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.

Fireworks towards Luz-Ardiden:

Ok, I admit it: I didn't watch yesterday's stage of the Tour because I preferred watching Harry Potter 7 in 3D. And, apparently, I made the right choice.

However, dear readers, the important stage was today's one: in fact this afternoon the Tour officially started also for the serious GC contenders - or, at least, it started for the GC contenders who are still up and running (and they aren't a lot).

So: 12th stage of the Tour de France 2011, from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden, on the 14th of July. A big day for Thomas Voeckler, a French rider who rides for a French team and who could wear the yellow jersey on one of the most important days for the French people. And, to my surprise, Thomas managed to keep the leader jersey without problems, so that he'll be able to wear it also tomorrow.

Actually, Logic thought that Voeckler could have been able to keep the leadership in the race, but she would have never imagined that he could have made it in such a brilliant way. In fact, the Frenchman managed to remain with the best climbers of the world for the whole day, showing his determination and his love for the French race to the whole world. Therefore, miss Fede takes the chance to send a big chapeau to monsieur Thomas Voeckler, also known as 'Give me a yellow t-shirt and I'll smash the world'.

Anyway, let's go back to the start of the stage. This morning the riders had three difficult climbs on their menu: Hourquette d'Ancizan, Tourmalet (aaah, sweet memories!) and Luz Ardiden, where Ullrich once waited for Armstrong, who had crashed because of a young supporter who had accidentally hit him with his rucksack. Since Lance was wearing the yellow jersey, the German rider decided to wait for him, thus becoming the protagonist of a good action that is still remembered nowadays.

Apparently, the stages to Luz Ardiden never bring good luck to the riders who wear the yellow jersey during them. This afternoon in fact also Voeckler crashed at the beginning of the descent towards Tourmalet. However, the Frenchman could immediately hop back on his bike and get back in the peloton, which waited for him. 'When the yellow jersey crashes, the peloton must wait for it', the Italian chronist said. Apparently, last year no one had informed Contador about that (or, perhaps, that rule doesn't apply if the yellow jersey has a mechanical).

Unfortunately, Voeckler wasn't the only one who crashed. In fact the athletes who were involved in his crash were a few and amongst them there were also important guys like Peter Velits and Andreas Kloeden. Luckily for Radioshack, tomorrow's stage ends in Lourdes, so that they'll be able to make a pilgrimage there in order to ask Virgin Mary for some good luck.

Also Geraint Thomas, who was one of the breakawayers du jour, had previously crashed in the very same point as Voeckler. The Welsh rider this afternoon showed us that his biking skills aren't actually that good, since in the descent towards Tourmalet he lost 40" from his companions of adventure (Kadri, Roy, Gutierrez, Mangel and Ruben Perez). However, the Sky rider could use his good uphill skills to catch his companions on Tourmalet and he was one of the last riders to get caught by the best climbers.

Talking about breakaways, this afternoon there were many guys who tried their luck. Amongst them there were also Chavanel and Kreuziger, who escaped from the peloton at the beginning of the first climb. I think that Chavanel attacked especially because he wanted to show off his jersey of National French Champion on the Bastille Day, whereas Roman probably hoped to win the stage. Kreuziger gave it all, but he never managed to reach the other breakawayers (the ones who had abandoned the company of the group after a few kms of race), so that his attack was in vain.

Johnny Hoogerland tried to break free from the peloton too this afternoon, probably because in that way he thought he had more chances to finish the stage within the time cut . Considering that our boy ended the stage 21 minutes after the winner and 12 minutes before the gruppetto, I think he can say 'Mission accomplished!' as he goes to bed tonight.

Talking about time cut and gruppetto: poor Denis Galimzyanov won't start tomorrow's stage because he didn't make it to the finish-line within the time cut. The gruppetto itself ended the stage 33' after the winner, which means that today's stage was really hard. Still talking about the gruppetto, this afternoon it was formed by a great amount of riders: 79 riders out of 175 ended the race all together, a few minutes before Galimzyanov. The other riders instead crossed the finish-line slowly, one after the other.

The toughness of the race was also a consequence of Leopard Trek's great efforts at the front. In fact, at the beginning of Tourmalet the whole Luxembourgian team got ready to set the pace at the head of the peloton. Unfortunately, I think that things didn't actually go as planned. Let me explain you why.

The first one to set a high pace at the front was Cancellara, whose efforts were followed by those of O'Grady and Voigt. The German engine made an amazing job and he managed to pull until the end of Tourmalet (and he even remained with the brothers until the beginning of the last climb). 'What's the problem then?', I hear some of you ask. Well, the problem is that, if Jens hadn't felt as good as he actually felt this afternoon, the brothers would have remained without helpers even before the end of the Tourmalet. In fact halfway through the climb guys like Gerdemann, Monfort and Fuglsang had already got dropped. So, what if one of the brothers had had a serious mechanical? Would have they remained all alone because they had run out of teammates?  I can understand that some riders can have a day off, but apparently this afternoon half of the Luxembourgian team didn't feel well. And, considering that this should be the strongest team of the world, I don't think they can be satisfied with that - or, at least, I think they can't be satisfied.

Anyway. End of the first bitchy moment du jour. Let's go on.

On the Tourmalet some important riders (Toni Martin, Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal, Peter Velits, Andreas Kloeden and Christian Vandevelde) were dropped, whereas an amazing Gilbert kept the wheels of the best riders until the end of the climb. Then the wonderful Belgian champion attacked. His move was a bit suicidal, since it didn't bring him any benefit - but still, it was nice to see a Classic rider giving it all in one of the hardest mountain stages of the Tour.

Shortly after the beginning of the ascent towards Luz Ardiden, Kreuziger was caught by the group of the yellow jersey, whereas Roy and Thomas still had a little gap on the best climbers.

With 8 kms to go, Jelle Vanendert and Samuel Sanchez attacked. They found a good pace and they kept on riding together until the finish-line, when Samu managed to get the victory ahead of the 26 year old Belgian. Samu was really happy to win in front of his people (Pyrenées = Basque Country) and to be back in the top spots of the GC, whereas Jelle confirmed his great talent once again. Finally, after getting over some injuries of the past, this young man is ready to give his best - not only in the Classics but, as he showed us this afternoon, also in the GTs.

While Sanchez and Vanendert were riding happily to the finish-line, thus overtaking all the guys who had gone on a breakaway earlier, the battle between the giants of the Tour began. Andy and Frank Schleck, Contador and Evans were all there, but the one who started the duel was Basso, who ordered to his teammate Szmyd to start riding full gas. Sylwester is an excellent and loyal helper, who couldn't do well in the Giro because of a bad bronchitis. But now he's recovered and everyone could see that this afternoon.

While Szmyd was pulling, some talks were going on in the group of the best climbers. Frank and Andy talked to each other, whereas Contador talked to his teammates. Unfortunately, the magic trio of Saxo Bankers formed by Jesus Hernandez, Richie Porte and Chris Sorensen (it was strange to see him riding against my favourite brothers!) soon got dropped together with Nicolas 'Finding Nemo' Roche. The Irish rider soon started to suffer because of Szmyd's hellish pace (the poor thing has a sore knee right now) and it was touching to see him being helped by some teammates who, if only had they been allowed to, would have immediately hopped off their bikes in order to push Nicolas.

When Szmyd ended his turn at the front, just a few riders remained in the group of the yellow jersey, so that the Schleck brothers thought it was time to do something. The first one to attack was Frank, followed by Andy. Then the older brother attacked again until he finally managed to disappear from the sight of the other riders. Frank's attack was really impressive and, in about 3 kms, he almost managed to get back on Sanchez and Vanendert, who crossed the finish-line a few seconds ahead of the Luxembourgian.

In the meanwhile, Ivan Basso tried to attack twice, whereas Andy kept on paying attention to Contador. 'Attack!', I screamed. 'Attack!', I screamed again. 'ATTACK!!!', I shouted. And instead no, the one who attacked was Evans. Our Glorious Leader followed him together with Basso and the magic trio managed to cross the finish-line 13" ahead of Contador (and 20" after Frank Schleck). Cunego lost 5" to these three riders, whereas Voeckler arrived 7" after the Giro winner and thanked his teammate Rolland as they crossed the finish-line. Andy Schleck looked extremely tired as he crossed the finish-line, whereas Basso used some of his energy to turn his head and watch where Contador was.

So, this was today's stage. What can we say about the big GC contenders?

First of all I think that, although this afternoon Contador got dropped, no one should underestimate him. As Basso keeps on saying, 'one can win a Tour with just one attack'. And Alberto, if he's on a good day, can gain lots of seconds with just one attack made at the right moment.

Talking about the other riders, I must say that I loved Frank's attitude during today's race. But still, I think Andy should have tried to attack Evans. Cadel in fact is a very strong rider and, if bad luck doesn't hit him, he can make it to the top spot of Paris podium without many problems. He has the final TT on his side and, considering that he seems very solid also in the mountains, I think that Andy (and all those who want to win this Tour) should try to attack him as much as they can. In about 10 days the race will be over and, until there, the tough stages aren't that many. We're not in the Giro, where everyday there's at least one tough climb. We're at the Tour, a race in which a historical climb like Aubisque will be faced more than 40 kms far from the finish-line. Perhaps Andy had a bad day this afternoon or he was afraid to be worse than Contador, but I hope that in the next days he'll try to get some seconds of advantage on the Aussie. Because, unless he has some serious problems, it seems that this year it'll be hard to take the victory away from Evans.

Anyway, here's the GC after today's stage:

1	Thomas Voeckler (Fra)	51:54:44
2	Fränk Schleck (Lux)	0:01:49
3	Cadel Evans (Aus)	0:02:06
4	Andy Schleck (Lux)	0:02:17
5	Ivan Basso (Ita)	0:03:16
6	Damiano Cunego (Ita)	0:03:22
7	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa)	0:04:00
8	Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa)	0:04:11
9	Thomas Danielson (USA)	0:04:35
10	Nicolas Roche (Irl)	0:04:57

I'm very happy about Cunego and Roche's placements and I hope that they'll keep the good stuff coming also in the next days. In the meanwhile, let's enjoy Frank and Andy's placements and let's hope they'll improve again in the next days.

As far as tomorrow is concerned, I'm going to bet 5 euros on Hushovd and 5 on Gilbert. Although, to say the truth, I think we shouldn't rule Cavendish and Farrar out of the 'possible winners list' either.

(Pic 1 by Sirotti, pic 2 by Bettini)

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)

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!

And the winner is...Cadel Evans!!!

And so the World Championships are over also for this year.And,unfortunately for Fangirl,there were no Italians,no Danes,no Dutch and no Luxembourgian (sigh!) on the podium of the Elite Men Road Race.On said podium there were in fact an Australian (Cadel Evans),a Spaniard (Joaquin Rodriguez) and a Russian (Alexandr Kolobnev).
Someone may be unhappy with this podium,but that's not my case.I mean,of course I would have loved to see Andy Schleck or a Dane rider on the highest spot of yesterday's podium,but not always things go as you want them to go.And then,I must admit that I'm happy for Cadel Evans.Yesterday he attacked with 5 kms to go and achieved a great victory,the biggest one of his career.After so many podiums,he really deserved it!

Best Sexy Banker was the Russian Alexandr Kolobnev,who came in 2nd just like he did in 2007. 3rd wasJoaquin Rodriguez,a Spaniard that I pretty like.

4th was another Spaniard,Samuel Sanchez,while 5th was Cancellara,that broke into tears as soon as he crossed the finish-line.If I were him,I would have done the same.He tried so hard to win!Also Cadel Evans broke into tears on the podium,even if his ones were tears of joy and not of disappointment (like Cancellara's ones).IMO,it was really moving to see Cadel on the podium, with the rainbow jersey on,looking as happy as a child,kissing his wedding ring and waving to his wife.

Btw,talking about Fangirl's favourites,the best Dane rider was Matti Breschel,7th.6th was the Belgian Gilbert,while Cunego came in 8th and turned out to be the best Italian rider.

You can probably imagine what's been going on in Italy in the last 24 hours: nearly everyone is angry at Cunego and I can't actually understand why.If Cunego had won,he would have been treated as a hero,but he's lost and so now everybody treats him badly and say it was his fault if Italy didn't get any medal.Perhaps people who say these things need someone to explain them that,in cycling and in life,you can't always win.And,after all,Italy still has a World Champion,the amazing Tatiana Guderzo.

Talking about other riders,Alejandro Valverde eventually came in 9th,while Chris-Anker Soerensen was 13th.

And Andy,you may ask,what did he do? Well,Andy was the 21st rider to get retired yesterday. Yesterday's one was also his last race of this season,at least according to what L'Equipe wrote on their website (see link:http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2009/20090928_200200_a-schleck-stoppe-sa-saison.html ).Fangirl wasn't very happy when she read this news (she was already planning to go and support Andy at the Tour of Lombardy),but she thinks that,after a very long,very tiring and also very good season Andy really deserves a good rest.That's why she wishes him a good and long holiday.

PS: To read a report of what happened yesterday in Mendrisio,check the blog between few days: yesterday I was there to see the race and I'll write a post about it as soon as I can.That's all for now!

(Pic by Scanferla)