Giro di Sardegna, Rohregger and more:

23rd February 2011, 20.05. An Italian family is watching a cycling race on tv.

'Hey dad, did you hear what has recently happened to Tondo (ndr; whose name means 'circle' in Italian)?', one of the daughters asks the father. 'No, I don't', answers the father. The daughter is going to tell him the news of Tondo's tip to the Spanish police, when her young sister suddenly begins to speak: 'I know what happened to Tondo! He became Square!!'.

After reading these first lines of this post, I think you've finally understood why my mental condition is so bad: simply, it is in the family genes. However, that was just one of the little dialogues that I had with my familiars a hour ago, while we were watching Giro of Sardegna' second stage (one of said dialogues also included my sister screaming: 'Where the hell have the breakaway riders gone?' while Cunego was crossing the finish-line; in fact, in that moment she hadn't realised yet that the breakaway riders had ended their lonely adventure about 6 kms before of the finish-line).

Anyway, the most important thing about this post's beginning is that not only miss Fede's sense of humour could be even worse than it is, but the real great news is that she's finally managed to watch a cycling race on tv at a decent time of the day (allelujah!). Before of tonight in fact I had managed to watch just the first stage of TDU and a stage of Tour of Oman but unfortunately, in order to do so, I had to stay awake until 11.30 pm- not a very clever idea, if the following day you have to get up at 6.25 in order to go to the bus stop, where you'll find that disturbing, logorroic boy who stares at you during your whole journey to school.

By the way. I'm digressing again.

Talking about Giro di Sardegna, yesterday stage was won by Peter Sagan. Today stage, instead, was won by Damiano Cunego, who exulted in a great way after the finish-line. In fact, not only did he raise his arms: he even went towards a tv camera, shouted 'Evvai!' and started to shake it.
I was very happy for Damiano, because during last year Tour de France some people (*cough* journalists *cough*) were really terrible with him. Moreover, journalists had tried to eat him alive after Mendrisio Worlds. So, considering all the critics and pressure that Cunego has had to carry on his shoulder since May 2004 (and that have become even bigger over the last years), I always feel incredibly happy when he wins. When he wins, in fact, I always feel as if it's a deserved victory. I like Damiano, I can't help it.

Second in today's stage (which was very hilly and whose 7 final kms were completely uphill) was Serpa 'Zorro' Perez, whose moustache are much more stylish than Pozzato's ones. If you don't believe me, look at the pic above (by Sirotti). Third in the stage was the little Sella, José's teammate, while 4th was Peter Sagan. Unfortunately for him, Peter couldn't keep the leader jersey, which is now on Cunego's shoulders.

Amongst the riders who did a very good job today there are Hermans (the Radioshack rider was 4th), Capecchi (5th), Scarponi (who did an outstanding job for Cunego), Kiserlovski and Stortoni (Colnago riders are really brave, they always attack as soon as they can). Ballan was 15th (he was second in yesterday stage) and hopefully this means that he's back at the level that he had when he won the Varese Worlds. 25th was 40 year-old Noé, while a special mention must go to the breakaway riders du jour: Mikhail Ignatiev (who kept his knees in a very strange way while riding uphill), David Boily, Alessandro De Marchi, Elia Favilli and Alessandro Malaguti. De Marchi was the best breakawayer (?) du jour, since he abandoned the peloton after just 8 kms (18 if you consider the 10 kms between the start village and the true start of the race) and he was caught with just 6 kms to go. Therefore, chapeau to Alessandro!

RANDOM NEWS:
Talking about breakaways, you'll be happy to know that Andy Schleck was part of a breakaway during today's Ruta del Sol stage, wich was eventually won by Freire. Good to see our boy riding at the front of a race! :D
Still talking about Andy, he now has a new teammate: Thomas Rohregger, born on the 23rd December 1982, former Milram (and Pegasus) rider, winner of 2009 Tour of Austria. A good climber and another German speaker for Leopard Trek. All together now: *Herzlich Willkommen, Thomas*!!

On to another news, Jens Voigt has recently said that the riders should do something 'big', like boycotting this year Worlds, to show their disapproval of UCI's radio ban. Aren't we exaggerating a bit? (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/voigt-calls-for-worlds-boycott-over-radio-ban ).

Still facing the news du jour, I've just read on Cyclingnews that Amstel Gold Race organisers have given their race's wild cards to the following teams: Topsport Vlaanderen (yay!), Landbouwkrediet (double yay!), Skill Shimano (we want Kenny Van Hummel!) and Verandas Willems.

I also wanted to put the link to a little Cyclingnews article in which Romain Feillu said that, perhaps, Vacansoleil shouldn't have given Riccò a contract, but unfortunately I couldn't find it anywhere. Well, it seems like someone was brave enough to say these things publicly.

Anyway, it is pretty late right now, so here I close this post (which isn't actually that great, but that was written in a big hurry). Have a good evening and a good night sleep!
(pic by Sirotti)

Gilbert wins Amstel Gold Race:

Well,at least my prediction about the race winner (Gilbert) was right.Of course Fangirl would have been much happier with a Schleck's victory, but the brothers have other 2 chances to grab a victory in a Spring Classic and so I think we shouldn't feel desperate about today's result.
Today's race was as nervous as always.Amstel has lots of curves and lots of riders want to win it every year,so it's always difficult to take part in it.Frank Schleck crashed in the first kilometers of the race (an evil member of my family couldn't hold back a laugh when they heard about it...), but managed to continue without problems.Andy had a mechanical problem while riding on the Cauberg at the beginning of the race,but then he quickly got back in the peloton.
As far as the volcano is concerned,some riders who yesterday were reported to be blocked in their countries luckily managed to get in Maastricht before the start of the race.For example, Chris Froome arrive in Team Sky's hotel this morning at 3 am (and he was at the start in Maastricht at 9 am...),while Iglinskiy luckily made it to the start as well.And some of these riders,this morning,even had to face a long anti-doping test.Unbelievable.
The longest breakaway of the 45th edition of Amstel Gold Race was formed by Wrolich (who had driven to Maasricht from Austria),Valls (who had got to Holland by car from Santander) Scheirlincx, Delfosse, Hupond, Van Vooren and Van Groen. They were caught with about 50 kms to go and at that point Saxo Bank started to set a high tempo at the head of the peloton.
On the Kuisberg Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) attacked and a shiver went through my familiars' spines as they confused Marcato and Carrara (Carrara comes from Bergamo and we Bergamasks are always very supportive of our riders).
On Eyserbosweg (hope I spelled it correctly) Andy Schleck attacked (yay!) and rode past Marcato. He was followed by Gilbert,Cunego,Frank Schleck,Kreuziger,Nibali,Kolobnev and Hoogerland and at that point Fangirl was simply happy.Even the sight of Pozzato's commercial (yes,the one in which he's naked and oiled up) couldn't shock me that much,since I was too concentrated about the race.
On the Fromberg it was Frank Schleck's turn to attack and only Cunego,Gilbert and Kolobnev were able to follow him.Unfortunately they were recaught after the Fromberg and at that point Serguei Ivanov,last year winner,attacked.His attack was really impressive and in that moment I felt guilty for having undersetimated him. However Gilbert soon reached him together with Cunego,Kolobnev and Frank Schleck. "Where's Andy?!?",Fangirl cried."I don't know", Logic answered. Soon Kolobnev attacked and Frank's group was joined by "the mass",aka other 20 peloton riders determined to make their winning way towards Cauberg by pushing hard on their pedals.Fangirl let a bad word escape from her mouth and Logic scolded her off for that.
On the Cauberg Kolobnev was soon got caught.De Waele attacked,causing much surprise to Fangirl and much entusiasm to Logic ("I've told you that Bert is a good rider!!",she told Fangirl),but when Gilbert stood up on the pedals and went away,well,the fight for the second place began.This fight was a battle between Hesjedal and Gasparotto,which was won by the Ryder,ehm,rider from Canada (yes,I know that joking on people's name is childish,but this time I couldn't avoid it).De Waele was 4th,Kreuziger was 5th,Cunego was 6th and Marcato 8th.Frank Schleck ended the race 7th,while Andy was 18th.Nicki Sorensen,whose orange glasses are simply wonderful and demonstrate the great taste that los Sorensens of Team Saxo Bank have when looking glasses are concerned,was 62nd,while Fuglsang was 79th.All the other Saxo Bankers didn't end the race.
"Our team took control of the race with 130 kms to go",Frank Schleck told l'Equipe after the race."We tried to make the race as hard as possible,there was no other way to win .When I found myself in that little group of 4 men,I wasn't in an ideal situation.Gilbert and Cunego in fact were with me and also Kolobnev and Ivanov were really dangerous.Even if we had arrived on the Cauberg in 4,Gilbert would have won anyway".Actually,considering Gilbert's condition,I think that Frank is right: the Belgian (me wonders whether he's becoming a Boonen's rival as far as fame in Belgium is concerned) was simply the best today. Andy told l'Equipe that he was a bit disappointed after the race."I was strong,but I had some cramps right in the end,during the sprint.They were probably the consequences of my attack on the Eyserbos. Anyway I had to attack there,because we couldn't afford to wait until a bunch sprint. Anyway,I feel good for Fleche and Liege".
So,that's what the brothers said.In my opinion,it's understandable that they're disappointed: winning in order to dedicate the victory to Leea would have been simply wonderful,but I think they shouldn't have regrets because they did everything they could.The race was really chaotic and the team tried to control the race as long as possible but in the end the brothers didn't win. It happens.On Wednesday however there's another big Classic- and Huy's wall is far harder than the Cauberg,so I think Andy (who theorically won Fleche also in 2009) and Frank will be able to give battle to everyone there.
By the way,although this week is full of races and will probably be full of articles about the brothers, I apologise with you,dear reader (yes,me likes imagining that there's someone who reads my posts), but I won't probably publish everything I'll find for the simple reason that I've got 6 school tests (yes,6) in the next 6 days,so I'm snowed under with school work right now(yes,the English test will be about idiomatic expressions regarding weather).If you're asking why I'm writing these words if I'm really so snowed under with work,I just tell you that this morning I woke up pretty early (early for me,at least) in order to study the 50 pages about European problems in 1848.

Anyway,while waiting for a Schleck's victory in Fleche,I close this post with a little list of random things that have just come into my mind:

1: the Italian chronists pronounciated the name "Sastre" as "Sartre" (like the philosopher) for unknow reasons during today's broadcast of the race.

2: they didn't mention Arthur until the 45th minute of the live broadcast .

3: they said that Belgians are as disappointed as us Italians for the lack of victories over the last months.Me wonders,did they see the Tour of Lombardy or were they already on holiday?

4: this time I won't be boasting about my perfect winner prediction like I did last time with my Sanremo's prediction.

5: Nicki Sorensen's glasses are really nice,almost as nice as Chris Anker's violet ones (yes,I know I've already mentioned it,but I couldn't avoid repeating it).

6: how cute is the pic of Frank showing that pink bracelet (is it a bracelet?)?

(Pic 1 by Bettini,pic 2 by Waldbillig)

Valverde, Wiggins, Sanchez and Sastre won't race AGR because of Arthur:

I actually wanted to talk about the start list of tomorrow's AGR in this post but, since lots of riders are having problems reaching Holland because of the volcano eruption that is blocking a lot of European airports right now, the start list has actually become a sort of list of the riders who are trapped in their countries or who are facing terrible travels in order to reach Maastricht before tomorrow. Between the riders who won't take part in tomorrow's race because of the volcano ash there are already big profiles like Valverde, LL Sanchez , Sastre and Wiggins.

Anyway let's talk a bit about the starting list situation as it is right now.
KATUSHA: Ivanov, Klimov, Kolobnev, Mazzanti, Pozzato, Joaquim Rodriguez, Vantomme, Vorganov. Pozzato and Rodriguez managed to fly to Zurich yesterday and they're now facing a 600 kms car trip in order to reach Maastricht before tomorrow. This team is reported between the ones that are having lots of logistic problems at the moment and this is probably due to the presence in the team of lots of riders who come from Russia.If they're at the start line tomorrow,anyway, I suggest you paying attention to Rodriguez and Kolobnev (as long as they're not too tired after their long travels to Holland).

AG2R LA MONDIALE: Arrieta, Bouet, Champion, Alexander Efimkin, Kadri, Le Lay, Mandrì, Roche. Roche, as long as he's not trapped in Ireland, is a very good rider and so he might enter a dangerous breakway in the last kms of the race.
ASTANA: Allan and Scott Davis, Fofonov, Gasparotto, Grivko, Iglinskiy, Selvaggi. Maxim Iglinskiy seems to be desperately trying to reach Holland before tomorrow,just like Allan Davis. That's the only news I could find about the team.
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Erviti, José Vicente, Lopez Garcia. "Are you kidding me? Where are all the other riders? Where are Valverde and LL Sanchez?", I hear you ask.Well,the answer is simple: they're all trapped in their countries by the volcano ash and so they won't be in Holland tomorrow morning. From what I understood,Valverde and LL didn't even try to reach Holland by car and,honestly,I don't feel like criticising them for this choice.
EUSKALTEL EUSKADI: De Lis, Galdos, Isasi, Egoi Martinez, Nieve, Oroz, Perez Lezaun, Murillo. It is said that Euskaltel is having a hard time dealing with Arthur (yes,the big black cloud created by the volcano has a name) and this problem is likely to regard all the riders of the team.
FOOTON-SERVETTO: Brandle, Capecchi, Cardoso, Eibegger, Felline, Pedersen, Perez Arrieta, Valls. Talking about this team,I can't do nothing but feel sorry for the riders. Poor Martin Pedersen is trying to get to Maastricht from Copenhagen (850 kms).Cardoso, Valls and Arrieta started their 1400 kms adventure yesterday morning at 5.30 from Santander and it took them about 13 hours to arrive in Maastricht.Braendle is facing a 850 kms travel,whereas Eibegger took a train in Spielberg (Switzerland),got to Koln,caught another train and has finally arrived in Maastricht today.
FRANCAISE DES JEUX: Casar, Meersman, Mourey, Roux, Sulzberger, Vaugrenard, Veikkanen.I so hope that Veikkanen is not going to Holland from Finland.
GARMIN- TRANSITIONS: Cozza, Duggan, Hesjedal, Kreder, Maaskant, Christian Meier, Pate, Van Summeren. Garmin's riders were in Holland already some days ago,so no problems for them.The team is strong and a guy like Hesjedal can be pretty dangerous.
LAMPRE-FARNESE VINI: Bono, Cunego, Gavazzi, Loosli, Pietropolli, Moro, Righi, Spezialetti. Lampre's riders have been told to get to Milan before of yesterday evening and they took a train this morning in Milan at 6.30.Therefore they should arrive in Maastricht at about 4.30 pm this afternoon.This is astonishing because,if it takes them 9 hours to get to Holland,why did it take me 9 hours last summer to go from Siena to Bergamo? Misteries of the Italian railways.Anyway, no one has been talking about Cunego's chances in AGR so far here in Italy and the little Prince loves it when the journalists aren't focused on him.Therefore I believe we can expect a top placement from him tomorrow afternoon-as long as he's not exhausted after a 9 hours travel by train,obviously.
LIQUIGAS-DOIMO: Bellotti, Finetto, Koren, Kreuziger, Nibali, Quinziato, Santaromita, Willems. Liquigas riders all got on a little bus yesterday and made their way towards Maastricht this morning,after a night spent in Luxembourg city.On the parcours they also gave lifts to Loosli, Pinotti and Albasini. The team is strong,if you consider that Nibali and Kreuziger are there.Quinziato said a loud "Fuck you" to the volcano on Twitter and,considering that he had to ride 250 kms only to get to my town,I think his anger is clearly understandable.
OMEGA-PHARMA LOTTO: Aerts, Brandt, Delage, Gilbert, Moreno Fernandez, Peraud, Van Avermaet, Vandenbroeck. Charlie Wegelius is trapped in Finland,but Gilbert,Van Avermaet and Vandenbroeck will be there.And considering that they had to face a relatively short travel by car,I believe that they (Gilbert in particular) may end on the podium tomorrow.Actually,I believe that Gilbert is surely going to be in Top 3.
QUICK STEP: Barredo, Cataldo, Chavanel, Devenyns, Weert, Engels, Pineau, Van De Walle.No news about this team.
RABOBANK: Boom, Freire, Gesink, Langeveld, Martens, Nuyens, Tankink, Ten Dam.The only one who's having problems in this team is Freire, who is travelling from Switzerland to Holland. All the other riders come from Holland and/or Belgium, so they'll be fresher than everyone else tomorrow afternoon.Therefore,Langeveld and Gesink could surprise.
SKY: Carlstrom, Downing, Gerrans, Hayman, Pauwels, Portal, Swift, Viganò. The only rider who won't make it to Holland before tomorrow is Bradley Wiggins,while I don't know whether Lovely Lovkvist doesn't appear in the start list because of Arthur or because he simply didn't plan to race AGR.Anyway, the climbing sprinter Gerrans could be dangerous tomorrow.
HTC- COLUMBIA: Albasini, Lewis, Martin, Monfort, Pinotti, Vicente Reynes, Martin and Peter Velits.Albasini and Pinotti got to Holland together with the Liquigas riders,while Reynes is trapped in Mallorca.Anyway it seems that der Toni and the Velits brothers will take part in the race tomorrow and this is important because they are good riders.
MILRAM: Froehlinger, Knees, Roels, Sentjens, Terpstra, Voss, Wegmann, Wrolich. Where is Linus?
RADIOSHACK: Hermans, Horner, Li, Murayev, Paulinho, Rovny, Vaitkus, Zubeldia.The team is said to have big problems with Arthur right now and this is obvious if you consider that on this team there are a Portuguese,a Spaniard,a Kazakh and a Japanese.

TEAM SAXO BANK: Jorgensen, Steensen, Didier, Fuglsang, los Schlecks, Nicki Sorensen, Voigt.The Schlecks easily made it to Holland by car,together with Fuglsang and Didier. Luckily it seems that also the other riders are already in Limburg. Therefore,me feels like declaring that tomorrow the team will get at least 2 podium spots.
BMC: Bookwalters, Burghardt, Evans, Frank, Kroon, Louder, Morabito, Zahner.This team is reported to be having lots of problems, and that's understandable if you consider that Bookwalters, for example, is American. According to Logic, Evans, Frank and Morabito are probably travelling to Maastricht by car from Switzerland, whereas Kroon lives 10 kms from Maastricht and so he won't be disturbed at all by Arthur.
CERVELO: Appollonio, Deignan, Cabré, King, Lloyd. Sastre and Gustov are trapped in their countries,while the heroic Tondo is travelling to Maastricht from Girona right now (1200 kms).
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Bellemakers, Commeyne, De Waele, Dekkers, Delfosse, Dockx, Gourgue, Verheyen.
SKIL SHIMANO: Curvers, De Kort, Geschke, Goesinnen, Huguet, Hupond, Rooijakkers, Timmer.
TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN-MERCATOR: Armee, Beaugnies, Coenen, Jacobs, Neyens, Van Hecke, Vandewalle,Vanspeybrouck (does this surname mean "of the bridge of the spy?").
VACANSOLEIL: Carrara, Groen, Hoogerland, Lagutin, Leukemans, Marcato, Poels Ruygh.I just hope Carrara is already in Holland,because travelling from Bergamo to Maastricht sounds incredibly awful.Anyway Hoogerland and Leukemans will surely be able to be at the start tomorrow morning and,in my opinion, they are dangerous guys.

So,this the situation at the time of writing.Considering what's happening,me thinks that tomorrow the podium will be a question between Gilbert, los Schlecks (also Jorgensen could surprise) and Kroon.Hoping that Arthur will soon stop bothering Europe,I stop this post.

Interview with Andy,news about Frank and AGR's classification:

So,yesterday I was too worried (and too in a hurry) to think about final classification of AGR. And I didn't even have time to publish any photo of the winner Ivanov.I've decided to solve the problem here:Photo (up) and Classification!

1 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 6.38.31 (38.814 km/h)

2 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank

3 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0.08

4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto

5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.

6 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank

7 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Cervélo TestTeam

8 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank

9 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Team Katusha

10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank

14 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi

16 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank (well done!)

18 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas

20 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank

21 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne

31 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank 2.26

34 Chris-Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank (uebrigens,he's updated his blog)

78 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team Columbia - Highroad 6.02

Dear blogmate Rina has given me the link to these 2 nice articles:this one is about Frank's crash,the following one is about Andy.

The Ardennes offensive of Luxemburger Fränk Schleck (Saxo Bank), winner of the Amstel Gold Race in 2006, and Australian Matthew Lloyd (Silence-Lotto) (sorry but I've read in some places that it was DANIEL Lloyd...Sorry sorry sorry!!) was abruptly stopped due to a crash 73 kilometres from the finish line in Valkenburg. Both riders received treatment on location and were then brought to the hospital in Maastricht. While Oscar Freire was attacking the peloton when riding up the Geulhemmerweg, the 22nd climb of the day on the bumpy, twisting and turning course, a crash occurred at the back of the peloton. Followers in the cars barely managed to avoid running into Johnny Hoogerland, Schleck and Lloyd who were lying on the road. Hoogerland could continue the race but the two other riders were seriously injured. Lloyd was clearly in a lot of pain, lying on the right hand side of the road while Schleck wasn't moving, lying in an unnatural position with his leg through his frame and blood on his head.
Medical assistance quickly arrived and Bjarne Riis - the Saxo Bank general manager - quickly ran towards his rider and checked on him. "It looks bad but he's ok. He hit his head on the ground. They're not taking any risks now," Riis said to the Dutch TV.
The team's PR man later said Schleck had been unconscious at first. "He has at least a minor concussion and we're doing more scans tonight," Brian Nygaard told Cyclingnews.
Schleck himself called Karsten Kroon on the phone after the race congratulating him with his performance. "He told me he was ok but he didn't sound well; at least he's still alive. We missed him in the finale and hopefully he'll be back in Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège," Kroon said.
The doctor of the Silence-Lotto team said that Matthew Lloyd's sacrum and pelvis were affected by the crash. "If it's only his sacrum it'll still take a couple of weeks, but I still have to see the scans to be sure about that," the team's doctor said. "We haven't been spared from bad luck recently and I just heard that Gorik Gardeyn - who just returned from injury - crashed and hurt his knee at the sprint in the Tour of Turkey today."

As we can see,Frank was very lucky in his crash.I've seen the images of it and they were very worrying.I'm very sorry for M.Lloyd as well because he's a nice rider.

Well,here's the other article about Andy (thanks again Rina!).He raced really well yesterday and managed to arrive 10th even if his brother crashed badly .

Andy Schleck kept cool under the pressure of attacks and the news of his brother's serious crash to fight for the win in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday in The Netherlands. The Team Saxo Bank Luxemburger formed a key escape group in the final 28 kilometres and remained with the favourites to finish 10th for the day.
"I heard that he crashed and that he went to the hospital. It was on my mind, of course, but I tried to be professional to the end of the race for the best result possible," he told Cyclingnews.
Schleck's older brother and 2006 race winner, Fränk, crashed at kilometre 184. Medics took the Luxembourg Champion away on a stretcher in what fortunately looked more serious than early results indicate.
"I think he will be fine and back in the hotel tonight, so it's not too bad. I heard he is doing well."
Andy Schleck went on to animate the race on the Gulperberg, number 26 of the day's 31 climbs. He pulled in Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) to form a six-man move that included Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) and Enrico Gasparotto (Lampre-NGC).
"I was the first one who attacked on the top of the Gulperberg. I almost went away later, but Philippe Gilbert closed it down behind me. Then Serguei Ivanov went with Karsten [Saxo Bank's Karsten Kroon], which was a good move. There was no question for us behind: our team had to break the rhythm so they could make it to the end."
Kroon stayed clear over the following 8.5 kilometres with Ivanov (Katusha) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank). Kroon and Ivanov dropped Gesink midway up the Cauberg, but Kroon lacked a response to the Russian's winning surge.
Schleck's 10th-place finish was his best ever in Amstel. He finished 73rd and 93rd in the last two years, respectively. He will help lead the team in the next two Ardennes Classics, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Here's also an article of Bobby Julich about cycling crashes: http://fry.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/bobbyjulich_apr09 .

(Photos by TDW).

Thanks God,Frank's fine!

So,here I am,in hurry as always.
Amstel Gold Race: the race was won by Ivanov in front of Kroon (good race) and Gesink.Andy was 10th (go on CN for more news and results).
Anyway,the thing I want to focus about in this post (considering that I'm a Schleck fan) was the crash that happened with about 70 kms to go.The riders involved were Daniel Lloyd and FRANK SCHLECK.I was on the couch at my aunt's house when the Italian chronists started the report about the race by saying "Good day to everyoby,welcome to AGR,unfortunately a bad news: Daniel Lloyd and ("not HIM",I thought) Frank Schleck ("Fuck!") have fallen and have been taken to hospital".I wasn't at home,I didn't have any computer near and so I didn't have any info about what happened.I was sooo nervous and worried!
Then the journalists said Frank never fainted after the fall and that he could move.The initial fear was for his neck and his vertebrae,but fortunately NOTHING WAS BROKEN.NOTHING.
A news from 3 minutes ago says that Frank "just" suffered a slight concussion (I say "just" because crash's fellow Lloyd broke 3 vertebraes and his sacrum).He should quit the hospital this evening.Thanks God.
On Saxo Bank's team things are reported differently,but I do't know who's right and who's not.That's what SB website says:
The Luxembourg rider lay unconscious on the road long before he was transported to hospital in Maastricht, where studies later showed that Schleck escaped from the crash with only bruises. "Initially he escaped with a severe concussion and some bruises, but there is nothing broken. It was a cheerless crash, but fortunately Frank is being released tonight and we will then assess whether he can be ready to race again on Wednesday. Nothing seems to be keeping him from racing then" said Kim Andersen.

Now,Frank could even race on Wednesday.Wouldn't it be too soon? Boh.
Anyway,Andy made a good race and attacked many times."Voices" say that he wanted to have news about his brother before of continuing the race.He's a really nice brother.
Let's hope things will be better soon (for Frank and also for poor Lloyd).Compliments to Ivanov and Kroon,1st and 2nd.Now I'm off to study.Sorry for the hurry and for the English I used in this post.

Amstel Gold Race:start list and little article about the Schlecks

Tomorrow there will be the first of the Ardenne's classics,the Amstel Gold Race.
Frank has said: "I feel very well,this doesn't mean that I'll win,but that I'll do everything in order to achieve a victory".
Of course it won't be easy,but Frank has already won AGR in 2006 and I hope he can win again this year (last year he arrived 2nd,in 2007 he had a bad fall but managed to finish 10th).
SB Team will be formed by Frank,Andy,the Sorensens (Nicki and Chris-Anker),Van Goolen,Kolobnev,Kroon and Larsson.A good team,in my opinion.
Regarding the other teams,here's a little start list:
Lampre:Cunego (if somebody's interested,there's an interview with him on CN),Gasparotto.
AG2R La Mondiale: A.Efimkin,Elmiger,Nocentini,Roche.
Astana:Bazayev,Horner,Iglinsky,Morabito.
BBox Bouygues Telecom: L.Lefevre.
Caisse d'Epargne:Pereiro,Rodriguez (also known as mr.Montelupone),Uran,Valverde-very strong team.
Cofidis:H.Duclos-Lassalle,Duque.
Euskadi Euskaltel:Egoi Martinez,Samuel Sanchez (watch out),Landaluze.
Francais des Jeux:Casar,Cherel,Sulzberger.
Fuji-Servetto:Capecchi,Cobo,De La Fuente.
Garmin:Hesjedal,Maaskant,Lowe,Van der Velde (who is someone different from Vandevelde).
Liquigas:Kreuziger,Kuschynski,Nibali,Willems.
Silence Lotto:Aerts,Dekker,Gilbert,Matthew Lloyd,Van Summeren,Vandenbroek (all together or separated?),Evans.
Columbia:Martin,Monfort,Pinotti (!),Rogers (on CN there's the name of Kirchen but not the one of Lovkvist:I think they've done a mistake,since Kirhen won't be riding tomorrow whereas Lovkvist probably will).
Katusha:Ivanov,Mazzanti,Petrov,Pfannenberger.
Milram:Ciolek,Frohlinger,Gerdemann,Knees,Terpstra,M. and P.Velits,Wegmann.
Cervélo:Gerrans,Klier,Daniel Lloyd,Rollin.
Colnago:Bert De Waele.
Diquigiovanni:Bertolini,Bertogliati,Ginanni,Rebellin,Scarponi,Serpa.
Skil-Shimano:Rooijakkers.
Topsport Vlaanderen:
Vacansoleil:Carrara,Leukemans,Lhotellerie.

Here's a little article about the race: http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/16689/mehrere-truempfe-in-der-hand.php .It's in German,so here's my not-so-great translation (I've translated just the part about the Schleck brothers):
With Sunday's Amstel Gold Race,the Ardenne's week finally starts.Both the Schleck brothers,Andy and Frank,will take part in the race,whereas KK won't.
Three years ago Frank Schleck won the AGR wearing the National Champion jersey.This year he'll be wearing again that jersey during the 3 Ardenne's classics (AGR,Fleche Wallonne,Liege).
The form should be ok,considering the 2nd place in Paris-Nice,the 13th in Criterium International and the 11th in Klasika Primavera. "Until now,everything has gone really well in this season.I hope that my form will be good and that the weather will be sunny.My team will try to win the race,even if winning is not so easy:you need a very good day to win that race.Anyway I'm in good form,just like Andy",says Frank Schleck in an optimistic way.
In Saxo Bank team there will be also Karsten Kroon and Alexander Kolobnev.The leader will be the one whose form will be the best on Sunday."We've got 4 very strong riders in the team,and we could do a 'poker'.I don't want to say that we'll win the race,but that we'll try everything to make this happen",says F.Schleck,that tomorrow will be wearing the number 175.
Between the most dangerous adversaires there are Cunego,Valverde,Samuel Sanchez,Rebellin,Evans and Kreuziger.

Allez Frank! (and Andy of course!)
(Photo Bettini).