2011 Tour de France: one week later

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(pic by Bettini)

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)

Thor de France: random observations of mine about today's TTT

The second stage of the Tour has come and gone and it has had some important effects on the GC. We all know that the Tour is a 3 weeks long race, but there are guys who have already lost a meaningful amount of time after just two days of race. In particular, Samuel Sanchez is already 2' 36" down in the GC and, considering he's not the best climber out there, he might have already lost all his chances to get on the podium in Paris.

Also Contador has already got a meaningful delay from the yellow jersey (1'36") but, in spite of that, I think we shouldn't cut him out of the list of GC contenders yet. In fact, Alberto is a rider who can gain up to 40" in just one mountain stage, so I won't consider him out of the 'battle for yellow' until I see the final podium in Paris.

Another rider who's got a meaningful delay after just two stages is Ivan Basso, whose team had a disappointing result this afternoon. Right now in fact Ivan has a delay of 57" from the yellow jersey - and a delay of 53" from Andy Schleck. Basso probably knew that his team wouldn't have been the best one this afternoon, but perhaps he didn't expect such a big delay.

However, imo, right now the only one who should start to worry about his final GC is Samuel Sanchez. This year in fact TTs aren't on his side and I think that, in the mountains, the Spaniard isn't as strong as Schleck, Contador, Van Den Broeck or Gesink. Therefore, I think it's very negative for him to have already lost a minute from his main adversaries.

Talking about los Schlecks, Leopard Trek was really good this afternoon. Cancellara did a tremendous amount of work and caused Joost Posthuma to get dropped after a few kms. Also Jens Voigt soon blew up and LT concluded its TTT with just 5 riders. This happened also because the Schleck brothers didn't actually work that much this afternoon. Frank in fact remained at the back of the team' single-file for the whole day, whereas Andy rode right in front of Frank. I never saw Frank taking turns at the front and, honestly, I saw Andy taking just two turns. Of course this is the strategy chosen by the team - a strategy with which I completely agree. By riding this way, Frank and Andy in fact could save up energy and they didn't even risk to slow down the team. And, by riding this way, LT got a wonderful 5th placement. Well done guys!

Actually, other two teams ended the TTT with the same time as Leopard Trek: Sky and BMC. BMC was really impressive this afternoon and Evans really did an awesome work for his team ('and for himself', I'd add). Also the riders from Sky did a great work, of course. Boasson Hagen for example (who's just recovered from herpes zoster, a very painful disease) was very good, just like Thomas and Wiggins. Talking about Sky: have I already mentioned I like their new jerseys? And still talking about jerseys: I screamed of joy when I discovered that Garmin was going to wear a white kit during the Tour. In this way, at least, we supporters can recognise those who ride for Garmin, those who ride for Sky and those who ride for Leopard.

As well as changing kit, however, during this year Tour Garmin has already done other important things like winning a stage (today's TTT) and getting the yellow jersey, which ended up on Hushovd's shoulders a few hours ago. Garmin won this team time trial in a great way, although I actually think HTC would have won if Bernie Eisel hadn't crashed in the first curve after the start.

Talking about other teams, 6th in the stage classification was Radioshack. Talking about this team, did you know that the only 'under 30' rider in its line-up is Braijkovic (who is 27)? Amazing.

Anyway. Back to today. 7th in the TTT was Rabobank, whereas 8th was Saxo-Bank, which ended itsperformance 28" down on Garmin. Saxo Bank was the first team to start the TTT and finished the stage with just 5 men. To my happiness, Chris Sorensen was amongst them.

Talking about Saxo Bank, did you read Richie Porte's last twit about Frank? If not, here's what happened.

Apparently, Frank and Richie shared a trip in a lift yesterday evening (they were in the same hotel) and, while walking out of the elevator, Frank gave a little 'gift' to Richie - who, in a very kind and friendly way, thought it would have been nice to tell the world about it.

This little anedocte pretty shocked me, because I really can't imagine the comments that Saxo Bankers made after Porte told them about that. Actually, I believe I don't even want to think about those comments :P At the same time, however, I can't help but imagining Frank walking proudly in his hotel room in order to tell his teammates about his heroic fart action against the enemy. Apparently, the fight between LT and SB will be very tough in the next weeks - and it will see the riders battling even in the hotels' elevators.

Anyway. Back to the TTT, 8th in the stage was Astana, who wore terrible kits that should be banished from Cycledom right here, right now. Luckily I discovered that those kits (who made the guys look like enormous jelly beans) were just a temporary thing, since experts think that the stuff they're made of could have helped Vino and his friends during their battle against the clock. Experts actually weren't that right, since Astana's time wasn't that good. But still, right now the most important thing is that we won't see those kits for a long time.

Oh, and talking about things that make the riders go faster during TTs: this afternoon I discovered that helmets allow the riders to gain 1" pro km when they battle against the clock. Moreover, I discovered that some of the pro's handlebars can cost up to 14.000 euros. Amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, let's go back to the race. 10th in today's stage was Omega-Pharma Lotto.

Gilbert looked great in his all-yellow look, but tomorrow he'll be forced to abandon it, because he lost the jersey to Thor Hushovd. Talking about Thor, does anyone know how the Norwegian chronists reacted when he got the yellow jersey? Seriously, I love those two men. And talking about jerseys: Gilbert thinks that Lotto's jersey is the worst one in the Pro-Tour. Nice, isn't it?

Anyway. Back to the race (once again). Another team (as well as Liquigas, Euskaltel and Astana) that didn't do that well in today's stage was Lampre, whose rider Adriano Malori could show off his brand new jersey of Italian TT champion for the first time this afternoon. Adriano is a very talented rider, but his efforts didn't prevent Lampre from finishing the stage 1 minute down on Garmin.

19th in the stage then was Movistar. Was I the only one who had very sad thoughts as she saw the riders facing the parcours?

21st instead was Cofidis, who had to wait for poor Toni Gallopin during the first kms of the race. Poor Toni, in fact, kept on having problems with his chain. However, the last team to end the TTT was Euskaltel Euskadi. Poor, poor Samu Sanchez.

So, this is all for the second stage of the Tour: while waiting for tomorrow's flat stage, I wish you a goodnight - and remember, always pay attention to the people who share an elevator with you!!

Worrying news about Frank Schleck, a look back on the last few races and the start list of Tour of Flanders:

Welcome back on my blog, dear readers! Here's the usual random post, my last one before the Ronde van Vlaanderen (*chorus of 'yays' coming from every direction*).

Before talking about Ronde, however, let me tell you about the news that appears on 'Gazzetta Cycling''s homepage right now. The title is very simple: 'Schleck, this is a trick!' and it is right above a big pic of Frankie riding the TT stage of Criterium International. In fact, it seems that on that stage Frank hid something in his jersey in order to be more aerodynamic.

Unfortunately, as you can see in the pic below, that aerodynamical something was clearly visible during the stage (take a look at the unnatural shape of Frank's chest): Well, what to say about this news? Shall we hope that it's a 1st of April joke? Unfortunately for us, I don't think this is a possible explanation. In fact, this awful news was reported not just by La Gazzetta's (online and paper) edition, but also by Marca and by a Luxembourgish online newspaper. They wouldn't have talked about this news if it was a big joke by Gazzetta, right?
Talking about Gazzetta, the journalist who wrote the article says that Frank's 'secret' device could have made him gain about 2" pro km during Sunday TT. No wonder he rode faster than Vinokourov on that day...
Frank hasn't commented on this news yet, but imo he'll be surely given a fine - or something worse- by the UCI, whose rules clearly don't allow to hide aerodinamycal device under a rider's jersey .
I don't think that Frank will be able to find a decent excuse for the unnatural shape that his chest had on Sunday but well, hope dies last. In fact, right now I'm still backing my 'First of April Joke' theory.
However, if I could talk with Frankie right now, my only comment would be: couldn't you use a comfortable, invisible bike engine rather than a thing like that? It would have spared you a big damage to your image, believe me.

Anyway. I had already prepared today post on yesterday evening and I'm not going to change my programmes just because of this news. Over the last years in fact I've realised that, more than being a Schleck supporter, I'm a cycling lover. And this has saved me a lot of times in the past. So, let's talk bikes.

First of all, however, I remind you taking a look at our new post on 'Bananas About Bikes'! It is a very nice one, with lots of pictures of cool riders who ride/used to ride with the Schleck brothers. And of course there is also a pic of Andy (without things hidden in his jersey), how cool! (*allows you a break to go checking the new post*)

So, did you go checking the new post? Really? I'll know it if you haven't done it, so be careful with your answer to this question. And if you're thinking about visiting the blog later, no way, dear: by the time you arrive at the end of this awful post, you'll have surely forgotten about it. So go checking the new post now! It's worth reading, really! Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere else while we wait for your return. Listen, I give a two minutes break, ok? It's enough to go there, read the post, watch the pics, leave a comment and come back. Nice programme, isn't it?
...2 minutes later...
So, did you read the new post? Did you like it? Yes, really? I had tod you about that!
Ok, now we can continue.

GAND-WEVELGEM: So, let's talk a bit about Gand-Wevelgem. Imo the race was pretty exciting, although I couldn't enjoy it completely because I was studying for an exam. However, I was very happy for Boonen's victory: Quick Step needed UCI points and Tom's victory was the best way to get them.
Second (for the thousandth time this year) was Daniele Bennati. A bit more of good luck and Daniele could have already won some great races! However, I think it's good to see him getting good placements so often. It means that Daniele's got very good legs and this is good for the whole Leopard Trek team and also for the Italian team. After all, Copenhagen's Worlds are approaching... Btw, have you read about the Giro starting from Denmark in 2012? That's a nice news, isn't it? I just hope the Danish roads are wider than the Dutch ones!
Back to G-W, the third rider to cross the finish-line was Tyler Farrar, who showed his good condition once again.
Still talking about G-W, I must say that I was a bit disappointed by the way the final breakaway (starring Sagan, Bodnar, Stannard and Chavanel) ended up. It was a very good one, but then Chavanel and Stannard stopped pulling and the breakawayers lost all their victory hopes. Well, you can't always have an Arashiro in your breakaway...
Another thing to notice about this year GW was the reaction that Cavendish had after his second crash. The guy is short, but he knows how to look angry!
Talking about being angry, I was both shocked and furious after Offredo and Duque's post finish-line crash. How can a professional photographer cause such a dangerous crash? And the thing is that he didn't even look sorry - he actually disappeared right after the incident. And because of that, Offredo will now have to skip Flanders. Oh, anger!

INTERVALLO: Here I had written a very nice post section about Frank's victory at CI (including the *Eisen Andy* song turned into *Eisen Frankie*), but I've deleted it immediately after getting the infamous news above. And to think that I had spent about 25 minutes writing it yesterday evening, how stupid of me...

TROFEO BINDA: Rather than talking about such a topic, here I go with a littleparagraph about Trofeo Binda, a women race that was held in Cittiglio on Sunday. 'Oh no, women cycling!', I can hear some of you think, 'I don't care at about it!' Well, if you had that thought, let me explain you why I'm dedicating some space on this blog to women cycling.
First of all, it's because I'm a girl and I'm tired of seeing the female cyclists being treated as strange creatures with nice legs but who can't cycle. In fact, girls' races are just like the ones of the boy, with a little difference: girls have much more difficulties than man.
Firstly, a female cyclist has to fight prejudices against female cycling ('they're just a bunch of cute girls pretending to ride a bike'). Secondly, she must be very brave to take up a career like that. Just think about the fact that, at the end of a cycling career, for a girl it's much harder to become a ds than for a male rider. Moreover, the salary isn't exactly as high as the one of Cavendish or Schleck or Gilbert. In addition, male riders can become parents without interrupting their careers, whereas female riders can't. Last but not least, women have a certain problem every month; men don't.
Then of course there are also agonistic reasons behind my interest for women cycling. In case you didn't know, at last year Giro the girls had to climb Passo Stelvio (yes, the one that also the boys usually climb during the Corsa Rosa). Stunning, isn't it?
Anyway, hoping that I convinced you about the fact that women races are worth watching too, let's go back to Trofeo Binda. Bad weather, long race and an amazing Emma Pooley: this was the race.
The 28 year-old rider from London attacked with 80 kms to go and won with a minute and a half of advantage on Emma Johansson and Annemiek Van Vleuten. 4th was Martine Bras, 5th Shelley Olds, 6th Chantal Blaak,7th Judith Arndt and 8th Grace Verbeke. The peloton sprint was won by Pauline Prevot,whereas the first Italian rider was Elena Berlato, 12th.
Talking about Emma Pooley, she's the perfect example for explaining you what I meant when I talked about the sacrifices of female cyclists. In fact, being a woman cyclist provides you a job for 10, 15 years, but what can the girls do after their retirement from the sport world? Well, Pooley has found the answer: she has a degree in Engineering, which she got at Trinity College in Cambridge (wow!), and right now she lives in Zurich, where she's studying in order to get a PdH in Geotechnical Engineering. Amazing, isn't it?
3 DAYS OF LA PANNE: After this pink stroke, let's talk about another race: Three Days of La Panne. Read the following Top 3 very carefully:
1. Denis Galimzyanov, 2. John Degenkolb, 3. Peter Sagan. It is the top 3 of the second stage of 3 Days of La Panne and it is also a short list of the greatest Cycledom talents. Denis Galimzyanov is 24 year-old, has had a tough childhood (he has 5 brothers and they were all grown up by their mother) and, according to Cipollini, 'he still has to discover what his limits are. Moreover, he can still improve'.
John Degenkolb instead is 22 and this year he's already won a stage at Volta ao Algarve and the first stage of Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Last year instead he was 2nd at the U23 World Championships, behind a certain Michael Matthews.
As far as Sagan is concerned, I think we all know about this boy. As I said, look out for these guys. And since you're here, add to the list Andrew Talansky: he's 22 and he's a very good time trialist.
Back to 3 Days of La Panne, a rider who's done well in it is Lieuwe Westra, 28. He's not that young, but I hadn't heard anything about him in the last few years. However, it is always nice to discover some talents here and there ;) Unfortunately Westra lost the chance of winning the overall GC of the race during the last TT, which was won by an amazing Sebastien Rosseler.
The penultimate stage of the race instead was won by Jacopo Guarnieri, yay!
However, what can we understand from Westra's defeat in the TT, which cost him the overall prestigious victory in 3 Days of La Panne? Simple: he should have hidden something in his jersey(ok, sorry for that, but that's how I react to certain news)!

TOUR OF FLANDERS START LIST: Talking about some of the last races, now it's time to look ahead, to the Tour of Flanders that we'll be able to enjoy on Sunday. Since this is my last post before Sunday, here I go with the provisional start list of the race, my personal opinion about the teams and some latest news regarding injuries and things like that. Enjoy!
LEOPARD TREK: Cancellara, Klemme, O'Grady, Posthuma, Stamsnijder, Viganò, Nizzolo, Weylandt. Banana boy facing the cobblestones, yay! And Viganò, the latest crush of miss Mar! And look, there is also Nizzolo! What a fangirl-friendly team! Unfortunately, Robert (and not Richard) Wagner won't ride on Sunday because he broke his shinbone during GP Harelbeke. Poor Robert was knocked off his bike by a commitee car (!!) after he gave his rear wheel to Cancellara (the Swiss rider had just punctured). Wagner won't be operated, but he won't be able to race for 4/6 weeks now.
Torsten Schmidt called Nizzolo to replace the German unlucky rider and I totally believe Giacomo when he says he's very happy to ride Flanders. "I was in Milan when Luca Guercilena called me", Giacomo told Cyclingnews. 'At first, I thought he was joking. I couldn’t believe it. This is my first year as a pro and this might be the highlight of my maiden season. Still, it’s unfortunate that I get this chance at the cost of my teammate, Robert Wagner. I feel sorry for him, because he has been working for months toward this goal'. Good luck to Giacomo then!
Another rider who's not taking part in Flanders is Daniele Bennati, who's afraid that the cobblestones may damage his Achilles heels, which has been giving him huge problems in the last few years. A pity, since Daniele is in a very good condition. However, health always comes first!
Looking at the riders who are racing, Cancellara is my favourite number one for the race, although the whole group will be following him across Flanders on Sunday. Btw I'm sure that we can expect a Top 3 placement from him or from O'Grady, whose condition is really good right now. Stamsnijder, Posthuma, Klemme and Weylandt are very solid cobble-riders too, so I'm expecting a good race from the guys. Allez boys!
GARMIN-CERVELO: Hushovd, Farrar, Hammond, Haussler, Klier, Millar, Van Summeren, Maaskant. A very good team for Garmin, no doubts about that. Hushovd and Van Summeren have recently got good results at Paris-Roubaix (the Norwegian rider was 2nd last year, Johan was 5th in 2009) and this year Thor looks better than ever. Farrar was 5th in Flanders last year, while Hammond was 4th in Roubaix. Maaskant instead was 4th in Flanders in 2009 (hopefully he's fully recovered from his terrible crash at Paris-Nice: he broke 7 ribs that day!). Also Klier and Millar are very good riders, while Haussler was 2nd in the 2009 edition of De Ronde. I think the captain will be Thor, but I'm sure the team will have some etra cards to play in the finale.
BMC: Van Avermaet, Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Kroon, Phinney, Quinziato, Schaer. Talking about strong teams... Ballan is one of my favourites for Sunday race, he's determined and he's in a good condition. His team is full of talented guys who know how to ride on the cobbles. Burghardt won Gand-Wevelgem a few years ago, Hincapie has been fighting for a victory in the North campaign for years, Kroon is experienced, Van Avermaet is fast and resistant and Quinziato, as well as having a great musical taste, knows how to rock the cobbles. Schaer is young (24), but he's got talent, just like Phinney. The boy amazed everyone in his years as young rider, now it's time to see what he can do in the professional peloton. I wish him a lot of luck!
KATUSHA: Hoste, Pozzato, Gusev, Isaichev, Ivanov, Kuschinsky, Paolini, Vandenbergh.

Hoste and Pozzato will be the captains, with Kuschinski ready to help them and Ivanov and Gusev who showed their faces during Gand-Wevegelm. Poor Hoste had a bad crash the other day: he actually wasn't mr. Peloton, now he's also got a bad cut over his eye and he's lost a tooth. Poor boy! On to Pozzato, he is the eternal promise of Italian cycling. Will he win his first Classic since 2006 on Sunday? We're all waiting for the answer.
COFIDIS: Keukeleire, Sijmens, Ista, Duque, Labbe, Petit, Saramotins, Valentin. The young Keukeleire (23) is one of the most talented Belgian riders and this year he'll have his debut in the North campaign. Together with him there will be the experienced Nico Sijmens.
SAXO BANK SUNGARD: Nuyens, Cooke, Klostergaard, Larsson, Marycz, Morkov, Tanner, Tosatto. A good mix of experienced and young guys for Uncle Bjarne's team. Nuyens is in a great condition, while Cooke and Tosatto are tough guys who know how to ride on cobblestones. Larsson has looked good in the last few races, while I'm curious to see what the young guns will do. Klostergaard isn't actually that young anymore and is a solid rider. Morkov had good results in the U23 Tour of Flanders some years ago and I think he'll help Nuyens in a great way. Marycz is a very brave rider, who's not afraid of attacking and I think he may have a very good race on Sunday. Tanner is a neo-pro, I wish him (and the other 'Flanders-virgins') a lot of good luck!
LAMPRE: Petacchi, Bole, Buts, Hondo, Kondrut, Krivtsov, Spilak, Szeghalmi. Look out for Simon Spilak, ladies and gentlemen: the boy was 8th in 2008 and is in a great form now. Petacchi has had some health problems recently, so he probably won't be at his best.
FDJ: Bonnaire, Bonnet, Chainel, Delage, Geslin, Guesdon, Rollin. Offredo should have been the team captain, but he's had a heel injury after his collision with a photographer on last Sunday. Poor Yoann! However, the team has good some good cards like Chainel (great form) and Guesdon (39 year old, he won Paris-Roubaix in 1997).
QUICK STEP: Boonen, Steegmans, Devenyns, De Weert, Van Impe, Maes, Chavanel. Terpstra broke his collarbone during 3 Days of La Panne, so the very unlucky boy (he who broke both arms in Beijing 2008) will have to take a period of forced rest. Heal soon, Nicki! Unfortunately, Boonen loses a very good helper, although I'm sure that Steegmans and the others will help him in a great way on Sunday. Look out also for Chavanel, he likes attacking!
VACANSOLEIL: Devolder, De Gendt, Leukemans, Veuchelen, Marcato, Mouris, Selvaggi, Westra. Devolder won 2 Tour of Flanders in 3 years and he's as determined as usual. Moreover, this year he has a new team formed by very strong guys. Marcato is in a very good form, just like Westra. De Gendt surprised me a lot in Paris-Nice, while Leukemans is one of my favourite riders as far as cobblestones are concerned. Add Westra and you have one of the best line-ups of the race.
SKY: Flecha, Boasson Hagen, Arvesen, Barry, Hayman, Hunt, Stannard, Thomas. Boasson Hagen has hopefully recovered from his health problems. Flecha is an expert of North races, although imo he's more keen on Roubaix than on Flanders. Arvesen is a very experienced and fast rider too (how would the Norwegian chronists react if he won?), while Thomas is young, brave and strong. Allez Geraint!
MOVISTAR: Amador, Erviti, Herrada, Konovalovas, Lastras, Madrazo, Rojas, Ventoso. Allez Konovalovas, one of the best time trialists of Cycledom!
SKIL SHIMANO: De Backer, Curvers, De Kort, Docker, Kluge, Reimer, Van Zandbeek, Veelers. 'Where's Kenny?', everyone's asking right now. Unfortunately, Kenny isn't in the start list of the race. Poor thing. However, Skil has some very good riders like De Kort, the former track rider Roger Kluge (who's very fast), Tom Veelers (who knows how to ride on cobblestones) and De Backer.
LIQUIGAS: Bodnar, Dall'Antonia, Guarnieri, King, Koren, Marangoni, Oss, Sagan. 'Young is cool' could probably be the new motto of Liquigas. Bodnar, a strong (and quite good-looking) Polish helper, is 26. Dall'Antonia and Edward Carrington 'Ted' King are 28 and carry the shame of being the oldest ones in the line-up. Marangoni is 26, Koren is 25, Guarnieri and Oss are 24 and Sagan, the team puppy, is almost 21. Amazing. And very competitive, since Sagan and Oss (the latter compared Flanders to 'Smell like Teen Spirits' by Nirvana) can fight for a top 5 placement, while Koren and Guarnieri are very promising too. Moreover, Oss said to look out for Bodnar and Dall'Antonia, very strong riders too.
EUSKALTEL: Aramendia, Castroviejo, Cazaux, Fernandez K, Izagirre, Perez Lezaun, Minguez, Sesma. Lo siento mucho, pero no hay 'cobblestones riders' en el Paìs Vasco. EUROPCAR: Chavanel, Claude, Gaudin, Gene, Haddou, Jerome, Pichot, Turgot. Decent team, but I don't think they have good chances of ending up in the top 20. Where's Voeckler?
OMEGA: Gilbert, Kaisen, Roelandts, Van de Walle, Hansen, Lang, Reynes, Sieberg. Yay, Sieberg is racing! Ok, sorry for that. Gilbert wants to win Flanders and he's in a good form. He also has a very strong team, in which there are some experienced guys like Kaisen and Van de Walle.
RADIOSHACK: Rosseler, Cardoso, Hunter, Kwiatowski, Lequatre, McEwen, Murayev, Rast. Good riders, but not exactly cobblestones specialists.
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Amorison, Barbe, De Waele, Dockx, Helminen, Scheirlincx, Traskel, Verheyen. Good team, with De Waele, Traksel and Scheirlincx as best ones of the line-up. Look out also for Amorison!
RABOBANK: Boom, Flens, Langeveld, Leezer, Matthews, Tjallingii, Van Emden, Wynants. In spite of the absence of the poor Matti Breschel, Rabobank has a very good line-up. Langeveld is very strong and is in a good condition, Matthews is at his 'cobblestones baptism' and Boom knows how to face extreme race conditions. Also Leezer is young but talented, while Flens, Tjallingii and Van Emden add their experience to the talent of the young guns.
HTC: Bak, Cavendish, Eisel, Ghyselinck, Goss, Roulston, Smukulis, M.Velits. Goss has won Sanremo, will he do the 'doppietta' with Flanders? I don't think so, although this boy from Tasmania never ceases to amaze me. Roulston is good on the cobblestones, while Cavendish didn't get any great result in the last races. Imo Eisel will be the team leader, although we may expect something also from Gatis 'Smuki' Smukulis, who won U23 edition of Flanders in 2008.
AG2R: Elmiger, Goddaert, Hinault, Houanard, Lemarchand, Minard, Mondory, Ravard. The captains should be the experienced Elmiger and Hinault.
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Gourov, Grivko, Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, Lorenzetto, Vaitkus. Astana has one of the guys who could surprise us on Sunday and that guy is Maxim Iglinskiy. He's in a good form and was 8th in last year Flanders. Davis is a resistant guy, but I don't know how he can cope with cobblestones. Vaitkus is a good cobble rider too, while I'm curious about seeing Grivko in such an important race.
TOPSPORT: Coenen, Cornu, De Vresse, Jacobs, Neyrink, Van Hecke, Van Vooren, Vanspeybrouck. Ah, Topsport: every year they have a guy who gets a surprising result in the races they are invited to. The team is very young, but I expect something good from Cornu and also from Van Hecke.
VERANDA'S WILLEMS: Caethoven, De Vocht, Drucker, Goris, Van Groen, Scheirlincx, Schmitz, Van Dijk. Oh, Drucker! He's a Luxembourgish rider, so some of us will surely cheer for him ;)The team leader might be Scheirlincx, hopefully this team will offer us some good surprises.

So, this is the start list for Flanders. My picks? Cancellara, Boonen and Ballan (and Gilbert). Outsiders: Langeveld, Iglinskiy.

Waiting for Frank's comments on the Gazzetta news and for an amazing Tour of Flanders on Sunday, I wish you all a good weekend.

Frankie boy gets his joy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random Post about Martin Pedersen:

More than one week after my last post, here I am again, to everyone's joy (and mine in particular).
The last 7 days have been pretty tough for me. For example, I've recently shocked my English teacher by telling her that in her books Jane Austen complains about the conditions of women in the 19th century (the fact that they depended on men from the financial point of view and so on). Unfortunately, Teacher didn't agree with me and she spent half of the oral test repeating that my interpretation wasn't correct because 'Jane Austen wasn't a revolutionary, really. I mean... she wasn't a revolutionary. Did you understand? She wasn't a revolutionary!". She was so shocked about what I said that, during the examination (that lasted 40 minutes), she just asked me about Jane Austen and W. Blake. And who cares if I spent hours studying also Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth, the Victorian age, Dickens, Byron, the Industrial Revolution, the Corn Laws and the Bronte's sisters: The only important thing is that Jane Austen wasn't a revolutionary. Apparently, my interpretation of J. Austen's work was the biggest bullshit I've ever said in my scholastic career. But luckily, it didn't prevent me from getting a good mark in the tests :D
Anyway. Enough about me for today. Let's now talk about cycling.

Over the last days, Contador has been cleared of his doping accusation by the Spanish Cycling Federation. This matter has already been analysed by our dear Cougar Girl, so I think it's useless to write about it also here. Moreover, the name 'Alberto Contador' can cause me strong headaches and irrational anger in these days, so the less I pronounce it/write it/read it/ hear it, the better.
Still talking about news related doping, Riccò has been fired by Vacansoleil.

Another important news is that Spanish police has recently discovered an illegal commerce of doping thanks to Xavier Tondo. 'Oh gosh, was he found positive at the anti-doping too?', I hear you ask in a worried way. 'Oh no!', I answer you. In fact, Xavier received an email last December, which offered several doping products at special low prices. Tondo immediately passed it along to the police, who's now investigating this case carefully. Finally, a good news that shows us that not every cyclist is a doper.
On to a Schlecknews, it has been said that Frank Schleck may have to change his national jersey. http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/7432/Frank-Schlecks-Luxembourg-champions-jersey-may-have-to-be-redesigned.aspx talks about jersey changes of the recent years, mentioning Pozzato. As you may remember, Pozzato changed about 324567 different national kits when he was Italian national champion. And everything began because his first 'champion jersey' had the skyline of Moscow designed on the Italian Tricolore. And guys at the Italian Cycling Federation didn't like it, oh no. Hopefully Frank and LT designers won't have to change as many kits as Pozzato and will come up with a good solution to this problem.
As far as the races that are going on right now are concerned, Gesink has won two stages of the Tour of Oman in the last two days. Unfortunately, Leopard Trek guys haven't won anything yet.
Talking about Leopard Trek guys, here you can find a short introduction to Martin Pedersen, one of the least known guys on the team.

Martin P. (not to confuse with Martin M.) was born on the 15th April 1983 in Brondby, Denmark. As you can see, Martin's birthday is on the same day as Frank and Leea Schleck. He isn't the tallest guy of the peloton (170 cms) and he weights 62 kgs.
His first U23 team was Team PH, for which he raced in 2004, when he won the Danish National RR Championship for young riders for the third time (he had already won it in 2002 and 2003). Martin also has a past as a track rider, since he was Madison National Champion together with Michael Smith Larsen in 2003.
The following year Pedersen moved to team GLS and he won Liége-Bastogne-Liége for U23, Gran Premio San Giuseppe, a stage at Tour of Tuscany for U23, a stage at GP Veckan, a stage at Horsens, 2 stages at the Olympia's Tour and three stages at the Ringerike GP. Moreover, Martin was 16th in the Madrid RR Worlds for U23 riders.
In 2006 Pedersen became a pro rider and started to ride for Team CSC (oh my, is this enough to make him another 'bye bye Bjarne, hello Leopard' guy?). Frank and Andy were already racing for Riis at the time, so they probably got to know each other already 5 years ago. That year, Martin won the first stage and the GC of Tour of Britain. The following year instead he won the Mountains Classification at the Eneco Tour.
In 2008 Pedersen went back to Team GLS, for which he won Omloop van het Houtland, a stage of Circuit des Ardennes (see pic below) and a stage of Kreiz Breizh.
The following year Martin raced for team Capinordic together with Jonas Aaen Jorgensen, who's now a Saxo Bank rider. That year he won Rund um Koeln, Grand Prix Cristal Energie and GP de la Ville de Nogent-sur-Oise.
Last year instead Pedersen rode for Footon-Servetto (yes, he was one of the men with the ugly kits) and he won Aalborg-Aalborg, a Danish race. However, Martin took part in 2010 Giro d'Italia (he got retired after the 10th stage) and he also came 131st at Vuelta.

As soon as he joined Leopard Trek, Martin said: 'Although it is a super team, it's also a place where it will get very hard. It might not be there right now, but there will be a lot of pressure for us to deliver. I'm looking forward to that though'.
According to www.velonation.com , Martin is a fast finishing strong man who can do well both in one day races and in sprints. Talking about himself, Pedersen said: "I'm a rider that can work hard for the team, but I can also take the opportunity if it presents itself. It's probably going to be hard to get into the Tour de France squad, because in its current form, we could field two teams for the race and still be sharp. I could also ride the Vuelta, but I'll take it as it comes. My priority right now is to be fit to fight and be there for the team, then the the rest will follow". In another interview, he added: “I think my strengths rest in my ability to do well in many different terrains which will mean that I can be a service to the team in multiple situations.I also have a snappy sprint, so that I can take advantage of that when given the chance in breakaways, for instance".
During Leopard Trek presentation, Martin (who was presented with the young riders) was asked if he was superstitious: “No, I’m not that superstitious. I used to have a lucky charm, but it seems like it was better without it. Since then, I haven’t been that superstitious.I know it’s a dangerous sport sometimes ,but if you get too superstitious, maybe it’s a little bit bad for you.I try to stay calm and relaxed and just hope for the best".

Unfortunately, that's all I could find about Martin Pedersen. I didn't have a lot of time to look for information about him, so if you have more information and want to share, do it! And feel free to correct the mistakes that you may find in my post.
Now, to close this blog entry, here you have a picture of Martin (he was still racing for Capinordic at the time). The pic comes from http://www.cyclingstars.dk/ , where you have an impressive list of Danish cyclists. Amongst them there are 21 Pedersen, 19 Petersen and just 17 Sorensen :O

For more pictures/results of Martin, go on: http://www.cyclingstars.dk/Rider.aspx?id={d11c2b0a-6dfa-491a-9725-02f88617ac57}

Have a good weekend!

Team Luxembourg's mistery, Saxo Bank's training camp in Didier and Sorensen's words:

Hear ye, hear ye- and be part of this blogger's joy: miss Fede has no homeworks for tomorrow (it's the first time since September that I can write this sentence!!) and so she's going to write a new random post. Happiness!
So, first of all, let's talk a bit about Team Luxembourg. Or whatever its name will be. In fact, yesterday the team's name mistery was apparently solved by our dear Jakob Fuglsang, who told Cyclingnews that the new squadra was going to be called 'Team Leopard'. Moreover, he added that the team kit should have a classical design and should also have a big leopard printed on it.
This news had actually got me in despair, since the idea of screaming 'Go go Leopards!' to my favourite riders for the next 4 years doesn't actually appeal that much to me. About the leopard on the kit, well, I would have bet they would have printed the Luxembourg lion on it, instead I was wrong. How strange.
Btw this morning Brian Nygaard denied the news that Jakob had given yesterday and he said that, to know the true name of the team, we'll have to wait until the 5th of January. Now, let's reflect a bit about this.

Some weeks ago, Nygaard had already said that the team wasn't going to be called 'Team Leopard'. Therefore, after reading Fuglsang's words, me was a bit sceptical about them and that's why I didn't publish the news immediately. In fact, Nygaard has denied it earlier today.

But still, me smells a rat about this story. I mean: Jakob seems an intelligent guy, so I don't think he said that name, 'Team Leopard', completely by chance. Moreover, me was a bit disturbed by Nygaard's reaction. In fact not only did he deny the news immediately, but he also seemed a bit angry on his Twitter. In fact there he said it was time people stopped all these speculation about the team's name and he added that we have to wait until the 5th of January if we want to know more about the team.

The little problem is that, unfortunately, the day of the team presentation I will be in Austria, with no Internet connection. Does this mean that I'll have to wait until the 10th of January just to know the name of m favourite riders' team and what their new kits will look like? Gosh, don't people at team Lux realise that we've been waiting for these details since August?

I had already got fed up by this 'secret-mania' in September, so you can imagine how I feel about it right now. And the funny thing is that Nygaard also got angry at those who speculate about the new name of the team. Ask yourself some questions, dear.

Still talking about the secret-mania: everyone talked about Crans Montana's training camp in a very happy and entusiasthic way, but no one mentioned that O'Grady crashed while skiing and broke two ribs (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ogrady-set-for-tour-down-under-in-spite-of-skiing-accident ). Now, if I'm on a training camp and one of the people who are there with me breaks 2 ribs while skiing, I wouldn't probably talk about said training camp in very euphoric terms. But still, guys at team Lux didn't mention O'Grady's injury until yesterday. And, still talking about that training camp, I haven't seen any 'official' picture from it yet.

Did I miss something or are the only pictures of the training camps the ones that the riders posted on Twitter? Is someone else fed up by this secret-mania, or is it just a product of my impatient imagination?
Anyway, back to the name's mistery, Frank Schleck has recently given an interview to Tageblatt (which appeared also on Cyclingnews) in which he said: ”I like 'Team Lëtzebuerg' (as a new name for the team)”. I have to admit I like it too, although almost everything is better than team Leopard. I mean, leopards are cute (see pic below), but I just can't imagine to see my favourite riders being called 'leopards' in every single race of next year. That would be a bit disturbing, imo.

On http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/frank-schleck-eager-for-2011-season-with-number-one-team , Frank also talked about the new team in a very entusiasthic way. He also said that Linus Gerdemann is a nice guy. This is funny, since Chris Anker Sorensen actually can't stand poor Linus and also said that, in the peloton, Gerdemann hasn't got so many friends.
In the interview Frank also said: “We can't wait until things finally start and we can finally do what which we do best – that is, ride races.” I can't wait either!

SAXO BANK NEWS...
Talking about the other team, Saxo Bank, on http://www.lessentiel.lu/fr/news/dossier/%20newsletter/story/28605173 there's a nice interview with Laurent Didier, one of the riders who didn't follow los Schlecks in their new team. This is actually a bit strange, since Laurent is Luxembourgian and Frank Schleck praised his skills last year.
Talking about the training camp in Fuerteventura, Laurent said that everything went well - in other words, no one broke anything. Didier also said that at first the Spaniards had remained a bit on their own, while in the following days he spent a lot of time with Navarro. The Luxembourgian also claimed that the training camp was also a good chance to practise English. Considering that I need to practise my spoken English too, can I join you in your next training camp too? I'm small and tidy! ;)
Talking about los Schleck brothers, Laurent said that they're good friends of his, but that he's paid by Saxo Bank and so he's riding for them also in 2011. He also adds that he had been in contact with Kim Andersen, but then Riis didn't want him to leave the team and so he decided to respect his contract. 'This is normal when you're a pro cyclist', said Laurent, who ended the interview by saying that he doesn't want to talk about a possible team change in 2012 yet.

Still talking about Saxo Bank's training camp, Chris Anker Sorensen wrote a very funny (as usual) post about it. Here's a little translation of it.
'Morkov and I chatted about the fact that we were happy that, during this camp, we did not have to sleep on some mountains with BS in a rainy weather. It goes without saying that this year's team building was very different from the survival camps with BS. I would say that both camps have their advantages and I can't actually decide what the best training camp method is (...)', Chris wrote about the survival camps.
Then he talked about the different things he did during this year camp. Talking about the strange human pyramids and things like that, he said: 'We may use some of the things we have learned in the training camp during the presentations of some of the 2011 races . For example, we could build a human pyramid, a thing on which we are quite keen now. One thing that none of us really liked instead was kitesurfing. We all went down like flies. I kept on checking whether my falling teammates were going to land on my head (ndt: there may be something wrong in this sentence, since Google Translater translates it in a very strange way :P). Surfing was much better, I really liked it and I think I could do it again. However I was a little annoyed by the fact that, between all the clips in which I was surfing perfectly, TV2 chose to broadcast one of the few ones in which I was having some troubles'.
Then Chris said something about being a 'culture bearer' of Cycling. Or, at least, that's what Google said that Chris wrote. Shall I trust the damn thing or not? Mistery.
Then Chris said: "Also this year we played some tennis (...). Our doubles matches Vandborg / Chris Anker vs. Morkov / Nicki always ended up with a victory for Vandborg and me, mainly because of Brian's skills. If a sport consisting of tennis, badminton, table tennis and cycling existed, Vandborg would be a champion in it".
The guys also had apnea lessons during the training camp and Chris wrote: "I started the training as the absolute worst hold breather, in fierce competition with our Pole Jaroslaw. In fact, we got an impressive result of 15 and 16 seconds in the first attempt we did of holding our breathes. After three days of training however I improved my performances and could hold my breath for 1:45. I could have probably reached the goal of the 2 min, if JJ and I hadn't swum into each other".
Surprisingly, Chris ends his post by wishing everyone a merry Santa Lucia. This is the proof that Chris knows what Santa Lucia is - and this makes me like him even more.
However, I've already talked too much for today. So here I close this random post too.

PS: I obviously offer my condolences to the family of Aldo Sassi. He was a great man, a 'living biologic passport', as Pastonesi called him on today's Gazzetta, and cycling has lost a great personality after his death. Rest in peace Aldo.

Great stage Frank!

Frank Schleck rode an amazing Vuelta stage this afternoon and is now 4th in the GC of the race.
Athough school in Italy has begun today,miss Fede is already drowning in a sea of sh...,ehm, homeworks, so she could see just the last 3 kms of the race, a thing she really regrets.
The victory went to Mikael Nieve, while second was a super Frankie. Nibali lost the jersey to Rodriguez and seemed a bit 'blocked' on the last part of the climb towards Cotobello. Btw I think he can get back the jersey on Wednesday, when the riders will face a 46 kms long TT.
Talking about wednesday, I hope that Frank Schleck will run the TT of his life that day. We know he's improved a lot in races against the clock and, on paper, he seems stronger than guys like Rodriguez or Mosquera. Therefore, I think we can be very confident for a good TT performance of Frankie.
"I tried to attack and I've succeeded," said Frank Schleck after today's stage. "Unfortunately there was one rider who remained ahead and he was too far to be caught. I would have liked the stage win but I've re-gained some time over all the other GC contenders, so it's a positive day after all." In my opinion, by the way, this wasn't just a 'positive' day for Frankie: it was a very positive day, in which he showed to everyone that he can still fight for the Vuelta podium and, why not, also for the Vuelta victory. After all,the penultimate stage of the race ends on Bola del Mundo-and everything could still happen there.So, let's cross our fingers and hope for the best.

PS: I know that my posts are usually much longer than this, but believe me, right now I'm a very busy person... ;)

Vuelta rest day: little random post

PERSONAL RANDOMNESS:
To your incredible joy Miss Fede is back on this blog, ready to write her last bullshits before of the beginning of the school year.

There is just one week left before of the school's beginning, but in spite of this I still have to study 'Dubliners' by James Joyce (every single story of that damned book) and finish my homework. As predictable, however, me is actually doing everything I can to enjoy my last days of holiday and avoid thinking about school. To Logic's horror, this will also involve me taking the 3 pm bus from my town dressed up like one of the Blues Brothers tomorrow afternoon (yes, I'm a brave girl) in order to go to a masked party. Ah, if I had that cursed driving license!!

Btw, over the last days miss Fede also thought a bit about cycling ;) Actually,the other day she even went to see a little exhibition about Fausto Coppi. It was really good, there was a track bike that was about 70 year-old (and that looked terribly uncomfortable), an 80 year-old Bianchi, a 50 year-old page of La Gazzetta (I wanted to steal it), an old yellow jersey and other interesting things. I had a lot of fun there and thought a bit about how important the Coppi-Bartali fight must have been for the Italians in the past. Talking about this, here's a story that may help you to understand this Italian rivalry.
Recently,I've often asked to an old relative of mine whether he wanted to come to the Coppi's exhibition with me and he always answered 'No, I can't come because I'm busy'.

A few hours ago, he finally revealed me why he didn't want to come: "D'you know one thing? When I was young...Well, I didn't like Coppi. In this village, there were just 3 people who supported Fausto. Everyone else supported Bartali. A man even bought a bike like Bartali's one and he kept it in his bedroom until he died. He never rode it, he bought it just because he loved Bartali. I know that Coppi was the strongest but...I've always looked at the person behind the athlete. And I didn't like the person behind Coppi. We really loved Bartali here'. So, in a few seconds time, I've got to know many new things about my relative, my village and cycling passion. Wonderful, isn't it?

VUELTA NEWS:
Ok, I admit it: over the last days I have been distracted in my cycling's observations by many facts regarding my offline life. Anyway I'm not living on another planet (not yet,at least), so I know what happened during the Xorret del Calì stage. Both Menchov and Frank Schleck lost time there, while Anton got the leader jersey. I was really surprised by Menchov's defaillance, but I still think that Frank Schleck can get a place in the top 3 at la Vuelta. In the meanwhile, the silent shark Vincenzo Nibali is getting closer and closer to red, while Petacchi has left the race after a crash.
On this link ( http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5557/Vuelta-a-Espana-Schleck-hoping-to-ride-better-from-this-point-on.aspx ) you can find an article in which Frank Schleck talks about how the race has been for him so far. Imo, however, he shouldn't be disappointed with his results. I mean, he broke his collarbone less than two months ago,it's obvious that he can't have the form of his life! Think positive, Frankie!

MARKETING NEWS:
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5554/Vandborg-to-leave-Liquigas-signs-contract-with-Team-Saxo-Bank.aspx : to Chris Sorensen's joy, Brian Vandborg is joining team Saxo Bank. Talking about New Luxembourg, instead, it seems that Stamsnijder is ready to join los Schlecks there. Talking about NL,let me say one thing: I can understand the love for secrets and so on, but is it so dangerous to reveal the name of this new team to the supporters? All these secrets about the riders and the sponsors are definitely irritating this Fangirl!

GIRO DI LOMBARDIA NEWS:
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5562/25-teams-for-the-Giro-di-Lombardia-RadioShack-Vacansoleil-and-Footon-Servetto-not-invited.aspx : Vacansoleil hasn't been invited to Tour of Lombardy either. Something suggests me that we can't imagine how pissed off Riccardo Riccò was right after receiving the news.

Random Tuesday Post (Updated):

No,miss Fede didn't take a pause from her blog because she had decided to escape to the sea in order to meet again her latest 'love'. No, she didn't do that, especially because she doesn't have enough money to do so. Simply, the lack of her posts over the last days was due to the fact that she's recently been pretty busy with her offline life and with organising plans that always ended up with her meeting her love by chance and her love moving to the cold Bergamo to stay with her. Girls, follow my advice: never fall in love with someone who lives 500 kms away from you!! ;)

RANDOM LINKS DU COMEBACK:
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry380839.html and http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry380453.html : hoping that you didn't forget about him during my absence, here are the links to Chris Anker Sorensen's latest blog entries. A friend of Chris' parents complained about the lack of new blog posts during the first part of August and, to resolve the problem, Chris wrote two new entries in just 5 days (*wow!'*). In those entries he talks about how low his morale was during the week between the end of the Tour and San Sebastian, says he had a good holiday near Venice with his girlfriend and he also gives an important tip to cyclists who travel a lot: always put your cycling shoes and cycling helmet in your hand-luggage, and not in your suitcase. Chris took this advice from Lars Bonde and luckily he followed it also during his flight towards San Sebastian. In fact,on that occasion his suitcase got lost,but he could race with his cycling shoes and his own helmet anyway.

http://www.bergamonews.it/sport/articolo.php?id=17037 : interview with Alessandro Vanotti. Ale is a great rider and an excellent helper who, unfortunately, broke his collarbone and ended his season last week. I wish him a very fast recover and hope to see him back on the roads (of Bergamo and of the rest of Europe) very quickly.

http://www.schleckfans.com/ : as you probably already know, Frank Schleck and Martine celebrated their religious wedding on Saturday. On the official website of the brothers there are some pictures of the celebration. Obviously,miss Fede wishes Frank, Martine and the little Leea a long, healthy, happy and serene life together as a family!!

MARKETING NEWS:
As everyone already knows, next year Menchov and Sastre are racing for team Geox-la scarpa che respira ('The shoe that breathes'- that's what the motto of the company says...). As well as Menchov, Rabobank will also lose Posthuma, who hasn't announced his new team yet.

As far as Saxo Bank is concerned, the Danish exodus is going on, since Anders Lund has announced he'll leave the team as well.

AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA:
The Worlds are coming nearer and nearer, so here are news about some national teams.
ITALY: As every year, here comes the time of the season when miss Fede becomes more patriotic than usual. It seems that Bettini won't take Petacchi and Bennati 'down under', while it seems that the captain of the Squadra will be Pozzato (can you imagine what he will do to the rainbow jersey if he becomes World Champion???). Also Visconti and Paolini will probably race in Melbourne, while there are about other 10 riders (Ginanni, Nibali, Cunego, Tonti, Pinotti,Santambrogio, Tosatto, Oss, Belletti,Ballan and Nocentini) on Bettini's long-list.
AUSTRALIA: the road race team will be formed by Baden Cooke, Allan Davis, Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Matthew Goss, Mathew Hayman, Stuart O'Grady, Michael Rogers and Wesley Sulzberger. As you can see, both McEwen (*noooo!*) and Haussler (poor Heinrich had too many troubles this year) didn't make it to the selection. The team however seems very good to me, especially if you consider that in it there are guys who can sprint, guys who can work and guys who can climb. As far as the TT team is concerned, it will be formed by Rogers and by Richie Porte (yay!).
GERMANY: the road race team will be formed by Marcus Burghardt, Bert Grabsch, André Greipel, Danilo Hondo, Christian Knees, Sebastian Lang, Tony Martin, Marcel Sieberg and Fabian Wegmann. Germany has some good cards to play, since Greipel and Hondo are very fast and Sieberg is a member of Columbia's lead-out train. Martin and Grabsch will race also the TT race (and they could also get a medal). Anyway this selection of riders leaves Fangirl with an unanswered question: DOES GERMANY COACH REALLY WANT TO FLY TO MELBOURNE WITHOUT THE FUCKING AMAZING JENS VOIGT?!?

UPDATE:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-rules-himself-out-of-world-championships .Andy Schleck announced that he's not going to take part in the Worlds this year, because he wants to focus on Tour of Lombardy. I think that this is understandable if you consider that this year the Worlds are very far from Luxembourg and their parcours doesn't suit Andy very much. As well as that, if he ends la Vuelta, it will be difficult for him to fly 'down under' and race there in just 2 weeks time.

Andy's decision however is going to have bad effects on the quality of the Luxembourg team that we'll see in action in Melbourne on the 3rd of October. In fact, also Frank and Laurent Didier may decide not to race the Worlds, while Kim Kirchen hasn't taken part in any race since he suffered a heart attack in June.

Random post: Contador leaving Astana,Frank getting married,Fedrigo meeting Sarkozy and more...

UPDATE : Miss Fede is leaving for a holiday tomorrow and won't be back before of August, 15th.So,don't expect anything new from me for at least 2 weeks.Bye (before I forget: LL Sanchez won San Sebastian in front of Vino and Sastre)!

The Tour is over,my good working computer is back and I'm leaving on Sunday.Therefore,here's the last random post of the month: enjoy!

http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/28-07-2010/contador-lascia-astana-71600876700.shtml :let's start from yesterday's big news: Contador is leaving Astana.The Spaniard however hasn't revealed yet for which team he'll be riding next year. La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that the Spaniard may end up riding for Bjarne Riis and,as I already wrote some days ago,that would be pretty shocking for me. In fact,as you know,my favourite riders are the Schleck brothers and Chris Sorensen,and things next year will surely be hard for me since the Schlecks are leaving Riis while Chris isn't.If then Contador joins Riis,Chris may end up working as a helper for the Spaniard during le Tour 2011. Therefore,Fangirl will have thousands of problems with sharing her support between los Schlecks and Chris. In such a difficult situation,as already mentioned some days ago,Fangirl could take terrible decisions like buying one of those Footon-Servetto kits and wearing it until the end of the year as a sign of protest ("Protest against who? And against what?",Logic has often asked without getting any answer).

However,leaving myself aside for a while,I think that this is a difficult moment especially for Astana's men and also for some of the Saxo Bank's riders. Saxo Bank guys in fact have made their team flag out of the statement 'He's not just my captain,he's also my best friend!' But now that the best friend (Andy/Frank Schleck) is leaving and that Contador is arriving, those who remain with Riis in spite of everything (so far the only one who's surely going to do so is Chris Sorensen,who renewed his contract already 6 months ago) will probably change their motto from 'He's not just my captain,he's also my best friend!' to 'He's not just my captain,he's also the main rival of my best friend!' The consequences of that may be terrible,unless Contador becomes 'everyone's new best friend' during one of those training camp that SB always holds in the middle of the nowhere during the winter.

Anyway,I realise I'm running too fast.We don't know yet if Contador will really end up riding for Riis and we don't even know who will remain with Uncle Bjarne.The only thing that is sure right now is that Contador is leaving Astana.And,as mentioned,I think that Astana guys are totally pissed off right now.Without talking about Vinokourov (I think we can't imagine how pissed off he is right now), just think about Beppe Martinelli (Astana ds),who has other 2 years of contracts with the Kazakhistani team.

10 days ago,during an interview with the Italian tv,Martinelli said that Contador was going to renew his contract before of the end of the Tour.A week later,he finds out that the Spaniard will change team. I think he's probably pretty shocked by that,especially if you consider that Astana this year was a very strong team because it had the magic duo Vinokourov + Contador. But next year Contador will change team and,if Vino really decides to stop racing,the main riders on the team may be Tiralongo,Iglinsky and Gasparotto. Things change-not always for the better,unfortunately.

http://www.schleckfans.com/ : On to a happier news,Frank Schleck is marrying Martine next month.On this website there are some information about the marriage.I obviously wish the couple (and the little Leea) all of the best for their future!

http://gaffa.dk/artikel/40670 :a random link to an even more random interview with Matti Breschel.The topic? Music (like many other people who have been teenagers over the last 15 years,Matti likes Green Day-and he even played in a band)!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/andy-schleck/from-school-renegade-to-tour-star :In his last blog entry, Andy talks about a funny episode that occurred to him when he still was at school. Then,he confirms that he's riding Vuelta together with Frankie (yay!!). As well as that,this post informs us that the only Luxembourgian who didn't support Andy during this Tour de France wasn't Kim Kirchen,but the former Maths teacher of the Mondorf rider (apparently,Luxembourgish Maths teachers can be strange creatures... ;)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/thomas-dekker-a-dopers-desire-for-redemption : Once upon a time I used to think of Thomas Dekker as one of the most promising riders of his age. Then, he was banned from Cycledom for 2 years. Now he's given this interview to Cyclingnews and I hope he can start racing again.I mean,he's just 25!

http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/her-er-de-smukke-tour-kaerester : at the Post-Tour party of Saxo Bank,Andy Schleck showed he's got 2 shirts in his wardrobe. The blue one in the picture and the one he wears at every Tour de France presentation.Btw,if you think Andy could have chosen better clothes for that party (or if you still haven't got over the shirt he sported at last year Tour's presentation),take a look at this page: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1232 .In it there's a picture of Pierrick Fedrigo meeting Sarkozy and said pic perfectly shows that,after a Tdf,even choosing a decent shirt from your wardrobe/suitcase can become a deed...