2011 Tour de France: one week later

Last Saturday at 4.45 pm a tired, nervous, frustrated and sunburnt miss Fede was in her hotel room in a Spanish village, desperately looking for the local sportschannel on tv. Tiredness was a consequence of the long travel of the day before and of the noise made during the night by the Spanish seagulls (they are the worst creatures on Earth after Italian pigeons) and by the boys who went partying at 3 am and who thought it would have been nice to scream in the hotel's corridors at that time of the night, thus causing me to wake up many, many times. Frustration instead was caused by the fact that I was in a foreign country (which wasn't France) when the Tour was still up and running. Moreover, the weather sucked. As far as the 'sunburnt' bit is concerned, then, I have to admit that on our first day of holiday my friends and I were so shocked by the cloudy and windy weather that we decided not to bring our sunshades to the beach. As a consequence, on that afternoon I was looking like a giant lobster waiting to be served on a restaurant table together with some salad or soup. Nervousness instead derived from another fact: the Tour de France's time trial in Grenoble, which had already started and which was going to decide the eventual outcome of the 2011 Grande Boucle.

The day of my departure, I spent the whole afternoon screaming at my tv screen. After his deed on Galibier, I thought that Andy Schleck had a big chance of winning the Tour, but at the same time I feared that the efforts that led him to his historical victory on Galibiér would have made him more vulnerable during the Alpe d'Huez stage. Ah, Alpe d'Huez! The Queen of the Tour was waiting for the riders, with its amount of colours, cycling lovers and people who go there just because they want to be insulted by the true cycling followers (seriously, I believe that at least half of the people who go up to Alpe d'Huez are more interested in showing themselves off than in watching the race!!). Before meeting Her Majesty, however, the riders had to face Telegraphé and Galibier (for the second time in two days, poor things!) and, given the toughness of the parcours, every rider knew that this stage was going to shatter someone's dreams of victory and to reward someone else.

A group of breakawayers tried to look for glory (and for safety from the time cut) since the beginning of the day but, with 90 kms to go, everyone understood that the big names of the peloton wanted to smash the race. 'It's now or never', Contador probably thought as he attacked with 90 kms to go, after just 14 kms of race. The Spaniard was followed by Voeckler, Evans and Andy Schleck and they soon rode past the breakaway rider. Then, all of a sudden, Thomas got dropped (*chorus of 'Noooooooo!' coming from France*) and Evans had a mechanical problem. Once again, Andy the Luxembourgian and Alberto the Spaniard found themselves alone, at the head of the Tour.

As my respect for Contador grew bigger and bigger after his attack, my hope for a Luxembourgian victory in Paris became stronger and stronger. As soon as Evans and Voeckler got dropped, my brain stopped reasoning in a rational way and I let the Fangirl in me completely free. I was shouting at the tv, supporting Voeckler, screaming 'Drop him, drop him, YOU MUST DROP HIM TO WIN THIS F****** BIKE RACE!!!' as Evans (with a little help from Casar and Danielson) joined Contador and Schleck after the Galibier descent, and I was rejoicing when I saw Pierre Rolland winning the stage. Shortly afterwards I was overwhelmed with feelings when I saw Voeckler wearing his green Europcar jersey again and I was proud of Andy Schleck's yellow jersey - although, unfortunately, I had to skip the podium ceremony because I had to go the airport. Talking about airports: I landed in Girona which, by chance, is the city where a Russian cyclist that I stalked during the Giro lives. Luckily I didn't meet him, otherwise I'm afraid he would have had me arrested for stalking.

Anyway, back to the TT in Grenoble and to my hot hotel room in Spain. As my friends went out of the room in order to enjoy another hour of fun (and wind and cold) on the beach, I started suffering in front of that little television. I managed to find the right channel after two tries and, surprisingly, I could understand everything the chronists said. Moreover, I could also understand what Samu Sanchez and Contador (whose interviews with Spanish tv were really long) said. Unfortunately I was too nervous to rejoice for my achievements in the knowledge of the Spanish language because I knew that, in a few minutes time, the 2011 TdF winner would have been chosen.

As Cadel and Andy started their TT, I began to pray for a Luxembourgian victory. Unfortunately my prayers didn't work, since after a few kms it became clear that Evans was going to win the first Tour of his career by doing what he hadn't managed to do in 2007 and 2008: the time trial of his life.

As I saw Andy's jersey become less and less yellow, I susprisingly didn't feel anything. It was a surreal situation and (also because of the tiredness), I felt as if I couldn't realise what was happening. I thought (and hoped) I was dreaming. On the previous day I didn't have the time to reflect seriously on Andy's chances of keeping the yellow jersey and, as Evans took the overall victory, Schleck's yellow jersey soon started to look like a mirage to me. Did he really get it after Alpe d'Huez? Are we sure? Seriously, I was in a kind of trance. A trance that ended as soon as Andy crossed the finish-line, thus releasing his feelings.

I was overwhelmed with emotions too as I watched the lanky Luxembourgian sending the tv cameras away from him and hiding his head on his brother' shouder. In that moment, to me Andy stopped being a cyclist and he went back to being just a boy. And, in that moment, I understood what the Tour is for those guys. Evans the Aussie (aporpos, why does he remind me of a crocodile?) was rejoicing because, after all those years, he finally managed to take that cursed Tour victory; Andy Schleck looked very down because, after grazing the Tour victory for the third time in a row, he lost the race once again, thus becoming the first rider ever to nail three second placements in a row on the Champs Elysées podium; Frank Schleck, on the other hand, was sad because his brother had lost but, at the same time, he was happy for his 3rd place; Thomas Voeckler, instead, was probably cursing himself for the seconds he lost in the descent towards Pinerolo and for having gone à bloc too early in the Alpe d'Huez stage.

As the Spanish chronists started to remember what happened in the different stages of this year Tour, I switched off the tv. I didn't want to hear useless talks about the eventual outcome of the race because, after all, those talks couldn't change anything.

After the stage, my father phoned me to know how I was doing (he probably expected me to jump off the window for the disappointment :P). And, together, we talked about who really deserved to win this Tour. On the one hand, we agreed that Evans was great in the first week of race and on the Galibier; on the other hand, however, we said that Andy was superb in the Alps and that he was the strongest climber of the race, the one who made the race exciting in the last days.

In the end, dad and I agreed that Andy was probably stronger than Cadel in the climbs, but we also agreed that the Aussie didn't deserve to lose another Tour. Andy is younger than Cadel and he still has a lot of time to win this race. Whereas Evans is already 34, in fact, Schleck is just 26 - he's not the young puppy who was 2nd in the Giro 2007 anymore, ok, but let's remember that a guy like Basso won his first GT at 29 and that OGL has already won Liége and has the most impressive collections of second placements of Cycledom. He still has a lot to learn and a lot of time to race, so he must take things day by day.

Talking about the Tour raced by And, some may not be satisfied by his second placement. But still, I think there are two ways to look at this year TdF podium: the 'romantic' way and the cold-minded way.

Those who like a bit of romanticism will be happy with this year's podium. First Cadel Evans, who last year lost the chance of winning the Tour and the Vuelta because of facts not depending on his will. Second and third, two brothers, Andy and Frank. Andy, the rough diamond of cycling, still has to shine on the top spot of a GT podium, but I'm sure that one day he will. As far as Frank is concerned, I think that last Sunday he had one of the best days of his whole life. Standing on the podium with his brother and his super-cute daughter must have been amazing for him and now this podium will surely make him aim higher as far as the next GTs are concerned. The boy is shadowed by Andy's talent, but he's one of the best riders of the world too.

If, instead, you decide to watch this year's podium from a technical, cold-minded point of view, well, perhaps you'll think that Andy Schleck can't be satisfied with his second place, because this year he was the strongest climber and he made a mistake when he didn't attack in the Pyrenées. But still, being angry at And now really makes no sense: the boy has showed us once again that he has everything it takes to become a champion and, sooner or later, his day will come. He has the personality and the braveness of a champion, he just needs to improve from the tactical point of view, to learn to calm down before speaking to the press and to race more in order to be more loved not just by the supporters, but also by the press  (apropos, French journalists  call him 'Andyfferent' -.-"). Hopefully already in the next weeks we'll see him getting good results together with Frank, who yesterday got a very good 6th place in San Sebastian.

Oh, a last thing to say about Andy and the cycling press/supporters: some may now start to call him a loser, but don't forget that Evans had that very same nickname until 2009. Then, he won the Worlds Championships and he won the Tour. Wow!
As far as the podium scenes are concerned, I've recently seen them on YouTube (I decided not to watch the last stage) and I think that the cutest moment was when Frank brought his daughter Leea on the podium. Seriouly, the girl is as classy as Alan Gilbert!

Moreover, I'm glad to see that the awful prizes that were given every year to the 2nd and to the 3rd riders of the GC have finally changed. In fact, the two plates of glass have been replaced by two little bicycles, which look a bit better and which definitely look like trophies.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any pics from the post-Tour parties yet (actually, I didn't even look for them), so I can't say anything frivolous about fashion and things like that.

So. This year Tour has been stressful, long and full of emotions (from desperation and shock to admiration and joy, passing through fear, hope and disappointment), but I really enjoyed it. I often got angry at Andy Schleck but, in the end, I was super proud of him and I also changed some of my harsh opinions about him. However, Andy, would you be so kind to take part in more races next year? People love you, they can't wait until the Ardennes Classics to see you racing so well once again!!

(pic by Bettini)

A fabulous Andy Schleck triumphs on Galibier:

The last months have been tough for Andy Schleck. First, Beer-gate. Then, his new team. In April, the critics for his poor performances in the Ardennes Classics and for the fact that he takes part just in a few races. In May, the tragedy of Wouter Weylandt left him (and us) shocked after seeing what can happen when bad luck meets the descent on which you're following your dream and doing your job. In June, Andy was criticised because of his performances at Tour de Suisse. In the last two weeks, instead, he's been facing the Tour de France and he's been criticised for his lack of attacks, for his complaints about the stages and for his habit of turning his neck backwards while riding - a habit that has earned him the nickname of 'torticollis' amongst his colleagues. But still, Andy didn't let the critics take over him. He kept on saying that he would have given it all on the Alps and, in the end, that's what he did.

At the start of today's stage, the riders knew that they were going to become part of the long history of the Tour. For the first time, in fact, the Grande Boucle dared to challenge its Majesty the Galibier.

The approach to the climb wasn't easy. Galibier wanted to show everyone that he, the mountain, had a complete control on the Tour which, after all, is just a human thing. Nature is stronger than everything and the snow threatened the parcours of this stage until yesterday evening. Luckily, in the end the Giant was clement, although he wanted the riders to respect a deal: they could have ridden there, towards the highest finish-line of the history of the Tour, only if they were going to give it all. This stage was ready to enter history and the Galibier offered the riders the chance of becoming part of a living legend that, since the beginning of the 20th century, has been travelling across France.

This morning, the atmosphere at the start village in Pinerolo was electric. On one side of the boxing ring, Thomas Voeckler, the rider who, in the last days, has become the son, the lover, the father of the French cycling and, of course, of the French people. The Frenchmen wrote his name all over the climbs, they supported him with all their heart and all their soul: but this morning, Thomas knew that he might have had to abandon the maillot jaune. On the other side, his adversaries: people who have trained all year long in order to win the Grande Boucle, whereas Thomas' goal at the start of the race was a simple stage victory. Amongst T Blanc's rivals there were the tenacious Evans, the dancing Spaniard Contador, his ally (and best friend on wheels) Samu Sanchez, the Italians Basso and Cunego and the Schleck brothers, ready to take revenge on those who had criticised him in the last days.

The Tour left Italy by riding on Colle dell'Agnello. A colourful parade made of sufference and dreams took place on the road that divides and unifies Italy and France and a colourful river of supporters did its best in supporting the riders in their quest for glory. Some brave riders, as usual, tried their luck. Some did it because they were looking for a day of glory, some because they wanted to improve their position in the GC, some because they were ready to help their captains. This was the case of Monfort and Posthuma, who put their egos aside in order to help the Schleck brothers.

On the Izoard (where I fell in love with Andy Schleck in 2007), a thunder, a bolt, an eagle leaving its nest: Andy Schleck escaped from the group, without looking back. 'Is he crazy?, many people wondered. No, Andy isn't crazy: he had upsetted people with his racing style and he knew he had to give something back to his supporters, to his family, to his team. He knows that the recipe for glory is made of grit, determination and braveness and he mixed all these elements in order to paint a masterpiece on the roads of France. He slowly gained time on his rivals who, laughing at his efforts, underestimated him. On the top of Izoard he met his faithful helpers and Monfort led him to Lautaret together with Devenyns, whereas Chris Anker Sorensen and the Invincible Armada formed by Euskaltel and Saxo (when will the Basque riders abandon their kits in order to wear an eagle on their jerseys?) were chasing hard in the peloton. Voeckler looked worried, but he wasn't ready to give up.

A few days ago, talking about the stage towards the Galibier, he would have said that it wasn't going to his battle. After a crazy stage with a crazy epilogue and a crazy car driver, instead, he found himself at the top of the cycling world, ready to give it all in order to keep the 'maillot jaune' with him for another day.

With 17 kms to go and after more than 40 kms of breakaway, Andy Schleck had a gap of 3' 50" on T Blanc and his rivals. His teammate Monfort, a loyal helper, couldn't ride with him anymore and, at the beginning of Lautaret, he blew up. Andy didn't worry about that because he knows that true deeds, in cycling, always see one man crossing the finish-line alone after challenging bad luck, tough climbs and pain.

When the gap between Schleck the Younger and the group of the yellow jersey became an abyss made of 4 minutes, his rivals started to react. Evans, the tough Aussie who's lost two Tours de France in the last 5 years, decided to fight back as soon as he saw that also this time the Tour was slippng out of his reach. Without receiving any help from Voeckler, Cadel pulled and pulled. The comparison between him and Schleck was unfair: Evans in fact started pulling with 20 kms to go, when Andy had been on the move  already for 40 kms. However, Galibier is a Giant who likes braveness and that knows how to reward it: Andy the Brave (yes, this time he really deserves this nickname) was the first rider in the history of cycling to triumph on its peaks, he was the first one to come out of the mist and raise a rageous fist to the sky, from which his former teammate Wouter probably looked down and smiled.

Frank Schleck, brother of Andy (and, this time, their brotherhood was something to be proud of, and not an obstacle to their chances of winning the Tour), crossed the finish-line in 2nd, thus entering in the history of cycling and in the history of his country: two Luxembourgian at the start of the Tour, two Luxembourgians on the top of Galibier.

Evans, worn out but still full of grit and rage, was 3rd, whereas a super Voeckler gave it all once again and managed to hold on to his yellow jersey (which becomes even more yellow day after day) for just 15". This afternoon the whole France applauded that boy - but the whole cycling worlds applauded also the lanky Luxembourgian who found the braveness to attack with 60 kms to go, thus trying to change the story of this Tour with a deed that would perfectly suit someone like Coppi.

As Thomas Voeckler rejoiced, Evans chased his breathe and his rage and Schleck couldn't believe what he had done, Ivan Basso and Damiano Cunego crossed the finish-line, making a whole country proud of them. In the meantime, others were struggling: Samuel Sanchez broke his tank of energy with a few kms to go, whereas the king Alberto Contador lost 4'. Galibier wanted a hero to win on his top and he was a severe judge for the Spanish champion, who had faced the French roads after his Giro.

Right now, Its Majesty the Galibier is moved by what the riders did in order to reach its top. Tomorrow, however, it'll be ready to pass on the baton to Her Majesty Alpe d'Huez. But first, the riders will have to give their hommage to the Giant once again, before the rocks of that mountain will finally be able to fall asleep once again, helped by the silence of the altitude.

Rest day: some reflections about yesterday's stage

Yesterday evening miss Fede decided not to write anything about the TdF stage won by LL Sanchez. In fact she was  too angry for what happened to Flecha and Hoogerland and too sad after hearing about Vinokourov's broken femur, so she went out to try to distract herself. Unfortunately, it didn't work. In fact, it's hard to forget that one of my favourite riders (remember that I'm a member of the AAVL!) probably ended his career yesterday, although he still had lots of plans for the future. Moreover, another rider who I really like (Hoogerland) had to abandon all his dreams of glory after being hit by a car and landing on a barbed wire fence, so you can understand why yesterday I wasn't in the right mood for writing a post. And even today, almost 24 hours after the end of the 9th stage, I'm having problems in writing down something decent.

As written, Hoogerland yesterday was badly injured because of a car who caused him and Flecha to fall off their bikes. If the riders threatened to boycott the Zoncolan stage of the Giro because of the presence of Crostis, I wonder what they should do tomorrow to protest against what happened to poor Hoogerland and Flecha. Moreover, if the riders once said that the Tour organisers were 'Assassins' (TdF 1910, if my memory doesn't fail me), I wonder what they should have said about the Tour's car drivers after yesterday stage.

Anyway, what happened during yesterday's stage?

First of all, Contador crashed. Again. He hurt his right knee and, apparently, this is creating him some problems.

Secondly, after 45 kms of race a breakaway was created. Said breakaway was formed by very strong guys: Voeckler, LL Sanchez, Casar, Hoogerland and Flecha (at the beginning there was also Terpstra, but then he got dropped). Talking about Sanchez: until yesterday Luis Leon (whose brother is a soccer player that Inter tifosi learned to love some time ago) had won two stages of the Tour - and both those stages had taken place on the 11th of July. Considering that this year on the 11th of July (aka today) there isn't any stage, Sanchez thought it would have been better to go on a breakaway on the 10th. And, in case you're wondering, yes, in the end he did win yesterday's stage.

With about 85 kms to go, supporters had to stand the sight of a dramatic and surreal scene: an Omega Pharma Lotto rider (GC contender Van Den Broeck) was lying on the asphalt, in the middle of the road. Two riders from Astana, instead, were running in the woods, looking for something - or someone. In fact, their leader Vinokourov had crashed as well and he had ended up straight into the forest, thus breaking his femur.

The following scenes were even more dramatic: while Van Den Broeck hopped back on his bike in spite of a collapsed lung and other injuries (he rode for just a few meters before giving in) , some Astana riders had to help Vino (who couldn't even walk) to get out of the forest and back to the asphalt, where the whole team was waiting for the Kazakh rider, who was forced to abandon the race because of a broken femur.
As predictable, Vino's retire made me (and Rolf Sorensen) really sad. Love him or hate him, one can't deny that Alexander is a very brave and attacking guy, one that can make an interesting stage out of a boring parcours. The Astana leader had great plans for this year Tour, in which he wanted to end up in the Top 3. Moreover, this should have been Vino's last Grande Boucle, although he had recently stated that, perhaps, he would have taken part in the London Olympics too. Unfortunately, considering that it takes about a year to recover from a femur fracture, I'm afraid the Kazakhstani won't be able to come back racing at the top level anymore. And this really hurts me, because since last April I became a supporter of Vino and I really hoped that this year he would manage to wear the maillot jaune for at least one day. And instead no, the dreams of Vino and of his supporters ended in that curve. Broken bone, broken dreams and, probably, broken career (*girls of AAVL sigh and cry*).
Unfortunately, Vino and VDB weren't the only riders who fell in that point. In fact also David Zabriskie and Fredrik Willems crashed and they both had to retire from the race.  DZ broke his wrist, whereas Willems became another fan of the 'Broke your collarbone!' movement.
Also Brent Bookwalter crashed and felt dizzy during the last part of the stage, but tomorrow he's likely to start. Another guy who fell off his bike during yesterday's stage was Andreas Kloden, who right now has problems with his back.

Unfortunately, the guys mentioned above are just the ones who crashed with 85 kms to go. In fact, supporters had to stand one last surreal scene before the end of the stage - and said scene was probably one of the most shocking I've ever seen.
Right after Vino/VDB/DZ/Willems' crash, the peloton slowed down a lot because everyone wanted to be sure that no one had got badly injured. In the meanwhile the 5 breakawayers du jour kept on racing at a normal speed, so that they soon reached 8 minutes of advantage on the chasers. Omega Pharma Lotto chased for some kms because Gilbert wanted the stage win, but then they gave in and it was Garmin's turn to work at the front. However, at that time Hushovd had already abandoned every hope of keeping the yellow jersey, so his teammates didn't make lots of efforts in chasing the 5 men at the front. Therefore, with 40 kms to go, Sanchez, Flecha, Voeckler, Hoogerland and Casar already suspected that they would have made it to the finish-line (at the time in fact they still had an advantage of 5 minutes) and Thomas probably began to dream about the yellow jersey.
Unfortunately, with 36 kms to go, Hoogerland and Flecha's dreams of glory were shattered by a terrible crash. In fact the Spaniard was riding quietly when, all of a sudden, a car (yes, a car) hit him, making him land on the asphalt. On the other hand, Johnny Hoogerland (who, at the moment of the crash, was behind the Sky rider) flew over his bike and landed on a barbed wire fence, thus having his legs cut in different places. The car (which, according to Italian tv, belongs to the French press) didn't even stop to check the riders' conditions, but continued its travel towards the finish-line. Voeckler, LLS and Casar couldn't help but keep on riding.
In spite of the terrible injuries and the broken bikes, Flecha and Hoogerland luckily managed to get back on their bikes. The Dutchman hopped back on his vehicle a few minutes after the Spaniard and he soon found himself at the back of the peloton. The Vacansoleil rider had blood all over his legs, looked very shocked and gave it all to reach the finish-line, so that he could wear the polka dots jersey during the podium ceremony (in fact, the poor thing had spent the whole day collecting points at the GPM).
He eventually ended the stage 16 minutes after the winner and 6" after Flecha, who soon found himself at the back of the peloton too and who stood side by side with Hoogerland in the last kms of race.
The Spaniard looked much more pissed off than the Dutchman and he clapped his hands ironically as the peloton overtook him. Johnny Hoogerland would have probably done the same, if only had he had the strength.
Of course, as Flecha and Hoogerland were riding slowly to the finish-line, the show had to go on so that, at the end of the day, Voeckler (who, in the morning, was just 1'30" down in the GC) got the yellow jersey, whereas Sanchez won the stage and dedicated it to his pregnant wife.
Although the GC contenders didn't attack each other in the last little climb, Ivan Basso lost 8" and Contador had problems in following the wheels of the best riders. If someone had attacked, the consequences could have been much worse.
After the stage, Flecha and Hoogerland were awarded with the 'most combative rider' award. Johnny also received the polka dots jersey and burst into tears on the podium.
I thought of Wouter Weylandt very often yesterday and I'm sure that, in that moment, the Vacansoleil rider probably did the same.
A few hours after the end of the stage, the car that caused Flecha's crash was expelled from the race. People keep on talking about safety in races, but now I really wonder why there are so many cars at the Tour. The team cars, the press cars, the motorbikes of the photographers, the Mavic cars, the motorbikes of the doctors, the ambulances: they all have the right to stay in the group. Unfortunately (according to Italian tv), the car that caused yesterday's crash was a car carrying some guests to the finish-line of the race. Now, can't these fucking guests get to the finish-line by driving their own fucking cars, like every other mortals do? If they want to watch both the start and the end of a stage ,they can go watching a TT- or they can go to Liége - Bastogne - Liége. But really, the guest cars are the most absurd thing on Earth. Especially when they follow the riders like they did yesterday - a thing that they couldn't actually do. I understand that some cars are necessary inside the peloton, but I really can't understand the existence of the guests cars (sorry for the use of the f*** word, I had a little 'Gordon Ramsay moment' there).

Still talking about yesterday's stage, let's focus for a while on the competitive aspect of this year Tour (yes, it may shock you, but the Tour also has a sportive aspect).
As you all know, on Saturday there was the first uphill finish of the race and the victory went to the brave Rui Costa. Vinokourov (sigh!) tried to get the yellow jersey but he failed, since Hushovd kept the wheels of the main GC contenders in a superb way. Considering his form and the fact that almost everyone is crashing, I think that the Norwegian can make it to the top 30 of the race.
Anyway. In the last two days we've also had the chance to see how Andy (and Frank) Schleck have decided to race. And in both those days, their main concern seemed to be Contador.
The brothers both looked great in the last two stages, but I think that they'd better pay a lot of attention to Evans right now. In fact, Cadel is feeling much better than Contador, has a strong team, a winning mentality and is a super time trialist. Contador, on the other hand, doesn't look as strong as he was in the Giro. Andy has focused on him so far and that is good - but he must remember that he has other contenders apart from the Spaniard.
And then, dear Andy, a little question: why didn't you attack yesterday, in the last km of race? Today it's the rest day, so I don't think it would have taken you too much to recover. And then, Ivan Basso lost 8" although no one attacked. What if you had made a little move? Perhaps the seconds would have become a bit more - and this is important, considering the 39" that cost you the 2010 Tour.
Of course this is just a random suggestion by a supporter, but I'm tired of having my uncles asking me 'Why didn't Schleck attack?' after every stage featuring a final climb!
PS: Given that you've been so kind to bear all my Maturità talks in the last few weeks, miss Fede is glad to tell you that she received her mark two days ago: 100 out of 100 (yes, the teachers gave him the 5 points bonus that those who do well in the written parts of the proves deserve). I don't say this to blow my own trumpet, but because I think you deserve to know this fact. And that's all from me for today.

Great Top 3 on Mur de Bretagne:

Philippe Gilbert has had a very good Tour de France so far. On Sunday he wore the yellow jersey - which he accompanied with dyed blonde hair and with a yellow wrist watch. On Monday instead he wore the green jersey, accompanied by a green wrist watch. And today, on his birthday, he wore the polka dots jersey, which he accompanied with a white wrist watch. But still, today wasn't a very good day for PhilGil. In fact, although he was one of the favourites of the day, he didn't manage to outsprint Evans on the first uphill finish of the Tour. And to say that it was even his birthday, poor Phil... But still, I'm sure he won't get depressed by this.

The epilogue of today's stage probably surprised many supporters. Not only Phil the Cannibal didn't win, but Thor Hushovd managed to keep the yellow jersey. And guess who won? Cadel Evans, who right now has become one of the most dangerous contenders for the final victory. However, what impressed me the most today was the way Evans got his victory: by outsprinting Contador in the very last meter of race.

Yes, Contador. I thought he could have done something good today, especially because he wanted to give a strong signal to those who have already counted him out of the race for the podium. Therefore, he was in the first positions of the peloton even before the start of the Mur de Bretagne.

Until that moment, few things had happened. Cunego had crashed before the beginning of the race, LL Sanchez had punctured and Johnny Hoogerland (together with Izagirre, Kadri, Erviti and the engineer Jeremy Roy) had gone on a breakaway. A pretty normal day at the Tour, in other words.

The few particular things to point out this afternoon were the funny pursuit of the peloton starring Romain Feillu in the last kms of race and, most important, Van De Walle's retire from the race. Jurgen abandoned the competition as a consequence of his crash on the first day of race and is now on his way to Belgium to have his left aductor examined.

Actually, Italian spectators had another thing that made today's stage pretty peculiar. In fact, Rolf Sorensen spent a few minutes of his busy afternoon in the van of Italian tv, commenting the race and remembering his goold old times in the peloton as a teammate of Davide Cassani. 

As predictable, as soon as I saw Rolf I started screaming: 'Susanne, where are you??' and I also started to think about how Sorensen managed to escape from the van of the Danish tv in order to go chatting with Cassani. 

After some minutes, Rolf had to abandon the Italian comment of the race because his colleagues were looking for him. But still, before going he said that Danish tv is doing a great job with broadcasting the Tour and added that they're broadcasting it all. One of the Italian chronists let him say those things but, as soon as Rolf disappeared from his sight, said that, in reality, no one broadcasts more hours of race than the Italian tv. Now me expects Rolf to give a reply to this statement in the next few days ;)

Anyway, back to the stage. In the last 10 kms of race, LT took the lead of the peloton. In the meanwhile, also Mollema showed himself at the head of the race.

When the final climb began, everyone could see Contador getting closer and closer to the head of the peloton which, in that moment, was controlled by the Lotto guys (Vanendert, Sieberg and Lang did a great job this afternoon). Unfortunately, LT wasn't visible anymore, although Frankie managed to reappear at the head of the race very soon. But still, Andy had already lost his way in the peloton and so, when Contador attacked in the steepest part of the climb, the young Luxembourgian leopard couldn't do anything but watch.

Gilbert, on the other hand, immediately jumped on Alberto's wheel and was followed by Evans, Kloden, Frankie (yay!), Uran, Samu Sanchez, Vinokourov, Van den Broeck and Hushovd (!!). Then it was Uran's turn to attack, although his try didn't have any luck. Therefore Contador tried escaping again, but he was followed by the other riders also on this occasion. As a consequence the race ended in a sprint, which saw Cadel Evans getting the victory right in front of Alberto. Alberto who, thinking he had won, raised his arms to the sky before being frozen by a bad stare coming from Evans (I'm exaggerating).

Talking about Contador's second placement, I think we can all say that it was caused also by the fact that he kept his hands on the upper part of his handlebar while sprinting - a beginner's mistakes, according to Cassani, which made him miss the stage victory.

Scrolling down the stage classification, we can see that third this afternoon was a great Vinokourov, 6th was a super Hushovd (the rider who impressed me the most this afternoon, there are no words to describe what he did!) and 7th was Frank Schleck. All those riders had the same time as the winner.

Wiggins and Basso, on the other hand, crossed the finish-line 6" after Evans, whereas Horner, Leipheimer and Schleck finished the stage 8" after the first 10 riders.

Of course, everyone has already started to say that today's stage showed us that Contador is very strong and that Andy Schleck is really weak. Personally, I feel like underlining the fact that Andy doesn't like short climbs, so he doesn't usually ride that well on them. But still, I must admit that, imo, OGL made a mistake at the start of the climb: he wasn't in the first positions of the peloton. As a consequence, when Conti attacked, he couldn't follow him.

I found Andy's wrong position inside the peloton a bit strange, since LT had been at the head of the group for some kms before the start of a climb. But still, all of a sudden, it became impossible to spot Leopard riders at the head of the bunch. In the following seconds, Frank had to struggle hard to go back to his original place, whereas Andy didn't make it. Actually, I'd like to know what caused the guys to get so scattered through the peloton in the last kms of race.

Anyway, although Contador gave a good signal, I think we can say that today's stage wasn't completely negative for los Schlecks. In fact, Frank was simply fantastic, whereas Andy (in spite of everything) could limit his time loss in a great way.

(Pic by Sirotti)

The man in yellow:

Ok girls, as a little gift for you all, today I've decided to publish two posts in less than 12 hours of time. After telling you about my Maturità adventures, in fact, here I am talking about the Tour. Are you happy? Of course you are! So, let's write a few random observations of mine about the first stage of the French race.

First thing to notice about this year Tour is the fact that the riders started their adventure from Passage du Gois, a passage in the sea that appears just twice pro day. In 1999 the riders had to face this path in the middle of the sea during a stage and that caused a true carnage: lots of people slipping and crashing, riders getting retired, GC contenders losing 6 minutes from Armstrong.
Today luckily nothing serious happened, also because the race actually started as soon as the riders hit the solid French asphalt after leaving the slippery sand behind them.
Dad was slightly disappointed by that and complained about the lack of the 'true' Passage du Gois for a while. My uncle, on the other hand, kept on calling me to tell me that Frank Schleck had just fallen into the sea. His jokes worked 2 times, but then I started watching the race and he couldn't take me in anymore.
To say the truth, however, one rider (André Greipel) did fall while riding on Passage du Gois, but his crash didn't have any consequence.

As soon as the race started, three brave riders (Roy, Westra and Quemeneur) became the first breakawayers of the 2011 Tour. They were caught with 18.5 kms to go, after a big effort by Omega-Pharma Lotto.

Talking about Omega, two things to say: firstly, Jurgen Van De Walle is a hero; secondly, Gilbert should have dyed not just his hair, but also his eyebrows.

Talking about Van de Walle, some of you may wonder why I consider him a 'hero'. Well, the reason is simple: he crashed heavily in the middle of the stage, but in spite of that he pulled in front of the peloton all day long. Simply amazing.

Talking about Gilbert, instead, I must say I do like his idea of dying his hair blonde. But still, I believe he should have dyed his eyebrows too.

Still talking about hair, everyone saw the pictures of Thor Hushovd wearing a wig during the TdF presentation. As predictable, that has already become one of my personal highlights of this year Tour.

Remaining in the Garmin team, here's one thing I didn't know about David Zabriskie: he's become a vegan and now he's following a vegan diet. That means he can't eat meat, eggs and fish and that he can't even drink milk. And in spite of that, he's taking part in a hard race like the Tour: amazing.

Anyway, back to the competition. The stage was actually pretty boring in its first part, so the chronists had a lot of time to talk about the riders taking part in the race. In that way I could discover the existence of Yohann Géne, the first rider from Guadeloupe to take part in the Tour.

The stage became much more interesting in the last 10 kms. At that time there had already been some crashes, one of which involved also Nicolas Roche (another one instead involved poor Linus Gerdemann). Then, with 8.5 kms to go, Maxim Iglinskiy hit a female supporter who was standing on the edge of the road. The collision was very strong (I really do hope that supporter is fine) and it caused a big crash, which involved guys like Sanchez, Kreuziger and Contador. Other riders instead managed to remain at the head of the race. Amongst them there were los Schleck, Basso, Evans, Wiggins and Radioshack's dynamic trio fomed by Leipheimer, Kloden and Horner (the youngest one amongst them is 67 year-old Kloden). Immediately after the crash, Radioshack began pulling hard, helped by BMC. Luckily, this time no one talked about fair play, although an Italian chronist compared the developing situation with Chaingate (that man had to comment the race for 6 hours, so I'll apologise him for this).

With 2 kms to go, then, there was another crash, which involved also Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck. Luckily for them, their final delay was neutralised by the jury, since their crash took place with less than 3 kms to go.

After that crash, the fight for the main positions began. Trofimov tried to surprise anyone, but the first real attack was Cancellara's one. Fabian was followed just by Gilbert but, when he realised that Philippe was on his wheel, he stopped his attack. PhilGil instead continued his action, which brought him to win the stage and to get the yellow jersey. Second in the stage was a super Evans, third was Hushovd.

After the stage, an enthusiastic Gilbert looked simply overjoyed on the podium, where he couldn't enjoy (for the first time in the season) the company of his son Alan. However, I think it's just a matter of time before we see Gilbert jr. back on the podium with his dad.

Talking about los Schlecks, Frank crossed the finish-line with 6 seconds of delay from Gilbert, whereas Andy crossed it 1' 20" after the winner, together with Contador, Basso and Samu Sanchez. However, as already said, Andy and Basso's delays were neutralised, since they were caused by a crash that occured in the last 3 kms of the stage. Contador's delay instead was registered so that, right now, Andy Schleck has 1' 14" of advantage on the Spaniard. Considering that OGL lost last year Tour because of 39", I think he can be satisfied with this result and with the fact that, this afternoon, Contador was never in the first part of the peloton. A bad sign of form, or a simple coincidence?

(pic by Bettini)

And finally, Andy Schleck got himself a girlfriend too

Ok girls, remember the emergency procedure that we all practised when we discovered about Jakob Fuglsang's girlfriend? Ok, let's redo it now.

If you've just read the headline of this post (or, worse, you've just seen the picture above) and you're going to have a heart attack in a few seconds time, turn your back to the computer screen, immediately. Then try to relax and to breath slowly. Sloooowly and caaaalmly. Think about something happy, like the fact that miss Fede is almost done with her Maturità. If your mother is there, call her in. She'll surely help you. Ask her to switch off the computer's screen. Then, ask her to bring you to the kitchen. Once there, open the fridge and drink something. If you have some chocolate, eat it: it will surely make you  feel better. Sit down as you eat and count until 10. Sloowly and caalmly. Ok, do it once again. Think about the fact that in the world there are many tall boys with an overbite, with blonde hair and with blue eyes. Think that, somewhere out there, there is a man waiting for you.

If this procedure has made you feel better, you can try reading this post again. Otherwise, you'd better take a walk outside, enjoy some fresh air and avoid this webpage for a while, because we're going to talk about the news du jour for a while.
(Right now some of you are probably thinking: 'Hey, but how can I read the emergency procedure if I've turned my back to the computer screen immediately after step 1?' Unfortunately, I must admit I don't have a solution for that :P)

Anyway. After saving the life of a poor fangirl, let's go on with the news du jour. It is not a joke: Andy Schleck has really found himself a girlfriend. Oh, yes, a true girlfriend. Someone that he's already introduced to Frank and that has already appeared in the public eye together with him.
Now, let's not get desperate: that's how life goes. Our boy is 26, his brother is married and his best friend has a girlfriend. It was high time he found a nice girl that could stay close to him in the important moments, right?

I mean, imagine being a professional cyclist and having to face a race like the Tour: personally, in that situation I'd love to have someone special that could support me in tough moments and with whom I could relax and take my mind off my job for a while. And who could do that better than a partner? 'No one', that's the answer.

When I first read the news (who a very kind Anonimo posted in the comment area of my previous post), I was really surprised. I did expect Andy to get himself a girlfriend, but I didn't expect him to be that fast. But surprisingly (and shockingly), in my heart there was no space for feeling sorry or angry or disillusioned. I simply read the news, watched the pictures, thought 'OMG SHE IS GORGEOUS!!', mentally complimented Andy on his good choice, melted in front of the pic with the whole family (Andy, his girlfriend, Frank, Martine and Leea) and then I started smiling like a fool. Then I got up and went to my mother to tell her the news. She wanted to see the pictures too (we're women, we're curious creatures!!) and she was positively impressed by Andy's choice too.

In the pics posted by Anonimo, our Andy looks incredibly happy and relaxed. Is it also because his girlfriend was there with him? Yes, I think so. They look very nice together and they also look really happy. A young, beautiful and nice couple.

Hopefully now the Luxembourgian paparazzi will allow Andy and his girlfriend to enjoy their privacy in the future. If not, I'll go telling them off myself ;)

So, dear girl whose name is still unknown: congratulations on your choice (right now you're one of the most envied women worldwide) and take care of Our Glorious Leader. We say we adore him and things like that, but it's just platonic love. You don't have anything to fear from us, really ;) I wish you all of the best! (and since I'm at it, I wish all of the best also to Chris Anker Sorensen and to his girlfriend, who are becoming parents soon!!!)

PS: For more pictures, go to the great http://fuckyeahandyschleck.tumblr.com/archive . Thank you Anonimo for pointing it out!!

PS1: yes, I saw the pic of Jakob Fuglsang's new haircut. And that pic shocked me more than the one you can see earlier in this post.

Andy Schleck: is he bluffing or not?

Good evening, dear readers! For your joy, miss Fede has decided to allow herself an evening of blogging, so tonight she's going to delight you with some random thoughts of hers. 

First of all, an update on my exam preparations. I've studied the whole Italian programme, I'm halfway through the Latin programme and, most important, in the last two days I haven't studied anything because I didn't feel fine. However, not feeling fine didn't prevent me from finishing my 'tesina' ('little thesis'), which I had to give to my teacher this morning, after facing a lot of incredible adventures starring me, a printer and my computer.

Everything began exactly one week ago, when I sent an e-mail containing my 'tesina' ('little thesis') to my teacher. Two days ago he told me he would have taken a look at it in the afternoon, but in the evening I hadn't received the corrected copy yet. Yesterday morning therefore I was very nervous, both because I didn't feel fine and because I was worried by my teacher's delay. In fact I would have had to bring 3 copies of my tesina to school on the following morning (aka this morning) and I was worried by the fact that I had less than 24 hours of time to correct the eventual mistakes in it. My preoccupation became even stronger when, after talking to a friend of mine, she told me that that teacher had been terrible with her, since he corrected everything she had written.

As a consequence, yesterday I spent the whole day between the couch and the computer, with my eyes sore for watching the screen and a splitting headache tormenting me. Eventually, I received the long awaited e-mail at 8.30 pm.

After receiving the copy of my tesina and sending another urgent e-mail to my teacher in order to sort out the last details, I spent a hour (a hour!!) inserting the numbers at the end of each page of my research. It's sad to think that I threw away 60 minutes of my existence in that way, isn't it?

At about 10 o'clock, however, my tesina was ready to be printed. And, as predictable, that's where the drama began.

My work is 27 pages long and, after just 14 pages, my printer finished the ink. I immediately panicked, especially because I had to print 3 (3!) copies of my research and it was too late to find an open place where I could buy a new toner.

This morning therefore I woke up at 7.30, saved my tesina on a computer key and brought it to a place where they usually print documents and things like that. The owner was very kind, but he couldn't manage to print the damned thing. 'Problems with the format', he told me. Therefore I came back home and tried to write my tesina with a different format. Too bad that, after 30 minutes, I had managed to write in a decent way just 6 pages of it. I was a woman on the verge on a nervous breakdown when I eventually remembered that a shop in my town sells printer toners.

After other adventures and many nervous moments, at 10 o'clock I finally had three copies of my tesina in my hands. It was hard, but in the end I made it.

Anyway. Enough 'exam talks' for today, right? So, let's now talk serious things. Serious things like, for example, Tour de Suisse.

Sagan is incredible, isn't he? He won even today! And Kruijswijk got his first pro victory, isn't that sweet? What? Sorry, I didn't understand what you said. Could you repeat? Oh! You don't want to talk about Peter and Steven? Why? Oh, I see! Ok, then let's follow your advice and let's talk about the mistery of the month: Andy Schleck's behaviour in Tour de Suisse.

As you probably already know, OGL has been in the center of harsh critics in the last days, because many people rate his performances in the Swiss race as 'disappointing'. In fact our boy lost a lot of time already in the prologue (but on that occasion it wasn't entirely his fault), failed in his attempt to win yesterday's stage (he was second after an amazing De Gendt) and, most worrying, the other day he arrived 15 minutes after the stage winner, Kruijswijk. I know that he might have got dropped intentionally on that occasion, but this thing worries me a bit anyway. In fact, why should a rider like Andy decide to lose so much time in a race that, on paper, should suit him?

The lively debate that is going around the Luxembourger in these days has seen people adopting two main different attitudes. Here they are:

Attitude 1 (typical of the faithful, entusiasthic supporters of OGL): 'There's nothing to worry about, men! Andy didn't do that well in last year's TdS either, but in the end he was second in the Tour anyway, wasn't he? And yesterday he almost won a stage, didn't you see it on tv? He's still training, that's why he doesn't look very brilliant on the climbs. Moreover, he doesn't want to show his true shape to the adversaries, so he's bluffing in order to confuse them! That's why he got dropped the other day! And then, our boy needs the Tour de France pressure to give his best, so I bet that at the end of July he'll be on the first spot of that famous podium in Paris!'

Attitude 2 (typical of the skeptical supporters who don't like Andy): 'Schleck the Younger has made a big mistake with his Tour preparation this year, even a guy like De Gendt could drop him! Contador will ride much faster than him in July. I mean, Schleck lost 15 minutes from Kruijswijk the other day, if he goes on this way, he won't even be able to end up on the Tour podium in Paris! However, I must admit I'm glad to see that things are going this way. In fact, if he really fails to get on the Tour podium, next year Andy Schleck may decide to focus on more than just one race pro year and that would be great because, right now, he can't be considered a real champion. In fact, real champions are those who always race for winning, not those who bluff in races or race just to train'. 

 

As everyone can see, both the attitudes mentioned above have some weak points. For example, saying that a rider needs 'the Tour pressure' to do well, imo, is non-sense. Especially because, if you're talking about Andy, you must remember that he won Liége in 2009 - and in Liége there isn't the same pressure as in the Tour...

On the other hand, I think it's wrong to say that OGL focuses just on one race pro year. In fact, this year he tried his luck also in Liége and Amstel. Moreover, De Gendt is very talented and not being able to annihilate the gap from him on a climb it's not something to be ashamed of.

In spite of this, however, the thing that annoys me the most is that I think that both these attitudes could be correct. 'Is Andy Schleck bluffing / still training or not?' :That is the question that rings in the mind of every single cycling supporter of the world in these days. And, probably, the only one who owns the answer to this question is Andy Schleck himself.

Personally, I think OGL will be in a perfect shape in the Tour. Anyway, this doesn't prevent me from feeling confused when I look at his TdS's performances. 

The other day on Grosse Scheidegge, for example, Andy showed a really good form and it looked as if he was almost training. But then, as soon as the race for the stage victory began, he decided to disappear. Intentional decision ('I'm bluffing/ I don't want to lose too much energy/ I don't want to feel too strong already in this part of the year') or not? That is the question.

As far as yesterday is concerned, then, OGL entered a breakway, but failed to get the stage victory. 'Things that happen', you may think. Too bad that, imo, if someone wants to bluff, he doesn't enter a breakaway in order to win a stage...

Actually, I must admit that imo the whole 'Andy is bluffing/is just training' theory (which I support) has a worrying side and also a weak point.

First of all: we all know that Andy's been often criticised because he doesn't always race at a very high level during the year. In the past I've often defended this attitude of his ('He can't be in a super shape 12 months of the year! And then, in the last 3 seasons he always had problems that prevented him from keeping regular performances throughout the year') but, if he's really taking part in TdS just in order to bluff / train, well, that would be very disappointing for me. In fact TdS is the most important race in stages after the 3 GTs and, imo, it should be respected. In fact, Andy is just 26 and I don't want him to focus just on the Tour already at this age. Also because, if he starts using races in order to bluff / train at this age, I think many supporters could turn their backs at him very soon.

Back to the 'bluff' theory, then, there's a little doubt that is worrying me in these days. Here it is: if Andy's already in a good shape, why hiding it? I mean: if Andy is in a good condition, wouldn't it be better if he showed it? In that way he'd silence all the critics, he'd respect a race like TdS (making all the supporters happier) and, by getting a good placement in the final GC, he'd probably make his adversaries feel less confident at the start of the Tour. That's the weak point of the 'bluff / training theory' and that is a thing that worries me a lot.

As you can see, the debate around Andy's behaviour in the Swiss race is not just lively - it is also very complex. I think Andy's bluffing / still training, but I don't like this fact. And, at the same time, I have some doubts about why Andy should bluff in such an important race, with 2 weeks to the start of the Tour.

So, here you could read my random, chaotic, confused ideas. And you, what do you think of Andy's behaviour? Is he bluffing / training or is he really having preparation problems?

While waiting to know the answer to all our doubts, I wish you once again a good night.

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

...happy birthday to Andy, happy birthday to you!!! Let's all raise a (virtual) glass of champagne for Our Glorious Leader and let's hope we'll be able to see him smiling and wearing a yellow jersey (just like in this picture) at the end of July, in Paris!!!

PS: I know I haven't written anything for quite a lot of time, but my 'Maturità' exam starts on the 21st of June and school isn't over yet, so I have a lot of things to do in these days. Moreover, I have to deal with the strange feelings connected to the fact that I finally have to say goodbye to the people I've lived with in the last 5 years.

On the one hand, I'm happy everything is (almost) over, because some of my teachers have the rare quality of upsetting me every time I see them. For example, this morning my classmates and I had prepared a little party for celebrating the last hour of philosophy of our lives: we had brought something to drink, we had prepared cakes and biscuits, we had downloaded lots of songs and we had even downloaded a 'tango' (our teacher loves it and we absolutely wanted to see him dancing). In that hour we should have also talked about the exams and taken pictures with our German mother tongue teacher (which we adore). Unfortunately everything was ruined by our PE teacher, who destroyed all our plans by making us taking part in a stupid theatre play created by ourselves not in the 5th hour (as we had originally planned), but in the 6th one.

Eventually, we finished our show (which was the worst thing we've ever done in all our lives) just 5 minutes before the end of the school day, so that in the following minutes we were too busy tidying the gym and changing our clothes to start eating the cakes and putting on some music. Someone proposed to stay and have the party after the last hour of school, but the janitors didn't agree and the teachers (just like my classmates who had to take the bus) were in a hurry. Therefore our party was actually transformed in a meeting of a few depressed students, terribly angry at their PE teacher and terribly sorry for not having the chance to say 'adieu' properly to their teachers (they all had to abandon the school as soon as the last hour of lesson ended because they had an important meeting right after the last hour of lesson).

On the other hand, however, I feel a bit sorry about the end of high school. Some of my teachers have always been nice to my class and watching our German teacher bursting into tears at the end of her last lesson with us was very moving. Moreover, having to say goodbye to my friends (who are not going to study the same thing as me at university) will be pretty hard too. In addition, I have the feeling that some of my teachers would have liked to teach us more things than they actually did. For example, we started Kafka yesterday and our last German lesson was today, so our teacher was obviously sad about that.

Oh, and talking about my mixed feelings about the end of high school, how can I avoid to mention the fear of the exam? Our Maths teacher abandoned us 3 weeks ago and Maths is featured in the exam; our philosophy teacher will ask us history questions and our Italian teacher will ask us Latin questions. Too bad that our situation in History and Latin is dramatic (for my classmates and I, the cold war never started and Apuleio didn't write anything about Love) :P In addition, the fact of having to talk in Spanish in front of someone that doesn't know me (and whose name is not Denis Menchov :P) really makes me feel uncomfortable. Especially because, knowing myself, I'll end up mixing German and Spanish as I usually do during texts.
But hey, everyone has got over this exam without big shocks and, after it, I'll finally have some time to relax (and to watch the Tour ;) In the meantime, I wish a happy birthday to Andy Schleck once again and I cheer for Sorensen's second place in Dauphine Libére ;)

Random post about random things:

Lots of news to comment, dear readers, and just a few free moments to talk about them. How annoying.
So, let's start from the saddest part ever: as you could understand from my last post, yesterday the Belgian city of Gand hosted the funeral of WW Special. I decided not to watch the vids from the funeral in these days because I know they would really bring me down - and right now I can't actually allow myself to spend a day crying.
However, I did risk to break into tears while reading today's Gazzetta and other reports from the funeral. Fabian Wegmann and the boys who carried the coffins looked so sad and An Sophie and her sister were really destroyed. Even Wouter's father, a firefighter who had always looked very controlled here in Italy, was a broken man. May his son rest in peace forever and ever.

As our dear blogmate Figbash has recently pointed out in one of her last comments, on http://www.roadid.com/Wouter/ there is a simple way to help the family of Wouter: you just need to buy a bracelet which costs 15 $ - all the money will go to An Sophie and to her daughter. So, what are we waiting for? Let's all get one!!

CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME...
Talking about happier things, Andy Schleck was second in yesterday's ToC stage. He was outsprinted just by Horner and he was really satisfied with his result. "This is my first race back and I really didn't know where I would sit," Andy told Cyclingnews. "I knew that I was not lazy and that I was working hard. On the bottom when Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer went, I was a little bit in the red zone. I wouldn't say that I took it easy, but I went a little slower and went in the group behind. Linus Gerdemann (the team leader) was just a little bit behind the group and I thought that he could catch up with us but, in the end, he didn't," he added. "The last kilometre I tried everything I had. I was surprised by second place. I feel confident for Mt Baldy." We're looking forward to it too! However, has Our Glorious Leader done something to his hair? They looked a bit longer in some recent photos...
Still talking about ToC, Jens Voigt had a bad crash the other day. "I survived today so that is a good sign", Voigt said yesterday. "The good thing is that I didn't lose much skin but my hand hurts and I can't really move it, also I can't really use it. I will go and have an x-ray tonight to see if anything is broken, at least I would know the recovery and what to do next. My shoulder is functioning and I have a contusion and hopefully my hand is not broken". Let's hope everything's alright with good old Jens!
(Little suggestion: to read more about ToC, visit http://eisenandy.blogspot.com/ ).

GIRO TIME!
Now, let's finally talk about the Giro. Yesterday's stage was very thrilling, while today's and Tuesday's ones weren't that great. Or, actually, they weren't that great if you, like me, were able to see just their last 3 kms (stupid school...).
The Teramo stage (that arrived after a rest day and after a long transfer by plane, after which an exhausted Pinotti could finally get in his hotel room at 1 am) was won by Cavendish after that Petacchi had actually worked as his lead-out man. Poor Alessandro in fact paid the bad day at the office of his friend Hondo, who wasn't that good the other day. Talking about helpers who haven't been that good lately, poor Szmyd has a bronchitis (you were wondering why he had disappeared, weren't you?), whereas Agnoli is on antibiotics. Oh, and talking about Liquigas and bad luck: Basso has had a very bad crash while training on Etna, he got 15 stitches in his face but now he's fine.
Back to Mark's victory, it wasn't very appreciated by Ventoso, who got second. 'The team cars helped him to remain in the time limit on Etna!', Francisco claimed right after the finish-line, together with other riders. Chicchi on the other hand said that 'Cavendish, the other gruppetto riders and I did everything on our own, we recuperated even 2 minutes from the leading group in the last kms of race!" (wait, are you telling me that Cav rode stronger than Contador and Nibali on Etna?!?). Mark instead said that 'Ventoso'd better shut up, I could tell many things about him too". A recent news, however, says that a supporter vid shows Chicchi and another gruppetto riders getting helped by their team cars on Etna. Will this be true?
Talking about another polemic, Mario Cipollini has said that, in his opinion, Cav doesn't lead 'the athlete life'. In fact, according to 'The Lion King' (which is Mario, and not Simba), Cannonball ate too many ice creams before the beginning of the Giro and so he is a bit fat.
Fat or not, Cavendish won even today's stage in Ravenna :P Today's stage actually had a very tricky finale and in fact at the last curve there was a little crash involving Sacha Modolo. However, it looks like no one got seriously hurt.
Second behind Cav was a great Appollonio, third was Petacchi.
Talking about riders who've recently got injured, poor Kristof Vandewalle is racing with very bad facial wounds after a crash on Wednesday. That stage was very exciting, although Scarponi didn't show us the attack he had promised.
At the beginning of the day Nibali had tried enter a breakaway in order to force Saxo Bank to work a bit and that was a very good move. Then other guys broke clear from the peloton and Vincenzo went back in the group.
The breakawayers du jour were all really good: Christophe Le Mevel, Daniel Moreno, Marco Manzano, Valerio Agnoli, Fabio Taborre,Carlos Alberto Betancourt, Simone Stortoni, Steven Kruijswijk, Ignatas Konovalovas,Tiago Machado and Lars Petter Nordhaug. Le Mevel was the virtual Maglia Rosa of the race for a lot of time (apropos: when was the last time that a French wore the pink jersey?), but then he had to give up to his dreams of glory.
Betancourt attacked bravely, but blew up on one of the last climbs, just like Stortoni. Moreno and Konovalovas (love this guy!!) instead were caught with less than 1 km to go (damn!!), on the Castelfidardo final climb. The victory there went to John Gadret, a peculiar Frenchman who prefers the Giro to the Tour and who worked in a grapewine until he was 23. All the GC riders ended the race together.
Talking about GC riders, Contador has recently said that: 'This Giro could be won in the hotel' (Evilness reminds me that Pinotti and I had already understood that thing in December 2010). Therefore the other day he decided to skip the pos-stage press conference with the Maglia Rosa. How nice.
Talking about Contador, I haven't replied to the comments that were left after my last post: don't worry, I'll do it as soon as I have enough time. Moreover, now Optimism is definitely leading the match against Pessimism, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's stage. Wir gehen nach Oesterreich, wie schoen!!!

Random randomness, Fiuggi Terme and Tropea's stages of the Giro, Agnoli proposes to his girlfriend and Leopard Trek remembers WW Special:

Given the horrible weather, I'm not going out this evening, so I have some time to rewrite that post of mine that Blogger deleted two days ago and to talk a bit also about today's stage. However, feel free to leave comments also in the comment areas of my previous entries: I'll take a look at my old posts regularly during this month!

SAPRI-TROPEA:
NB: Today's stage of the Giro was dedicated to the memory of 8 amateur cyclist who were killed by a car last December. The car's driver was on drugs and he ran over this group of men as they rode outside Lamezia Terme. 7 riders immediately died, whereas the 8th one perished in hospital a few weeks after the accident.

Sapri - Tropea offered us another exciting final sprint and some jawdropping sea landscapes.
The two breakawayers du jour were Leonardo Giordani (U23 world champion in 1999) and Mirko Selvaggi, who were caught by the peloton with 9.5 kms to go. Those two athletes train together whenever they can and that's why, at the end of their adventure, they embraced each other in a very friendly way.
Today's stage had a very particular finale. In fact, the last kms of race were full of curves and presented a very peculiar climb. Said climb in fact was short and easy, but it presented two hairpin turns which forced many riders to slow down and brake, causing them to lose some seconds from the riders who were at the front of the peloton. Saxo Bank guys knew this and that's why they worked hard at the front of the group in the last kms of race.
With about 2 kms to go, when the riders still hadn't got over the last climb, Farnese's Oscar Gatto launched an attack. Right after Gatto attacked, another rider escaped from the peloton and started to chase him. Said rider was Alberto Contador and I had to check his face twice before I could finally believe what I was seeing.
No one else managed to follow the Spaniard, who was reducing his gap from Gatto in a very fast way.
Eventually, luckily for him, Gatto managed to get the stage victory, while Contador (second in the stage) received a time bonus of 12". Add these 12" to the 5" he gained on the rest of the peloton and you'll discover that, on a simple stage like this one, Contador managed to steal 17" from his main contenders. A bad morale blow for the other Gc contenders, isn't it?
Third in the stage was Petacchi, whereas Kristoff was a surprising 4th.
As a consequence of his great team work, Richie Porte lost 1'43" from Gatto in today's stage, whereas Fabio Duarte got retired during the stage (does anyone know why?).

I must say that I was very happy for Oscar Gatto's victory. In fact you must know that he was considered a great cycling promise as he turned pro, but then he seemed to have lost his sprinting abilities. This year, finally, Oscar has finally returned back to his good old level and he's already got many good victories. As they say, today's victory in the Giro can be considered 'the icing on the cake' - now, what about adding a participation in the Copenhagen's Worlds to that delicious cake? ;)

This afternoon I was also very surprised by Contador's attack, which I didn't expect at all. But still, I think he wanted to send a psychological message to Scarponi (who attacked and almost dropped the Spaniard yesterday) and to Nibali.
Actually, my surprise for Contador's attack made me behave in a very bitter way. In fact, when he escaped from the peloton, my dad said: 'Contador?!? Why is he attacking? I mean, this climb doesn't suit him!!'. Insensitive to my father's excitement, I went: 'Well, it's actually very simple, dad: everyone else's chain must have popped, otherwise Contador would have never attacked. D'you remember le Tour?' Sorry, but at times I really can't handle my bitterness.
Talking about something different, after the stage poor Fabrizio Piacente (RAI's unexperienced journalist) didn't manage to interview Contador for the second time in a week. Dear Fabrizio, I just want you to know that you have all my support.
Moreover, after the stage I was reminded that Kreuziger isn't Italian (he speaks better than me, but this afternoon he failed to understand a question during an interview) and I discovered that Andrea De Luca and Paolo Savoldelli (RAI's journalists) are very good friends. In fact, they watched a post-stage vid together with other journalists and, in the end, they both started to laugh. Asked about this fact, De Luca said that he was laughing because of the vid, whereas Savoldelli said that 'watching De Luca makes me laugh'. What a couple of hilarious boys.

RANDOM LINK TO JOUR:
On http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/schleck-hopes-for-a-strong-performance-at-the-amgen-tour-of-california there's an interview with Andy schleck about Tour of California. I won't be covering this race in the next days (I prefer the Giro to ToC), but I'm sure you'll find regular updates on other blogs ('Eisen Andy', for example). However, if you have tales coming up from ToC, I remind you to send them to Bananas About Bikes: you'll see them published in no time :D

FIUGGI TERME STAGE:
Let's now go back in time talk a bit about Fiuggi Terme's stage, which was won by Ventoso. That was the first 'normal' stage that the riders faced since Special WW's disappearance and I welcomed it with pleasure. Actually, the atmosphere on that day was still pretty tense because of the polemics caused by Orvieto's gravel roads. In particular, after ending that stage Contador declared that the cyclists had to ride on 'roads for goats' (I wonder, why didn't he say the same about Tour's cobblestones?), whereas Ongarato asked: 'Who else has died?' as soon as he crossed the finish-line. That was a terrible comment, to which Zomegnan answered by saying that he doesn't even know who Ongarato is.
However, it was Contador himself who put a stop to all the polemics ('The past has gone, now let's focus on the present), whereas Nibali told the viewers that: 'I'm a Sicilian and I know Etna: everything will be perfect on Sunday because Etna usually stops erupting after 48 hours'.

Fiuggi's stage saw Jussi Veikkanen (first virtual Maglia Rosa of the Giro 2011), Kristof Vandewalle, Yaroslav Popovych, Sacha Modolo and Frederik Veuchelen attacking after a few kms after the beginning. The last breakawayer, Vandewalle, was caught with about 4 kms to go.
Amongst the other attackers du jour there were Kiserlovski (yay!) and Pirazzi, who attacked twice.
The riders had to face a little climb in the last kms of race and the finish itself was slightly uphill. The peloton faced the final climb with a very high pace and many sprinters got dropped.
With 1.5 km to go, Di Luca attacked. He was chased by Petacchi, who then had to start another sprint in order to win the stage. However, Alessandro was so tired that he suddenly stopped pedalling with 5 meters to go, leaving the stage victory to an astonished Ventoso. After crossing the finish-line, Petacchi sat down and said that he had 'just lost 10 years of life'.
In the meanwhile, Garzelli was arguing with Marzoli, who hadn't helped him in the sprint. 'I'm the captain, did you get it?', he told his teammate.

After the finish-line, there were some very nice scenes at 'Il Processo alla Tappa', a very popular Italian transmission related to the Giro. Valerio Agnoli was amongst the 'guests of the day', together with Ongarato and Contador.
While answering the question of a journalist, Agnoli said that right now he's in a very particular moment of his life. Then he looked his girlfriend Giovanna (who was on the stage of the transmission too), took a ring out of his pocket, and asked her to marry him. The girl was really embarassed, but she obviously said 'yes' and she sat down next to her future husband. The couple whispered for some minutes, before we eventually discovered a few things about the proposal. First, Valerio had kept that ring in his suitcase, waiting for the perfect moment, for 6 days. Secondly, Giovanna was very surprised because she 'didn't think that Valerio was in favour of marriages'. Thirdly, she herself had chosen the ring, thinking that it was a present for the mum of Nibali's girlfriend, who is a great friend of hers. And instead she was taken in, since the ring didn't go to mrs. Nibali, but to the future mrs. Agnoli. How nice! (this makes me ask to my readers: which 'cyclistic' proposals did you prefer so far? Frank Schleck, Van Summeren or Agnoli's one?)

As said, one of the other guests of 'Il Processo alla Tappa' on that day was Alberto Contador, who surprised me by saying that Saxo Bank produces everything the riders eat, 'bread included', in order to avoi problems with clenbuterol. Shocking, isn't it?

REMEMBERING WW SPECIAL...
As you all already know, Wouter Weylandt's funeral (I can't believe I'm typing these words...) will take place in Gand on Wednesday morning.
Leopard Trek riders are remembering WW Special with some messages written on their website (link: http://www.leopardtrek.lu/remembering-wouter ) in their own mother tongues. Here's the translation of what Davide Viganò and Luca Guercilena wrote:
Davide Viganò: 'In this moment I’d like to say you a thousand things and, at the same time, I would like to remain silent. I would like to share with you other serene moments, with the smile on our faces, together with the team, in the peloton.
I would like to relive the successes of the past in an even better way, because in this moment I feel as if I haven’t lived them intensely enough.
Ciao WW Special, I’ll miss you…'
Luca Guercilena: "'What do you think man?' That's how you started our conversations every time you wanted some advice, an idea or even just an opinion about your life as a rider.
"I'll miss being able to give you an answer, I'll miss your serene smile every time we found a solution, I'll miss the times when you said 'Grinta' in Italian to make me understand that everything was clear.
"Now nothing is clear anymore. I say goodbye to you and I'm sure that you'll give us the Grinta and a smile to make us go straight towards the finish-line".

Still talking about Wouter, a little anedocte regarding the stage that his colleagues dedicated to him. While riding, Gorazd Stangelj saw a child who had written 'Wouter froever in our hearts' on a cartel. Moved, he tried to give the kid his water bottle, but the kid didn't see it on time and failed to grab it. Therefore Peter Stetina, who saw the scene, solved the problem by giving his own water bottle to the child. Cyclists can be such nice people...

Frankie boy gets his joy!

FRANK SCHLECK WINS THE FIRST STAGE OF CRITERIUM INTERNATIONAL! YAY (*faints*)A Fangirl can't even study Nietszche in peace in these days ;) First, I was distracted by mr. Fabian Cancellara's triumph in Harelbeke; then, it was Frank Schleck's turn to distract me with his great victory at Criterium International (mind you, I'm not complaining for that... ;)

Today stage of Criterium International ended on Col de l'Ospedal, a climb that led the riders up to an altitude of 1.000 meters above the sea level. Frank Schleck crossed the finish-line alone, 16" before of Vasil Kiryenka and 22" before of Rein Taaramae. 4th was Lopez Garcia, 5th Geniez, 6th Lagutin, 7th Nordhaug, 8th Rolland, 9th Fedrigo and 10th was Andy Schleck. A very good result, especially if you consider that Andy was in the same gruppetto as Lagutin, Nordhaug, Rolland and Fedrigo.
Unfortunately I can't tell you many things about this race, since it wasn't broadcasted here in Italy. Luckily however I could watch E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke, which was won by a magnificient Fabian Cancellara. Leopard raced amazingly well and O'Grady had a very important role in the race.

Fabian looked very determined this afternoon: I just tell you that, when he had to change his bike for a gear problem, he actually threw it on the ground and, as soon as he got the new bike, he started riding immediately. The mechanic couldn't even help him to get started again!!
O'Grady was in the first group of breakawayers together with Roelandts, Van De Walle, Hinault, Bonnet, Vanmarcke, Iglinskiy and a few other guys (sorry, I can't remember their names). With about 30 kms to go, Sep Vanmarcke (one of my favourite riders, he was born in 1988 and has a bright future ahead of him!) tried a solo attack. In the meanwhile, Cancellara abandoned the peloton on a climb and started his race towards victory. After a few seconds, he joined the 3rd group of breakawayers. Every rider of that group started to follow Cancellara, without giving him a single turn at the front.
Then the Locomotive from Bern managed to join the second group of breakawayers. A few seconds later, he joined the first one. All the riders started to follow him, so that the 3 group of breakawayers just melted into one, formed by about 20 riders. Amongst them there were Terpstra, Chainel, Ivanov, Gusev, Jerome, Tuft, Tankink and Larsson.

Vanmarcke was caught by these riders and O'Grady helped Cancellara as long as he could. Then, with about 18 kms to go, Fabian said 'bye bye!' to everyone and soloed to the finish-line. He really looked exhausted after the finish-line (I thought he was going to throw up!), but he was also incredibly happy.
In the meanwhile, the guys who were chasing him didn't seem to be able to work together. Amongst them there were some strong guys like Larsson, Ivanov, Tuft, Haussler and Terpstra, but it looked as if they had already given in. Terpstra was the only one who tried to start a serious chase, but he soon got very angry at his fellows because of the lack of cooperation. I couldn't understand why everyone gave in all of a sudden and I was pretty disappointed by the riders' attitude. Moreover, I was very confused by Katusha's tactics: firstly, Gusev and Ivanov never cooperated with Terpstra. Secondly, with about 10 kms to go Ivanov tried to break free from his companions a few times. Did he want to chase Fabian on his own? Or was he riding for second place? In both cases, imo that was a totally useless move.
Eventually, second in the race was Roelandts, while 3rd was Gusev. 4th was a great Vanmarcke. Hopefully the Belgian rider of Garmin will show us a good race also tomorrow, at Gand-Wevelgem.

So, that's all from me for the moment. Now I'm off to celebrate Frank's victory ;) Let's raise one of our famous virtual toasts to Leopard Trek's victories, shall we? ;)

PS1: Some of you haven't checked the new post at Bananas About Bikes yet (don't try to cheat me because I have my secret ways to know whether you've checked it or not). Go do it now!
PS2: I couldn't find any pic of Frank's victory, so I posted an old one. However, someone found a picture that is even worse than the one I posted above. Why did they make that choice?!?

Frank retires from Paris-Nice, Andy shows up in Tirreno-Adriatico:

Almost one week after my last post, here I am again. Once again, I've had a very tiring and long week, during which I've booked a holiday for the last week of July (yes, I will miss two Tour de France stages while I'm away, I'm aware of this fact and I already know that I'll regret this decision of mine) and I've got to know that Bob Dylan is going to play in Milan on the 22nd of June 2011. Which, accidentally, is the day before of my final high school exam take 2. Oh anger, oh bad luck.
Anyway, I realise I'm digressing. Therefore, let's talk cycling.
Probably, you've all started reading this post because you're a bit worried about the 'Frank retires from P-N' part of its headline. 'Frank? Retired? Paris-Nice? When? Where? How? And most important: Why?!?' If you're asking yourself these questions in a very hysterical way, I suggest you calming down and relaxing. In fact, Frank didn't finish today stage of the Paris-Nice not because he crashed badly or things like that (you're confusing him with Kiserlovski), but simply because he had a cold and some stomach problems. This morning Frank probably saw that it was raining cats and dogs, that the roads were etremely slippery, that it was terribly cold and so he decided to abandon the race after some kms. Understandable, especially if you consider that his GC placement wasn't actually that good.
However, he wasn't the only one to get retired today. In fact, amongst the riders who didn't finish today's stage there were also Nicolas Roche, Peter Sagan, Eros Capecchi, Francis De Greef (who was on a breakaway few days ago), Sandy Casar, Romain Feillu, Sylvain Chavanel and Daniele Righi (these last 3 riders actually didn't even start racing this morning). Also Fuglsang didn't end today stage as a consequence of the crash that he had a few days ago.
Talking about riders who didn't finish the stage, also Robert Kiserlovski has to be included in this long list. The Astana rider slipped with a few kms to go and he ended up under a truck, that was parked on the road side. Luckily, it seems that Robert didn't break anything. However, he was brought to the hospital immediately after his crash and he was given some stitches on his face.
Also Teejay Van Garderen crashed, just like Siutsou, Haussler (he fell three times), Westra and Tondo. Xavier crashed while crossing the finish-line 9 seconds after the winner, Remy Di Gregorio. The Frenchman was very strong this afternoon and, during the last kms, I often had cold shivers running down my spine because of his riding. Firstly, his way of riding downhill is simply scaring. Secondly, he risked to crash with a few kms to go and I think he hasn't realised yet how he managed not to fall off his bike.

Talking about the previous stages of P-N, I must say that I'm not surprised by Toni Martin's great TT. I think that he's one of the best time trialist of the world and I think he may be a serious GT contender already this year.

Kloden won a stage two days ago and I was happy to see him winning after 2 years spent at the service of His Majesty Lance Armstrong. Radioshack is also counting on Brajkovic, who's one of the most promising guys of the bunch.

Also Taaramae showed us some good attacks, while Leopard Trek tried getting good result with Gerdemann and Monfort. Maxime was really good this afternoon, while Linus ('il tedeschino', the 'little German' as an Italian chronist called him) tried attacking (without succeeding).

As far as young riders are concerned, I'm happy for Mollema and Spilak's rides, while Peraud, Andrew Talansky and Lieuwe Westra (they were 7th and 6th yesterday) have really surprised me so far.

Btw, am I the only one who thinks that Di Gregorio looks a bit like Gilbert?

If the weather was horrible in today stage of P-N ('the race towards the sun', as they call it), it was much better in the Center of Italy. Today stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was 240 kms long and the riders got on their bikes at 9.30 am. That caused them to end the race at 3.40 pm, with 40 minutes of advantage on the official time table (and 20 minutes advantage on my own time table).
The stage was won by Scarponi, while a happy Cunego was 2nd. Third was Cadel Evans, 4th Basso, 5th Di Luca, 6th Gesink, 7th Nocentini,8th Nibali. 9th was Lovkvist, a rider whose traces were lost in the past Tour de France. Fangirl is obviously extremely happy to see him back in the top 10.
Gilbert was 10th (the last climb was too long and steep for him), while the very brave Visconti was 11th.

Amongst the guys who are impressing me in this Tirreno-Adriatico there is Thor Hushovd, who yesterday did an outstanding job for Farrar and that, imo, is going to be the main contender for Milan-Sanremo.
Also Andy Schleck impressed me, since he's already in a good condition (he was 35th this afternoon). Cancellara has ridden very well too today and the guys who attacked with him almost couldn't help him pulling because he was way too fast for them. Also Fabian Wegmann, who was recenly been reported for being the latest crush of a certain cycling blogger, has recently had a similar problem like that: on the TTT day, in fact, poor Fabian had to take his turn at the front right before of the Swiss Engine. Fabian probably forgot about this a few times and, after a few kms, he said 'bye bye' to his teammates. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to do so (after all, it takes a lot of time to learn how to TTT together) and Leopard didn't get a good result on that day.
Saxo Bank actually rode better than LT on the first day of race (I can imagine Riis dancing around happily) and JJ Haedo took the first victory for the team yesterday in Perugia. After all these tries, he finally managed to get a well deserved victory, yay!
Talking about guys who often try winning, Oliver Kaisen was in a breakaway also the other day. When he wins a race, I'll open a big imaginary bottle of champagne just for him.
As far as the sprinters are concerned, I'm not worried for Petacchi and Cavendish's lack of victories. Petacchi had health problems, while Cavendish doesn't need to prove his value anymore. Farrar is very strong, while poor Greipel retired after one stage. Marcel Sieberg has replaced him as Omega Pharma-Lotto sprinter and he's getting some good top 10 placements (last year he used to be part of Cavendish' train).

Tomorrow there will be some exciting stages both at Paris-Nice and at Tirreno-Adriatico, so we'd better stay glued to our televisions in order to understand more things about the athletes' condition. And then, from Monday, we'll all be breathing the Sanremo atmosphere. Have a good Sunday everyone and be ready to watch some good cycling in the next few days!

PS: This morning, the Tirreno-Adriatico riders dedicated a minute of silence to all the people who died because of the Japanese earthquake of the other day. I was really shocked to see those images on tv, especially because Japan is the best country in the world as far as earthquake-safety is concerned.
Since I know that I have some readers (and a follower) from Japan, I just wanted to say that I hope they're all fine.