Hello dear readers. Is there anyone left around here after the long break from blogging that I took last year? I don't think so, but still... If there's anyone left around (and no, I'm not talking about the stupid liars who spam every single post of mine), thank you. Otherwise, you're fully forgiven. After all I haven't written anything since... Oh my God, I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post! This is quite serious, isn't it? Seriously Fangirl, how come you haven't written anything about Gilbert's victory at the Worlds? And you haven't written anything about Sagan's performances in Flanders and Sanremo either! And... Menchov's retirement! You haven't written anything about it! Seriously, you must have come down with something really serious in the last few months. However, don't worry dear readers: after so many months of silence Fangirl and I have finally decided to start boring you again. Therefore, sit back and relax ;)
First of all I'd like to tell everyone that, as you can see, I'm still alive - and I'm also quite fine too actually. The last few months of my offline life have been quite hectic. For example, I've fallen in love with my best male friend, which of course is kinda weird. And no, I didn't need to end up on 'Friendzone' to tell him how I feel about him - and yes, it was embarassing enough even without cameras all around us and so on. Of course my 'You're growing on me, what do you think about this?' speech wasn't successful at all, but now at least I know what to expect from him. Moreover, this didn't change anything in our friendship, which is simply great. Another funny thing about my offline life is that in less than 4 months time I'll be living and studying in Germany (I'll go there in September and be back in July). Nice, isn't it? ;)
After talking a bit about my offline life, let's talk a bit about this blog. First of all, I'd like to insult every single person who's wasted their time spamming my blog in the last 8 months. Seriously guys, you need to get a life. And please, try writing down better comments if you want me to visit your little sweety website. Secondly, I'd like to tell everyone that I've quite missed writing these posts in the last few months. Now that I've taken up blogging again, however, I don't think I'll be able to keep my webpage updated. However, if I ever decide to end my career as a blogger, I'll surely tell you. In the meanwhile, enjoy this post, expect some updates for the Tour and let me thank you for reading and checking this page again after all this time. I've missed you all during the last few months!
And now let's finally talk about something serious. The Giro d'Italia is over and this year it was won by Vincenzo 'Enzino' Nibali. I'm really happy about this because I think that Nibali is a very modest, kind and strong rider who deserves all the best. I remember his attempts to win Tour of Lombardy and Liége last year and I simply loved his attacks. Moreover I like Nibali because he does well not only in TTs, but also when the road gets steep. I don't really like riders like Wiggins who kill a Grand Tour after the first time trial, so I was really happy about Nibali's triumph. And then he and his family are so sweet! On Sunday (apropos, how many people were there in Brescia? It was amazing!) his parents and his wife talked on the Italian tv and they were all very cute. His father remembered when he had to saw Enzino's little bike because he had been naughty. His mother instead said that Vincenzo used to skip school when he was a kid and of course she and her father didn't approve this at all. Nibali's wife instead said that her husband is very nice, although he has a bad relationship with the curtains of their house (it looks like the new Giro king is unable to mount them - is this correct in English? :P). Lovely, lovely Nibali! :D
Second in the race was Uran. The boy's got a lot of talent and a very sad story behind. His father in fact was accidentally killed in a gunshot when Rigoberto was still a young boy. In this Giro the Colombian riders did very well: just think about Uran, Duarte and also about Betancur, the white jersey of the race. I really like Carlos because he looks very kind and open. Moreover, the boy wears tooth braces: how cool is that?
Third on the podium was Cadel Evans. The Australian is the oldest rider to end up on the Giro's podium in the last 85 years. Talking about the podium, how sweet is Cadel's son?
Talking about the Giro, every rider who made it to Brescia should be considered a hero. This morning I risked to freeze while walking in my town and I was wearing a sweater and a leather jacket. These guys instead, dressed in their lycra kits, managed to climb Tre Cime di Lavaredo in spite of the snow. Chapeau!
Nibali simply ruled this year's race, still I really enjoyed the daily battle for the stage victories. Visconti's triumph on Galibier, for example, was simply touching. Giovanni went through depression this winter, so it was nice for him to get such a huge victory. And he won in a similar way also a few days later, chapeau!
Unfortunately in this Giro there was also a very unpleasant thing called Danilo Di Luca. His ds got mad at him when he found out that Di Luca had used epo and he called him 'asshole' while talking to Cyclingnews journalists. Bettini instead said that Di Luca is a jerk. Nice, isn't it?
Talking about cycling, here's the last thing for today:
Yes, unfortunately it looks like Denis Menchov has retired. Of course Fangirl is very sad about it, but Logic thinks that Menchov's choice deserves a lot of respect. Why? Well, simple: Stefano Garzelli has retired too and his last race was this year Giro d'Italia. I don't know about you, but I found out that he was racing only on the last day of competition, when journalists complimented him on his great career. Menchov decided to avoid this situation and, now that he's retired, the last memory I have of his career is the victory on the Bola del Mundo. Not bad, isn't it?
However, talking about the Silent Russian, here are some parts of the article linked above (which reports some parts of an interview that Menchov had with a Russian newspaper):
'During my first months on the Banesto team, I used to speak in French. As a student I had very high marks in French and this helped me a lot because at the time we would often race in France or in Belgium. Then I bought myself a couple of books in Spanish. Believe me, when you're forced to learn a foreign language, you really do your best to achieve your goal. I moved to Spain at the beginning of February and in May I could already speak Spanish freely. At the time there was no Internet, so I had just a vocabulary, two grammar books and a phrasebook. Then one day I realised that I didn't need them anymore and that I could speak without problems'.
Talking about his nicknames ('The silent storm' and 'the silent killer'), Menchov said: 'Silent storm? Really? I simply don't like talking after a race, especially if it's an important one'.
Talking about his future plans, Menchov said: 'one day, maybe, I'll sit under the July sun to support Katusha team while drinking beer and watching the Pyrenees stages of the Tour'.
Aaah, I'll miss my Silent Russian (and to say that I've taken up Russian just to be able to meet him and ask for his signature in Russian)! :)
Well, this is all for the moment. The next update will probably come out in the Tour period - however, check out this page at least once every fortnight ;) Good evening and thanks for reading!
