the podium to receive the combativity award. Once he received the prize, Chris gave a long, moving stare at the Arc de Triomphe. When he first became a pro, I remember he said he would have liked to win the polka dots jersey in the Tour. This year he didn't make it, but he managed to step on the Paris podium anyway. Well done Chris!

As for the other breakaway riders, I think a special mention must go to Vinokourov, LL Sanchez, Morkov, Devenyns, Rui Costa and some other riders I've probably forgotten. One of the riders that managed to get a stage victory was Fedrigo, one of the best riders at reading race strategies. Also Valverde managed to survive a breakaway and get a great and moving victory on Peyragudes.

Back to the GC, a little mention goes to Nicholas Roche. I really like this rider because his blog is one of the funniest thing I've ever read, but imo the boy should make a choice: during a GT, is it better to chase a big stage victory or a top 10 placement? It's a difficult question, but I think Nicholas should try to answer it if he wants to become a better rider.

So, this is just part of what I'd like to say about this Tour de France. Still, I don't have much time to blog in these days and it'd take me forever to write down all my thoughts about the last few stages, about guys like Vansummeren racing on despite a broken vertebra, about guys like Basso helping their captains, about guys like Menchov (my Menchov!!) apparently facing the last part of his long and successful career. As I said, unfortunately, I don't have enough time to write.

The Tour is finally over and Wiggo (who was the strongest time trialist, had the strongest team and had no rivals on the climbs) won the race. He showed that this year, on this parcours, he was the strongest rider and deserved to win. Still, I think that next year we'll probably be able to understand more about the value of his victory. Now that the Tour is over, Wiggo, Cav and most of the Tour riders are heading to Lodon for the Olympic Games. Still, in my mind I still have the feeling that the final stage to Paris left me. Although this was a boring Tour, although the parcours sucked, although none of the Schlecks ended it, after the curtains fell on the biggest race of the world I felt lost, and I started to await next Tour de France. Because, all in all, the Tour is the Tour, aka one of the races every cycling follower loves the most.

Bye to everyone and enjoy the Olympics! (apropos, Go Italy!!)

VUELTA UPDATE: Andy Schleck won't race nor the Vuelta, now the Tour of Lombardy. On the other hand, he'll take part in important events such as Tour of Colorado and Tour of Beijing - which, in case you don't know it, have always played a very important role in the cycling history. Alright, end of the little update - now I'm off to burn the Schleck poster I have on my wardrobe. Have a good weekend everyone and enjoy the opening ceremony at the Olympics!

What do you think

Yesterday was definitely a quite day. I met up with my friends in the evening and, after buying an ice cream, we decided to sit down on a bench and talk. We talked about university, about holidays, about annoying relatives and more. We didn't talk about cycling, no. Actually, we never talk about cycling because, every time I say something about this topic, friends look at me and nod their heads, but they don't understand a word of what I say. Therefore, I always avoid speaking about cycling with them. In a certain way, this is an unwritten rule of our little team.

I came back home at midnight and I decided to play with my Playstation for a while. I was there, looking at the tv screen and trying to get over that damned level when, all of a sudden, my sister came in and read me a sms that a friend of her had just sent her. 'They've found Schleck positive at the anti-doping. What do you think?'

My sister read the message a second time and looked at me, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately for her, I hadn't understood the full meaning of the sms yet. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping'. A simple sentence, if you look at it. A subject, a verb, a completement. Still, sometimes certain simple sentences are the most difficult to understand.

My sister's friend didn't ask her a question, no. He abandoned her with a short statement, with no details, with this thunder, powerful and unexpected in the cool summer night, to deal with. After reading me the sms for a third time, my sister looks at me and still waits for answer. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping. What do you think?' I would like to tell her that right now I can't actually think. I keep looking at my tv, pretending this is just a joke and trying to remain calm. 'Keep calm and play Playstation!', Logic tells me. She doesn't have to ignore Fangirl because Fangirl is speechless, although deep down she's screaming for explanations, for an answer to all her questions and also to that other question, the one my sister asked me. What do I think - yes, I'd definitely love to have the answer to that question too.

My sister later tells me that Frank resulted positive to a diuretic. I try not to look worried - after all, I'm not the screaming Fangirl I was a few years ago - and I actually manage to. I feel calm, the news hasn't quite sunk in yet. I wait, I keep on playing Playstation.

About 20 minutes later, my sister goes to bed. I keep on playing, I can't get over this level and I wonder why. Perhaps it's because I'm not focused, perhaps it's because I'm thinking about something else. Or perhaps it's because I'm simply not good enough.

By the time I stop playing it's already 2.20 am. Before going to bed, however, I turn on the tv and watch the latest sport news. And there I see that sentence one again. 'Frank Schleck resulted positive at the anti-doping'. I open Televideo (a strange thing that allows you to have a sort of newspaper on your tv) and I see that strange combination of words once again. I read the article under the headline, hoping to find out more about what happened. There are a few details in it, but you can clearly see that also the person who wrote the article didn't expect this thunder to ruin their day. You see the name of the diuretic and you tell yourself that, since you've never heard it, perhaps there has been a mistake in the analysis; perhaps the B sample will be different from the A sample. You think about this fact, you read that name again. As usual, it is one of those names that people can't easily learn. 'Who decides the names for those things?', you wonder yourself. Still, you know that that is the least important question that's running through your mind at the moment. You go on reading, you see that Frank has withdrawn from the Tour. You compare his attitude to the one of other riders and you smile inside. 'That's my boy', Fangirl whispers with an invisible shade of pride in her voice.

You go to bed, you still can't believe what has happened. On the following day you wake up and discover further details. You read Radioshack's statement according to which 'the team has a policy of transparency as far as doping is concerned' and you can't help but laugh. You think about Bruyneel's past, you think about Frank's past, you think about Bjarne Riis and you see him wondering what happened to his boy; you think about the forum supporters who, from today, will claim that 'they never really liked those Schlecks', because it's known that what happens to Frank has consequences also on Andy and viceversa; and you think about yourself, about your feelings. Surprisingly, you don't feel shocked and you don't feel angry. You feel suspended, as in a dream.

You read that Frank denies having taken a diuretic and you believe him. Still, an annoying voice in the back of your mind reminds you that also Riccò, Piepoli and many others 'had no idea' of how CERA and other horrifying substances had managed to end up in their blood. You look for some information about diuretics but, as soon as you read things like 'NaCl', 'potassius' and so on you close the webpage and go back to your thoughts. The annoying voice in the back of your mind reminds you that this is the worst year ever for the Schleck brothers. 'If Frank has taken diuretic and has had such bad results, what did he take during last year Tour, when he arrived 3rd?' You hear this voice in the back of your mind and you try to suffocate it, while you almost feel ashamed by your own thoughts. You think about Fuentes and you send also that thought away from your mind. All in all, you can't believe that your favourite rider has really doped and this leaves you in a state of confusion. You've seen other supporters facing this before and they all looked angry, betrayed, sad. Instead, you just feel indifferent and this makes you feel strange and unreal. What's wrong with you?

You see your parents, they go to work. They're both cycling lovers, they're both looking forward to today's mountain stage at the Tour. They don't know that the daily broadcast is going to start with a doping-news and you don't feel like warning them. You want to avoid their questions, while trying to understand how you feel about this whole thing. You look for answers, you find illusions and doubts. You feel confused and silly because you don't, you can't believe that your favourite rider has doped, but there's nothing to support your belief.

You read Cyclingnews' live coverage of the race and it starts with the news of Frank's positive test. You read that Shack's bus was surrounded by journalists this morning and you see certain images in your mind. The images of Riccò, of Vinokourov, of Di Luca. Unfortunately, this time you can't simply join the screaming crowd and point your finger at the dirty rider, because the dirty rider in question is someone you've always believed in, is one of the two people who got you into this sport. Now, unfortunately, everything seems much more real. You read statetements about the case, you read the opinions of journalists and you try avoiding cycling forums. Then, you find a statement by Jens Voigt, who's been a friend and a colleague of Schleck over the last 7 years. "It's not easy but we'll wait for the B sample and for what Frankie has to say. After all it's many years that I've said he's a good friend of mine. Friendship goes not only in the sunshine but also when it rains. I still believe in him". In Voigt's words I've finally found my own thoughts about this case.
I've been a supporter of Frank for the last 5 years and, although I often criticised him and his brother, I can't help but believe in him. That's not rational, that's not clever. Call me stupid - or, more simply, call me a supporter. I don't care anyway.

TdF stages and more:

Ok dear readers, miss Fede is back blogging after a few days of break and really has a lot to tell. Therefiore, let's begin immediately.

First of all, a little news about team RANT: it looks like Jakob Fuglsang has sued Radioshack for unpaid wages. Unfortunately this is only one of the many negative episodes that have involved Jakob and Radioshack's ds/management in the last few months. For example, Fuglsang (who right now is in a very good shape) was excluded from this year TDF team at the very last moment, so that his place on the team could be taken by Horner, one of Bruyneel's favourite riders. Now, everyone knows that Schleck and Horner are very good climbers, but that they're not that good at racing against the clock; and at the same time, everyone knows that Kloeden (another rider that Bruyneel adores) is good at time trialing, but isn't that good at climbing. Now, Jakob is a good climber and a very ood time trialist - why did Radioshack leave him at home then? Mistery.
The Danish rider has recently managed to take a little revenge on RANT's ds by winning Tour of Austria and showing the world that some people on his team probably don't know what they're doing. Still, something bad was about to happen to him: a few days ago in fact Radioshack's ds Bruyneel stated that Jakob wouldn't take part in any other World Tour race from here to the end of the season. Why? Simple: if Jakob takes part in these races and gets good results, he'll earn UCI points; considering that Fuglsang wants to leave Radioshack at the end of the season, this means that he will bring these UCI points to his new team. As a consequence, Bruyneel stated that it is completely normal to leave the Danish out of the most important races for the rest of the season, because he doesn't want Jakob to bring UCI points to the rivals of team RANT. Now, I've always hated the ProTour system, Bruyneel and Radioshack/Leopard Trek, so I may be a bit impartial while writing these lines: but still, what the hell lies in the head of team RANT's ds? A dead hamster? Seriously, I can't believe that someone who has such an important role in professional cycling can be so mean to the sport he's supposed to love. If everyone shared Bruyneel's same idea, Andy Schleck wouldn't have won the 2010 Tour de France, Gilbert wouldn't have won the Ardennes Classics last year, Hushovd wouldn't have raced last year Tour. Seriously, all I wish right now is that Jakob goes back to Saxo Bank as soon as possible and that Bruyneel soon gets a lifetime ban from cycling. Luckily, it looks like this latter thing is about happen (and it was high time!).

After talking about Fuglsang's problems with Radioshack, let's talk about the Tour de France.
On Monday the riders faced a very important stage, a 41.5 kms long TT in Besançon. I don't really love time trials, probably because none of the GT riders I support is very good at them. Still, some TTs manage to bore me and annoy me much more than others - and Besançon's stage definitely bored me and annoyed me more than many other TTs. Actually, it didn't just bore me and annoy me: it managed to bring me really, really down. 'Why?', some of you may ask me. 'What happened on that day?' Well, simple: the Sky duo Wiggins-Froome rocked the stage and the yellow jersey gained half a minute on Froomie, almost a minute on Cancellara, 1'43" on Evans, 2'07" on Nibali, 2'08" on Menchov, about 4' on Schleck.
Now, when a GT rider loses so much time in a TT they're usually unhappy, but they know that they'll have the chance of reducing the gap from their rivals on the climbs. Moreover, if I were a grimpeur, after a TT like Besançon's one I would probably be very relieved by the lack of other long time trials in the rest of the GT I'm racing. Unfortunately, this year Tour doesn't feature any super hard mountain stage and, most important, at the end of the third week there is another TT, which is 53 kms long (!!) and will probably give Wiggo at least other 2 minutes of advantage on his strongest adversaries. Now, tell me how a guy like Schleck or Van Den Broeck can decide to attack with the thought of this other TT waiting for him just behind the corner. Seriously, this year I have even more respect than usual for the riders who are trying to attack the yellow jersey although they're not good time trialists. Van Den Broeck, Evans, Nibali & Co. chapeau to you all.

After the Besançon TT, the riders faced a stage which featured the Col du Grand Colombiere with 40 kms to go and a 3rd category climb with 20 kms to go. Many riders tried to go on a breakaway and in the end the ones who managed to break clear from the peloton were Voeckler, Duracell's rabbit Jens Voigt (who's almost 41), LL Sanchez, Devenyns and Scarponi. With 2 kms to go Devenyns tried to attack, but the stage's victory was decided by an uphill sprint in which Voeckler outsprinted Scarponi and Voigt. I really like Voeckler, so I was happy for his victory, but deep down Fangirl would have preferred a victory by Scarponi or by Voigt (although the thought of Bruyneel rejoicing makes her a little sick).

As for the GC, nothing changed on the road to Bellegard-sur-Valserine. Nibali tried to attack on the descent down le Grand Colombiere and met Sagan on the following climb. Together they gained a minute on the yellow jersey group, but unfortunately their action was eventually neutralised. I've often heard people saying that 'it's the riders who make races exciting, not the parcours'. Well, so far in this Tour Nibali, Evans and Van Den Broeck have often tried to create problems to Wiggins, but imo this year route doesn't give them a lot of chances to overcome Sky's invincible armada. Still, chapeau for trying.

The following stage was so far one of the most exciting of this Tour. During it the riders faced la Madeleine, la Croix de Fer (I love the name of this climb!!), Col du Mollard and La Toussuire. As predictable, many riders decided to go on a breakaway and amongst them there was also Chris Anker Sorensen (yay!), who won the Toussuire stage at 2008 Dauphine. Together with him there were tough guys like Rolland, Kern (who did an amazing work for his younger teammate), Kiryenka, Valverde, Kiserlovski, Leipheimer, P. Velits, Kessiakoff (who absolutely wanted to take the polka dots jersey away from Voeckler), Leipheimer and Scarponi. Talking about the polka dots jersey, on la Croiz de Fer there was a sprint between Kessiakoff and Rolland in order to take the points for the jersey. Rolland won, but both he and the Swedish rider risked to crash during that duel.

As the breakaway was riding towards La Toussuire, things began to change in the GC group. First of all, Menchov got dropped and lost 13'. This was a shattering news to this Fangirl, especially because the Italian chronist said it with a completely nonchalant voice, as if he was saying that once upon a time he had a stomach-ache. Menchov was very disappointed after the finish-line, especially because he didn't expect this debacle. Still, that's the way things go in cycling: one day you feel strong, the following day you have problems riding your bike to the finish-line. Hopefully the Silent Russian will manage to get a good result before the end of the race.

On la Croix de Fer also Zubeldia and Schleck got dropped and the way this happened made me a bit suspicious. Here's what I saw: Zubeldia and Schleck were struggling at the bottom of the main group (pulled by Sky), then Haimar gave up and Schleck imitated him. Still, Frank kept on looking at the Spaniard and seemed much more relaxed than him. And on the two following climbs, Frankie managed to stay with the strongest riders for a very long time. Logic reminds me that while I was watching that stage I was also putting my nail-polish on, having a shower, ironing clothes, talking on the phone and doing many other things (I had to go out with a friend that evening), but Fangirl thinks Schleck was stopped in order to help Zubeldia. Is Fangirl completely crazy? "Ai posteri l'ardua sentenza" - or, better, 'time (and perhaps also your comments) will tell'.

On the col du Glandon the breakaway members became just 4 (Rolland, Sorensen, Kiryenka and Kiserlovski), whereas Evans launched an attack with the help of Teejay Van Garderen. Still, Sky managed to control the race without problems. On the last climb, instead, things changed: as Rolland was slowly riding towards his second TdF victory, Van Den Broeck and Pinot attacked and were soon joined by Nibali, who decided to try his luck with 10 kms to go. Just a few riders could cope with Froome's hellish pace at the front of the peloton, but at a certain point Froomie seemed unable to continue pulling and Wiggo in person had to chase Nibali. A few seconds later, Froome began pulling for his captain again and, surprisingly, he dropped him. As soon as Froome reached Nibali, it looked as if he wanted to ride towards the finish-line together with the Italian, Pinot and Van Den Broeck. Still, Sky's ds immediately ordered him to stop and to wait for Wiggo. Froome listened to his chief and ended the stage in 3rd, 2" ahead of Van Den Broeck, Nibali and Wiggins. Second was an amazing Pinot, 7th a generous Sorensen. Evans crossed the finish-line together with Schleck and Van Garderen and suffered about a minute and a half of delay from Wiggins. Krivstov and Petacchi ended the race out of the time cut (the Italian rider heavily crashed during a descent), whereas Kenny Van Hummel was the last proud rider to cross the finish-line inside the time cut (allez Kenny!!). Cancellara didn't start the stage in order to be close to his wife for the birth of their second daughter. Sweet, isn't it? :)

The following stage to Annonay suited breakaways and, in fact, five men (Peraud, Millar, Gautier, Kiserlovski and Egoi Martinez) decided to try their luck. The stage winner was David Millar, the same rider who was banned for 2 years (from 2004 to 2006) after admitting doping. In spite of this, nowadays David is one of the most respected riders of the peloton. Once upon a time he won a few TTs against Lance Armstrong and was TT World Champion in Hamilton, but this was a long time ago. Now perhaps Millar isn't as famous and as 'strong' as then, but he's surely more honest and, most important, he's a clean rider.
After the finish-line the Scottish rider remembered poor Tom Simpson (who died exactly 45 years ago on that day) and talked about the doping situation in nowadays cycling. 'Two years ago, I wouldn't have liked my son to become a cyclist. Now things are different and I'd be happy if he took up this sport', he told Gazzetta.
I was happy for Millar's victory because I think that his life looks a bit like a fairy tale - and this victory was the icing on the cake. Moreover, I can't forget the nice way he behaved during the horrible first days of last year's Giro, when he wore the pink jersey and did all he could to honour poor Wouter Weylandt.

Second in the stage was Peraud, third Martinez, 4th Gautier. The peloton arrived with a 12 minutes delay.

Yesterday stage ended in Cap d'Agde and, although it featured a little steep wall with 23 kms to go, it was believed to suit sprinters. This little wall was inside the town of Seté (sorry if I've written it in the wrong way, but I'm too lazy to look for the correct spelling) and right on that climb the victory dreams of Michael Morkov (last survivor of the early breakaway) ended. Nevertheless, Michael was awarded with the combativity prize, which he dedicated to his late dad. Mister Morkov in fact died 5 years ago and his son decided to remember him with this very long breakaway and this award. Sweet, sweet boy! :')
As soon as the climb began, Morkov was caught and Evans and Van Den Broeck launched an attack which, although it didn't cause any problem to the Wiggins, reduced the number of riders in the yellow jersey group. Also Cavendish and Goss got dropped and this caused Sagan (who had got over the climb without big problems) to be very happy.
In the following kms there was a strong crosswind and some riders created echelons. Before that happened, however, there were some moments of indecision because the Sky riders didn't know what to do: pull and cut Cavendish out of the games or wait for him and the other riders? That was the question. Given his colleagues' doubts, Alexander Vinokourov (loud chorus of *awwwwwwh!!* coming from the members of the AAVL - Anonymous Association of Vino's Lovers - spread all over the world) decided to launch an attack together with Albasini. Vino's move was extremelly intelligent and exciting, but unfortunately two things didn't allow him and Albasini to reach the final meters of race on their own: firstly, the already mentioned crosswind; secondly, the fact that Greipel had managed to join Wiggo's group before the wind began. As a consequence, the speed in the peloton (led by Lotto's men) rapidly increased and Vino and Albasini had to say 'adieu' to their victory chances. Still, chapeau to the amazing Vinokourov.
With 2.5 kms to go LL Sanchez (mr. 'I win at least one TDF stage pro year') launched an attack, but he was soon recaught. Wiggins briefly worked as lead-out man for Boasson Hagen, but in the end the sprint was a battle between Sagan and Greipel. The German eventually took the victory, a thing that obviously made him very happy.
Talking about Sagan, on the day of Millar's victory he and Goss were at the center of a very discussed sprint. Goss in fact won the sprint for the green jersey points in front of Sagan, who stated he had been damaged by the Australian. Actually, Peter didn't release this statement through the journalists: he simply screamed what he thought while crossing the finish-line. 'What did he scream?', I hear you ask. Well, I'll just tell you that Peter shouted a very popular Italian insult, which is very well known worldwide and that Goss probably understood. Peter, are you sure you don't have any Italian ancestor? :P
Still talking about Sagan, it looks like some Liquigas riders were very happy to see him suffer during the stage to La Toussuire. 'He finally understood how we humans feel', an unidentified Liquigas rider told Italian tv.

As for today's stage, it featured a pretty hard and long wall called Mur de Peguere with about 40 kms to go (please don't get me started about this fact). Since today's stage seemed to suit breakaways, 5 men soon got a good gap on the group. They were Peter 'Saganator' Sagan, LL 'I want to win a stage!!' Sanchez, Philippe Gilbert, Izagirre and Sandy Casar. I really liked seeing these riders in a breakaway, because 1. Sanchez didn't retire from the Tour despite an injured wrist and is a very tough guy who deserves winning great stages 2. Gilbert showed he's up there too 3. in case you still haven't understood it, I'm in love with Sagan's racing style.
When the breakaway riders reached the last climb of the day, they had a 14 minutes gap on the peloton and this meant that they could go to the finish-line without problems. With about 12 kms to go, as Sagan was eating a tasty roll, LL Sanchez attacked and thanks to that move he could cross the finish-line alone. As usual, Luis dedicated this victory to his brother, who died in a motorbike accident some years ago.
As Luis was enjoying his well deserved victory, something very strange was going on in the peloton. As soon as the  Mur de Peguere began, Evans had attacked, but Wiggo and the Sky boys didn't have any problems in following him. At the top of the climb, a surprise: Evans had to stop because of a punctured wheel. Poor Van Garderen didn't realise what had happened to his captain and started the descent with the other riders, leaving Cadel alone on the top of the climb, cursing at him. About 2 minutes later, Cadel finally saw his teammate Cummings popping up in front of him. Evans told him to give him his rear wheel immediately, but Cummings couldn't - shockingly enough, he had punctured too. As a consequence, Evans had to wait another minute for a teammate to give him a wheel.
As the peloton started the descent, everyone understood that there was something wrong. In fact Rui Costa immediately punctured, just like Roche, Scarponi and other 27 (!!!) riders. During the descent Evans punctured other two times and even Wiggo had to stop and change wheel.
Given the situation, the yellow jersey group decided to slow down in order to wait for poor Evans and for the other riders who had punctured. Despite the group's decision, nevertheless, Pierre Rolland decided to launch an attack. At first nobody chased him, but then both Lotto and Liquigas began to pull hard at the front of the race. At the beginning of the stage in fact Nibali was 3rd in the GC, whereas Van Den Broeck was 5th. Given that Rolland was 8th and that in that moment he had a 2 minutes gap on the peloton, the other riders soon got angry at the Frenchman and started chasing him full gas, whereas Evans (4th in the GC) and his team were desperately trying to bridge across the yellow jersey peloton. Luckily for Cadel, after the Frenchman was caught the peloton decided to slow down again, so that he could get back in the GC contenders group without further problems. In spite of this, after the finish-line BMC ds criticised Liquigas and Lotto's attitude, whereas Evans was reported to be extremely unhappy with Van Garderen's behaviour. At the same time, Sagan called Rolland 'the black sheep of the peloton' - still, I'm sure that other riders had much more unpolite words for the Europcar young rider.
As well as those polemics between teams and riders, after the finish-line in Foix there was another topic that interested riders, supporters and journalists: the reason why so many riders had punctured on Mur de Peguereìs descent. Unfortunately, everyone's theory was soon confirmed by mr. Prudhomme himself: the punctures were caused by someone who had scattered tacks on the road before the arrive of the yellow jersey group.
Of course now everyone is looking for the asshole (right now I wish I knew English better, so that I could use a much worse insult) who made this horrible thing during the race, but unfortunately it will be very difficult to find this fool. In fact people who go to cycling races don't have to show their IDs to any authority, so they can't be identified. Moreover, it seems that no one noticed anyone doing strange things on the road in the minutes that passed between the arrival of Sagan's group and the one of the peloton. Still, I remember that French police once managed to find the man who shot on the peloton a few Tours ago, so I'm confident they will manage to find this criminal who threatened the lives and the careers of so many boys.
The one who probably had the worst consequences from this fact was Kiserlovski, who is reported to have broken his wrist because of a puncture. Still, what would have happened if someone had crashed and had ended up with a tack in their eyes, in their feet or in one of their legs? I saw the images of these 'tacks' on French tv and they don't actually look like drawing pins, but they remind me of true nails. Luckily no one got hurt too seriously.


So dear readers, that's all for the moment. I'm very tired right now, so I wish you a good night and a very good week and I'm off to bed - enjoy the Tour, everyone!

Pinot wins in Porrentruy and more:

To everyone's astonishment, miss Fede is back blogging less than 24 hours after publishing her last entry. Lovely, isn't it?

So, 8th stage of the race, from Belfort to the fascinating medieval town of Porrentruy. Talking about this town, I want to tell the world that I simply loved the big dinosaur placed on the roundabout that leads directly into the town. Given that I've recently turned 20 (aaaah, I'm so oooold!) and that my parents still haven't bought me a present, I've actually asked dad to buy me that dinosaur and put it in our back garden. His reaction to my idea? A simple 'we'll see'.

Today stage began with the last consequences of the Metz carnage: Froehlinger (broken finger) didn't start the stage, whereas Verdugo (deep cut on his leg) withdrew after a few kms. Unfortunately also another rider had to retire during today's stage. Samuel Sanchez in fact had a bad crash in the first part of the stage and is reported to have broken his collarbone. Poor Samu abandoned the race in tears and may be unable to take part in the Olympics. Poor, poor Samu!!

Talking about the parcours, today's menu offered the riders a day fulls of hills and descents. The most difficult climb was the last one (Col de la Croix), which was followed by a 16 kms long descent towards the finish-line.

Many people thought that today's stage perfectly suited a breakaway and that's why this afternoon the peloton was so full of 'wanna-be breakawayers'. Amongst those who could finally break clear from the peloton there were the Swedish climber Kessiakoff, the youngest boy of the race Thibaut Pinot (who was born in May 1990 and is even younger than Sagan and Phinney), my beloved Chris Anker Sorensen, Radioshack's Toni Gallopin and many others.

With about 30 kms to go, Kessiakoff said 'see you after the finish-line' to his breakaway companions, but some of them didn't agree with this. Pinot and Gallopin, in particular, began chasing the Astana rider in a very hard way. However on the last climb Gallopin (who had been virtual yellow jersey for a while) got dropped and Pinot reached Kessiakoff in the very last meters of Col dela Croix. At that point I felt very sorry for Fredrik (Miss Fede tends to feel a strong connection between herself and the riders who have a name similar to hers), but I still hoped that he could manage to get back on Pinot. Pinot who, by the way, lives in a village near Planche des Belles Filles - and guess who the mayor of that village is? Thibaut's father. Isn't that curious?

However. After riding past Kessiakoff, the young French rider rode full gas in the following 16 kms of downhill. For a moment it looked as if Kessiakoff was going to annihilate the gap between him and the FDJ rider, but then the Swedish rider risked to crash and had to say 'adieu' to his victory dreams. In the meanwhile the GC riders had started a tough battle in order to drop their direct adversaries. In particular, it was Omega-Pharma (Van Den Broeck and Vanendert's team) that tried to surprise everyone else in the hardest part of the last climb. At that point the yellow jersey group was already formed by a few riders and some more athletes got dropped because of Omega's attack. During the descent Nibali decided to accelerate, but no one lost contact.

With 3.5 kms to go Pinot had about 30" of advantage and his ds, Marc Madieu, looked very worried while supporting his rider. In fact during the last kms of race there was some headwind and the riders behind Thibaut were taking regular turns at the front in order to increase their advantage on their chasers. The guys who were following Pinot were Wiggins, Froome, Evans, Nibali, Zubeldia, Gallopin, Schleck, Van Den Broeck and Menchov. At the dinosaur roundabout, Van Den Broeck and Menchov took the shortest road and Jurgen decided to launch an attack. Shortly later also Evans decided to attack, but both these riders were eventually caught by the other members of the yellow jersey group.

In the meanwhile Thibaut Pinot finally crossed the finish-line solo, with his arms raised to the sky. The 22 years old rider looked very happy and so did his ds, Marc Madieu, who spent the last meters of the race hugging FDJ's mechanic and screaming compliments to his rider. FDJ has a long story in cycling and is one of the most combative teams of the peloton. Therefore, I was very glad to see Pinot getting this victory, the first one of a very promising career. Still talking about Pinot, as soon as he crossed the finish-line people started talking about his chances of becoming a GT contender. In particular, someone reminded everyone that Thibaut's just 22 years old and this made me think about the 2007 Giro d'Italia. On that occasion in fact a 21 year old rider, Andy Schleck, got the second spot of the podium in a very surprising way. At the time I was a novice to cycling, so I didn't fully understand the importance of Andy's result. And, actually, I think I realised how amazing this result was just this afternoon. Lots of things have happened since 2007, but none of us has forgotten that amazing, surprising rider from Luxembourg. Anyway, enough sentimentalism for now :P

When Pinot raised his arms to the sky, the strongest GC riders were approaching the finish-line. With about 200 meters to go, then, a very bad thing (at least in my opinion) happened: Radioshack's Toni Gallopin, in fact, launched a sprint and was soon followed by all the other GC riders. All the other GC riders except a certain Frank Schleck, aka Toni's captain, who because of this sprint lost 4" from his main GC contenders. Moreover, Toni even failed in his attempt to get the second place. Now, I understand that 4" aren't much, but I really disliked the way Toni behaved. Frank's already 3 minutes down in the GC, why making him lose other 4"? I know they are extremely unlikely to influence the eventual outcome of this race, but I don't think this attitude will do Frank's morale any good. Right now Radioshack seems a group of people put together by mistake, with ds unable (or unwilling?)  to take control of the situation and teammates who don't care at all about each other. Seriously, after today's stage I seriously regret good old Uncle Bjarne.

The GC after stage 8 says that first is Bradley Wiggins, second Cadel Evans, third Nibali, 4th Menchov. 5th is Zubeldia, 6th Froome, 7th Monfort, 8th Van Den Broeck, 9th Roche, 10th Taaramae. Frank Schleck is now 15th, 3'47" down in the general classification.

Tomorrow's stage is a 42 kms long time trial and this almost makes me wanna cry. Hopefully Frankie and Menchov won't lose too much time.

So, dear readers, that's all for the moment. Have a nice evening and a nice week, and see you tomorrow (at least I hope so)!

ps: I've recently surrendered to Pottermore. Is there any fellow Slytherin out there? :P

Tour de France's first week and more:

Alright, dear readers. I'm finally exam-free for the first time in two months, so I've been able to find a few minutes to update this little blog of mine. Before starting talking about the TdF, however, there are a few things I'd like to say.

First of all, I want to tell you that I won't publish any other post with my insights of the Giro. I'm very sorry about it, but in cycling there's a time for everything, and July is definitely the Tour time and not the Giro time. However, I hope I'll be able to write a post about me attending the Milan final stage soon.

Secondly, thanks to everyone who wished me good luck for my exams and asked me how they went. I received very good marks during them and, to say the truth, I'm actually  very proud of this :P

Thirdly, a big thanks to those who've kept on checking this blog even in the long days of silence between Andy Schleck's injury and today. Talking about this silence, I want to be honest with you and tell you how I feel about this blog. A few years ago, when I created it, I used to spend a lot of time working on it. It was a way to express myself, to talk about something I loved, to meet new amazing people. Still, this year things have changed as I don't have so much time for updating it anymore. I realised this already during the winter, when I also noticed that I didn't have the time to read other people's blogs either (and this really pissed me off, because part of the fun in blogging consists in reading others' blogs, leaving comments and having some very good laughs all together). However, I thought things would get better after the beginning of the cycling season. Unfortunately, the season began, but I didn't have enough free time for my blog anyway. As a consequence, in the last few weeks (in particular during the month of May) I even thought about putting the word 'end' to this webpage. During the exam period, in fact, I almost didn't have the time to watch the Giro, let alone writing about it on a blog lost in the Internet. During the stages I often noticed funny things about riders or about the race, and every day I would tell myself: 'Oh miss Fede, you must write about this, it's so funny!'. Still, I soon realised that Miss Fede (aka the blogging part of me) in those days wasn't very active. I would arrive at the end of the day with my head full of notions about syntax, Russian grammar, German ways of starting a formal letter and years and facts to remember for my history exam. In those evenings, I simply didn't have the time - or, worse, the will - to update this blog at all. So the days would go by, together with the stages, and before I could tell the Giro was over and I hadn't written a word about it. It wasn't nice, believe me. Especially because before creating this blog I used to write little comments about races on my personal diary, whereas in those busy days I couldn't update that diary either. 

Now, finally, those days are gone and I have more free time. Therefore, I'm back having fun with this webpage. However, I know that this period of calm won't last long, as I soon have to start studying for my next exam. That's why, dear readers, I've decided to tell you about how I feel about this blog. I love blogging and I don't want to give it up. Still, I want you to know that I'm sorry about not being able to update this blog more often and I want you to know that it's because of all these reasons that I can't keep my blog as updated as earlier. Moreover, from now my posts will probably be a bit shorter than usual.

Alright, after making these 3 things clear, we can start talking about the Tour. As far as the prologue is concerned, I saw just the last few riders racing because, surprise surprise, on that day I was studying like mad for my history exam (I made a big timing mistake with it , so that with just 3 days to go I still had lots of pages to study). Still, these were Logic's predictions right after the first stage of the Grande Boucle:
1. if things go on like this, Frank Schleck arrives in Paris with a 8 minutes delay
2. if things go on like this, Voeckler will become the most broadcasted face of the peloton of all times.
3. if things go on like this, this year Menchov gets on the podium.
4. if things go on like this, Cancellara can seriously enter the top 25 of the race.
5. if I go on like this, I'll pass my history exam next July.
The stage was won by Cancellara in front of Wiggins and a surprising Chavanel. Sagan risked to crash andafter the stage he was very angry with himself .

On the following day, la Grande Boucle faced a stage with a slightly uphill finale. The finale was extremely exciting and Sagan got an amazing victory in front of Cancellara. The Liquigas rider never took turns at the head of the race in the last 100 meters of the stage, leaving all the work to the yellow jersey. Sagan apologised for that right after the finish-line, whereas Fabian joked about it by saying that Peter owed him a good bottle of wine.

From the sportive point of view, Sunday was an important day for Italians, because our football team was competing against Spain in the finale of the European Championship. Interviewed about it by Italian tv, Samuel Sanchez said that we Italians were the favourite for the victory. Eventually, the final score of the game was 4 to 0 for Spain. Samu, I love you.

As for Sagan's strange way of rejoicing after the finish-line, at first Italian tv said he wanted to imitate Balotelli. Then the news arrived that Peter had tried imitating a chicken :P

Stage 3 was won by an amazing Cavendish, who outsprinted André 'Gorilla' Greipel. The two were big rivals when they rode for Columbia, but until this JulyCavendish had always seemed much stronger than the German. Still, Mark won the third stage of the race in a very narrow way, after that his team hadn't managed to create a good lead-out train. Lead-out train that, on the other hand, Lotto-Belisol formed in a perfect way. Still, the world champion managed to win the stage in a very classy style and in spite of the lack of a good lead-out train.

As for the 4th stage, it ended on a little climb. Too bad that before that little climb there was a little roundabout and poor Chavanel, who had attacked with about 4 kms to go, took the wrong road and lost all the time he had gained on the peloton. Also Valverde took the wrong road at the roundabout, whereas an unidentified Vacansoleil rider took the wrong road in the final sprint. Final sprint which, surprise surprise, was won by an amazing Peter Sagan, who this time rejoiced in 'Forrest Gump' style.
Two riders, Siutsou and Rojas, retired after a big crash. In particular, the Spaniard ended up in barbed wire, Johnny Hoogerland style. As for other crashes, I remind you all that Toni Martin, after all the bad luck he had in the first part of the year, is racing the Tour in spite of a broken scaphoid bone. Allez Toni!

The 5th stage of the Tour ended in Rouen, a very beautiful city. There was a big crash with 2.5 kms to go, which involved guys like Cavendish, Oss, Farrar and Eisel. Sagan miracoulously (is this a word? :P) managed to avoid the crash, just like a few other riders. Lotto Belisol organised a very good lead-out train and André Greipel won in an amazing way. The German proved to be to strong for Petacchi and Veelers, who rounded out the podium of the stage. After the finish-line, Petacchi said that he doesn't usually take risks anymore during the sprints, but that during the Tour he usually abandons his self-control because he knows that the French race is the biggest competition of the world. As for Veelers, he was a very good 3rd, especially if you consider that his team's official sprinter was Marcel Kittel, who's recently withdrawn from the race because of gastroenteritis.

As for the 2.5 kms to go crash, Nibali was involved in it too, although he didn't hit the ground. Still, he said he was pretty scared by it, because he didn't know whether he had already passed the '3 kms to go' banner or not.

Still talking about the crash, on Twitter I've read a funny comment about it (sorry, but I can't remember who wrote it). Eisel and Cavendish are pretty well known in the peloton because, every time someone causes a crash, they usually complain about it. Still, it looks like Wednesday's crash was caused by Eisel himself. In spite of this, as soon as he hit the asphalt the Austrian asked who the hell had caused the crash and this caused Tyler Farrar to reply by saying something that sounded a bit like: 'F***, it was you Bernie!' Luckily none of the riders retired because of this crash.

On the following day, another crash with about 2 kms to go influenced the outcome of the race. That crash happened in a very strange way and annoyed many riders (after the stage Paolini had very angry words for the 'young riders who have no respect at all and can't ride properly').

As far as I'm concerned, I saw Tyler Farrar (who was riding at the centre of the road, next to an Argos-Shimano rider) suddenly going down with his bike while moving towards his right. Here's what I first thought about the crash: 'Tyler must have touched wheels with the riders in front of him (Petacchi, who later said that he had felt someone touching his rear wheel right before the crash) and then he went down'. However, here's what happened after the stage: Tyler Farrar crossed the finish-line with about 4 minutes of delay from the winner and with his arm and leg bleeding. As soon as he arrived at his team bus, he put his bike against the bus and immediately started walking towards the Argos-Shimano bus in a very frightening way. After understanding what was going on in Tyler's head, one of his teammates immediately ran behind him and tried to stop him, whereas another (shirtless) Garmin rider suddenly popped out from his team bus and ran behind Tyler too. In the meanwhile the American had reached Argos's bus and was trying to get on it, but luckily his teammates calmed him down and successfully brought him back to the base before he hurt someone. The funny thing is that while this was happening Ryder Hesjedal was riding his hometrainer outside Garmin bus (that's a very strange habit he has) and started staring at the scene with a very shocked face - nevertheless, he never stopped pedalling. However, you're probably asking yourselves: 'why are you telling us about this?' Well, dear readers,  I've told you about this episode to let you know that, although it looked as if Farrar had caused the crash, an Argos rider probably had a part in it too.

Still talking about the crash, here's something a bit 'funnier'. Peter Sagan, after avoiding two bikes, eventually crashed too and, right after the finish-line, was interviewed by Italian tv. When the journalist asked him what he was doing, he said that he had hurt his elbow and also his 'culo', but that there was nothing serious. Now, that Italian word written above is a bit like 'bum' or 'arse', in English. Still, Peter said it in such a serious and innocent way that my dad and I couldn't help but laughing like mads when he said that (although I must admit we both had a 2 seconds: 'has he really said what I heard?' moment before bursting into laughs).

As for the victory of the stage, the final sprint was won by André Greipel, who outsprinted both Goss and JJ Haedo. The poor breakawayers du jour (Ghiselynck, Ladagnous, Simon and Urtasun) were caught with just 300 meters to go. Surprise surprise, Cavendish came in 5th and this made some journalists say that Mark may retire from the French race soon in order get ready for the Olympic Games.

And here we finally arrive to yesterday's carnage, sorry, stage. Once again, the thrilling moment of the day was caused by another crash, which involved some very important riders and has already destroyed the GC projects of many athetes. I think it's disgusting to see boys who prepare a race like the Tour for months and months lose every chance of getting good results in the race just because of a stupid crash in the first week and I think it's even worse to see other riders (not necessarily champions, but boys who have families and personal goals about the race) being forced to go home because of the same reason. Yesterday's crash was due to a distraction, alright, but if the organisers inserted an uphill finish in the middle of the first week, then I'm sure that we wouldn't have so many crashes every year.

So, the big moment of the day arrived with 25 kms to go, after that another crash had already brought down Greipel and other riders. At that point of the race, all of a sudden, French tv showed us a big pile of riders in the middle of a country road. Poor Viganò was lying in a ditch, together with Danielson and Poels. According to some recent reports, also Van Summeren was lying somewhere, consciousless. Most of the riders however were standing, but they were injured or were getting crazy while looking for their bikes. Also Cavendish was involved in the crash and that's why those lovely GreenEdge guys who had survived the crash decided to go full gas in order to cut the world champion out of the game. Also guys like Evans, Wiggins, Nibali and Menchov were in the first part of the peloton, the one that survived the crash. About 60 riders reached the finish-line together and the final sprint was won by Sagan in front of an injured Greipel. This time Sagan rejoiced in the 'Incredible Hulk' style, although some journalists tried creating a scandal by saying that he wanted to imitate a gorilla in order to make fun of Greipel (I was lost for words when I heard that).

However, let's go back to the 25 kms to go crash. Michele Scarponi and Schleck both lost their bikes during it and both crossed the finish-line with 2'09'' of delay. Schleck wasn't helped by any of his teammates after the fall and this really annoyed. I mean, what game are Radioshack ds playing at? If they don't want to help Frank winning this race, why did they leave Fuglsang at home? Really, this attitude terribly annoys me. And do you want to know what Radioshack guys said in their defense? That Frank Schleck was riding in a group formed by about 30 riders and, since also these other riders were pulling, there was no need to send Frank a helper. Now, are you kidding me? Alright, in Schleck's group there were about 30 riders, but the only ones who were taking turns at the front were Cobo (Valverde's teammate), Brajkovic (Astana's captain, first man of the Khazakh team to cross the finish-line), Gauthier (Rolland's teammate), Mollema and Schleck himself. Schleck who, I remind you, races for Radioshack, aka a team that had lots of men (Voigt, Zubeldia, Gallopin, Monfort, Cancellara and Kloeden) in the main peloton. Alright, I know that Kloden is a protected rider and that Fabian had the yellow jersey, but I don't think Voigt and Gallopin would have complained if their ds had stopped them. 

However. Amongst the riders who were in the 2'09" group together with Schleck there were also interesting GC guys like Brajkovic, Rolland, Pinot, Mollema, Vanendert, Valverde and Cobo. Kasheckin, Cavendish, Weening, Hoogerland, Voeckler, LL Sanchez instead crossed the finish-line with 6 minutes of delay, whereas Larsson arrived 10 minutes after the winner. Kessiakof, Kiserlovski, Vinokourov, B. Feillu, Westra, Karpets, Porte, Vandevelde, D. Martin, Hesjedal instead reached the finish-line after 13 minutes. Last rider to end the stage under a deluge was Vansummeren, who arrived covered in blood and with his jersey completely ripped down. Kruijswijk and Gesink arrived with 3 minutes of delay, whereas Astarloza, Viganò, Danielson and Poels had to retire. These riders' injuries were very serious. In particular, Poels is reported to have suffered a ruptured spleen and kidney, bruised lungs and three broken ribs, whereas Viganò broke his collarbone and Astarloza his right elbow. As for Danielson, I've found reports about a separated shoulder and some cervical problems.

Today's stage began with other bad news caused by yesterday's crash. Poor Ryder Hesjedal retired with a bruised hip and an injured leg, Hunter injured a vertebrae, Txurruka fractured his right collarbone, Wynants broke some rib and had a punctured lung, Erviti had a deep cut on his right leg, just like Gutierrez (who cut his knee in a serious way). Freire broke a rib and had his lung punctured, whereas poor Dupont broke his arm and his lombar vertebrae and sprained his ankle. Froehlinger started the stage in spite of a broken finger and managed to finish it, whereas Delaplace (who yesterday suffered a broken scaphoid and a broken arm) had to withdraw during today's stage. Of course, I wish all these riders a fast recovery.

The development of today's stage was obviously influenced by the injuries that many riders suffered yesterday. Before the stage, Samuel Sanchez and Ivan Basso predicted that nothing was going to happen on Planche des Belles Filles but, as we'll see, they were both completely wrong. As for the name of today's last climb, the area of today's stage was invaded by the Swedish army during the 30 years way (1618-1648). The soldiers killed all of the men in the valley and, when they reached the village at the bottom of the hill that nowadays is known as 'Planche des Belles Filles', the women of that village decided to climb up the hill and hide there. Still, the Swedish discovered their shelter and the women drowned themselves in the lake at the top of the climb because they didn't want to be tortured and killed by the soldiers. Happy story, isn't it?

As for the stage, some brave riders (amongst them there was also Chris Anker Sorensen) went on a breakaway, but were caught by the peloton at the beginning of the last climb. And that's when the problems began for many riders. Peter Sagan had already slowed down a few kms before the climb, just like Cavendish. Poor Valverde and Van Den Broeck punctured after a few meters into the climb and Alejandro had a 2'19" delay, whereas Jurgen lost 1'52". One of the first riders to lose contact was Vinokourov, soon followed by Kiserlovski, Basso, Scarponi and Gesink. Also Cancellara soon got dropped and was soon imitated by his fellow Frank Schleck. Schleck seemed to have a deep moment of crisis (once again, he was left completely alone), but then he found a very good rythm and managed to limit his time loss. Also Vanendert, Pinot, Rolland, Voeckler, Mollema and Horner soon lost contact together with Radioshack's second captain Kloeden. Then also Samu Sanchez and Daniel Martin lost contact and soon just 6 riders remained at the head of the race: they were Chris Froome (this afternoon Sky did a perfect work for Wiggo), Wiggins, Evans, Menchov (yay!), Nibali and Taaramae. Soon however this latter rider got dropped and, with about 2 kms to go, also Menchov suffered this fate. The last 400 meters of the climb were said to be the toughest and Evans launched an attack right there. The other riders followed him and, all of a sudden, Froome launched another terrible attack. No one could follow him and, as Chris raised his arms in triumph, Evans and Wiggins managed to drop Nibali (who eventually had a 7" delay from the winner). 4th was Taaramae (delay of 19"), 6th Zubeldia (44"), 7th Rolland, 8th Brajkovic (they both had a 46" delay from the winner), 9th was Menchov (50", ouch!), 10th Monfort (56"). 11th was a very good Roche, 12th Frank Schleck (1'09"), 13th Porte, 14th Rogers, 15th Pinot, 16th Sanchez (1'31"), 17th D. Martin, 18th Izagirre, 19th Galoppin, 20th an exceptional Fabian Cancellara, who crossed the finish-line together with Vanendert and Van Den Broeck (1'51"). KIoeden, Horner, Mollema and Valverde lost 2', Gesink lost about 2'50", Leipheimer lost 3', Kruijswijk lost about 4'. Sagan quietly crossed the finish-line in 120th with a 12' delay. Still, he had the time to joke with another rider while crossing the finish-line. The last three riders to cross the finish-line were Verdugo, Farrar and Vansummeren, who all suffered bad injuries in the last few days. Therefore, chapeau to them.

So, this stage shows us a terrible GC: Wiggins is the new yellow jersey and has the strongest team (Rogers, Porte, Froome all did an amazing work and are also very well placed in the GC). Evans is second, Nibali 3rd, Menchov 5th with a 54" delay, Frank Schleck already has a 3' delay and is 26th in the GC. One thing is sure: defeating Sky will be very hard this year.