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!