Vuelta, Hamburg, Cycling Market, Worlds and more:

Ok dear readers, it's finally time we started talking about la Vuelta and other random randomness. Unfortunately I couldn't write anything earlier because of some little problems connected to university - and, unfortunately, I won't be able to write anything in the next two weeks, because my parents have decided that our family holiday will start on Saturday. And guess what? I still don't know whether during that holiday I'll be able to watch la Vuelta. I mean, Smiley Menchov is climbing the Angliru in a few days time, and I probably won't be able to witness that event. Isn't that annoying?

Anyway, let's start talking cycling before I get too angry. First thing to mention, the Italian races of the last few days, which saw a great Rebellin get a stunning victory in Trofeo Melinda. The other day I read on la Gazzetta that his team doesn't have the biological passport, so I now have an explanation for his last efforts. I usually don't have doubts about riders who ride really well (I never doubted guys like Gilbert, Cancellara, Evans, etc. ), but imo Rebellin's latest results are too good to be true. Riders usually struggle with finding the race rythm again when they come back racing after a 2 years ban, but right now everything looks terribly easy for Davide - just like, in 2009, everything seemed easy for Riccò.

Anyway, let's leave my suspicious thoughts aside. Italian summer races are always nice because they allow supporters (and the head of the Italian team) to uderstand who the best national riders are. And Trofeo Melinda gave us very good news the other day: in fact Moreno Moser, who is a stagiare, went on a breakaway with 30 kms to go and he was caught just 25 kms later. Moreover, another stagiaire (Moreno Battaglin) was 7th, whereas the young Ratto was 4th. It's great to see the Italian young guns riding so well!

Talking about another topic, Gibert has officially signed for BMC which, next year, will have a very competitive team formed by Hushovd, Evans and PhilGil. Although Phil and Thor may have little contrasts during Sanremo and Tour of Flanders, I believe BMC will be the strongest team of the world in 2012. In fact, no one else has 3 champions who can win every Classic and GT stage they want and who can be competitive from February to October.

Still talking about cycling transfers, Leopard Trek has recently given a contract to Gregory Rast, a solid helper. GreenEdge instead has signed the 'climbing sprinter' Simon Gerrans.

A breakout news of the other day instead says that Vinokourov is already planning to come back racing at the Tour of Lombardy. If he really makes it, I may go watching that race with a Vino 4 ever t-shirt on (ok, just kidding).

After mentioning Leopard Trek, let's talk a bit about los Schlecks: after taking part in different criteriums, the brothers are going to race in the Tour of Colorado, which starts this evening. I would have preferred them to race la Vuelta, but los Schlecks seem to prefer the new American races to the traditional European ones: not only did they race the Tour of California in May (when they could have taken part in the Giro), but now they've preferred the Tour of Colorado to la Vuelta. Less pressure, I suppose.

Talking about the good old European races, yesterday the Hamburg Cycleclassics was won by an amazing Boasson Hagen. I think it's strange for him not to race la Vuelta (after all, he's one of the main contenders for the Worlds victory), but the guy surely knows what's best for him. Second in the race was Gerald Ciolek, whereas third was Borut Bozic. Fourth was a great Simone Ponzi, a young Italian who would deserve taking part in the Worlds. Talking about La Squadra, Bettini will have a tough time in deciding the names of the Italian riders who will take part in the Worlds. In fact Paolo would like to create a team formed by guys like Ulissi, Ponzi, Malori and Modolo - but will these young guns be able to resist in a race as long as the Worlds? That is the question.

After talking about the Hamburg Classic, let's talk about la Vuelta, which took off with a TTT in Benidorm. Unfortunately I couldn't see that stage, but of course I do know the result: an amazing Leopard Trek won in front of Liquigas and HTC. There were many crashes on the first stage and amongst the crashers du jour there were also Davide Viganò, David Blanco and Nick Nuyens. Brajkovic, on the other hand, had a mechanical right after the start. Cavendish instead didn't have any crash / mechanical, but he crossed the finish-line 2' 40" after his teammmates. Strange, isn't it?

The first rider to wear the red jersey was a happy Jakob Fuglsang, whereas a disappointed Carlos Sastre created a little polemic inside his team (source: Gazzetta dello Sport). In a few words, Carlos said that the team (ds, managers, so on) doesn't give enough support to their riders. According to some rumours, Smiley Menchov was even less smiley than usual after the TTT (after which he lost 39" from Nibali) and apparently he complained about his team as well. Geox guys must have done something very bad if they really managed to annoy Menchov: he never looks pissed off and he didn't even insult me when I stalked him heavily in San Pellegrino Terme!

Anyway, back to the TTT: another team who lost a lot of time was Sky (37"), who had some problems with riders losing contact from their teammates. Euskaltel did better than usual, whereas Astana was a good 4th (5" of delay from Nibali).

Yesterday the riders faced a 174 kms long stage from la Nucia to Playa de Orihuela. 4 brave riders went on a hopeless breakaway and the bravest amongst them was Adam Hansen, who probably wanted to put a remedy to his poor TTT (he lost contact from his teammates halfway through the stage). Everyone expected the sprinters to battle in the last meters of race, but no one (not even the race chronists and the journalists) had considered a little climb (about 300 meters with an average of 5%) that the rider had to face with about 800 meters to go. Also many riders looked shocked by that little climb and this makes me wonder why they didn't know about it.

HTC started pulling with 10 kms to go and that was a suicide-move. In fact Cav soon found himself with just 4 helpers, whereas other teams still had lots of riders ready to help their sprinters. With about 3 kms to go, Leopard Trek took the lead. Cancellara, O'Grady, Viganò, Bennati: everything was perfect. Unfortunately in the last curve of the race no one could keep Viganò's wheel, therefore Davide found himself at the head of the race, without knowing that his teammates weren't following him (at least, that's what Bennati said). However, Viganò wisely decided to try his luck, but he was swallowed by the peloton on the little climb before the finish-line. At that point HTC and LT's leadout trains broke down and Boonen tried to attack. Unfortunately for the Belgian, it was still too early and he was soon outsprinted by other guys. Sky's Christopher Sutton followed Omega's Reynes as the Spaniard attacked and he outsprinted the Vicente in the last meters of race. Third was Marcel Kittel, whereas 4th was Farrar, 5th Breschel and 6th Bennati.

"I knew it was a hard uphill finish", a happy Sutton told Cyclingnews. "Someone from Lotto accelerated and I jumped on his wheel. I thought, 'This is a long way to go.' But I looked back and no one was there. I thought, 'Alright, I've got this one.' To win today is a dream come true. I can't believe it". Reynes instead almost broke into tears after the finish-line, whereas a happy Bennati received the fourth red jersey of his career.

Today the Vuelta riders will face another flat stage which features a little climb with 13 kms to go. The victory will probably be decided by a sprint, in which Matthew Goss surely won't take part. In fact the HTC rider abandoned the race yesterday because of some physical problems.

Some topics of discussion and Greipel's great victory:

Breakout news: Today at the Tour there were no crashes involving GC leaders. I'm so happy I could cry.

Finally, the Tour went back to what it's supposed to be about: a cycling race without cars knocking the riders down and without athletes ending up in hospital because of crashes.

This morning the Grande Boucle was still shocked by what happened to Hoogerland and Flecha the other day.

Many people feared that Johnny (who got 33 stitches and who couldn't sleep properly because of some dreadful nightmares) would have had to abandon the race, instead he grit his teeth once again and he managed to finish the stage and wear the polka dots jersey for the second day in a row. Also Flecha managed to end the stage in spite of the injuries caused by the infamous crash.

Juan Antonio has recently released an interview to Cyclingnews, in which he criticises not only the driver who knocked him down, but also the behaviour of Thomas Voeckler. The fact that that stupid driver (who didn't ask for permission to overtake the riders and who shouldn't even had been behind them at that point of the race) didn't even sound his horn before trying to drive past the athletes is simply shocking and it really disgusts me. There are no apologies for something like that, especially if you consider that that man didn't even stop to check if he had badly injured the riders he had hit.

As far as Flecha's critics of Voeckler are concerned, I don't think the Frenchman accelerated after his crash. I was actually very surprised when I saw the breakawayers riding on in spite of that accident but, actually, I must admit that I don't think that they could have done something different.

Still talking about Saturday' stage, la Gazzetta claims that Vinokourov is already thinking about coming back racing. Girls of the AAVL, I hope this makes you feel a bit better.

Talking about the rest day, instead, the topics of discussion were 3:

1. Will Contador retire before the end of the Tour?

2. Is Gilbert going to try to get a good placement in the GC?

3. What really happened between Contador and Karpets the other day?

So, let's go in order.

Topic 1: we all know that Contador has hurt his knee in two of his three crashes. This morning many people (according to Italian tv) feared that he wouldn't have started the stage, instead he took part in it and finished the race with all the main GC leaders. But still, Alberto might decide to retire if things don't go well for him on Thursday, in the Luz-Ardiden stage. 'I know Alberto', Tiralongo told Ialian tv this morning. 'And he's not here to get dropped on the climbs. If his form isn't good enough, I think he'll retire'.

Personally, I agree with Tiralongo. In fact, I believe that Alberto will retire if he realises his shape isn't good enough in the mountains. However, I don't know whether Conti is trying to bluff a bit with his condition (making it seem a bit worse than it actually is) or not.

Topic 2: apparently, after VDB's retire Gilbert has told a few Belgian journalists that now he'd like to focus on the GC. Eddy Mercx approves the idea of the Omega rider and so do I. In fact it'd be great to see someone like Philippe giving it all even in the hardest stages. Especially because, with nowadays GC, many riders have good chances to make it to the top 5 or to the top 10 of the race. Cunego, Martin, Vandevelde, Taaramae, Roche, S. Sanchez, Velits... All guys that can still fight for a position in the top 10, especially now that there are so many spaces left empty by the crashes of guys like Vinokourov, VDB and Wiggins. Will Gilbert enter in that fight too? The fact that he's thinking about it makes me really happy, but this doesn't mean that I believe he can make it. Unfortunately, in fact, so far Philippe has exploited his team on every single stage of the race. Moreover, long climbs don't seem to suit him. But still, I'd like to see Philippe giving it a try.

Topic 3: Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKuJCGV8m-w and pay attention to Vladimir Karpets, the rider with the half white/half red jersey. It took me a lifetime to realise what that video is about, but then I saw that Karpets made a strange movement which caused Contador to crash. Someone thinks that Vladimir did it intentionally, someone else (me) doesn't. I think Karpets made that movement at random, not because he really knew that Alberto was behind him. But still, there are many guys who disagree with me.

After mentioning these topics of discussion, let's talk about the stage du jour. As said, this afternoon no one crashed seriously and this is a very good news.

The breakaway of the day was formed by Delaplace, Marcato, El Fares, Minard and Vichot. They started their adventure after 14 kms and ended it with about 20 kms to go. At that point, on the last little climb du jour, the fireworks began: Toni Gallopin in fact attacked and he was followed by great riders like Voeckler, Gilbert, Martin and Devenyns. The 5 men worked well until they reached the 8 kms to go mark, where they gave it in. Actually, 4 of them did: Gilbert in fact kept on riding until he was caught with 7 kms to go. Once again, the Belgian showed us all his class.

The stage ended with a sprint in the town of Carmaux. Said sprint was very particular, since HTC couldn't form its leadout train and because there was a curve with just 350 meters to go.

Sieberg (a rider that I really do like) abandoned its place at the head of the peloton right before that curve, so that Daniel Oss fund himself leading the group. Cavendish was behind the Liquigas rider and Greipel was behind Cannonball. Cav began his sprint when he saw that Oss' speed was decreasing. In that way, unluckily for him, he spent too many energy, so that Greipel could overtake him in the last 10 meters of race. A great victory for André, who wins his first Tour stage in his first TdF right in front of his old nemesis Mark Cavendish. Someone must be very pissed off right now...

Johnny Hoogerland managed to finish the stage (just like Flecha) and this is a very good news. Farrar didn't look that great, whereas the GC leaders hid themselves.

Another day at the Tour is over, now we're waiting for tomorrow's flat stage, the last one before the riders reach the mountains.

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!!

The man in yellow:

Ok girls, as a little gift for you all, today I've decided to publish two posts in less than 12 hours of time. After telling you about my Maturità adventures, in fact, here I am talking about the Tour. Are you happy? Of course you are! So, let's write a few random observations of mine about the first stage of the French race.

First thing to notice about this year Tour is the fact that the riders started their adventure from Passage du Gois, a passage in the sea that appears just twice pro day. In 1999 the riders had to face this path in the middle of the sea during a stage and that caused a true carnage: lots of people slipping and crashing, riders getting retired, GC contenders losing 6 minutes from Armstrong.
Today luckily nothing serious happened, also because the race actually started as soon as the riders hit the solid French asphalt after leaving the slippery sand behind them.
Dad was slightly disappointed by that and complained about the lack of the 'true' Passage du Gois for a while. My uncle, on the other hand, kept on calling me to tell me that Frank Schleck had just fallen into the sea. His jokes worked 2 times, but then I started watching the race and he couldn't take me in anymore.
To say the truth, however, one rider (André Greipel) did fall while riding on Passage du Gois, but his crash didn't have any consequence.

As soon as the race started, three brave riders (Roy, Westra and Quemeneur) became the first breakawayers of the 2011 Tour. They were caught with 18.5 kms to go, after a big effort by Omega-Pharma Lotto.

Talking about Omega, two things to say: firstly, Jurgen Van De Walle is a hero; secondly, Gilbert should have dyed not just his hair, but also his eyebrows.

Talking about Van de Walle, some of you may wonder why I consider him a 'hero'. Well, the reason is simple: he crashed heavily in the middle of the stage, but in spite of that he pulled in front of the peloton all day long. Simply amazing.

Talking about Gilbert, instead, I must say I do like his idea of dying his hair blonde. But still, I believe he should have dyed his eyebrows too.

Still talking about hair, everyone saw the pictures of Thor Hushovd wearing a wig during the TdF presentation. As predictable, that has already become one of my personal highlights of this year Tour.

Remaining in the Garmin team, here's one thing I didn't know about David Zabriskie: he's become a vegan and now he's following a vegan diet. That means he can't eat meat, eggs and fish and that he can't even drink milk. And in spite of that, he's taking part in a hard race like the Tour: amazing.

Anyway, back to the competition. The stage was actually pretty boring in its first part, so the chronists had a lot of time to talk about the riders taking part in the race. In that way I could discover the existence of Yohann Géne, the first rider from Guadeloupe to take part in the Tour.

The stage became much more interesting in the last 10 kms. At that time there had already been some crashes, one of which involved also Nicolas Roche (another one instead involved poor Linus Gerdemann). Then, with 8.5 kms to go, Maxim Iglinskiy hit a female supporter who was standing on the edge of the road. The collision was very strong (I really do hope that supporter is fine) and it caused a big crash, which involved guys like Sanchez, Kreuziger and Contador. Other riders instead managed to remain at the head of the race. Amongst them there were los Schleck, Basso, Evans, Wiggins and Radioshack's dynamic trio fomed by Leipheimer, Kloden and Horner (the youngest one amongst them is 67 year-old Kloden). Immediately after the crash, Radioshack began pulling hard, helped by BMC. Luckily, this time no one talked about fair play, although an Italian chronist compared the developing situation with Chaingate (that man had to comment the race for 6 hours, so I'll apologise him for this).

With 2 kms to go, then, there was another crash, which involved also Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck. Luckily for them, their final delay was neutralised by the jury, since their crash took place with less than 3 kms to go.

After that crash, the fight for the main positions began. Trofimov tried to surprise anyone, but the first real attack was Cancellara's one. Fabian was followed just by Gilbert but, when he realised that Philippe was on his wheel, he stopped his attack. PhilGil instead continued his action, which brought him to win the stage and to get the yellow jersey. Second in the stage was a super Evans, third was Hushovd.

After the stage, an enthusiastic Gilbert looked simply overjoyed on the podium, where he couldn't enjoy (for the first time in the season) the company of his son Alan. However, I think it's just a matter of time before we see Gilbert jr. back on the podium with his dad.

Talking about los Schlecks, Frank crossed the finish-line with 6 seconds of delay from Gilbert, whereas Andy crossed it 1' 20" after the winner, together with Contador, Basso and Samu Sanchez. However, as already said, Andy and Basso's delays were neutralised, since they were caused by a crash that occured in the last 3 kms of the stage. Contador's delay instead was registered so that, right now, Andy Schleck has 1' 14" of advantage on the Spaniard. Considering that OGL lost last year Tour because of 39", I think he can be satisfied with this result and with the fact that, this afternoon, Contador was never in the first part of the peloton. A bad sign of form, or a simple coincidence?

(pic by Bettini)

King Philippe gets his 4th consecutive victory:

Amazing, wonderful, great, epic, destined to enter cycling history.
These are just some of the words/sentences that people could use to define Philippe Gilbert's victory in today Liége - Bastogne - Liége. The Belgian was the strongest rider of the field once again and on the podium he was sandwiched between the Schleck brothers. In fact, for the first time since 2009, this afternoon a Schleck (actually two) came back on the podium of a Classic. But still, the brothers seemed unable to do anything to beat Gilbert, who brought his little son Alan on the top spot of the podium once again. And so, after less than one year of life, Gilbert jr. can already say that he's been on the top spot of both AGR and LBL's podiums. I'm sure there would be lots of older people who'd pay very big sums in order to have those experiences too.

Today race was really exciting, at least if seen from the (impartial) point of view of a Schleck supporter. For the first time I could see Leopard Trek working as a team at the front of a Classic, although the pulling style of one of the riders made me ask some questions about the team preparation. That rider (who I didn't recognise) was pulling with about 30 kms to go and looked simply desperate: open mouth, grimacing face, up on his pedals... Unfortunately, in spite of his efforts, the breakaway guys weren't losing any second of advantage. Actually, their gap on the peloton was increasing. Ops...
Talking about the breakaway, it was formed by very good riders and that's why it lasted a lot. Said riders were Vorganov, De Gendt, Gallopin, Frank, Sivtsov, Garate, Ten Dam, Van Avermaet, Kadri, Cataldo, Pineau, Caruso and Gasparotto. After the Redoute, some of these guys were still at the front of the race, whereas Van Avermaet got dropped by the 3 strongest riders with just 6 kms to go, on the Cote de Saint Nicolas (which is located in the 'Little Italy' of Liége and is also called 'the cote of the Italians').
With about 20 kms to go, on the Roche aux Fauçons, the race seriously started getting exciting. In fact on that climb there was an attack by Andy Schleck, who could be followed just by his brother Frank and by Gilbert.
In the meanwhile, poor Vinokourov had a mechanical problem and also had a misunderstanding with Iglinskiy ('Give me your front wheel, Maxim!! Now! Be fast!' 'Ok Vino, give me a second and I'll give you my wheel' 'Oh no, it's taking you too much to take that damn wheel off your bike, give me your bike!' 'What? My bike? But the wheel has almost come off! And you had said you wanted just my front wheel!' 'Ok, I'v changed my mind, now just give me the BIKE!!!'). By the time Iglinskiy and Vino ended the mute, imaginary discussion that you've just read here, poor Alexandre had already lost all his victory chances. What a bad way to end his love-story with LBL... :(
While Vino was facing this little drama, los Schlecks were riding up the Roche aux Fauçons with Gilbert and Van Avermaet, whereas Gasparotto had already got dropped.
As you may know, Roche aux Fauçons is a climb formed by two parts. I expected an attack by one of the brothers in the second part of the climb and instead I got nothing. 'Well, perhaps they'll attack on the flat terrain between this climb and the next one', I thought. I expected an attack there, and I got nothing. Before the Cote de Saint Nicolas, I thought: 'Well, it looks like Frank is going to attack here!' and instead I got nothing. On the Cote de Saint Nicolas, I thought: 'Well, one of the brothers should really do something now, apart from turning his head backwards'. This time, I eventually got something. In fact the brothers (Andy in particular) tried to increase the pace, but then they and the supporters were surprised by an attack. A strong attack. Too bad that the rider who did it was Gilbert, and not one of my beloved brothers.
Frankie had to struggle to follow Phil, while Andy had some problems and Van Avermaet was dropped for good. Luckily Andy soon reached Frank and Phil again and he started pulling hard. In fact, behind the first three riders there was now a group of chasers formed by strong guys like Kreuziger, Sorensen (YAY!), Anton and Uran.
With 4 kms to go, I still thought that a victory was possible for the Schleck brothers. I thought Andy could have attacked, leaving Gilbert with the hard task of chasing him at the end of a 250 kms long race. 'If Phil reached Andy, then Frank could attack and try to win the race!', I thought optimistically. But apparently the brothers were too tired / too impressed by Gilbert's strength to try doing something. In the last km I still hoped that one of them would have done something, but eventually Frank tried to attack Gilbert just in the final 200 meters. And so Phil Gil could cross the finish-line in a calm way, after an easy sprint, with two Schlecks as side dishes.
4th was Roman Kreuziger (this made me ask what results Scarponi could have got if he had raced this afternoon), while 5th was Uran and 6th was a great Sorensen (YAY!). 7th was an exceptional Van Avermaet, while 8th was Nibali, 9th Leukemans and 10th Samu Sanchez.

The podium was the best looking one of the year so far, no doubts about that. Ok, Phil Gil isn't the most good-looking guy of the peloton (although he isn't bad-looking either), but Alan, Frank and Andy contributed to making the podium look great. I was hoping to get a glimpse of little Leea on the podium, but Frank and Martine decided to avoid that. Good choice, if I can say it.
Both Frank and Andy were really nice towards Gilbert. Frank bowed in front of him, while Andy shook hands with the Belgian right after the finish-line. This fact (and the brothers' declarations after the race) made me think about one thing. After last year Chaingate, in fact, some people complained about the fact that Andy hadn't got angry at Contador in the last Tour stages. At the time, some people said: 'It's Riis who made Andy behave in this way, he had no choice'. Well, I actually think that this afternoon we could finally understand that that behaviour wasn't imposed by Riis. Simply, Andy is a nice, classy guy who plays it fair. And the same goes for Frankie.

Talking about the teams, from my race report you might have understood that I wasn't completely satisfied with the eventual outcome of the race. In fact, I had the feeling that the brothers, especially after the Cote du Saint Nicolas, were racing for the second and for the third place, rather than for the victory. According to Andy, he did try to increase the pace on the penultimate climb, but I thought that then Frankie could have tried something too. Or perhaps, the brothers could have tried attacking already in the second part of the Roche aux Fauçons, so that they would have forced Gilbert to get a bit tired while chasing at least one of them.
However, I understand that talking from a couch is always simple and that there's a reason why I'm not a ds. Liége is a 250 kms long race and Gilbert's attack on Cote du Saint Nicolas was terrific, but I still have a bittersweet taste in my mouth. In some ways, I think the brothers could have raced better. At least, they could have been a bit more brave.
Talking about the rest of Leopard Trek, Jakob Fuglsang was simply amazing. Also Stefan Denifl worked very well, just like Monfort, Wegmann and Voigt.
Omega - Pharma Lotto, on the other hand, didn't look that great today, especially because for the first time Phil Gil found himself alone with 20 kms to go. However I'd like you to notice that a great Jelle Vanendert was 17th also today. The boy has talent, believe me.
A team who raced very well, although it didn't have good luck, was Astana. Gasparotto was simply amazing and I really liked his post - race comments ('I wanted to ride on the top of the Redoute first at least once in my life'). He joined the breakaway, was first on the Redoute and he even helped his teammates in the final kms. Simply great.
Kreuziger was really good too, while Vinokourov and Iglinskiy were both victims of the bad luck. I'm sorry for Vino, especially because this was his last Liége and he managed to come in 33rd anyway.
Another team who raced well this afternoon was BMC. I had scolded this team off in my last post, saying that they had been invisible in Fleche. Today instead they rode much better, since Frank joined a breakaway and Van Avermaet was a super 7th.

As far as the other teams are concerned, Rabobank sometimes pulled at the head of the race, but eventually the best rider was Martens, 13th (hey, Paul has been riding very fast lately!). Freire instead was 15th (Oscarito, are you sure you want to retire this year?!?).
Also Katiusha and Euskaltel pulled at the front of the race for some kms. The team from the Paìs Vasco got a good 10th with S. Sanchez and a good 14th with Igor Anton, whereas Katiusha had Kolobnev as its best rider (11th). A good result, although Joaquim Rodriguez was a bit disappointing.

Other riders instead managed to do well although they didn't have a good team. Sky was very good, since Uran got 5th and Gerrans 12th. Still, the team riders never pulled in the last kms.
Saxo Bank instead had the two Sorensens as its best riders. Nicki tried to break away, while Chris was a super 6th. This boy will entertain us in July, that's for sure.
Liquigas best rider was Nibali, 8th, who is in a very good shape ahead of Giro. Basso instead was disappointing, but he's not going to take part in the Corsa Rosa.
Leukemans (9th) was excellent once again, while Van Garderen (18th) was a good surprise.

So, this was 2011 Liége and this was 2011 Campaign of the Classics. Now the hills and the cobblestones of Belgium, France and Holland are ready to leave the stage to the Italian roads, that will soon be the theatre of the Giro d'Italia.
But still, we have to wait some weeks before of that ;) In the meanwhile, let's enjoy the last days of Easter holidays and let's talk LBL all together ;)
(Pic by Bettini)

Phil Gil takes also Fleche:

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. I have no other words to describe Philippe Gilbert's latest victory (and the fact that I'm writing a new post just 3 days after the last one) :P
Fleche Wallonne is the strangest of the Ardennes Classics. The riders race for 5 hours and face the mur de Huy three times during it, but in the end the winner is always decided by the last 800 meters, the steepest ones that you can find in a Classic.
Marco Pastonesi from 'La Gazzetta dello Sport' once wrote a great description of the mur de Huy, saying that pilgrims used to climb it by foot during the Middle Ages. In fact, there are 7 little chapels on the road to the top of the mur and each of them is a different station of the via crucis. Talking about this fact, Pastonesi said: 'The pilgrims saw images of the Virgin Mary at every chapel. By the time the riders arrive on the top of the climb during FW, they see Virgin Mary in person'. I've never faced mur de Huy (I'm not fit enough :P), but I think that said climb can definitely help you if you want to have a deep, religious experience. In fact, here in Italy we usually say that someone 'has seen the Madonna' when that someone has done something very painful or very tiring. Painful and tiring like climbing the Mur de Huy, for example.

Talking about the race, nothing important happened before the beginning of the final km. The first breakaway du jour was formed by Paterski, Vantomme, Van Hecke and Helminen (and not 'Eminem', as someone said yesterday).
In the last 30 kms of race there was the second breakaway du jour, which was formed by Thomas Lovkvist (he's alive!!!), Alexandr Kolobnev, Enrico Gasparotto and Teejay Van Garderen. Also Kiryenka, Gorka Verdugo and Michal Golas joined the breakaway and eventually Kiryenka and Lolo (Lovely Lovkvist) said 'adieu!' to their fellows. Unfortunately, the couple was caught with 8 kms to go, as a consequence of the work made at the front by Omega-Pharma Lotto, Rabobank and Leopard Trek. At that point of the race, Pineau and Marcato attacked, but they arrived at the bottom of the mur with just 20 seconds of advantage. And to win on the mur, you need to arrive at its bottom with at least a minute of advantage on the peloton.
Before the beginning of the climb, Andy Schleck took a turn at the front before vanishing in the bottom of the peloton. He didn't feel well, but apparently his brother Frankie was doing fine. Also Rodriguez, Contador and Gilbert seemed to feel fine, since their men pulled hardly at the front.
During the first part of the climb, Wegmann pulled for some time, followed by Albasini and Le Mevel. Fabian kept on turning his head to see where Frank was, since it was very hard to spot him in the peloton chaos. Then, with about 300 meters, Gilbert launched a terrible attack and no one could follow him. Phil Gil started celebrating with about 15 meters to go and, in spite of this, he managed to finish the race 3 seconds before of Joaquim Rodriguez. Amazing.I was so amazed by Gilbert's strong attack that, when I saw the gap that Rodriguez had from him, my mouth fell open and remained so until the end of the race, when I whispered: 'How can he have done such a thing even today?' in a very allucinated way. I would have never bet on a victory by Gilbert yesterday and that's why I was so shocked. That boy has been winnng Classics since October 2010, isn't that amazing?

Talking about another Cannibal, the women race was won for the fourth (fourth!) time by the Wonder Woman of cycling, the 23 year-old Marianne Vos. Second was Emma Johansson, while 3rd was Judith Arndt and 4th a very good Elena Berlato.
Emma Pooley didn't take part in the race because she broke her collarbone last Tuesday, on a training ride in Switzerland. Hopefully she'll be back in good shape for the Giro Donne.

Back to the male FW, Omega Pharma-Lotto was, once again, the best team. Gilbert told the journalists that he thought that mur de Huy was too long for him and that he decided to try winning yesterday race just because his teammates suggested him doing so. As we could see, the guys were right.
Jelle Vanendert was amazing once again, since he helped Phil and he also managed to come in 6th. Also Van Den Broeck (17th) was really good, just like De Greef.
Second in the race was Joaquim Rodriguez. He was the main favourite, but for the second year in a row someone rode up the mur de Huy faster than him. Katiusha did a great work to help him and Kolobnev and Di Luca really did their best. Moreover, Moreno was a good 8th.
Third instead was Samuel Sanchez. Euskaltel, who was invisible in the North Classics and didn't shine in Amstel, worked really well yesterday and Samu was a surprising 3rd. In fact, I would have expected Igor Anton (5th) to ride better than the Olympic Champion, instead Sanchez managed to end up on the podium. Wow!
4th was Vinokourov (*chorus of joy coming from the AAVL sector*), whose team, Astana, worked well. Especially Iglinskiy and Gasparotto were good, while Vino was surprisingly faster than guys like Gesink, Contador and Hesjedal.

Giving a judgement about the teams in a race like FW is very hard, because in the end the team work doesn't count that much on the mur de Huy. In fact, in the last 300 meters of it (where the hardest part begins) the only things that count are the team leader's legs and his sense of timing. Therefore, the work that the team has done to help the leader until that point of the race doesn't always lead to a good result.
Leopard Trek, for example, did a great work yesterday, but Frank Schleck eventually ended up just 7th. He didn't sound very satisfied with his performance in an interview with Cyclingnews and he said that yesterday he made a mistake with timing. But still, I think that a 7th place in this race (which doesn't suit 'regular' climbers like him or his brother) isn't a very bad result.
As far as the rest of the team is concerned, Wegmann worked well on the climb, whereas Andy had a bad day at the office. "On the next to last climb I didn’t feel very good", Our Glorious Leader told Cyclingnews. "I'm not sure if it was due to the weather, but I had red eyes and some breathing problems. So I decided to work for the team and I did the best I could for Frank in the final kilometre". Hopefully our boy isn't experiencing 'allergy problems', since me perfectly knows that they're extremely disturbing and they can really limit someone's physical performances.
Another team who did well, although its team leader wasn't that strong, was Saxo Bank. Nicki Sorensen worked hard at the front, but Contador was just 11th, whereas Chris Sorensen was 24th. Allergy problems also for the Spaniard? I don't know.
Also Rabobank worked hard, although the best team rider, Martens, was 10th, whereas Gesink was 14th. However, I don't think FW suits Gesink, since he isn't a very explosive climber and mur de Huy is a bit different from the San Luca climb at Giro dell'Emilia (a race that Gesink loves and has already won twice).
Talking about other teams, HTC Highroad tried to do something with Van Garderen. The team leader, Toni Martin, was just 89th, whereas Albasini was 12th. This makes me wonder: why was the team pulling so hard at the beginning of the mur? Mistery.
Landbouwkrediet entered a breakaway too and Bert De Waele was a good 15th.
The climb was too steep for Simon Gerrans, whereas Ryder Hesjedal probably hasn't recovered properly from his stomach problems (he was 13th). Best Garmin rider however was Le Mevel, excellent 9th.
Talking about Italian riders, Cunego was just 61st, but he crashed with about 3 kms to go. Basso instead wasn't in a great form (moreover, the mur de Huy doesn't suit him), while Di Luca worked to help Rodriguez.
A disappointing rider, imo, was John Gadret, who should feel comfortable on climbs like mur de Huy. Still, he was invisible yesterday.
The same worths for the whole BMC team, who couldn't have Evans in the line-up. In spite of this, I think they could have showed themselves during the race, whereas me actually found out that this team was racing when I casually opened a 'start list' page on Cyclingnews a few seconds ago.

Before closing this entry, here's the link to Chris Anker Sorensen's latest blog entry: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry401212.html . In it Chris says that he's asked himself whether Father Christmas has a holiday house in Italy. In fact one day Chris, while training, saw a man working in a field. Said man, according to CA, had the same belly, the same beard and the same face as father Christmas, although he obviously wasn't wearing the same clothes. That made him ask whether Father Christmas has a house where he can spend the summer and whether said house is in Italy.
Moreover, Chris wrote something about Jens Voigt in his blog. Unfortunately, Google Translater doesn't want to let me understand that part, so I beg one of you, dear Danish readers, to help me understand what Chris says in it. Every LT supporter out there would be very happy if you could me this favour!

So, that's all from me for the moment. Have a good time during the Easter holidays and let's hope that one Schleck will cross the finish-line before everyone else on Sunday!
(Pic by Bettini)

A super Gilbert wins Amstel Gold Race:

A week after my last post, here I am, ready to write a post about Gilbert's victory in Amstel Gold Race. To give you an idea of why I haven't written anything in the last days, I just tell you that, when Andy Schleck attacked during today race, I was repeating the definition of 'asinctote'. Of course, as soon as Baby Schleck launched his attack, I threw the Maths book off of the couch and I interrupted myself in the middle of the definition. Maths can't wait, a Schleck attacking in AGR can't.
Talking about the race, it was a very exciting one, although Leopard Trek didn't have a lot of luck in it. The line-up was much better than the one for the North Classics, since it was formed by experienced guys like los Schlecks, Cancellara, Voigt, Fuglsang, Wegmann, Monfort and Lund. Useless to say that, if they rode in different teams, guys like Voigt, Cancellara, Frank, Andy and Fuglsang would all be team captains in a race like Amstel. Unfortunately, none of them could get on the podium today, especially because key riders like F. Schleck and Cancellara were both hit by bad luck with about 23 kms to go, when they crashed right before of the Kruisberg. This fact unfortunately forced them to say 'adieu!' to their dreams of glory and postpone them to the next race.
But let's now review some key moments of the race thanks a brief resume of mine.

Things started to become interesting with about 100 kms to go, when De Gand, De Negri, Timmer and Ponzi created a good breakaway. 40 kms later, Ponzi and Timmer had been dropped, but their place had been taken by Jan Ghyselinck and Carlos Barredo.
Unfortunately for these 4 riders, their adventure at the front wasn't destined to last long and they were soon caught by the peloton guys.
With about 24 kms to go, Fabian Cancellara crashed in the middle of the peloton (yes, I'm as surprised as you by this fact). His crash unfortunately forced also Frank Schleck to stop and, when Frankie arrived at the bottom of the following climb (the Kruisberg), bad luck hit him again by making his bike chain pop (aaaaargh! Memories of the past, leave me aloneee!). By the time he stopped and changed his bike, his chances of winning the race had vanished.
In the meanwhile, an attack by Joaquim Rodriguez made the difference on the climb and created a big selection inside the peloton. Just 20 riders (more or less) could follow the Spaniard and, with 13 kms to go, it was Andy Schleck's turn to attack.
Andy's attack was very strong and it lasted a lot, although his maximum advantage consisted in just 10 seconds. Unfortunately for Leopard Trek and for its supporters, Gilbert (the main favourite of the race) pulled the group of chasers together with Van Den Broeck and a great Vanendert and Schleck was caught on the Cauberg, with just 500 meters to go (sigh!). Rodriguez accelerated as soon as he saw Andy, but Gilbert's kick was much more devastating than the one of the Katiusha rider.
The Belgian passed JR in a very easy way and he crossed the finish-line in triumph. Second in the race was Rodriguez, while third was Gerrans. Fourth instead was a very good Fuglsang.

After the finish-line, Phil Gil (can I call him this way?) gave us a great moment of tenderness by bringing his little child on the podium. Rodriguez played a bit with the baby, who started to cry when Joaquim and Gerrans joined Philippe on the top spot of the podium. In that moment, I could clearly read Gilbert's lips (he went: 'Noooo!'), whereas Rodriguez and the short Gerrans smiled. What a cute image! After mentioning this little moment of tenderness, it's now time to analyse the race.
First of all, big congratulations to Omega-Pharma Lotto. Gilbert was the strongest and he showed the world that, on this kind of climbs, he has no rivals. Moreover, he also booked himself as a main favourite for the Worlds 2012, which take place in Valkenburg.
Gilbert's great form was highlighted also by the fact that he helped Vanendert when he was chasing Schleck. Phil gave a single turn at the front, but it allowed his teammate to take a little break and it showed everyone that he was ready to win this Classic for the second year in a row.
Talking about Jelle Vanendert, I must say I was very impressed by his performance. He pulled for a lot of time and when one of the Italian chronists said that the Belgian was still pulling at the head of the race, Fangirl actually went bananas. 'For what stupid reason is he still there pulling?', she asked. Luckily Logic was ready to remind her that poor Jelle was just 'doing his job. And his job makes him pull at the front when someone has escaped the group in which his captain is. Apologise to him now, or I'll never talk to you again', Logic told Fangirl in a very annoyed way. Of course, Fangirl apologised for what happened and is still deeply sorry for what she said in that moment of anger.
Also Jurgen Van Den Broeck rode really well and he was a very important rider for Phil Gil.
Another team who rode very well this afternoon, imo, was Leopard Trek. Unfortunately this strong team has had a lot of bad luck today, since Cancellara and Frank Schleck both crashed at a key point of the race. Btw, was I the only one who thought that Frankie was going to throw his bike away when his chain popped?
Talking about the other Schleck, I must say that I really liked Andy's attack (well, who didn't? ;). He had no chance of winning against a guy like Gilbert and, rather than ending up 5th, our Glorious Leader fought to get a great victory with a great assolo. His action didn't end up with a victory, but I was very happy to see him attacking anyway.
On to another cyclist, a great Jakob Fuglsang was 4th in the race and this is a very positive sign for the future. In fact this boy was 4th in Lombardy 2010 and today he's got a 4th place in Amstel. Something suggests me that we may soon be able to witness his first important victory in a road race, how exciting!
Second in the race was Joaquim Rodriguez,Katiusha's rider. Unfortunately Cauberg is too easy for a guy like 'Purito', who needs climbs like the Mur de Huy to shine properly. Btw, he 'tried his leg' for Wednesday race this afternoon and I must say that the results were really good. Also Ivanov rode well, just like Kolobnev (5th).
Third was a great Simon Gerrans, 'the climbing sprinter', as I used to call him when people used to say that he was a sprinter. His podium placement finally signs a good result for team Sky (it was high time!), how nice.
Btw, where has Thomas Lovkvist disappeared? A race like Amstel could suit him, but he wasn't even selected in the team-line up. Why?
Talking about another team, Vacansoleil had a good result with Leukemans (7th), whereas Hoogerland was 12th (Andy Schleck was 11th, while Frank was 22th). Johnny tried to break away in the last part of the race, whereas Bjorn got another good placement.
Talking about J.H., I was shocked when I discovered that he's already 27. How can it be? :(

Talking about the disappointing teams du jour, Astana didn't particularly shine, although Iglinskiy tried a little attack and Gasparotto and Vinokourov could have done well in a race like this (Enrico was 2nd last year, Vino won it some years ago).
Also Lampre was disappointing, probably because its leader, Cunego, is suffering because of the doping rumours coming from Italy. Although he pretends the opposite, in fact, I've always had the feeling that Damiano isn't a Mster in handling pressure and so imo the news coming from Mantova may have played a role in his odiern poor performance.
Saxo Bank didn't get any striking result either, just like Garmin and HTC Columbia. Actually, Garmin's leader, Ryder Hesjedal, was stopped by stomach problems that forced him to get off his bike and ring a house on the parcours to beg the house owners to let him use their toilet for a few minutes. Then, he hopped back on his bike and finished the race 14 minutes after Gilbert. Amazing, isn't it?
Talking about Columbia, it showed us a very funny guy , the 24 year-old Jan Ghyselinck . After joining the original breakaway, this rider clearly made the usual 'I can't go on anymore!' gesture to the other breakaway guys. Of course, the other cyclists got pretty angry at him (especially De Negri did) and poor Jan had to take his turns at the front anyway. Poor thing!
However, we must say that Columbia has never shone in the Ardennes Classics and that this year team was formed by really young riders.
Another disappointing team was Euskaltel Euskadi (Samuel Sanchez didn't look in a very good form), whereas the only Liquigas rider that I could see during the race was the poor Dominique Nerz, who crashed with about 30 kms to go.
Farnese Vini didn't get any stunning result either, but at least one of the team riders was in a breakaway and poor Visconti has a good excuse for his disappointing result (he didn't feel well during the week).
However, the most disappointing team imo was Rabobank . At the beginning of the last climb in fact Freire, Martens, Gesink and Tankink were all part of the main group. In the end, the best team result was Freire's 6th placement. A bit disappointing, isn't it?
Perhaps one of the team guys could have tried to break away with Andy Schleck or they could have tried to anticipate Gilbert, instead they didn't do anything. And if you arrive at the foot of the Cauberg without a strategy, things can be very hard even if you have 3 teammates next to you.

So, this is all from me for this evening. Let's get ready to enjoy another great race on Wednesday!! Who will win on the mur de Huy? That is the question! Have a good evening all!
(Pic by Sirotti)

Velo d'Or, Bartali, Cancun and more:

Although 5 of my teachers have decided to examine me in the last 6 days, showing their evilness and their hatred towards me , here I am to write a post about what's happened in Cycledom over the last few days.

First of all, this week the winners of the 3 Velo d'Or awards have been announced. And the 2010 winner of the main prize was....Fabian 'Spartacus' Cancellara!
I completely agree with this result, especially because this year Fabian won Roubaix in a totally spectacular way. Moreover, he won Flanders, wore the yellow jersey at the Tour, helped Andy on the cobblestones, decided to neutralise the Spa stage of the Tour, won 2 stages at La Grande Boucle and also won the TT World Championship for the 4th time in his life. Amazing.
Second in the trophy's classification was Alberto Contador, while third was Andy Schleck.
As far as the Velo d'or français was concerned, its winner was Thomas Voeckler. Me was very surprised by this because I thought that Sylvain Chavanel was going to win that award. And instead no, there comes Thomas and gets the prize. Third however was the track sprinter Grégory Bauge.

Velo d'or Espoirs instead was won by Andy Schleck in front of Nibali and Cavendish.

Talking about this award, I'm afraid I'm going to write something that the most of you won't like. And that something is: I don't think Andy deserved that award more than Nibali.

Ok, Andy was second in the Tour just because of a mechanical problem. As well as that, he is younger than Nibali and this year the battle between him and Contador made the Tour very exciting. Moreover, the Luxembourgian won 2 stages at this year Tour and also won the TT national champiobship. But at the same time Andy didn't get any good result in the Ardenne classics and was also kicked out from his team during the Vuelta, which he rode without getting any decent result.
Nibali instead won a stage at the Giro, wore the pink jersey, was 3rd in the GC of the Italian GT and in September he won la Vuelta. As well as that, he rode very well in the Worlds. Therefore I think that, if we have to compare Nibali and Andy's seasons, Vincenzo's one was more regular and more successful than Andy's. That's why I think he, and not Andy, should have won that award.

Anyway, after getting my part of insults for what I've just written, I go on to another topic. In fact, the other day Gazzetta gave the news that Gino Bartali, one of the most famous cyclists ever, is going to enter 'Il Giardino dei Giusti', which is internationally known as 'Yad Vashem'. Under this name people indicate a number of gardens (spread all around the World), where every person that during the 2° World War saved at least one person of Jewish origins, has a tree planted in their honour.
Gino Bartali is considered to have saved a lot of Jews during the 2° WW since, using his trainings on the bike as an excuse, he used to go from a city to another with false documents hidden in his bike (for example, inside the handlebars). These false documents were then given to people of Jewish origins, that showed them to the authorities in order to avoid being sent to the Nazis lager.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/guldhammer-steps-away-from-professional-cycling : The Danish rider Rasmus Guldhammer, 21 year-old, cancelled his contract with Columbia and decided to step away from professional cycling. He told DR Sporten that he missed his friends and family during his first year with a ProTour squad, therefore he decided to quit professional sport for one year.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-anker-sorensen-aims-to-be-top-climber-at-2011-giro-ditalia : Chris Anker Sorensen is going to ride the Giro again next year and this is obviously causing me great fangirlistic attacks. As well as that, also Lovely Lovkvist has said he's going to race the Giro next year, so the battle between me and my sister (I support CA, she supports Thomas) has already begun.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/barredo-bids-farewell-to-quick-step-team-and-fans : Carlos Barredo is leaving Quick Step in order to join Rabobank. However, Carlos won't be able to race in his new team until 28 February 2011. In fact, he's been banned from 1st January 2011 to 28th February because of the fist fight he had with Rui Costa at this year Tour.
Talking about bans, also Johan Bruyneel has been banned for 2 months after that Radioshack wore Livestrong jerseys in the last stage of the Tour.

On http://www.gazzetta.it/Sport_Vari/Golf/27-10-2010/brevi-inverno-711609874872.shtml there are some short, interesting news. For example, on that page you can discover that, just 3 days ago, Philippe Gilbert and his wife Patricia became the parents of the little Alan (congratulations to the whole Gilbert's family!!).
However, one of the news that caught my attention was the 'Tour, WADA chiede controlli notturni' one. In fact, WADA has said that it would be better to repeal the unwritten rule according to which riders can't be tested by the anti-doping guys in the middle of the night. To me this makes no sense, because cyclists are human being too and they need a good night sleep as well when they're riding a Grand Tour. Actually, I think that waking up riders in the middle of the night could create differences also in their stage's results, since it's obvious that those who wouldn't sleep because of the controls would probably feel their legs much heavier than anyone else on the following day.

CANCUN CRITERIUM: The race was won by Mancebo. The Schlecks didn't start because their flight to Europe (?) was anticipated of some hours and prevented them from taking part in the race.
Some pictures (featuring los Schlecks, Kreuziger, Sagan and Vinokourov, who wore a newspaper rather than a t-shirt) can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=293162&id=103246938668&fbid=490618488668 .