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?!?

Voigt has won Criterium International for the 5th time in his career!!

Jens Voigt has won the Criterium International again,for the 5th time in his life.He won the GC,the point jersey and also the mountain classification.The only thing he didn't win was the young rider classification.The best team was Saxo Bank.
Here's stage 3 partial classification:
1.MARTIN Tony
2.WIGGINS Bradley + 00' 06
3.RABON Frantisek + 00' 08
4.MONFORT Maxime + 00' 18
5. Jens Voigt, Team Saxo Bank + 00' 18
11.Gustav Larsson, Team Saxo Bank + 00' 27
44.Fränk Schleck, Team Saxo Bank + 00' 50
66. Juan José Haedo, Team Saxo Bank + 01' 01
72.Chris Anker Sørensen, Team Saxo Bank + 01' 06
88.Andy Schleck, Team Saxo Bank + 01' 31

Here's the overall (partial) classification:
1.Jens Voigt, Team CSC Saxo Bank.
2.RABON Frantisek + 00' 02
3.PATE Danny + 00' 09
4.MONFORT Maxime + 00' 12
5.LEMOINE Cyril + 00' 18
13.Fränk Schleck, Team CSC Saxo Bank + 00' 44
17.Gustav Larsson, Team CSC Saxo Bank + 00' 55
34.Chris Anker Sørensen, Team CSC Saxo Bank + 01' 34
46.Andy Schleck, Team CSC Saxo Bank + 03' 04
58.Juan José Haedo, Team CSC Saxo Bank + 07' 07

"It all went a lot smoother than expected today, and I am so impressed that he twice in one day can pull him sef up to what he did today", Kim Andersen said after the race. "It was, however, a little bit too exciting at the end as I knew he had to beat our team's specialist in the disciplin, Gustav Larsson, and Jens was continously on the edge of losing and winning by very few seconds during the whole time trial".
Allez Voigt!

Voigt!!!

I've just came back from his land yesterday,after an amazing week and a not-so-amazing travel by bus that last for 9 hours.And he gave me the opportunity to start again blogging after a week of interruption with a post about a SB's victory.Who's he? JENS VOIGT!!!!
In this week a lot of things have happened in cycling:Pacio Cavendish won M-S,sir Lancelot broke his collarbone and Pippo Pozzato won an important race in front of mr.Tom Boonen.And then today JENS VOIGT won second stage of the Criterium International,a race that he's already won for 4 times.

Here's the news as it is reported on Team Saxo Bank's website:
On the 98-kilometer-long second stage of Criterium International from Les Vieilles Forges to Monthermé Team Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt showed his well-known drive and determination by the early establishment of a breakaway with three other riders.
Three climbs were ascended, and two kilometres from the finish line German Jens Voigt left his last companion and crossed the line in solitary posture. In addition to the stage victory Team Saxo Bank's breakaway specialist also leads in the overall standings and in the climber competition while Team Saxo Bank leads the team competition.
Later this afternoon the race ends with an 8,3 kilometer time trial.
"Jens was in the breakaway for nearly 100 kilometres, and the other riders in the breakaway were not strong enough to create a gap big enough”, told sports director Kim Andersen after the stage and admitted: "Seven seconds is not much when a time trial is waiting later this afternoon. I will not be disappointed if he does not win overall after the morning's huge effort”.

I'm very happy about Voigt's victory because he's one of my favourite riders and he seems to be a nice guy.Here's a recent article about him (taken from Cyclingnews):
Jens Voigt: "Not someone who chases records"
On the eve of the defence of his Critérium International title, German Jens Voigt talked to Cyclingnews' Bjorn Haake about how he's won the race four times and why he is not concerned with breaking records.

After a relatively quiet night at home with his wife and five children, Saxo Bank veteran Jens Voigt arrived in France on Friday to attempt a fifth career victory in the Critérium International, which begins Saturday in Monthois.
The race features a relatively flat and long stage on Saturday, the 190km trip to Charleville-Mézières, followed by a dual stage on Sunday. A "medium mountain" stage of 98.5km into the Ardennes followed by a 8.3km time trial on Sunday afternoon.
If he is successful in winning the race for a fifth time, Voigt will match the great Raymond Poulidor in his number of titles in the event. We caught up with the affable 37-year-old to find out what it is about the race which allowed him to win so many times.
Cyclingnews: We hear the weather isn't the best in France right now?
Jens Voigt: The weather is not good at all – it forced us to go on the trainer. First it was raining then it started hailing, really strongly. The wind picked up, too. We were really happy to be on the trainer then and not out on the street.Then it cleared up and you could even see some blue skies, but then it started raining again. Tomorrow it is supposed to be iffy, too, but Sunday should be better.
CN: The bad weather is good news for you?
JV: Yes, you can say that anything that makes the race bad and difficult is good for me.
CN: What is it about the Critérium International that you like?
JV: It really suits me as it is short and intensive. You have to be focused 100% all the time and you have to have things under control. You cannot afford to miss anything. If you miss the group on Sunday morning it is very difficult to repair anything. There is also the time switch [to Daylight Savings time -ed.]. I don't know if this is going to help me, but I am used to sleeping less with my five kids at home anyway – this race just really fits me. They always had the time change on the weekend of this race.
CN: You wear number one as defending champion, and will you be number one in the team as well?
JV: Yes, I think I am entitled to claim the leader's role. But I have to see, I am a little bit under the weather and coughing a little bit. But nonetheless I am highly motivated and I will try repeat my success from last year. Of course we have a good 'backup team', with the Schleck brothers [Fränk and Andy] and Gustav Larsson. He finished second last year, with a superb time trial on Sunday afternoon. So if my hand isn't successful there are other cards that we can play. We also have a good sprinter with JJ Haedo for the stage tomorrow. If he can maybe win or get onto the podium we could get a good position for the team car in that short, stressful mountain stage. And of course it is good for the morale of the team if you have a little bit of success in the beginning. I think our team is very well assembled on all positions and we tackle that whole thing very offensively and courageously.
CN: Having the team car up front is important, but what if the sprint doesn't work out?
JV: One of us, and often me, will sprint for the bonus seconds, as that puts you further up in the overall. That is also a way to get the team car further up, with everyone on the same time in the sprint, but with the bonus seconds, you are ahead.
CN: The team is also quite experienced.
JV: Yes, our team has grown together well. In last year's Tour de France we were one of the teams with the oldest average age. We had four riders under 30 years, the rest was over 30. And that doesn't mean old and useless, but experienced and with the stamina. Bjarne Riis has seen that and takes advantage of it.
CN: If you win you can equal your number of overall wins with Raymond Poulidor (five times)...
JV: That's right. I am currently at four wins, tied with Jacques Anquetil. He already is not that bad of a rider... but it is really a side note. I want to win the race, as is the case with many other races where I start. If it happens, it is a nice bonus, but I am not someone who chases records.
CN: Does the course vary a bit each year?
JV: On Sunday with the morning stage and the time trial it is absolutely identical. The stage on Saturday is usually the same over the last 20 or 30 kilometres, but up until then they vary it a bit. It is rolling and not too difficult. In the last 20km there are two pretty ugly bumps that are always in the race.
CN:Are there key sections where you know you have to be on the front?
JV: It is really the whole stage. I remember last year the peloton surprisingly broke apart on stage one. One of the so-called 'smaller' teams – really, there aren't things like smaller teams and smaller races – tried to put the other riders in the gutter and blow the race apart. Everybody got so nervous and jumped as well, so it went "bam" and all of a sudden there were five groups and not everybody was able to get back. You always have to have an eye on the situation and of course you don't want to be the one left behind. You can't rely on the first day ending a bunch sprint, although it is often the case.
CN: Your first win in the Critérium International came in 1999.
JV: Yes, it was my second professional win. I took my first one as a neo-pro in 1998, when I won a stage in the Vuelta al País Vasco. The 1999 win was a nice one. We still had Chris Boardman on the [Crédit Agricole] team and he was the captain for that race. The race back then was in Avignon, but it was still the same, a flat Saturday stage, a hilly Sunday morning stage and a time trial. Boardman couldn't ride in the first group on Sunday morning. He ended up winning the time trial and I finished second, sealing my overall victory. Among others I beat time trial world champion Abraham Olano; I was pretty proud with that victory.
CN:When you lead going into the final stage you leave the start house as the last person, is that a lot of pressure?
JV: It depends. Last year, I had gained 1:30 and I only needed to finish the time trial without crashing. But there was another year where I won the morning stage in a sprint of a group, so I only had something like four seconds towards the second guy, five in front of the third guy and so on.
CN:Is that positive pressure or does it make you nervous?
JV: It's a little bit of both, but I am not 21 anymore, where I get too nervous... We have pressure year-round anyway. You also try to get a contract for next year by performing well. Somebody who can't handle pressure won't be racing still at age 37.

Voigt now leads also the GC with 7 seconds on Danny Pate.
Frank Schleck is 12th in the GC (00.12) ,while Andy is 41st (1.08).Allez Saxo Bank!!