La Vuelta: crashes, victories and heat

Spain is a hot country, everyone knows that. And that is the reason why Spaniards are known in the world for their very particular daily routines. For example, they have lunch at 2 pm, they dine at 10 pm and their shops are usually closed from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm. These three hours of the afternoon are usually dedicated to the so called 'siesta', aka the moment of the day during which people can relax and defend themselves from the hot temperatures outside their houses. Unfortunately, the three hours of the siesta are also the hours in which cycling races usually take place. Now: take the wonderful Spanish cities, take some of the best riders of the world and have them racing in Spain in the warmest afternoons of the year. To make this recipe even better, add a few climbs and shake everything with energy. Then, serve this dish to all the cycling supporters you know: they'll surely approve. Oh, and if they ask you the name of this tasty dish, tell them that it's called 'Vuelta a España' and that they can have a free sample of it every day for three weeks between the end of August and the first half of September.

So far the 2011 edition of la Vuelta has been very exciting and also very moving. Drama, excitement, sufference, joy: this is cycling, this is la Vuelta.

The third stage of the race was a very exciting one: whereas in other competitions you must wait at least one week before you can start experiencing some emotions not connected to riders crashing and retiring, the Spanish competition is known for its exciting and always thrilling parcours. On Monday, for example, people expected the race to end with a bunch sprint. Instead, 5 brave and strong riders (Irizar, Lastras, Chavanel, Pydgornyy and Edet) attacked after 6 kms of race and successfuly exploited the hilly terrain of the stage in order to stay out of the peloton's reach for the rest of the day. 

After 90 kms of race, the unlucky Edet was dropped by his companions because he had been stung by an insect. In the meanwhile, Cavendish and Kittel were having problems too and they soon got dropped by the peloton. They eventually crossed the finish-line 12 minutes after the winner (and together with tough guys like Taylor Phinney, Toni Martin and Nick Nuyens). This sudden defaillance obviously caused the alarm-level in the heads of Cannonball' supporters to raise. The Manx rider in fact showed he's not in a very good form already in the TTT, when he got dropped from his teammates. Will Mark manage to get back into shape before the Worlds? That is the question everyone would like to answer.

As Cav and Kittel were struggling, Team Leopard tried to defend Bennati's leader jersey. On the last climb of the day, however, the peloton lead was taken by team Sky, which did their best in order to set a good pace at the front.

With about 13 kms to go, the breakaway still had an advantage of about 1' 30" on the main peloton and Chavanel, Irizar, Pydgornyy and Lastras all started to dream of the stage victory. The Movistar rider was particularly keen on getting this victory, especially because his last victory before Monday dated back to 2008. Not a flattering thing for a rider who has improved a lot in the last few years and who has often been close to getting prestigious results... Lastras was aware of that and, right before the end of the last climb, he laucnhed a strong attack, thuis dropping Chavanel & Co. Pablo gave it all in the last kms of race and he eventually managed to cross the finish-line in triumph. Even in this great moment of joy, however, the Spaniard had a thought for some colleagues of his who aren't in the peloton anymore. In particular, Pablo dedicated his victory to his teammates Xavier Tondo and Mauricio Soler and to the Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt. "I think that I won today because of the expertise that I've built up as a veteran rider, I think it was a good win", the Movistar rider told Cyclingnews after his victory. "I really wanted to raise my arms at the finish today and I dedicate the win to Xavi Tondo and to my teammate Soler who is very ill, as well as to all the friends who have been lost this year". As well as winning the stage, Lastras also managed to get the leader jersey. In fact the former owner of the red jersey, Daniele Bennati, ended his day on the saddle 3' 06" after Lastras. However, 'The Panther' was in good company: also Denis Menchov, Steven Kruijswijk and Robert Kiserlovski finished the stage with him, 23" later than the other GC contenders.

On the following day, the riders had to face the Sierra Nevada climb. A tough day for the riders, not just because of the heat and of the toughness of the final climb, but also because of the memories.

Exactly three months before, in fact, the Movistar rider Xavier Tondo lost his life in a garage atop of Sierra Nevada, a few meters far from the finish-line of Tuesday stage.

Benoit Inxausti, who was with Xavier on that day, finished the stage 18' after the winner. 'I still remember a lot of what happened on that day. I would prefer not to remember it, but I can't help it. And tomorrow, I'll remember that moment in an even worse way', the young rider said at the end of Monday's stage.

The first uphill finish of the Vuelta wasn't clement with the riders who weren't in a good form. With 10 kms to go, halfway up the final climb, Igor Antòn (one of the main contenders for the overall victory) lost contact from the rest of the peloton and ended the stage 1' 38" after the winner. Mark Cavendish, on the other hand, got retired with 40 kms to go. 'I'm tired and I want to sleep', he said as he hopped on his team car, before hiding his head with a towel in order to get shelter from the photographers.

As the last climb began, the breakawayers du jour were caught and Liquigas took the lead. With 5 kms to go, however, Chris Anker Sorensen managed to escape from the peloton. The Danish rider was followed just by Daniel Moreno and really gave it all in order to get a victory for his newborn daughter Laerke. Unfortunately, in the end the stage winner was Moreno, who got the victory by outsprinting Chris  in the last few meters of race. In spite of that, Sorensen was pretty happy after the stage. 'It’s huge to finish second on Sierra Nevada and I’m naturally proud of the result. The team put me in a great position at the foot of the climb. Rafa Majka was close to me and his attack created the opportunity for me to launch a counter-attack. Moreno was simply stronger than me. I tried to drop him with 1.5 kilometers to go, but he remained with me and maybe he was even fresher than me. However, I have no regrets and I will try winning again'.

As most of the GC contenders seemed to ride on the climb without many problems, the race leader Lastras ended the stage 18 minutes after Moreno and 17 minutes after Chavanel, who became the new leader of the race.

On the following afternoon, another tough climb was waiting for the riders: the Valdepenas de Jaén wall, which is 2 kms long and whose central slopes have an average of 24%. With about 8 kms to go, David Moncoutié went on a solo attack. He got caught with 2 kms to go, after that Liquigas had chased him at a very fast pace. When Dani Moreno attacked in the steepest part of the wall, the only ones who could follow him were his captain (and favourite du jour) Joaquin Rodriguez, the surprising Wout Poels and Vincenzo Nibali. Unfortunately the Liquigas rider isn't as good as Rodriguez at riding on extremely steep climbs, so he soon had to abandon the rear wheel of the Spaniard who, led by Moreno, managed to get a prestigious victory on one of the hardest short climbs of Europe.

Bauke Mollema was a great 4th, whereas Scarponi was 5th, Fuglsang was 7th, Roche 8th and Menchov (who usually prefers longer climbs) was 14th. Sylvain Chavanel grit his teeth and managed to keep the leader jersey for another day.

Today's stage saw the peloton riding towards the amazing city of Còrdoba and losing some important riders. Kurt - Asle Arvesen's retire was caused by the consequences of his surreal crash of the day before, when he hit a child who was picking up a water bidon in the middle of the road. At that point the riders were riding at 75 kmph and, as a consequence of the crash, Arvesen's bike got shattered and Kurt-Asle suffered some bruises. The child suffered some bruises as well, but he didn't break any bone. The Sky rider managed to finish yesterday's stage, but this afternoon he decided to retire from the competition. The Norwegian has no broken bones and has promised that he would do his best to make it to the Norwegian line-up for Copenhagen Worlds. That in fact would surely be the perfect way to end his amazing career.

Unfortunately, Arvesen wasn't the only one who crashed badly in the last few hours and who had a lot of bad luck during the whole season. In fact, a breakout news says that Matti Breschel (who crashed during today's stage) has two broken fingers and isn't likely to take part in the Worlds.

Talking about crashes, however, it must be underlined that la Vuelta isn't experiencing the same amount of crashes as the Tour. Of course this is a consequence of the fact that the riders are  less nervous and stressful in the Spanish race, but the hilly terrain of the first few stages surely helped the peloton to avoid the dangerous situations that supporters had to witness during the first week of the Tour de France 2011.

As some riders abandoned the race and some other ones tried their luck by going on a breakaway (Taylor Phinney was amongst them), some sprinters (Haussler, Farrar, Petacchi, Haedo) lost contact from the main group. As a consequence, Bennati's team started to set the pace in the final kms, but the situation changed when, with about 20 kms to go, David Moncoutié attacked on on the 'Alto del catorce por ciento' ('Mountain of the 14%'). The Frenchman was soon joined by Toni Martin, Kevin Seeldrayers and David De La Fuente, whereas Liquigas took control of the main peloton. In the last few kms, the whole Liquigas team set a hellish pace on a downhill road and this caused a split in the peloton. Four Liquigas riders (the team leader Nibali, Peter Sagan, Valerio Agnoli and Eros Capecchi) found themselves at the head of the peloton together with an intruder, Pablo Lastras. Behind them, Chavanel understood that his leadership in the race was in danger and gave it all to limit his time loss. With him there were Rodriguez and Toni Martin, one of the best time trialists of the world.

Liquigas rode a superb TTT towards Cordoba, whereas the chasers couldn't get any closer. When the final sprint was launched, Sagan easily won in front of Lastras, whereas Agnoli made a big mistake. In fact he crossed the finish-line in third, thus stealing the bonus of 8" from his captain. Nibali looked slightly angry at that but, after all, everyone knows that it's hard to think things through when you're riding at 75 kmph and adrenaline is running through your body. However, at the end of the day, Liquigas can surely be happy with what they've achieved. So far Nibali has raced like a true champion, since he attacked whenever he could and he had his team working really well. Antòn has already got a big delay in the GC, but it's still too early to count him out of the race for the podium. Scarponi has hidden himself while waiting for the stepper climbs, whereas Rodriguez has showed a lot of strength. Moreover, Joaquin has a very good helper, Daniel Moreno. Denis Menchov, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a good team behind him, but I'm sure he'll slowly start gaining time in the GC. The Russian in fact usually improves his form in the second / third week of a GT, so Nibali should paying a lot of attention to him in a few days time.

As far as the Worlds-favourites are concerned, this Vuelta seems to bring bad luck to them. Haussler and Farrar haven't got any good result yet, Cavendish, Goss and Breschel all retired. Kittel hasn't had any reat gresult either, whereas the only sprinter who really did shine was Peter Sagan. This Vuelta is his first GT and, although he's the youngest rider of the Spanish peloton, he's already won a stage. If he's improved his resistance in the longest races, it will be hard to defeat him in Copenhagen.

As far as other races are concerned, GP Industria e Commercio was won by Giovanni Visconti. Second was the exceptional Simone Ponzi, whereas third was  Manuel Belletti.

As far as the Tour of Colorado is concerned, instead, the prologue was won by Gretsch. Fifth was an amazing Jens Voigt, whereas Basso received very harsh critics for his 52nd placement. Imo Gazzetta was pretty disrespectful towards him and Juraj Sagan, since that newspaper began the (little) article about ToC by saying: 'Ivan Basso is as good as Juraj Sagan. It sounds like a heresy, but it's true. Ivan isn't better than Sagan (...) and we're not talking about Peter, but about Juraj, who is much less talented than his brother'. It's always so nice when people are respectful towards the riders!

The second stage of ToC, however, was won by Levi Leipheimer. Second was the strong Henao, third was Frank Schleck. Given the condition of Schleck and Leipheimer, perhaps someone should remind these guys that at this time of the year there is another race going on, that it's called Vuelta a Espana and that is one of the most important races of the world. If someone is interested, I'll tell them a secret: a victory in the Vuelta is something that people can use to get a better reputation amongst European journalists and it is something that people can write in their CV in caps. Ah, but I was forgetting: the sponsors seem to care more about the American money than about the Spanish traditions.

The third stage of ToC saw the victory of George Hincapie, whereas an excited Van Garderen got the leader jersey from Leipheimer.

 

 

So, that's all from me for the moment - and, perhaps, for the month. I'm leaving on Saturday and I won't be back before September the 9th. In the meanwhile, enjoy la Vuelta and use the comment area as you please - and don't forget to take a look at Figbash's reports from the Tour on Bananas about Bikes!!!

PS: who has just come across this webpage by writing 'Menchov, hugs' in Google? And, more important: were they satisfied with what they found?

La Vuelta: parcours and start list (plus other randomness)

Lots of things going on in Cycledom in the last few days, my dear readers.

First of all, Rebellin won the Tre Valli Varesine at the tender age of 40. This makes me wonder: if he goes so fast now that he's 40 and that he's not doping, how come that he didn't win the 2008 Olympics? Secondly, one recent news says that just four Swiss and Norwegian riders will have the chance of taking part in the Worlds this year. In my opinion this is absurd, especially if you consider that Iran and Morocco will have the chance of bringing 6 riders each to Copenhagen. Now, does anyone know at least one rider from Iran or Morocco? Personally, I don't. On the other hand, instead, I do know more than 4 riders from Switzerland (or from Norwegy). Cancellara, Bertogliati, Albasini, Frank, Morabito, Schaer, Tschopp Zaugg... It will be hard to pick just 3 of them, won't it?

Another hot topic in these days is cycling market. Talking about that: Langeveld has recently announced he'll join GreenEdge next year, whereas Degenkolb has officially said that he's joining Skil. The Pozzato-saga, on the other hand, has a new coup-de-scene, since Pippo has recently stated that Katiusha is trying to prolong his contract. Was Tchmil brainwashed, me wonders?

Fourth (and penultimate) interesting thing to say, in the last few days some interesting facts took place in the Blogosphere. First of all, our blogmate and Banana-reporter Susanne has recently decided to open her own tumblr. What are you waiting for? Check it out at http://themagicalpen.tumblr.com/ ! For other blog-related fun, take a look also at the last two posts on 'Bananas About Bikes' ( http://bananasaboutbikes.blogspot.com/ ): our banana-reporters Lee and Mar have been to Eneco Tour and to Post Denmark Rundt, so you now have the chance of enjoying their hilarious tales!

Fifth topic du jour (and main topic of this post) is la Vuelta. Oh yes. The last GT of the season starts on Saturday and it features a very nice parcours and a wonderful start list. Let's now take a look at the parcours and at the start - list - and let's also make some random predictions.

PARCOURS:

The 2011 Vuelta takes off with a 16 kms long TTT in Benidorm. The following stage is likely to suit sprinters, who may battle for victory after racing along the Spanish coast for a lot of kms. The second stage features a little climb with 10 kms to go, whereas the third one ends on the top of Sierra Nevada. This will be a pretty important stage, because some riders may have problems due to the fact that the first uphill finish arrives after just 4 days of race. Moreover, the Sierra Nevada isn't an easy climb: in fact it is 23 kms long and has an average of 5.7 %. In addition, at the top of the climb the riders will find themselves at an altitude of 2000 meters. Tough stage, isn't it?

On the following day, the wind may play tricks on the riders. However, the main obstacle du jour arrives in the last 3 kms of race, when the cyclists will have to face the Valdepeñas de Jaén wall, whose ramps' average is (fasten your seatbelt) up to 23%. Joaquim Rodriguez, Igor Anton, get ready for that - Nibali, Menchov, do whatever you can to stay glued to the wheels of the Spaniards.

After these two hellish days, the riders will face a stage ending in the astonishing city of Còrdoba, where the sprinters are likely to fight for the stage victory. That area of Spain is usually very hot and some riders may have problems because of that. The following stage will suit sprinters as well, although the fastest rider will have to sweat a lot in order to resist on the hilly terrain and in the windy and hot heart of Spain.

Next Saturday the riders will face a hilly terrain and one of the steepest walls of the world. The final 3 kms of the San Lorenzo de El Escorial stage in fact have ramps of up to 28 % - guys, be careful not to fall backwards while riding up that wall!

On the following day, some other pain is on the riders' menu: in fact they'll have to face another uphill finish. The last climb, La Covatilla, is 10 kms long and its average is 7.4%. Ouch, my legs are hurting - and I'm not even a rider!

On Monday, the GC riders will have another tough day ahead: a 40 kms long TT in the heart of Salamanca, a wonderful city. Nibali and Menchov will have the chance of gaining some time on their adversaries here, and they should really give their best in this stage: in fact, it is the only TT featured in this year race.

After a well-deserved rest day on Tuesday, the peloton (which, by now, might have lost many riders because of the upcoming Worlds) will head towards Galicia, where the cyclists will face another uphill finish. El Alto de la Manzaneda is 19 kms long and has an average of 6%. The GC riders who don't use their rest day properly will risk to blow up on this climb, so this stage may give us some surprises.

On the following day, the sprinters who have survived the first week of race will be able to show their skills in the stage to Pontevedra. 24 hours later, they'll have to face the Spanish version of Galibier, which is called Puerto de Ancares. Unfortunatey on this occasion the organisers have decided to create a stage 'a la Tour': the toughest climb du jour in fact is placed with more than 60 kms to go.

On the following afternoon, however, the supporters will be able to enjoy the show of the Lagos de Somiedo stage, which features lots of climbs and an uphill finish.

24 hours later, the riders are likely to see mirages as they face one of the toughest climb of Europe: the Angliru. The last 6.5 kms of this climb have an average of 13% and this should be enough to make you understand the difficulties that the riders will face on that day. Luckily the boys will have the chance of resting on the following day. The GC riders will start battling again after two days, when (after the flat stage to Haro) they'll have to face a 212 kms long stage to Pena Cabarga. The boys will have to use everything that's left in their tank in order to survive this long stage, which ends on a climb that isn't particularly steep but that, at this point of the race, may offer us a very interesting show.

The three following stages are likely to award the brave riders who'll choose to go on a breakaway. In particular, the Bilbao and Vitoria stages will be a Basque delirium, since thanks to them la Vuelta comes back in the Basque Country for the first time since 1978.

On the 11th September, in the end, the Spanish GT will be over with the usual parade in Madrid. Bennati won there in 2008 and, if he doesn't abandon the race because of the Worlds, he may win there also this year. Finally, after 3 weeks of pain the riders will be able to get off their bikes. Some will be rejoicing, other ones will be disappointed, but everyone will be happy to have concluded one of the most brutal GTs of the year. And then, the attention of the cycling world will immediately move to Copenhagen.

START LIST:

This year the battle for the overall victory in the Vuelta will be very tough and some of the best riders of the world will all be at the start of the race on Saturday. Here are the line-ups of the teams with some little remarks about them:

AG2R: Roche, Bonnafond, Champion, Dessel, Houanard, Le Lay, Mondory, Montaguti, Perget.

The hilarious Irishman Nicolas Roche is back racing after his knee problems in the Tour. Will he manage to race better than his cousin Daniel Martin? Time will tell. His team is formed by attackers like Dessel and nice guys like Houanard, who'll go looking for stage victories even in the TTT.

Andalucia Caja Granada: Bernabeu, Benitez, Cabello, Lobato, Palomares, Piedra, Ramirez, Roldan, Rosendo.

The Frenchmen offer their wild cards to the French teams, the Italians offer them to the Italian teams, the Spaniards give them to the Spanish equipos. The question is: what team does Bernabeu support?

BMC: Burghardt, Frank, Kohler, Phinney, Quinziato, Santambrogio, Santaromita, Tschopp, Van Avermaet.

A very good team for BMC: attention to them for the TTT! Phinney will be under special observation in the first days of race, whereas the other guys will battle for a stage victory.

Cofidis: Bagot, Edet, Mate, Moncoutie, Monier, Saramotins, Sijmens, Taaramae, Vogondy.

The French team has a good line-up: Moncoutié is a good climber who doesn't fear tough climbs, Taaramae has a very impulsive racing style, Vogondy was born to attack. Monier, on the other hand, is still astonished by his victory in the 2009 Giro ;)

Euskaltel:  Anton, Isasi, Martinez, Oroz, Perez Lezaun, Txurruka, Velasco, Verdugo, Nieve.

This will be a very important edition of the Vuelta for the Basque team. Anton wants to win the race after he had to abandon it because of a crash last year, whereas Nieve has showed us his skills during the Giro. The rest of the team will help the team leaders and will attack a lot in the Bilbao and Vitoria stages.

Geox-TMC: Cobo, Blanco, De La Fuente, Duarte, Duran, Florencio, Menchov, Sastre, Valls.

A good team of climbers for Geox. Cobo, De La Fuente, Duarte, the promising Valls... And I still haven't mentioned Carlos 'Carlito' Sastre and Denis 'Smiley' Menchov. Of course I'll be supporting the Russian in the next three weeks and I'm sure he'll do his best to win his third Vuelta. Allez Denis!

HTC - Highroad: Albasini, Cavendish, Degenkolb, Goss, Grabsch, Howard, Martin, Sivstov, M. Velits.

Ok readers: read these names carefully and read the name of the team with respect. This is the last GT for HTC Highroad and this is extremely sad for every cycling lover. Let's enjoy every single action made by the boys in yellow and let's enjoy the stage wins that they're really likely to get. Cavendish, Degenkolb and Goss will use the Vuelta as a preparation for the Worlds, whereas Martin will pay attention to the GC. Look out for this team during the TTT, they're dangerous!

Katiusha: Rodriguez, Horrach, Kuchynski, Losada, Moreno, Paolini, Pliuschin, Trofimov, Vorganov.

A very good line-up for the Russian team. Joaquin Rodriguez is already looking forward to the toughest stages, whereas Pliuschin will surely show us his talent in some breakaways. Moreno is a talented climber too and I'm sure he'll do his best to help his captain. Paolini is extremely likely to take part in the Worlds and in the 2012 Olympics and he'll do his best in this race in order to show that he deserves his place in the sun in the Italian team.

Lampre: Scarponi, Kvachuk, Marzano, Mori, Niemiec, Arrieta, Petacchi, Righi, Spezialetti.

A very good team that can win stages and that can also go for the overall victory with Scarponi. Michele is determined to win this race and to defeat his eternal rival Nibali, whereas Petacchi, if he's had his motivation back, may win some flat stages. Niemiec will surely rock the climbs, the other ones will help him in supporting Scarponi as well as they can.

Leopard Trek: Bennati, Cancellara, Fuglsang, Monfort, O'Grady, Pires, Viganò, Wagner, Zaugg.

The hottest team of the Vuelta is ready to rock the stages and the overall. Fuglsang really shone in his first Vuelta and this year he'd like to repeat himself. The magic couple Viganò / Bennati will rock the sprints (in Daniele we trust!), whereas all the other guys have the skills to go for a stage win. This is the last LT GT for Big Old Stuey and hopefully he'll say 'adieu!' to his teammates with a victory - what about the TTT?

Liquigas: Nibali, Capecchi, Caruso, Da Dalto, Dall'Antonia, Marangoni, Nerz, Sagan, Wurf.

Great, great team. Vincenzo won this race last year, but everything will be tougher this time. I'll obviously support him during the next 3 weeks (the Worlds are approaching, so my sportif patriotism has started to show itself off :P), just like I will support the young and brave Marangoni, the nice Wurf and all the other promising guys on this team. I like Capecchi because I was there when he first won a GT stage at the Giro and I have great expectations for Peter Sagan. Moreover, Fangirl will be watching Dominique Nerz in a very careful way - the boy broke his collarbone earlier in the season and I hope that by now he has fully recovered.

Movistar: Erviti, Vicente, Intxausti, Konovalovas, Lastras, Lopez, Pardilla, Plaza Molina, Samoilau.

While reading the line-up of this team, I couldn't help but think of Xavier Tondo - Vuelta was his home- race and Intxausti was with him on that cursed morning of May. The boys will surely do their best also for him, just like the LT guys will be racing also for WW Special in the next three weeks. Movistar has a good-line up, with a good climber (Pardilla), some good all rounders (Samoilau), a strong sprinter (Lastras) and a great time trialist (Konovalovas).

Omega: Bakelandts, De Greef, De Haes, Dockx, Hansen, Pujol, Reynes, Van De Walle, Van Den Broeck.

When I read that Bakelandts was taking part in this race, I had a sigh of relief. In fact, I was worried by Hoogerland and Roy's absences and I was already wondering who would have taken their place as 'most attacking rider du Grand Tour' during the Vuelta. Well, now the answer is simple: Jan is going to do it. The boy's got a lot of strength, too bad that he's never that lucky with breakaways. Together with him, Omega offer us a good line-up formed by a sprinter like Hansen, an old crush of mine  like De Greef and one of the comeback boys du GT: Jurgen Van Den Broeck (right now I'm wondering why I've just typed his name as 'Van Den Brown' :P).

Astana: Kessiakoff, Gasparotto, Kangert, Kashechkin, Kiserlovski, Mizurov, Petrov, Renev.

For the first time, Astana will face a GT while knowing that his founder, Vinokourov, won't race anymore (*girls of the AAVL mourn*). However, Vino leaves behind him a strong team. Petrov knows how to win GT stages, Kessiakoff is a great climber, Kashechkin was Vino's faithful helper back in 2007, Gasparotto is one of my favourite riders and Kiserlovski is the team's hope for the GC. Allez Robert!

Quickstep: Bandiera, Boonen, Cataldo, Chavanel, De Maar, De Weert, Maes, Malacarne, Seeldrayers.

Seeldrayers is back in action after the Giro and is ready to show off his talent. Boonen will use la Vuelta as a preparation for the Worlds, whereas Chavanel will fight with Bakelandts for the 'most combative rider' award.

Rabobank: Barredo, Breschel, Freire, Garate, Kruijswijk, Martens, Mollema, LL Sanchez, Slagter.

A very good line-up for Rabo. Breschel and Freire will rock the sprints, Mollema and Kruijswijk will help each other in the GC (go go guys!), Barredo and Garate are great attackers, LL Sanchez is a victory-addicted in the Tour and Slagter is back in a GT after scaring us all during the Giro 'strade bianche' stage.

Saxo Bank: CA Sorensen, Christensen, Gustov, Haedo, Jorgensen, Majka, Marycz, Nuyens, N.Sorensen.

You've gotta love this team when it features two Sorensens in its line up!! Good old Bjarne offer us an interesting team for this Vuelta. Chris Anker is ready for his first GT as a daddy and he'll surely try to get a prestigious victory in order to dedicate it to Laerke and Michelle. Nicki will help him, Haedo will sprint, Jorgensen will show us his talent (and his cuteness), Nuyens is back from his post-Flanders holiday, Marycz will enter every single breakaway of the race. I really like Jaroslaw and I really hope that he and Chris will manage to win a stage each. Will it be possible?

Skil: Geniez, Doi, Frohlinger, Geschke, Hupond, Kittel, Sprick, Timmer, Veelers.

Will Kittel rule the sprints as he did in Poland? That is the question that everyone wants to answer.

Sky: Arvesen, Cioni, Froome, Lovkvist, Possoni, Stannard, Sutton, Wiggins, Zandio.

Wiggo is another rider who comes back racing after breaking a bone in the Tour. His team is really good: Cioni and Possoni are good climbers, Froome is an all-rounder, Arvesen is one of my favourite riders - too bad that he's ending his career at the end of the season. Lovely Lovkist is back in a GT for the joy of every woman in the world, whereas Sutton and Stannard will try to find a place in the sun during the Spanish sprints.

Garmin: Farrar, Fischer, Haussler, Hushovd, Klier, Le Mevel, Martin, Talansky, Van Summeren. Cyclingnews says that Hushovd will race la Vuelta, but I don't know if they're right. Thor, Haussler, Fischer and Farrar will prepare the Worlds in Spain and it'll be hard to name a captain amongst them. Le Mevel is a strong climber, just like Daniel Martin, who is riding really well in these days. Van Summeren is the boy we've all learned to love in Paris - Roubaix, whereas Talansky is a promising time trialist. Look out for this team in the TTT!

Radioshack: Brajkovic, Busche, Irizar, Kloeden, Lequatre, Machado, Oliveira, Paulinho, Zubeldia. Kloeden and Brajkovic are back after their terrible Tour and, hopefully, after a little pilgrimage to Lourdes (or to Santiago de Compostela). Machado will hopefully race better than he did during the Giro and Oliveira (a promising neo pro) may show us something interesting.

Vacansoleil: Carrara, Devolder, Golas, Keizer, Lagutin, Lighthart, Mosquera, Poels, Van Leiken.

Once again, Cyclingnews tells me that Mosquera will be racing - too bad that I remember reading an article in which Vacansoleil said that Ezequiel wouldn't have taken part in the Spanish race. Mystery! Apart from Mosquera, Vacansoleil has a good line-up: Poels is a strong rider, just like Lagutin. Carrara is fast, Devolder is an all rounder, Lighthart is the Dutch national champion. I'm looking forward to seeing him racing!

So, this was my little intro to Vuelta a Espana. My pick for the final podium is: Antòn, Nibali, Menchov - I'm sure that also Scarponi and Rodriguez will do a great job, too bad that a podium has just 3 spots...

Usual Random Post:

Yes,here's one of my usual random post.Enjoy.

NEWS:

First of all,let's start with the news of Andy Schleck's knee problem.Luckily it seems that his injury isn't too serious and so Andy should return racing already at the Ruta del Sol (21st of February).Considering that Fuglsang had a knee problem as well few days ago and that he blamed it on the new equipment,I believe that Andy may have some problems with the new materials as well.Of course,this is only a personal theory of mine.

Fangirl's cycling season officially started on Saturday when she saw her first cycling race of the year.Said race was the GP Donoratico,won by Alessandro Petacchi.There was a funny moment when,with about 1 km to go,Bernucci (the man who was leading the "Lampre train" in that moment) created a gap of some meters between him and the following rider.It was pretty funny since Bernucci apparently had no idea of what to do next and the final sprint was pretty strange also because of this fact.Petacchi's victory,however,was simply great.
Talking about the start of the season,I must say that the first cyclists that I saw this year were Vanotti and Tiralongo.The strange thing is that I didn't see them on tv on Saturday,but live on last Tuesday.In fact I came across them on the road outside my house,while I was waiting at a traffic light.Vanotti and Tiralongo were riding towards Almenno San Salvatore,so they had probably just ended a training session in the cold weather.This appearance was very unexpected and made me notice one thing: I don't like the new Astana new kit.It is too colourful,especially on the back.

On to other races: the Tour of Qatar.The first stage of this race was won by Team Sky,for my sister's happiness.In fact she immediately grabbed the chance to remember me that,right now,Team Sky has already won 3 races this year,whereas Saxo Bank hasn't won anything yet. Unfortunately it is useless to tell her that Saxo Bank will win both the Giro and the Tour this year because she refuses to believe it.

Yesterday's stage at Tour of Qatar saw a bad accident happening to Kurt Arvesen,who broke his collarbone twice in the last 6 months.And today it's even his birthday,poor boy.

The second stage of the race,however,was won by Gert Steurs,who was part of a two man breakaway together with Wouter Mol.

Steurs' victory was very emotional,since the Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator rider remembered his former teammate Frederik Nolf,who died in his sleep during the Qatar race 2009,as soon as he crossed the finish-line.

Today's stage of the Tour of Qatar instead was won by Tom Boonen.Not a big surprise,I'd say. The sprint was unfortunately ruined by a crash in which Gerald Ciolek broke his collarbone, joining Arvesen and Crozza in the list of "riders who broke their collarbones in Qatar".

Vuelta a Mallorca: I tried to search a live broadcast of the race,but I couldn't find it.The first stage was won by McEwen in front of Koldo Fernandez and Oscar Freire.Best Saxo Bank rider was the young Jonas Aaen Jorgensen,whereas André Steensen got the best climber jersey.

The second stage was won by Oscar Freire in front of Greipel and Cardoso.8th was Kenny Van Hummel,whereas the best Saxo Bank rider was,once again,Jorgensen (20th).Marycz came in 29th,whereas Frank Schleck was 184th.According to the news I have,Chris Anker Sorensen took part in yesterday's race.Unfortunately,the only Sorensen who appears in the Race Classification is Nicki.Now,the question is: did they confuse the Sorensens as usual,or did Saxo Bank's team manager decide to have Nicki racing rather than Chris at the very last moment?

RANDOM LINK:

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ :after all this time,you've learned to recognise this link,haven't you? This time Chris talks about the beginning of the season and says that he's looking forward to it.
"There is something special in starting to race again.The numbers to pin on the jersey.The smell of the camphor cream that we put on the legs to warm them (...).The nervousness before of the races.Jens Voigt who sits immersed in a gameboy game and then suddenly looks at the clock and shouts 'Ooooh no not again,now I really need coffee'!"
Anyway Chris Anker also talks about one big disadvantadge of the season's beginning: the fact that riders have to shave their legs before of starting racing.About this fact,he writes: "I know it is a little feminine,but first and foremost it is a tradition and it's important to keep tradition in cycling.Then it helps our masseurs,who have to massage us very often.And then,shaved legs are aerodynamic.Teams and sponsors spend a lot of money in order to develop aerodynamic clothes and materials,and it would be stupid to ruin everything because of a pair of hairy legs".

TOTALLY RANDOM LINK:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/celestino-to-captain-semperlux-axevo-haibike-team :this link is oh so surprising to me because team Axevo often takes part in the mountain bike races in which also my sister competes.As a direct consequence of that,I usually see half of the team-Celestino included-at least once pro month during the mountain bike season,whereas my sister has the chance to train with Oscar Lazzaroni once pro week.Actually,that little lucky girl last month even had the chance of training together with Morris Possoni.This made her jump around the house for a lot of time,feeling lucky because she was one of the first Italian people to see the new Sky jersey live (yes,it doesn't take much to make my sister happy).

(pic by Bettini)

Random Post:

Yes,here's my usual random post with random news about random things.
JAPAN CUP RACE: Fangirl doesn't believe (or,better,she doesn't want to believe) that the 2009 season is "already" over,not just because this means she won't be able to watch any cycling road race on tv for the next 3/4 months,but especially because she's waiting for the Japan Cup Race on Sunday before of starting getting depressed.Said race is important for Fangirl because it's Chris-Anker Sorensen's last chance to win a race this year.According to the team website, Saxo Bank team for the race will be formed by both los Sorensens,Jens Voigt,Michael Morkov and Gustav Larsson.

WAITING FOR THE GIRO: the awaiting for the Giro parcours already started last month here in Italy,but in the last days I've began to feel it as well,especially after reading the news that Milano won't be included in the 2010 race parcours(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/%20giro%20-ditalia-to-skip-milan-in-2010 ).Considering that the Corsa Rosa probably won't arrive in my city either,Fangirl's already asking:Where the hell will I go to see the Giro live? Btw,Logic has suggested her waiting until Saturday before of getting depressed about this as well.
CIAO CIAO BULBARELLI: Yes,Italian chronist Auro Bulbarelli is leaving his job.This news is oh so heartbreaking,especially because we Italian tifosi won't have any chronist left to talk about food during the Tour de France stages.Btw,I'm sure that the famous "Sorensen sentence" that every Italian cycling fan has heard at least once (and that says:"There are 2 Sorensens in the Saxo Bank Team,one is Nicki and the other one is Chris-Anker.Nicki is the one who won a stage during 2009 Tour de France,while Chris-Anker is the one who didn't win anything.Oh,and remember:the 2 Sorensens aren't relative") will survive even after the departure of his creator.
PINOTTI WINNING A TT (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pinotti-ends-season-on-high-with-time-trial-win): The funny thing about this TT was that the rider who came in 2nd is Ivan Basso's cousin.And guess who came in 3rd? Yes,Ivan Basso.
GALA DI CONEGLIANO: Tatiana Guderzo has been the first woman to receive the Atena d'Argento (an Italian prize that is given to the best cyclist of the year) and I'm very happy for her. Together with her at the Conegliano Gala there were also Cavendish and Menchov,and you can see Cav talking Italian and Menchov understanding Italian and speaking Spanish on this link: http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/20-10-2009/russo-annata-d-oro-501682599139.shtml

BYE BYE MARCUS AND KURT: Yes,Marcus Ljungqvist and Kurt-Asle Arvesen have decided to leave the Saxo Bank team because they are both going to Team Sky (Marcus will be Sky ds,while Arvesen of course will continue his career as a rider).Some articles about them can be found on http://www.riis-cycling.com/
LAMPRE AND ASTANA CHANGINGS: According to La Gazzetta dello Sport,after the Lombardy Tour Cunego got angry at Santambrogio and Tiralongo got angry at Cunego.Solution: Santambrogio is riding for BMC in 2010 and Tiralongo is riding for Astana.Gasparotto hasn't argued with nobody,but he's going to Astana anyway.
CHRIS ANKERS BLOG (http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/): 2 posts in 4 days,one of which has an Italian title ("Ci dispiace ma hai dimenticato la tua mortadella",aka "We're sorry but you've forgotten your mortadella") and is very hilarious one (if I have time,will and enough linguistic skills I may translate something from Sorensen's blog during the winter months).
VID WITH ANDY (http://www.youtube.com/teamsaxobank): Yes,I know,you've already seen it for about 5 times,but Andy looks sooo nice in this vid! Anyway,a question about Andy and Frank:is it true that they're going to Curaçao? Please answer "yes" or "no" if you have some sure info about this.

A Fangirl in Mendrisio:

The first thing I saw on Sunday morning,the day of the Men Road Race at the World Championships of Mendrisio,was my alarm clock.It was ringing and it was showing me that it was just 6.45 am.Normally,when I wake up so early,some questions like "Why am I doing this? And why can't I go where I have to go in the afternoon?" always strike my mind.On Sunday instead I didn't ask myself anything:I knew that I had to get up that early if I wanted to arrive in Mendrisio before of the start of the race,and I was really excited at the idea of seeing my favourite riders "live".

30 minutes after getting up I was in a car,heading towards Chiasso.As soon as my family and I got there,we got off the car,walked towards Switzerland,entered in Switzerland by foot (that was cool!),got into the train station and got on the first train to Mendrisio.
As soon as we arrived in Mendrisio,my family and I started to walk towards the start of the race. At a certain point we heard some people screaming and we noticed a bus riding on the road in front of us.It was a bus like the ones that people normally use when they go on a school trip,so I was pretty surprised when I realised that the vehicle was actually carrying the Italian riders to the race start.The Italian tifosi (there were plenty of them around) of course became really excited and started to scream things like "Bravo Cunego!","Forza Ragazzi!","Andiamo a fare poker!".After a while some people started to scream "Paolo you're the best!","Paolo please give me your autograph!" and Logic got a bit confused."Who's Paolo?",she started to ask herself.

The answer came when she noticed that one of the men who were walking near to the Italian bus was Paolo Bettini.He was looking relaxed and happy and he also stopped to talk to some people. After managing to get over the entusiasthic Italian tifosi and the Silence-Lotto/Belgium bus,my family and I found ourselves outside of a big gazebo where supporters couldn't enter and where 3 Canadian riders and a rider from Belarus were sitted.I was looking at the gazebo,trying to recognise the Canadian riders,when I suddenly heard my sister whisper,in a very delighted way, the name "Thomas Lovkvist".I turned my head towards her and noticed that,inside a little Columbia bus near to the gazebo,there were 2 Swede riders,Thomas Lovkvist and Marcus Ljungqvist.Fangirl went:"OMG how gorgeous Swede men are!" and immediately tried to get rid of Logic,but Logic was ready to stop her before she could do something stupid.Lovkvist was looking as handsome as always,drinking coffee and talking to Ljungqvist.Marcus was looking really relaxed as well and often smiled and laughed.Of course my sister immediately started to take pics of Lovkvist and to behave like Fangirls normally do when they meet their favourite riders,while me instead was thinking random things like "Uhm,Lovkvist wasn't that thin in May...He's probably lost some weight.And Marcus doesn't look so thin,so good-looking and so tall on tv!"
Anyway,after a few minutes I started to look for Luxembourgian bus and,as soon as I found it,I went towards it.Andy Schleck was there,but disappeared inside the bus after few seconds. Fangirl wanted to jump over the barriers and get on the bus,but Logic stopped her and Fangirl decided to calm down for a while.
While I was there,waiting for Luxembourgian riders to appear,I could see some cyclists riding to the start.For example,I spotted De Greef (Fangirl had another attack of craziness when she saw him),Farrar,Visconti,Freire,Cunego,Paolini,Rene Mandri,Vinokourov and the Swede riders.
As soon as Lovkvist and Ljungqvist left their bus,my sister came up to me and I could finally use my photo camera.Here are some pics I've taken:
Luxembourg bikes (Andy's bike is the first one): Johnny Schleck:
Kim Kirchen (I know,I'm not a good photographer):
Jean Pierre Drucker:
After about 15 minutes,Andy Schleck finally appeared.Fagirl was speechless:she'd never seen Andy so close before,and was obviously really excited.Excited,and speechless.So speechless that,when Andy rode past her and signed some autographs,she couldn't even tell him "Good Luck" or things like that,but just let him go without even thinking about jumping over the barriers and ask him some stupid things that would have caused Andy to call the police in order to protect his own security.
Of course,as soon as Andy disappeared,Fangirl recuperated her voice and started to shout at Logic:"Why didn't you wake me up when Andy was there? I could have said him something, instead...It's your fault!" Logic thought that Fangirl had a point there and tried to distract her by bringing her in front of the Cervélo/Norwegy bus.There Fangirl could see Thor Hushovd,Stein Remme (photo below) and Kurt-Asle Arvesen.

The funny thing about Arvesen is that I'd never seen him before of Sunday.To solve this problem,on Sunday I managed to see him not just at the start of the race,but also other 14 times. Because of this,if someone now asks me "Who did you see at the Worlds?", my answer is always the same:"I saw Arvesen! And then Andy Schleck,Hushovd,Farrar,Arvesen,De Greef, Vinokourov,Arvesen,Martin,Evans,Kirchen,Arvesen,Ramme,Rogers...Did I mention that I saw Arvesen?" Btw,after watching the Norwegian riders I walked in front of the Astana/Kazakhistan's bus.There I could see Valentin Iglinsky (photo below),while outside of Rabobank/Holland's bus I could see Karsten Kroon.

However,the moment of the race start was soon approaching and nearly all the riders had already left their buses,so my family and I decided to direct ourselves towards the Novazzano climb.While I was walking there,Fangirl asked Logic whether she'd seen any Dane rider at the start."No I haven't.What about you?" "I didn't see them either.Where were they?",Fangirl asked."I don't know.They were probably in the Italy/Spain area,that's why we didn't see them. Anyway don't worry:you're gonna see them in 20 minutes time".Of course Logic was right.In fact,during the following hours,I could see every Dane rider pretty well.
As soon as the race began,my family and I started to walk from a place to another and managed to notice many different supporter's groups.In fact there were lots of Italian,Swiss,Belgian,Dutch and Norwegian tifosi on the parcours and it was really nice to see them all together,laughing and supporting their riders.The Belgian had their own place with a big screen just for them,the Norwegian had taken possession of an area with some tables and a big screen and had shared it with some Irish supporters.The Kazakhs were near to Pozzato's tifosi,while the Luxembourgians had their own place as well.
Belgian then kept on screaming "Tom Boonen,Tom Boonen,Tom Boonen",while the Swiss battle scream was "Vola Fabian!".Also the Spaniards were very entusiasthic and kept on screaming: "Espana,Espana,Espana!" every time the peloton rode in front of them.The Italian instead kept on screaming their national anthem.
Lots of funny things happened to me during the race,but it would be too long to describe them all.Anyway,here are some pics I took during the race (sorry for the bad quality):
Here's Kurt-Asle Arvesen:

This one instead is Thomas Lovkvist:
Francis De Greef:
Fabian Cancellara:Pierrick Fedrigo:Chris-Anker Sorensen!Laurent Didier:
Matti Breschel:
Alejandro Valverde:

With 2 laps to go,my family and I moved to the last km of the race.There was a big screen there,but the comment was in Dutch and I couldn't see properly because of the flags between me and the screen.Anyway I already knew that Andy had abandoned the race,so I was in a really "Allez Chris-Anker!" mood.
Eventually Evans turned out to be the strongest.He rode past me in a very fast way and everyone-Swiss,Italians,Belgians and so on-clapped their hands at him.It was a really nice moment.
After Evans,Kolobnev and Rodriguez came,followed by Cancellara and Gilbert.And then also the other riders arrived,one after the other.
When the last rider had ended his race,I moved towards the "podium area" and watched Evans' premiation.

After the premiation (and after having seen Italian chronists,Davide Cassani and Auro Bulbarelli, waving to the crowd) I could go back to the start area.There I saw Edvald Boasson Hagen, Arvesen (twice!) and Millar giving interviews.Michael Rogers instead was outside of Australia's bus showing everyone his 2 beautiful daughters.Outside of Columbia/Sweden bus I could see Thomas Lovkvist again,while Tom Boonen was chatting with some supporters outside of Belgium bus and Cancellara was alone,head in hand,looking really disappointed outside of Switzerland bus.Btw,near to Columbia's bus I could also see Toni Martin.He was there with his family,with a pump in his right hand,looking relaxed and happy.He kindly gave me his autograph and smiled at me.
After meeting Toni,I went outside of Luxembourg bus and could see Joel Zangerle,an U23 rider. Random thought? "Man,he looks soooo YOUNG!!!"
Then,after meeting Zangerle,I saw Pozzato.He was outside of Italy's bus together with Ballan and was talking with some supporters.That surprised me and I must say that,since that moment,my opinion about him has slightly changed.
Finally,at 7 o'clock pm,after having walked through the whole start area,my family was ready to go home.Unfortunately,someone (Fangirl) didn't want to leave.
"Have you seen any Dane rider here in this area?",she asked to Logic."No I haven't"."So you don't know where they are?"."No,I don't"."But they must be somewhere!",Fangirl cried."Yes,but unfortunately I don't know where this somewhere is.Anyway,I think they're using a Saxo Bank bus,so if we find a Saxo Bank bus here around we should manage to find the Dane riders as well"",Logic added,noticing that Fangirl was looking a bit disappointed.
In that very same moment,Fangirl noticed a very little Saxo Bank bus near to her."What about that?",she screamed hopefully."Naaah,look more carefully.There are bikes and wheels in it.I don't think a single person could manage to enter in that bus,let alone 6 men.",Logic said."But where are the Dane riders,then?",Fangirl asked again."I don't know",Logic answered.At that point,Fangirl had an idea:"Hey,I could ask Uncle Bjarne whether he knows where the Dane riders are!" "Great idea,but you don't have Riis' telephone number,right?"."No,but I can see him"."What the hell are you saying?"."Take a look,Uncle Bjarne's there!",Fangirl screamed.And,surprisingly,she was right:Bjarne Riis was right in front of her,walking towards..."The Dane bus! He's surely going to congratulate the boys on their amazing ride!" "No, you must be wrong"."Well,why don't we follow him and see who's right and who's wrong then?", Fangirl proposed.Logic looked disgusted at the idea,but decided to give it a try.
Sadly enough,Fangirl and Logic soon found out that Bjarne wasn't going towards the Dane bus. "Hey,he's going to the car park!",Fangirl stated in a very disappointed way."Yes,and I don't think he's lended his car to the Dane riders,so it's high time you stopped following him and come with me at the station",Logic said.Of course,Fangirl had to obey.
So,this was my day at the Mendrisio Worlds.It was a great day (even if I couldn't find the Dane bus anywhere),I had a lot of fun-even if my podium predictions turned out to be oh so terribly wrong!-and I hope I can go to another cycling race soon.
NB: All the pics that appear in this post were taken by the worst cycling photographer of the world,aka ME!

Video with Andy,some Worlds team and random randomness:

School began yesterday here in Italy,so me's terribly busy right now.The first 2 days went,erm,well,if you don't consider my epic fall in the school car park on the first day and the problems with my mobile phone this morning.My dear mobile in fact started ringing even if it was off and kept on ringing for a while because Logic didn't accept the idea of an "off-phone" who suddenly switches on and starts to ring.The teacher of course was pretty annoyed by this,noticed that the ring seemed to come from my jacket,looked at me and said: "Your mobile phone is ringing,why don't you switch it off?" "It's already off!" "No,it can't be off,it's ringing!" Of course Teacher was right and Logic was wrong.The problem was that 5 minutes later,the phone started ringing again! I immediately stated "It's not mine,my phone is off NOW! It's someone else's!" And instead it was still my phone.Finally a classmate suggested that perhaps I had the alarm clock function on ("it works also when your phone is off",she explained to me later),so I gave her the phone and she managed to make it shut up.Oh,peace.
Anyway,let's talk about cycling.

I've found this video (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1610) on Saxo Bank Taking The Lead.It features Fuglsang,Arvesen,Andy and Model Matti and I decided to watch it because right now my right knee is violet with yellow and green stripes,so I thought that watching some serious injuries could have made me feel better...The audio doesn't work and I can't uderstand why.A little advice? Prepare yourself mentally before of watching the vid...

WORLDS WORLDS WORLDS:

The 27th of September is rapidly approaching,so yesterday Italian team was announced.The riders will be Cunego,Pozzato,Basso,Paolini,Garzelli,Tosatto,Bruseghin,Visconti,Santambrogio (yay!),Scarponi and Ballan.The only Italian who's going to race the Worlds TT race is the Professor Marco Pinotti.There was an other Italian rider (Maurizio Biondo) scheduled to run that race,but he failed an antidoping test and had to said adieu to the chance of racing the Worlds.

The women Italian team will be formed by Baccaille,Guderzo,Cantele,Berlato,Bronzini, Carretta,Luperini and Tamanini (Cantele and Guderzo will run also the TT).

Switzerland team instead will be formed by Fab Fab,Albasini,Bertogliati,Mathias Frank (yay!), Rast and Zaugg.The reserves will be Loosli,Salzinger and Morabito.

Belgium riders instead will be Tom Boonen,Francis De Greef (Fangirl's happy,very happy!), Kevin De Weert,Maxime Monfort,Nick Nuyens,Greg Van Avermaet and Maarten Wynants.The team leader will be Philippe Gilbert.

Devolder hasn't been included in the team and has said that this has been "the biggest humiliation" of his career.

Germany's team instead will be formed by Gerald Ciolek,Johannes Fröhlinger,André Greipel,Christian Knees,Paul Martens,Tony Martin (allez Tony!),Grischa Niermann,Marcel Sieberg and Fabian Wegmann.The reserve will be Simon Geschke.

Netherlands has announced 5 of the 6 Worlds riders.They are Lars Boom,Johnny Hoogerland,Robert Gesink,Karsten Kroon and Koos Moerenhout.Laurens Ten Dam,Sebastian Langeveld,Bram Tankink and Pieter Weening are the candidates for the final place.

Usa riders will be Tom Danielson,Tyler Farrar,Brent Bookwalter,Craig Lewis,Andrew Bajadali, Jason McCartney,Tim Duggan and Tom Peterson.

VUELTA:

Yesterday stage was won by Lars Boom,who left all his breakaway companions behind with about 25 kms to go and won the stage with 1'30" of advantadge on the second rider,Spaniard David Herrero.3rd was Roels,while Saxo Banker Kolobnev was 6th.

Today's stage ended up in a bunch sprint and was won by André Greipel.2nd was Bonnet,while 3rd was Bello Benna.

RANDOM RANDOMNESS:

First random news: Baden Cooke has signed a contract with SB.

Second random news: Jakob Fuglsang has Twitter.Probably you already know about this,but don't forget that me's been away from a computer for 15 days and so this is a news to me.

Random link: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry335317.html :yes,Chris-Anker Sorensen has updated his blog.He talks a bit about USA and about his preparatin for the Worlds.He also compliments on Wozniacki's great performance in tennis.

Random News:

Here are some totally random news about what's going in Cycledom these days...

Schlecks: In these days there aren't lots of news about the brothers around;for what I understood,their next race will be the Gp of Plouay (23rd of August).Then the brothers will be racing the Vuelta that this year begins on the 29th of August and ends on the 20th of September.

Di Luca: the news du jour is that Di Luca's counter-analysis confirmed that the Lpr rider was doped during the Giro 2009.

Every time a rider "gets caught" at the anti-doping,people usually say the same things about disappointment,honesty and so on.And the rider always says the same thing:" What? Doping? Me? Are you crazy? I'm the cleanest rider of the peloton! It can't be true! I'd be a stupid if I doped".Anyway,I'd like to write here an article that Marco Pinotti wrote on the local newspaper after receiving the news of Di Luca's positivity.Here are some sentences that I remember:

"I got the news of Di Luca's positivity after having finished a race.I was on the team bus with my teammates.Normally,when you get the news of a rider's positivity,you feel angry and disappointed.This time I felt happy.Anger and Disappointment came later,perhaps because I didn't realise the importance of the news and because I was still excited about the stage that had just ended (...).Di Luca is not new to this kind of problems:he had problems already in 2004;in 2007 he was disqualified because of the "Oil for Drug" inquest;In 2008 instead CONI wanted to ban him for 2 years because of some strange things that the doctors found out while analysing blood samples from the 2007 Giro.Then he had problems because of his doctor,mr.Carlos Santuccione (ndr;see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santuccione to find out more about that man).Now,he's finally been found positive to an anti-doping test (...).He'll probably be disqualified for 2 years,but it doesn't matter.It doesn't matter because no one will ever pay back all the riders who lost a victory,a good result,an important chance of getting a good result because of him over the last years".

It was a very strange article because Pinotti is normally a very diplomatic person,but this time instead he really looked angry.And the last sentence of his article really made me think a lot.If Di Luca hadn't raced this year's Giro,how would things have gone? Yes,Menchov would have won anyway but perhaps Lovkvist would have kept the maglia rosa for more time,2 stages would have been won by other 2 riders (Basso and Garzelli,perhaps),there would have been less polemics between Lpr and Liquigas...It would have been a different Giro.

COMEBACKS...

Let's change topic...Here' the "Comeback section news".

After the Emaciated Chickenman,also Vinokourov has come back racing again.And me likes Vinokourov even less than Rasmussen,so you can probably understand how happy I am.

A much nicer comeback is Kenny Robert Van Hummel's one. The Dutch rider suffered a severe laceration to his knee on July 22,but now is ready to come back racing.Kenny said he expects to race in the Profronde van Oostvoorne,a Dutch criterium,on Thursday afternoon. (see full article about Van Hummel's comeback on: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-hummel-returns-at-profronde-van-oostvoorne ).Of course,after having supported him at le Tour,I'm really looking forward to see Kenny on the roads again.

Another rider who is coming back soon is Kurt-Asle Arvesen,who is scheduled to ride the Tour of Ireland.
Then: Do you remember that horrible fall caused by Theo Bos at the Tour of Turkey?
Well,Daryl Impey (the rider who fell together with Bos) returned racing again this week,in GP Carnago.In the April crash Impey suffered facial injures,broken teeth and 2 broken vertebrae. Hopefully the South African rider will get some good results soon.He would deserve it,after that crash.

TOUR OF POLAND: I know that I have ignored that race completely so far,but here in Italy they broadcast it at crazy hours and so I just have to read the results on the newspapers.

The leader at the moment is Alessandro Ballan.The Italinan rider also won a stage in this race and achieved his first victory 315 days after the one at the Worlds.2 stages were then won by Edvald Boasson Hagen,while other stages instead were won by Bozic,Furlan and Guarnieri.

TEAM CHANGES
Bruseghin will race for Caisse d'Epargne next year.

Talking about my favourite team (Saxo Bank),Luxembourgish rider Laurent Didier has signed a contract with Riis' team.
Didier is 25-year-old and took the second place in both the road race and time trial at the National Championships 2009. Didier has been riding with Team Designa Kokken over the last year.Also Jakob Fuglsang,Alex Rasmussen and Chris-Anker Sorensen raced in that team before.
"I'm really happy about this contract and I'm looking forward to joining the team.I know Fränk and Andy quite well and know that I'll get ample opportunity to improve myself with Team Saxo Bank.Last fall I did a couple of races as a helper and I also went to the training camp this winter, which only made me even more sure that this is the right team for me,"says Laurent Didier,who's become a fulltime pro this year because he wanted to end his engineering studies first.

Interview with Frank "perturbed by the media focusing on Andy at the beginning of Le Tour" plus Random Links about Voigt:

Here's my usual random post.Here are today's links:
First of all,on this link you can find a video with His Amazingness Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=904 .It was made on the rest day and me thinks it's a very funny one,especially when Voigt talking about Arvesen...

Here instead there's the link to an interview with His Amazingness http://www.handelsblatt.com/journal/sonstiges/voigt-vielleicht-ist-das-die-letzte-tour;2432831 in which he says that "This could be my last Tour,because I'm already 38 year-old and there are lots of good young riders around,so I don't know if I'll be in the next year team". Fangirl instead says that this won't be Voigt's last Tour because His Amazingness will be in the Tour squad every time he wants to,despite all the good young riders around.The only reason for which His Amazingness may not be in next year's team is an alien invasion,which Logic considers to be not very probable.

On the following link (http://tdf.sbs.com.au/tdf2009/news/%20article/%2010512/Focus-on-brother-Andy-%20difficult-for-Frank-Schleck) instead there's an interview in which Frank Schleck admits he has struggled to cope with media focusing Andy during the first days of the Tour de France.

Frank said that the constant questions over his status in the team and whether he would work as a domestique for 24-year-old Andy left him perturbed.
"It's true I suffered a little bit at the start of the Tour,although now I'm starting to feel more myself again.We're brothers and we are very close to each other,but I admit I found it hard to cope with all the questions at the start of the Tour about who was the team's leader and whether I would become his helper.It all really got to me,but that's the way I am.I can't change my nature overnight,".
Frank also said that this year the media pressure at the beginning of the Tour made him feel as if efforts were being made to drive he and his brother apart. "I got the impression that people wanted to drive a wedge between us,which I don't appreciate at all."
Frank also reminded that he is not finished as a possible contender himself.
"I still finished fifth in Paris last year and going into the penultimate stage time trial in Saint-Amant-Monrond I was still second in the overall standings.Obviously,if I have to help Andy I won't hesitate because I know if the shoe was on the other foot he would do the same.There's never a problem between us."
Looking at the final GC,Frank says that "Our only hope of beating the three riders in Astana that can win it,Armstrong,Contador and Leipheimer-because apparently Kloden is working too much to try and hope to win himself-is to have a 3 minute lead on them before the final time trial in Annecy".

No,not Arvesen!!

Yesterday stage was probably one of the most boring I've ever seen (together with the one that the riders run at last year Tour,after the discovery of l'affaire Riccò).The riders were protesting again the fact that they had to race without the radios and so the stage wasn't exciting at all.I think that radios are important for the riders' security and that,if someone wants to experiment something new,they have to ask the riders whether they want to try a new experiment.Otherwise,I think there's no point in obliging the riders to do what ASO and UCI say.

Anyway,with or without radios,4 riders decided to form a breakaway.Yesterday it was the 14th of July and so the Frenchmen really wanted to achieve a good results.Therefore,3 riders (Hupond,Vaugrenard and Dumoulin) of the breakaway were French.The intruder was Russian Ignatiev,who didn't pull a meter for a very long time.

The breakaway never gained too much time on the peloton,so at the end the peloton caught the 4 riders in a pretty easy way (even if Ignatiev ventually gave his best to try keeping few seconds of advantadge).The last rider to be caught was Hupond.

The sprint was a dangerous one,in my opinion,with lots of curves.This is always strange,'cause you always see the riders riding on long,large streets without curves,but when it's sprint time,well,the streets become narrow and full of curves.Mistére du le Tour.

The sprint was won by Cavendish on Hushovd and Farrar.The Columbia's rider also managed to get the green jersey after yesterday's sprint and so,if today you see something that looks like a frog inside the peloton,don't worry:it's not a frog,it's Cavendish.Unfortunately yesterday's stage didn't end well for Saxo Bank team:in fact Kurt-Asle Arvesen was involved in a crash early in the stage and had to be examined by the race doctor more than once.He was really suffering and at the end when the peloton's pace became faster he was dropped.After the stage the rider was brought to the hospital,where the examinations showed that the he has broken his left collarbone.
"I'm extremely disappointed by the way the Tour ends for my sake.It has been my main objective of the year and I have been riding hard to get ready for it.I had no chances of avoiding the crash and it is a very sad situation for me to see everything disappear.Naturally I wish the remaining eight riders good luck with the rest of the race”, the rider said.

The fracture is so severe that Arvesen will have to undergo an operation as soon as he returns in Norway.That's a very sad thing because Kurt-Asle is a nice rider and seems to be a very nice person.
Regarding Arvesen's crash,here are the rider' reactions:

Andy Schleck said:"He is one of the most important riders in the team,he was one of the captains who took important decisions.Now we are without him,there is not much else you can say. Crashes happen and sometimes you break things, he was unlucky today."
Older brother Frank said:"It's a big hit for us to lose Kurt.It's going to hurt us for the race,not just losing a friend after ten days,that is a real bummer."
Big Jens Voigt said the lack of information played only a minor role in the drama.
"A motorbike hit a spectator who fell into the road, another rider went across his (Arvesen's) wheel and he crashed,It was one of those things you can't foresee-the chaos was there.The only bad thing was that it took us ten minutes to find out he had crashed and that was by someone in another team.With a radio we would have known that straight away,what happened,if he's good, if he's bad and whether he will come back into the peloton."

Of course I wish Arvesen a fast and full recover.

Interview with Andy plus Random Links...

So,here are today's random links...
First of all,on the following link (http://www.saxobank%20takingthelead.%20com/?p=675) there's a Specialized commercial with Fabian Cancellara.
Yesterday's Saxo Bank diary was Kurt-Asle Arvesen's one,wholse link is the following: http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=770 .
Here (http://www.lalsace.fr/fr/sports/article/1781076,219/Andy-Schleck-Contador-est-moins-fort) instead there's an interview in French with Andy.Here are some of the things he said:

"Contador is strong,but not as strong as I thought.There's not a big difference between us.I felt very good yesterday".

"Armstrong has managed to remain with the best riders on a climb like yesterday's one,so he must be considered an adversaire for the GC".

"It won't be easy to beat Contador.Frank and I have to attack in the mountains,during the last week of the race.The TT isn't on our side".

"I think that the rivalry between Armstrong and Contador won't damage the Spaniard,'cause he's strong also from a mental point of view.And then Astana seems to be a very united team,even if the press says that things are different".

"From Carlos Sastre,I've learned how to stay calm.I'm a pretty nervous rider,I always like attacking...".

"This year the Tour's parcours is a bit strange.I think the Pyrenees won't make a big selection.In the Alps there's le colle du Romme (Borg Saint Maurice-Grand Bornard stage),the toughest climb of the whole race.The Colmat stage will be another tough one.Lots of riders won't expect it and may not be ready on that day.But we will be ready".

"Lots of people say that I've got talent.But if you've got talent and you don't train,you don't achieve any good result.I think every young rider of the peloton has talent.Someone has more talent of the other riders,but everyone has talent."

"One of my advantdge is that I know myself very well.I know when I need some rest and I know when I have to do something else to distract me from cycling.At my debut,some people told me I had to find my own path.I think I've found it.I also know some little tricks of cycling.For example,on the rest day some people ride their bikes for an hour and then drink a coffee.You don't need to go to your office every time you need a coffee,do you? Drink it but don't go out with your bike! Other people instead wash their bikes.On the rest day,you should do something different from cycling!".

"Cycling is my passion,my job,but there are other things in life.For example,there's my home,my family.Without my family,I wouldn't be who I am right now.I'm a boy whose feet are sticked to the ground.I don't need a Ferrari or an expensive car.After stopping with cycling,I would like to have a normal life.To have a family and so on.Now I'm living my dream,but there's a life outside cycling".

Journalist:your brother is still tidier than you,is he? "Yes,but I've got better! (laughs)".

"At the beginning of a career,I think that young riders shouldn't listen too much to what this people and that people say.At the beginning o this season I had some problems with my knee.At a certain point,I said:I do this.I've got a lots of respect for a lot of people,but inside my head the only person I listen to is Kim Andersen:he's like a second father to me".Last but least,here's the usual link that sends you to Chris-Anker Sorensen's blog ( http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry325545.html ).The title of this post is a usual question of mine: "Is Jens Voigt the rabbit of Duracell's adverts?".The other great question of the day is "How can an Austrian talk Australian".
During today's entry then there's also a little mention for Andy:"In yesterday's stage there was also a deja-vu,since for the third stage in a row,Andy Schleck has forgotten to take his feed-bag while we were riding in the food zone.To be a little forgetful is very typical for Andy,and that's what makes him so worthy of the nickname of "Cousin ġuf" (used among us Danes)".