Some random cycling links (updated with some other Schleck videos):

Right after the end of the Tour, people often find themselves with nothing to do during the afternoons. Therefore, miss Fede decided to collect a few random links related to cycling (which she collected especially thanks to her kind readers) in order to amuse herself and her readers. Have fun!

VIDEOS:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kin72YxiDsg : Kat, a kind Danish reader, has recently updated on YouTube a video in which mr. Jakob Fuglsang gets his daily massage during the Tour. She uploaded it just for us, so let's thank her before starting to drool over the Leopard Trek rider (it's advisable to watch this video when you're alone).

- http://youtu.be/VrNv89dqMP0 : Marleen from 'Ride On!' has kindly pointed out this other video, featuring the Schleck brothers, de Zjonnies and an old car. In it Andy and Frank show their driving skills and, as they drive, they also find the time to damage the vehicle in many different ways.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovgs9CFoFCk : They're everyone's favourite cycling chronists: Christian Paasche and Johan Kaggestad. In this video you'll see them go bananas as Edvald Boasson Hagen wins his second TdF stage of the year. From 0:24, things get really ridicolous and at 0:58 you can see an unknown chronist that sneaks into the Norwegian room and puts his headphones next to Christian's mouth, so that his viewers can realise how hard it is to work next to the Norwegian chronists.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3wHT5OJRWg (via miss Sansen): Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov, together, in just one video: in it they speak English, they talk about their wives and they almost forget for how long they have been married. Moreover, they laugh . In particular, Menchov has a great time while talking about how he met his wife. And the worst thing is that there's nothing hilarious in that.

OTHER RANDOM LINKS:

After watching some videos, here are three other random links:

- http://womanmanfishbicyclemag.tumblr.com/ : the above-mentioned miss Sansen has recently surrendered to Tumblr. Visit her blog in order to read an exclusive 'from Fablish (or Fabianese) to English' vocabulary.

- http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/klar-parat-tour-fest: our special detective Susanne has recently provided us with some good pictures from the post-Tour parties in Paris. Enjoy!

- http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-cyclingnews-guide-to-rider-transfers-2011-2012 : the cycling market has already started and, so far, the interesting moves have been two: Van Hummel goes to Vacansoleil, Pozzato exits Katiusha (although his final destination is still unknown). What if he really joins Leopard Trek?

UPDATED PART:
Some kind readers have decided to add other amusing videos to this post. Lt's enjoy them!!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFIKnK7GpeQ : Cancellara and Frank Schleck kidding with the cameras during the Tour. Lovely!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbdFQ5rwEZs : What did the Schleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara do the day after Andy's victory in Liège 2009? In this video you have the answer! (this video, just like the previous one, has been found by our dear Cristin)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0tVAQech7g&feature=related : Also our friend Figbash decided to point out a link: it is an old classic which every Schleck fan should watch at least once pro day. Enjoy the jokes and the relaxing view!
- http://bananasaboutbikes.blogspot.com/ : After a period of break, 'Bananas about Bikes' is back with a new, exciting post by Marleen! If you haven't done it yet, I suggest you reading it. Moreover, I suggest you paying some attention to that blog in the next days: we have lots of tales coming up! If you're a supporter and you've had a great time while visiting a bike race, send us a description of your day at bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com . We accept stories related also to women cycling, cyclo-cross, track cycling, criteriums, whatever! Moreover, they don't have to be very recent. We can publish also posts that date back to some months or years ago, we're not strict at all!
(ok, end of the shameless self promotion part ;)

Enjoy the videos and the links!

And finally, Andy Schleck got himself a girlfriend too

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New blog + Milan-Sanremo predictions and start list:

Dear readers, I'm proud to announce you the birth of 'Bananas About Bikes!', the new cycling blog created by Mar, Marleen, Marleen, Tien, Cristin, Susanne, Leela and me. The link to it is http://bananasaboutbikes.blogspot.com/ . Feel free to leave comments!
Here's the presentation of the blog in English :)

A whole new concept in cycling blogging is born. This blog cannot be compared to any other cycling blog. We are new, we are refreshing, we are bananas!
But what exactly are we? This is a blog behind the scenes of cycling. It's not about the latest news, it's about the experiences of fans behind the scenes. It's about the tales of cycling lovers who visit races. It's about what they saw during the races. Most cycling blogs talk about the races they see on TV. We want to talk about the races we see on the street. Before the start, behind the barriers and after the finish.
The blog is controlled by a group of fangirls from all over the world. But we need you too! We will visit races, we will write reports, but we can't be everywhere. This blog is also for you, and your experiences at the races. You can write reports; send us pictures. Everything is welcome. We love track cycling, MTB and women's cycling too! Don't hesitate, you can send it to us in almost every language! Take a look at the "Who Are We?" tab to read more about the moderators and their languages.
If you're interested, email us at bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com
If you hesitate, feel free to ask us more!

So, did you get the message? A new great cycling blog has been created, check it out immediately! And if you have race tales to send us, feel free to do it! We're looking forward to receiving them :) And don't worry if your English isn't fine: you can send us an e-mail in Spanish, German, Dutch, French, Italian or Danish and we'll translate it into English, no problems about it!!!

Talking about races, there have been some problems in my family over the last few days, so I couldn't watch the last stages of Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice. Moreover, right now I don't feel in the mood to answer the comments under my last post (sorry girls!) and I'm not sure I'll be watching Milan-Sanremo on Saturday (yes, the situation is that serious).

Anyway. I have some free time now and I want to get distracted. Therefore, here you have my personal preview of Milan-Sanremo: the start list, my predictions and some opinions of mine about the teams. I haven't been reading Gazzetta for more than a week now, so I'm not very up-to-date. Therefore, feel free to laugh at the bullshits I'm going to write!

RABOBANK: Freire, Boom, Matthews, Flens, Langeveld, Tjallingii, Tankink, Wijnants. Rabobank has a good team and it will probably do everything to make the race end with a sprint. Freire is an old fox, as we say in Italy. I predicted him as winner last year (my best cycling prediction ever!), but he has been hiding himself in the last races. However, we mustn't forget about him, especially now that the peloton seems to lack of a true 'King of the Sprints'. Still talking about Rabobankers, I suggest you keeping an eye on Matthews. I don't know how he'll feel after 300 kms of race, but I have a feeling that he may do well on Saturday.

ACQUA E SAPONE: Napolitano, Ciavatta, Codol, Donati, Marzoli, S. Masciarelli, Corioni, Taborre. The team sprinter is Napolitano. He's a good sprinter, but I don't think he's as strong as the other ones.

AG2R LA MONDIALE: Nocentini, Elmiger, Hinault, Kadri, Minard, Mondoru, Montaguti, Ravard. Ravard is a good sprinter, but I think that the team will try to invent something on the last climbs, using Nocentini as leader.

ANDRONI: Vicioso, Ferrari, Barla, De Marchi, Ermeti, Bertolini, Solari, Santoro. Ferrari has already won a race this year, but I don't think he'll be able to end up in the top 5 (although a top 10 could be possible for him).

BMC: Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Wyss, Kroon, Quinziato, Schaer, Van Avermaet. The American team has no spinters, so I think they may try to break free from the peloton in the last kms. Just imagine an attack with Van Avermaet, Cancellara, Nocentini, Visconti, Sagan, Gilbert and Pozzato... Yum!

COLNAGO: Modolo, Belletti, Pozzovivo, Pirazzi, Stortoni, Frapporti, Pasqualon, Brambilla. This team isn't very famous , but his riders are young and strong. Modolo was 4th last year, Belletti won the Cesenatico stage in the Giro 2010. Pay attention to them!

COFIDIS: Duque, Ista, Keukeleire, Labbe, Saramotins, Sijmens, Valentin.
EUSKALTEL: Sesma, Castroviejo, Aramendia Llorente, Insausti, Murillo Velasco, Egoi Martinez, Txurruka, Oroz. Where is Koldo Fernandez?!? What did I miss?
FARNESE VINI-NERI: Visconti, Miyazawa, Failli, Gatto, Giordani, Favilli, Ricci, Sinkewitz. Farnese can allow the race a bunch sprint or not. Visconti will surely attack on the last climbs and, if his attacks isn't successful, Gatto will try to make up for that. Oscar has improved a lot over the last months and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Top 5.
FDJ: Bonnet, Delage, Geslin, Guesdon, Offredo, Rollin, W. Sulzberger, Vaugrenard.
GEOX: Brandle, Cobo, De La Fuente, Florencio, Kump, Ratto, Alberio, Pelucchi. Pelucchi and Ratto are fast riders, but I don't see them ending up in the top 10.

HTC: Cavendish, Albasini, Bak, Goss, Eisel, Grabsch, Renshaw, P. Velits. In case of a sprint finish, this is the strongest team of the bunch together with Garmin. No one knows how Cavendish feels. In this first part of the year he has won just one race, but the thing that strikes me most is that he didn't taken part in some sprints, even if he had the chance. However, Cannon-Ball has already cheated once about his pre-Sanremo form, why shouldn't he do it again? And then, even if Cavendish isn't fine, Renshaw and Goss are ready to make up for that.

KATUSHA: Pozzato, Hoste, Ignatiev, Goussev, Kolobnev, Kuchynski, Paolini, Isiachev. Are you telling me that Galimzyanov isn't racing? Ok, I need to phone Katiusha's ds to get an explanation for that. However, the Russian team looks strong even without Denis. Pozzato won Sanremo a few years ago and he may attack on the last climbs. On the other hand, Paolini is very fast and is one of the most resistant riders of the peloton.

LAMPRE: Petacchi, Scarponi, Bole, Gavazzi, Hondo, Bono, Moro, Ulissi. Petacchi has been a Sanremo favourite for many years now, but it seems that he's not feeling fine right now. And to win a 300 kms race, you terribly need to feel fine in the days before of it. If Petacchi isn't at his best, Gavazzi, Hondo and Bole will try to make up for it. Hondo was 2nd in this race many years ago, while Gavazzi and Bole are both very young.

LIQUIGAS: Nibali, Sagan, Agnoli, Dall'Antonia, Caruso, Finetto, Koren, Marangoni. The team looks strong, although it hasn't got a pure sprinter. Koren is young and talented, while Nibali could attack on the last descent of the race. However, to win he needs to arrive alone at the finish-line. Sagan is a big question mark for me. He's fast, but I'm not sure he can resist for 300 kms. Obviously, I'd be happy if he threw away all my doubts in 48 hours time.

MOVISTAR: Bruseghin, Konovalovas, Kiryenka, Rojas, Samoilau, Ventoso, Ruiz, Amador. Ventoso and Rojas are fast, but not enough to win a race like Sanremo.

OMEGA: Gilbert, Greipel, Hansen, Roelandts, Lang, Reynes, Sieberg, Veikkanen. Gilbert will be the toughest opponent for the 'we want a sprint!' party. He's fast, he's resistant, he's got nothing to lose, he's brave...In a few words, he's the Classic rider that everyone would love to have in their team. However, Omega is also ready for a bunch finish: Greipel is fast and Sieberg (I quite like him), Hansen, Lang and Roelandts know how to launch a sprint.

ASTANA: Davis, Lorenzetto, Bazayev, Gasparotto, Grivko, Iglinskiy, Clarke, Vaitkus. Look out for Davis, ladies and gentlemen. The boy is fast and resistant (see last year Worlds to remember about it)! However, Fangirl is unhappy because of Vinokourov's absence.
QUICKSTEP: Boonen, Bandiera, Malacarne, Reda, Terpstra, Pineau, Chavanel, Van Impe. I have a feeling that Chavanel will enter one of the key breakaways of the day. Boonen is one of the best sprinters out there, but I haven't seen him in a particularly good condition.

SAXO BANK: Cooke, Larsson, Haedo, Klostergaard, Morkov, Nuyens, Tanner, Tosatto. Tosatto and Cooke will help Haedo in the finale, but on paper JJ looks slower than Cavendish or Farrar. Fangirl would like to underline the presence in the team of David Tanner.

SKY: Wiggins, Boasson Hagen, Thomas, Flecha, Arvesen, Rogers, Lovkvist, Stannard. I've just had a trauma. Rogers has gone to Sky and I didn't know about it. I go hiding my head in the sand (*goes hiding head in the sand*). Ok, now I feel better. Shame on me! Anyway. EBH was one of the main contenders of last year race, but he disappeared very soon during it. Thomas is fast, but he's always worked as lead-out man. But where is Henderson?

GARMIN-CERVELO: Hushovd, Farrar, Haussler, Hammond, Klier, Navardauskas, Van Summeren, Wilson. The team to defeat, at least imo. Haussler, Hushovd, Farrar... Great line-up. Perhaps even too great. Will Thor, Tyler and Heinrich be honest with their teammates and be ready to sacrifice themselves for them? Or will they try to their luck on their own? Personally, Haussler is my main favourite of the race before of Hushovd. Time will tell if I'm right.

LEOPARD TREK: Cancellara, Bennati, Weylandt, Gerdemann, Wegmann, Lund, O'Grady, Wagner. Bennati will be the captain and he'll be helped by Weylandt and Wagner during the sprint. Cancellara could try something on the Poggio (I saw him in a very good form in the last races), while Gerdemann, Wegmann and Lund will keep the situation under control.

RADIOSHACK: McEwen, Hunter, Cardoso, Rosseler, Rast, Lequatre, Murayev, Popovych. My first Giro memories involve my family watching McEwen's successful sprints at the Giro, but this time I must say that I don't consider Robbie a serious threat to the final victory.

VACANSOLEIL: Bozic, De Gendt, Leukemans, Marcato, Mouris, Ongarato, Feillu, Selvaggi. Great line up also for Vacansoleil! Marcato could enter a breakaway, just like De Gendt, while Bozic is one of the best (unknown) sprinters that I know.

So, this is the start list. My prediction: the race will end up in a sprint. Garmin and HTC will work hard to make that happen. Gilbert, Pozzato and Nibali will try to break away on Poggio. My podium prediction is: Haussler (or Hushovd), Bozic, Freire. There. I said it. Now I'm going to lose my reputation because of that. However, even if my prediction turns out being terribly wrong, don't forget to take a look at 'Bananas About Bikes' and to send us e-mails!!

PS: Attention also to Matthews, David, Gatto, Paolini and Modolo!

Pronounciation post!

Finally, miss Fede has managed to publish her famous 'pronounciation post' here on her blog. You're happy, aren't you? ;) Unfortunately I couldn't publish it before of today because I've been very busy with school over the last days, so I couldn't write this post any earlier.
Before starting our pronounciation class, however, I'd like to say some brief things about TDU, which ended on Sunday. The stages of this race were won by Goss (24 year old), Swift (he's just 23 and got two victories), Michael Matthews (born in 1990), Cameron Meyer (22, he won a stage and the GC) and Ventoso (29). As you can see, all those guys (with the little exception of Ventoso) are really young and they all showed their great talent in the Australian race. Matthews, in particular, was born two years before of me and he has already proved to cycling lovers that people born in the 1990s are the best ones in the world ;)
Talking about young guys, a special mention must go also to Andrea Guardini, Italian rider of Farnese-Vini. He's 21 and this is his first year as a pro. He had his first race on Monday and he won it; he had his second pro race yesterday afternoon and he won it too. I think it's still too early to start screaming 'We have a new cycling star!' all over the blogosphere, especially because there are some little differences between Tour de Langwaki and Tour de France, but however I think that starting your professional career with 2 victories in 2 races is simply great. So, chapeau to Andrea.

Together with this explosion of young talents, however, we must remember that TDU also saw the second (and last) cycling retire of Lance Armstrong. I've never liked Armstrong as a rider (although I must admit that I don't remember much from his 7 Tour de France victories), but I've always admired him because he managed to defeat cancer and is now a symbol of the world fight against this horrible disease.

Anyway, either you like him or hate him as a rider, you can't deny that Armstrong marked cycling history for the last 19 years, from his first Tour de France stage victory in 1993 to his retire, a few days ago. So, it's with a strange mix of relief (I hated the Armstrong fever!) and respect that I say 'bye bye' to this Texan rider.

However. After being so nice to read the usual random reflections of mine, I think you completely deserve to read the 'pronounciation post' that I've just finished to write. Before of beginning, anyway, let me say three things:

Firstly, I can't guarantee you that this post is mistake-free. I tried my best to avoid mistakes, but I might have made some of them anyway. After all, no one is perfect. In case you notice a pronounciation mistake, I'd really appreciate it if you could kindly let me know about it. The goal of this post in fact is to improve our pronounciation of difficult riders' names and everyone who can help us to reach this goal with advices, corrections or so will be warmly welcomed.

Second thing I wanted to say, in this post I've talked about some of the names that I don't find easy to pronounce. If you would like to know the correct pronounciation of names that I didn't include in this post, don't be shy and feel free to ask for the correct pronounciation in the comment area. You may not be the only one who has problems with a certain name, so your request could be useful for everyone.

Third and last thing, I looked for some names but couldn't find any video with their pronounciation. If someone can help me, they're welcome.

After these boring advices, let's enjoy the class now!

CANADA:
We never mentioned Canadian riders in the comment area, but I must admit that, imo, two of the most difficult names to pronounce correctly in the peloton are 'Ryder Hesjedal' and 'Svein Tuft'.

To know the correct pronounciation of Hesjedal, click on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18mR3JypOdU . They say Ryder's name already at the beginning, so you don't have to watch the whole video.
As far as Svein Tuft is concerned, you can find the pronounciation of his surname here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOto7BxfHns (0:14).

UNITED STATES:
Remaining in America, the only American name about which I have horrible doubts is 'Levi Leipheimer'. I've already mentioned that the pronounciation of Levi's name changed completely over the last 2 years here in Italy, but now we're finally going to discover what the correct pronounciation of said name is. Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, because we Italians are finally going to discover the truth about this name! Aaaand the correct pronounciation of this name is...Livai Laipaimar!!!! (or something similar ;)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8-o8HwhNgU&feature=related , 0:06).

SPAIN AND SOUTH AMERICA:
I've decided to dedicate just one chapter to names of Spanish origins because I actually don't have problems with them. If someone would like to know the correct pronounciation of some Spanish names, let me know: I speak Spanish, so I might be able to help you.

GERMANY:
The only tricky German name I can think of right now is 'Jens Voigt'. This rider's surname in fact seems to be very difficult for everyone, journalists and supporters included. If you've always pronounced it as 'Voyt', I'll tell you that you're wrong. The correct pronounciation of Jens' name in fact is 'Fokt'. To listen to the correct pronounciation, read the 'Holland' part of this post ;)

POLAND:
Ah, Polish names! Who doesn't love them? Some months ago, our dear blogmate Ania was so kind to write me the correct pronounciation of the Polish name 'Przemysław' in the phonetic alphabet. If you can read it, here it is: pʃemɪswʌv . Nice, isn't it? I know that you're now going to name 'Przemyslaw' your gold-fish, your son, your dog, whatever else, but do you actually know who Przemysław ('Przemek' for friends) is? If you don't, write the name 'Przemysław Niemiec' somewhere. According to my predictions, you're going to hear about him pretty often this year.
Other tricky Polish names are Sylwester Szmyd and Jaroslaw Marycz. To hear the correct pronounciation of those names (and also the correct pronounciation of 'Przemyslaw Niemiec'), go on http://translate.google.it/#plen and have fun with the 'Listen' button.

DENMARK:
As far as Danish names are concerned, I think that the most of us know how to pronounce 'Sorensen' and are therefore able to indicate the surname of half of the Danish population in a correct way. The problems begin when poor fangirls come across Danish names like Jakob Fuglsang or Matti Breschel. As far as the first name is concerned, I admit that I've always pronounced it as 'Foogle-sang', before that Susanne enlightened me by saying that the correct pronounciation of the name of the hero of many fangirls is 'Ya'cobb Fool-sang'.
As far as Matti Breschel is concerned, Susanne kindly gave me the link to this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CypDAWtD_Vc (Matti's name is said at the beginning of it and after 38"). It is a very nice vid and I'm sure that some of us will really appreciate it (nice blue eyes on the horizon, girls, nice blue eyes!)
PS: I know that it has nothing to do with cycling, but on Thursday I have a philosophy test about Kierkegaard. How do you pronounce that?

OCEANIA:
My doubts about Oceanian names were kindly resolved by Cougar Girl. Here you have her answers to my doubts:
Cameron Wurf = Kammer-on Wuhrr-f. Travis Meyer = Tra-viss My-ehrr (not May-ehrr). Hayden Roulston = Hay-D'n Rahl-st'n. Richie Porte = Ree-chee Por-turr.

HOLLAND and BELGIUM:
Ah, Dutch names! Apparently, names like 'Boom', 'Mollema' and 'Gesink' seem very easy to pronounce, don't they? Unfortunately for us, not every Dutch name is that simple. For example, amongst Dutch riders we can find Tom Stamsnijder and Steven Kruijswijk. 'How do you pronounce that?', I hear you wonder in despair. Well, the answer is simple and it comes from an amazing vid that our blogmate Mar (http://whatmarlikes.tumblr.com/) prepared for us last week. Here you have it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx6q3DiUCzk . In it, Mar says the following names: Steven Kruijswijk (I'l never be able to say it correctly!), Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema, Tom Stamsnijder, Lars Boom, Koos Moerenhout.
Moreover, Mar also gave us the pronounciation of two Belgian names, Wouter Weylandts and Jurgen Van Den Broeck. Dulcis in fundo, she also pronounces 'Jens Voigt' in a perfect way towards the very end of the video (1:36). Once again, great work Mar!

SWEDEN:
No one ever mentions them, but Swedish names can be tricky too. Just think about the name 'Thomas Lovkvist'. Luckily, you can hear Tom's name pronounced by himself on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW82TsrGyAg .

RUSSIA:
Russian names can be difficult too, especially because accents rule the Russian world and accents are never written on the names of Russian riders. Anyway. I did try to look for Russian videos of YouTube, but my quest wasn't actually that successful.

As far as Denis Menchov is concerned, I found a nice video on http://diaadiano.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_18.html . It is in Russian and the only things I could understand from it were: 'skandali', 'Tour de France', 'na ulitza' and 'Alberta Contadora' (yes, AlbertA ContadorA). Btw, when I was already losing hope, I finally heard it: 'Denis Menchov', at 2:28. The journalist actually seems to say 'Menchova' and it does so in a very unusual (for me at least) way.
Unfortunately trying to understand Russian in that vid was a hard task for me, and it was even harder to find Russian videos with the correct pronounciation of 'Kolobnev' and 'Ignatiev'. So, I'm waiting for a volunteer to help me in my research.

LITUANIA, BELARUS AND UKRAINE:
Unfortunately this evening I didn't have time to look for the correct pronounciation of 'Grivko' and 'Konovalovas'. If there is someone from Lithuania and Ukraine reading this blog, I'd really appreciate it if they could help us all with the pronounciation of these names.
To make you forgive me for this lack of information about Ukrainian and Lituanian name, however, I'll tell you what the correct pronounciation of 'Siutsou' is (*drums rolling*). It is 'Sizzov' and not 'Siutsu' (Italian chronists used to say 'Siutsu' some years ago, then they corrected themselves on time).

ITALY:
Dulcis in fundo, here we arrive at pronounciation of Italian names. As I already said, accent is important in Italian names. It is Nìbali and Cùnego, not Cunégo and Nibàli. It is Viganò and it is Ballàn, it is Bàsso and it is Riccò.

To hear some of these names, go on http://translate.google.it/#ititchicchi%0D%0A and write Chicchi, Riccò, Visconti, Viganò, Petacchi, Basso, Cheula and Agnoli . If you want to have a little clue about how to pronounce Italian names, remember those things:
1) double letters and accents, when present, aren't there just for beauty.
2) 'Che' and 'Chi' are pronounced as if they were German: 'ke' and 'ki'. In English, the 'chi' sounds like the 'ki' in 'kickey' (listen to 'Chicchi' and Cheula' to get a pratice example).
3) To listen to the correct pronounciation of the 'GN' sound, go on Google Translate and write 'Agnoli'.
4) Italian double 'z' is pretty difficult to pronounce. To listen to its correct pronounciation, you can hear the name 'Pellizotti' being pronounced in this video, right after the commercial: http://video.gazzetta.it/ciclismo-franco-pellizotti/4e99e29a-786f-11de-a581-00144f02aabc . Instead, to hear Pozzato's correct pronounciation (which I dedicate to miss Sansen), go on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-bKX0YNhb4 and wait 14 seconds.

Unfortunately it's already very late for me, so I'm forced to close this post here. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I might make a new pronounciation post in the next weeks/months/ years ;)

EDIT: For those of you who are too lazy to read the comment section, here I'm going to list the videos/ voice posts/ suggestions/ whatever else that some dear blogmates have wrote me in their comments over the last days (unfortuntely I couldn't do it before because I was too busy).

First of all, let's talk about RUSSLAND AND LITUANIA:

Our kind blogmate Ania sent us a video with the correct pronounciation of Konovalovas (0: 10) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjFWDqOT7Hw . She also sent me another vid about Menchov (0:07) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee-idgG32IY , one about Kolobnev (0: 57 and also earlier) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x04vp805Xd4 and one about Ignatiev (4:02) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA_97E_MUGA . Nice work, isn't it? Now, all together: 'Thank you miss Ania!!'

NORWEGY AND SWEDEN:

Another dear blogmate, Susanne, sent me two very good videos in which you can hear the names 'Hushovd' and 'Ljungqvist' being pronounced correctly. The Hushovd one is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYgmBonYaE (go at its beginning), the other one is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXmFsijkCVg (0:14). If you want to have fun, look for the other Hushovd video that she posted in one of her comments. In it, you can hear the Norwegian chronists clearly going bananas because of a Norwegian victory at the Tour!

Back to the pronounciation issue, dear Ingrid kindly told us that Hushovd should be pronounced as 'Hus-hovd', and not as 'Hush-vod' like I've been saying it for the last 5 years or so. Instead, Ljungvist should be pronounced as 'Jongkvist'. Thank you for your help, Susanne and Ingrid!

Last but not least, OCEANIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND WALES:

Leela kindly recorded a voice post on her tumblr in order to make us listen the correct pronounciation of some English sounding names. In it she shows us how to pronounce Cameron Wurf, Travis and Cameron Meyer, Hayden Roulston, Richie Porte, Chris Froome, Daril Impey and Geraint Thomas' names in the correct way. Here is the link to her great voice post: http://spokesandracquets.tumblr.com/post/2983428167/voice-post-for-the-lovely-miss-fede-and-co . Thank you a lot for it, Leela!

So, this seems to be the real end of this post. Thank you to all those who heped me writing it and let's hope that you all had fun while reading it and that you found it useful!

Very funny photoshopped pictures and some random links about Saxo Bank (post including also other random randomness):

To everyone's delight, on this wonderful page lost in the Blogosphere you can see miss Fede's latest post, in which you'll be able to find the usual random links and, surprise surprise, two very funny photos that have been photoshopped by our dear blogmate Mar.
Our blogmate in fact has recently sent me an e-mail that contained two pictures that she had modified in a very funny way. The leitmotiv of the pictures was, attention attention, men and parfumes.
In fact Mar once read on a blog that Jakob Fuglsang would have looked good acting as a model in an 'eau de cologne' commercial (whoever had this idea is a genius!)

Mar thought a bit about this fact, pictured the commercial in her mind and then she made this really good picture, thanks to which Jakob magically entered the world of parfume's models ;)

Still talking about parfumes, who doesn't like the aroma of coffee? As far as I'm concerned, I really love it (and I'm sure I'm not the only one).
If Starbucks created a coffee parfume, not only would I buy it immediately (although I'd never use it to go to parties or to school), but I think I'd also have a good suggestion for the people who'll have to find a model for the new fragrance's commercial. In fact, who could advertise a coffee parfume better than Jens Voigt, one of the most famous coffee-aholic of Cycledom? ;)

RANDOM NEWS:
After having fun with the pictures above (thank you once very much for your nice work Mar!), let's now go on with some random links.
Let's begin with the first interesting link that I've found over the last days: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-attends-first-saxo-bank-sungard-camp . As you probably already know, Saxo Bank is having a training camp in Fuerteventura right now and Tim De Waele went there to take some pictures of the riders.
The shocking thing is that in some of those pictures you can see naked men coming out of nowhere and watching/being watched by the riders and the team's stuff in a very curious way. For example, there is a picture of a fat, naked man looking at the riders in a very strange way. Run away as long as you can boys!!!
The second shocking thing is that the naked man who appears in said picture looks at the riders in a strange way, as if he was aking himself: 'Hey, why are these guys windsurfing? And why the hell aren't they taking it easy as me?' Such question, made by someone who's walking on a beach in a very 'natural' way, seems a bit weird to me. Actually,that picture also reminded me of a boy that I saw while waiting to leave my town for the 2010 summer holidays. I was in the center of my village, with a bright orange suitcase, waiting for my friend to come and give me a lift, when there came this boy, dressed like a cowboy and riding a horse. Still, he was brave enough to look at me in a very strange way, as if he was asking himself: 'What is this girl doing?'. A question which, asked by a teenager dressed like a cowboy, in Bergamo, riding a horse in the center of the town, actually sounded a bit strange.
Anyway, back to the link. Another thing that pretty shocked me was the shirt that Chris Anker was wearing while Tim De Waele took some of his pictures. If you check mr. De Waele's website, and notice a Saxo Bank rider wearing a bright pink/blue shirt, you'll immediately understand what I mean. However, as they say, just true men can wear pink, therefore I should probably be happy to know that Chris is brave enough to wear it.
The last shocking thing that I noticed about the pictures is that Riis' idea of 'building team spirit' terribly looks like my P.E. teacher's idea of 'let's teach my girls how to work together!'
The main difference is that, at least, when I work together with my classmates (a kind way to say that I sit down and they stand up on my spine, as if that was a very normal thing to do), we don't have anyone taking pictures of us (after all, I don't think I could actually stand people taking pictures of me during my PE lessons- not if I'm sober, at least).

Talking about other shocking things, I'd like to know whether some of you can recognise the rider who appears in the picture below.
I know that that you won't believe me, but I must tell you that the rider in the picture above is Pellizotti.
'Pellizotti? That Pellizotti? Are you serious? It can't be him! Where did his golden curls go?!?', I hear you wondering in despair. Unfortunately I'm as shocked as you and I don't have the answer to your last question.

Changing topic, Kim Andersen has recently said that Brian Nygaard and he actually started to hire Saxo Bank riders for their team in mid-June 2010 (link: http://www.velonation. com/ News/ID/6612/Team-Luxembourg-and-Saxo-Bank-battle-began-in-June.aspx ) and Jakob Fuglsang said that he had already decided to join the new team of the Schleck brothers before of the Tour's beginning.
Still talking about Jakob, in the next days there will be 'best cyclist of the year' awards in different countries and, as far as Denmark is concerned, the riders who'll battle against each other for this prize are: Chris Anker Sorensen, Matti Breschel, Jakob Fuglsang and Alex Rasmussen. Sorry for you, Jakob's lovers, but this time this Fangirl will support Chris Anker in the fight ;) Go go Chris!
On the other hand, the best Luxembourgian sport personality of 2010 will be named on Thursday, but I think we can already say who the winner will be. Anyway don't expect any post about that prize from me, since unfortunately on Thursday I'll be drowning in a sea of sh..., ehm, homeworks.

On to another news, you must know that Silvére Ackermann was a young rider that I really liked. He used to race for Voralberg Corratec, but then he retired this June during the Swiss Championships. The news made me very sad, since I've always liked Silvére's riding style and I thought he could have been a very good rider also in the ProTour category. On http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ackermann-explains-reasons-of-retirement, Ackermann explains why he got retired. At least, no one can deny that he did so in a very spectacular way, by getting retired as he was in the leading breakaway at the Swiss national championship.
I'm still very sorry about his retirement, but I wish Silvére all of the best for his new career anyway. Good luck for your future boy!

On to a last (and happier) news, on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/saxo-bank-names-two-danes-in-giro-ditalia-squad it is said that 2 riders are already sure of riding 2011 Giro for Saxo Bank. They are Mads Christensen and Jonas Aaen Jorgenen.
I must admit that I don't know much about Mads, while last year I wrote a post about Jorgensen and so I followed his first season at Saxo Bank pretty carefully. He's a very good and young rider, so I'm really glad to hear this news. If the Schlecks really don't come to Italy next May, I surely won't have many doubts about who to support during the Giro!

PS: I know that I keep on writing about Saxo Bank and that this may annoy some of you, but:
1) finding interesting news about team Luxembourg is almost impossible, since even Wikileaks would have problems discovering something about it
2) I still love the guys on this team.
(Pic 1 and 2 by Mar, pic 3 by Bettini)

Picspam time 3: guys just wanna have fun :)

To everyone's joy, the picspam season here at My Blog isn't over yet.

The last 2 days have been a bit tense here in the Blogosphere, so I think it's better if we all relax ourselves and have a good laugh together. In order to do so, I suggest you taking a look at these pictures that Mar (thank you girl!) and I collected over the last days. Enjoy!

First of all, here you have Chris Anker Sorensen and Matti Breschel wearing funny viking helmets on the Champs Elysées. After 3 weeks of daily fatigue and stress, you're allowed to behave a bit in a strange way, aren't you? Here's another picture from Saxo Bank's celebrations on Champs Elysées. This time, the one behaving in a strange way is Stuart O'Grady :) Talking about funny guys, then, how can we forget about Fabian Cancellara? Here we can see him making horns to poor Andy. The skinny Luxembourgian (just notice how thin his arms are!) looks a bit annoyed, but Fabian doesn't seem to care about it :) This time instead the victim of Fabian's jokes was O'Grady, who probably ignored what Fabian was doing behind him. Luckily Tom Boonen knows how to take revenge on the Swiss rider :) Talking about other former Saxo Bankers, I think I'm almost obliged to put some pictures of Jens Voigt in a post like this. Here you can see him riding a very strange vehicle.Below instead you have Voigt-san having fun with a supporter in Japan. And here we have the FA Jens having a coffee-break at work.
Here instead we have Matti Breschel joking with a photographer. Let's now abandon our Sexy Bankers for a brief moment and let's watch 2 pics about the relationship between riders and animals. For example, take a look at this rider who wants to stay with his adorated penguin even while racing.
Here instead we have a guy showing us the perfect descent position for riders. I wonder what the bear thinks of it.
Back to the guys who raced for SB this season, here we have Chris Sorensen reading a foreign newspaper. Has he just read something about a defeat of his favourite football team, or is he just shocked by the language in which the newspaper is written?
To close this post, then, I couldn't avoid publishing 2 pics of the Schleck brothers. Andy, you cunny guy, what are you looking at?
And here's a classic picture of Frank and his concentration expression. Everything's ok dear?
So, that's all for now. Thank you again to Mar for the help and let's hope you enjoyed this picspam :)

Picspam time: wonderful pictures of Jakob Fuglsang (kindly offered us by Mar)!

Dear readers, as you may think, winter is a hard time for us bloggers: there are no daily interesting news, there are no races, we have to study/work a lot without the distraction of cycling... And things can even get worse when, after watching Tim De Waele/Corvos' pictures from Curaçao, you realise that those two photographers took very few photos of Jakob Fuglsang, one of the best (and hottest) riders of Cycledom (and great friend of Andy Schleck too).

To put a remedy to this lack of pictures from Curaçao, our great blogmate Mar has sent me some amazing pictures of Jakob that I had never seen before. They're very nice, so I owe a big 'THANK YOU!!!' to our friend Mar (thank you very much, these pictures really made the day of this Fangirl =)

And now, let's enjoy the view girls!

First of all, here's a picture of Jakob looking very cool and lovely. As Mar pointed out, the boy's got a nice fashion sense (Dolce& Gabbana's scarf, a simple t-shirt, nice shoes...). Andy, I think we've found you a new personal shopper! ;)

Another nice pic of Jakob, still wearing very cool clothes. And the landscape is very nice too.
Jakob and Andy Schleck at sea (or, at least, I think so). Again, very good clothes' choice (and very skinny legs ;).
Our boy's putting a wheel on his bike and showing us that he knows how to wear jeans.Can we help you, Jakob? ;) What a lovely smile!
In the picture below, you can see Jakob's wearing the new Team Luxembourg kit (I'm joking). I love his expression and the bike he's riding (the pink bell is great)!
Jakob laughing at a joke.
Jakob wearing the infamous Claudia Schiffer's t-shirts, but looking very good anyway.

The famous 'zzzzzz I'm sleeping' picture. Let's just hope that our boy didn't fall of the couch ;)
And a last pic of Jakob...I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did. Jakob is very good-looking and so it' always nice to see pictures of his. The comments I made to the pictures may sound a bit too fangirlistic, but I'm a girl who hasn't seen any cycling race for the last 20 days, therefore, I beg you to be clement with me.

Before of ending this post, however, I thank Mar once again. She made a great work by collecting the pictures and she also gave me inspiration as far as the pictures' captions are concerned. Thank you again girl!

PS: as I said in the first lines of this post, I've run out of ideas lately, so if any of you readers have some ideas for new posts, feel free to tell me!