A Fangirl at Giro di Lombardia:

When you go to watch Giro di Lombardia live, you should keep clear in your mind that, on that day, the weather won't be sunny. Perhaps it won't rain, perhaps it won't be cold, but the weather won't be sunny. It's an unwritten law, according to which everyone who dares to go Como on the Lombardy day would better bring an umbrella, a pair of boots and a very warm jacket with him. And, keeping that unwritten law in mind, supporters who hear their familiars saying "We go to watch Lombardy unless it rains" should do everything they can to avoid this little trap, that also my familiars tried to use with me the other day.
'We'll go to watch Tour of Lombardy, dear, but if it rains we'll stay at home and watch the race from our couch'. When my parents told me this, looking at them, I said in a very calm way: 'We're talking about Tour of Lombardy. The weather won't be sunny that day and you know it. You're trying to trap me just like you did this May with the Brescia stage of the Giro!!'. Eventually my protest brought me a good result and, on yesterday's morning, my mum said that we would have gone to see the race, no matter the weather's conditions.
Actually, yesterday morning the weather in Bergamo wasn't that bad. It wasn't wonderful, ok, but I already knew this. It's the unwritten rule of Lombardy Tour, remember?
My day at school went away quietly. I didn't fall asleep on the bus and din't miss the bus stop (and that was good), my Latin teacher didn't examine me and also our English composition test wasn't as awful as I had predicted.
At 1 pm I got on the family's car and we drove to Como. After arriving there, we visited the city for a hour (the Cathedral is amazing) and learned that, if you want to visit Como, you have to pay a lot of attention to your feet. We learned this in a very disgusting way, since in less than 3 minutes every member of the family had walked on something that a dog had abandoned on the road a few minutes before of our arrival. How disgusting.
We got in Como at 2.05 pm and at 2.08 it started to rain- and it actually kept on raining all day long. Luckily I had my faithful green umbrella although it didn't save me from getting a dreadful cold and an amazing cough (every time I start coughing I go on for at least 20 seconds without stopping).
A 3.40 pm my family and I arrived near to the finish-line. There was the arrive-village there and me could see Beppe Conti. Then, while walking, I noticed a man under an umbrella, talking with other 3 people. I stopped all of a sudden, stopped my father and made a very astonished expression. In front of me, looking cool and relaxed, there was Denis Menchov.
Now, if there was someone I didn't expect to meet yesterday, that someone was Denis Menchov. And instead, there he was, looking relaxed and chatting with other people.
I looked at him for a while, not knowing what to do, when a boy asked him for an autograph. Denis didn't look annoyed by that and so I went next to him too. 'Denis, por favor...', I said. He looked at me and signed me an autograph.
Then, me went: 'Denis, por favor, podemos hacer también una foto?' He looked at me, said 'Sin problema' and so I could have my picture with Menchov taken. He was very nice with me and he really looked cool. And then, let me say, he looks much better and much younger live. As well as that, he also doesn't look that tall. In fact, he's 'just' 180 cms tall, while me thought that he was at least 185. Ah, the little surprises that you can have on a rainy day in Como...

By the way, surprises weren't over yet. We went to the bus area and there a member of my family started to joke. 'I'm sure that, if you go to SB bus, you'll surely meet Andy. It's raining, so he'll have already ended his race'.
We actually went to SB bus but we didn't meet anyone there. Or better, we didn't meet anyone from team SB. In fact, in that place together with SB bus there was also Rabobank's one. And there, guess who we met? Oscar Freire.

He got off a car together with Nardello and another man. Then he got two bike wheels out of the car and went to the bus. I didn't know what to do (to disturb him or not? that was the question!) but then Nardello told me that, if I wanted to ask Oscar for an autograph, I didn't have to be shy. So when Oscar reappeared from behind the bus I asked him for a picture.Also my father wanted to be part of the picture and in that moment he was probably one of the happiest person on Earth. He's always supported Freire and he's always liked Menchov, so he couldn't stop smiling after meeting him.

While going back to the finish line, we had one last meeting. In fact we saw some men talking to a boy and realised that said boy was Roman Kreuziger. In picture Roman doesn't alway look that good but, seen 'live', he is very handsome. And he's got wonderful blue eyes. We wished him good luck for next year, asked him for an autograph and then we also took a picture. In that moment, one of the Czech supporters who were there talking with him made a funny remark in his native language. I don't know what he said, but I just know that the other supporters laughed.
Eventually, while going back to the finish-zone, we also saw a Lampre rider. He had just got retired and he was shaking his teeth in a terrifying way. Poor boy.
Then my family and I found ourselves in the smallest bar I've ever seen, together with some supporters who had just arrived with their bikes and other people.
After drinking a cappuccino, we went to wait for the riders' first passage in Como. While waiting, we saw a Quick Step rider entering a hotel. I looked more carefully, noticed a tatoo on his leg and understood that I had just witnessed Chavanel's retire from Tour of Lombardy. A few seconds afterwards, also a Milram rider was seen riding towards a hotel.
While I was waiting then I also started to talk to some people. An old super appasionated woman told us that the riders were riding pretty slowly and that there had been bad crash on a descent. Then she complained about the fact that her husband didn't allow her to go to Australia to see the Worlds (at that point I was going to ask her whether she wanted to adopt me as niece).
A few minutes later I saw two Luxembourgians and decided to ask them (in German) whether they knew where Andy was. My question was very confused, but they understood and told me that they had no idea of Andy's performance.
Then a man started to talk with us and told us that Gilbert had just attacked. Then he phoned home and found out that Philippe was at the head of the race together with Scarponi.
We saw them riding in front of us a few minutes later. The faces of the riders were really dirty and they looked very tired.A minute after Gilbert and Scarponi, a group formed by Uran, Sanchez, Nibali, Mollema, Lastras, Barredo and Fuglsang arrived. After those riders had arrived, my familiars and I quickly ran to the finish-line and found a great place right under the 250 meters to go sign. From that point I could witness Gilbert's great victory (he raised his arms right in front of me) and, strange enough, one of the things that I noticed about him in that moment was his golden earring. After all, I was tired too ;)
A few second afterwards also Scarponi arrived. Then Lastras arrived, followed by Fuglsang and Nibali. I could witness their sprint and, when Jakob went back to the team buses together with a masseur, I can tell you that he was trembling like a leaf. In that moment, Fangirl wanted me to jump over the barriers and hug Jakob. Too bad that Logic didn't allow me to follow Fangirl's suggestion.
6th was Sanchez (and not Uran, as someone said), 7th was Nieve. 8th was a great Santambrogio (who, let me say it, has very wonderful eyes). Evans had got retired with about 10 kms to go and we knew that because, when we arrived to the 250 meters sign, we saw him riding towards his bus on the other side of the road.

9th was a tired Barredo, 10th was Caruso and 11th was a very good Gusev. All these riders had very dirty faces and looked terribly cold. Then Uran arrived together with the lanky Mollema. 14th was a great Devenyns, 15th was Wegmann. 16th was Van Avermaet (I couldn't recognise him because he was wearing his rain jacket and I didn't see his face well), 17th was Miholjevic.

He arrived with Mazzanti, the young (and strong) Paterski, Monfort and Horner. 22nd was Bonnafond, 23rd Van Goolen, 24th Pauwels. 25th was Rubiera, 27th was Mori, 28th was Serpa (who still had the strength to make a sprint for getting the 28th position). 29th was Dumoulin, 30th was Bazayev, who looks much more Kazakhistani than Vinokourov and had a very nice season finale. Talking about Vino: at a certain point Fangirl believed she had seen him, but then Logic explained her that the boy she had seen riding towards the Astana bus was Gasparotto, and not Vino. 'But they have the same hair colour!', Fangirl cried. 'Yes, too bad that's the only thing they've got in common', Logic coldly replied.

31st was Peterson, the only Garmin rider who ended the race. 32nd was Froehlinger, who six minutes later was followed by a heroic Nordhaug and by Saramotins.

So these were the 34 heroes who ended the race. I use the word 'heroes' because, if me got a cold and a cough after yesterday, I don't want to imagine with what they've come down right now. Chapeau to every of these riders: the weather conditions yesterday were really bad and the descents extremely slippery.

Ater the last rider had crossed the finish-line, I went back to the bus zone. There was no one outside of SB bus but me spotted a Luxembourg car (a black Audi) a bit far from it. The windows were black, so I couldn't see who was driving it. But it was a car coming from Garage Losch, so Fangirl has a pretty precise idea of who its owner was.

While walking me saw some masseurs throwing some water bottles away. A familiar asked for one of them and so now I've got 2 Cervélo's water bottles, a Cofidis one and a Radioshack one. The Cofidis bottle wasn't empty and, guess what it contained? WATER!!! If Ettore Torri reads this fact, he'll probably be very surprised by it (although the water bottle had a light smell of raspberry, so I suppose that it probably contained also a bit of Gatorade at a certan point of the race).

In front of Saxo Bank's bus I came across Menchov again, and we looked at each other. Larsson was talking with someone outside of the bus, but I didn't want to bother him.So, my family and I decided to go back to our car.

On our way to it, we saw a Cervélo rider talking to another boy and touching his cheek to check how cold they were. Poor boy.

After bumping into Scarponi and Lastras on their way back from the anti-doping, and after 30 minutes of walk, we finally got into our car. I hadn't met Andy Schleck and Chris Sorensen, but still I was satisfied anyway. After all, you don't bump into guys like Menchov, Freire and Kreuziger every day, don't you?

PS: Pictures were taken by me. The quality, as usual, isn't that good. My picture with Kreuziger hasn't been published because my sister (who appeared in it too) didn't want to. I know that the pictures aren't that great (and nor is the post, which has been written in hurry), but I was too cold to take more/better pictures or videos of the riders. That's all folks!

Interview with Frank Schleck (plus other random news):

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/a-new-chapter-for-frank-schleck (article by Daniel Benson)

With his 2010 season finished, Fränk Schleck is taking time out at home before he embarks on a new chapter in his career with the yet-to-be-named Luxembourg Project team.
The Tour de Suisse winner and brother of two time Tour de France runner-up, Andy Schleck, recently returned from the Worlds where he finished 16th in the men's road race. However, his top-five placing at the Vuelta drew the curtain on his time at Saxo Bank, ending an eight year partnership with Bjarne Riis. With new challenges on the horizon he's already looking ahead to the New Year and his new team.
"The goals will be the Classics and the Tour de France," Fränk Schleck told Cyclingnews. "I believe we can win the Tour next year but the opportunity to ride for this team came out of Luxembourg and obviously we are very proud of our country and want to be good ambassadors."
As yet the team's sponsor has to be announced, however team principle Brian Nygaard has made public several elements, including the managerial staff and partnerships with Luxembourg Mercedes and Trek. It is understood that both Schlecks will be joined by a large proportion of former Saxo Bank riders, while Maxime Monfort and Fabian Cancellara have also been linked with the team.
"It's not going to be 'the Schleck team' though. It's going to be a team that we're part of and we'll go for the Tour. I'm not going to lie and say that the team for the Tour de France won't see Andy and me being leaders but we'll have a strong team with a lot of good guys," Schleck said.
As for when the team's sponsor will be announced, Schleck is happy to leave everything to his management, instead concentrating on riding his bike and spending precious time with his young family.
"It's up to Brian [Nygaard]. I know they want to announce it very soon and it's up to Brian to do that. So far I've been concentrating on riding my bike. The managers handle the rest and I'm just happy to race my bike. That's how I want it to be for the next five or six years until I retire."
One thing Schleck won't want to repeat before ending his career is crashing out of the Tour de France. During the critical stage to Arenberg this year he hit the pavé, breaking his collar bone and putting an end to his Tour bid.
"What most people forget is that you need to recover physically and mentally. Mentally I thought I was still doing the Tour with team even though I was just watching them on television every day. It's been a long hard season. I'm very satisfied with how things have gone."

Would the race have been different if he'd not crashed seems irrelevant now, but coming into the race Fränk Schleck was arguably in the best form of his career, dishing out a regal performance to be crowned winner of the Tour de Suisse in June.
"I don't like to go back on things and give ifs and buts but for sure it would have been more exciting if I'd stayed in the race. Last year I almost finished on the podium and this year I think I could have done it. I was very good in Luxembourg and Tour de Suisse. What we saw at the Tour was exciting but I think there would have been even more suspense and excitement if I'd been there.
"Winning Suisse was a sign that I was in super shape. I'm very proud of winning that race. I've done it many times and I've finished well but to go there and win is different. It's a great race, beautiful climbs and always something any rider wants in his palmarès."
Despite his crash at the Tour de France, Schleck recovered in time for Vuelta. He lined up alongside his brother but with Andy breaking team rules and drinking alcohol in a bar he found himself a teammate short after Bjarne Riis ejected the younger brother from the race.
"Andy lost me in the Tour and of course I would have needed him in the Vuelta to help me. I would be lying if I said it was all fine. It was an issue when he was taken from the race and yes, there was a lot going on behind the scenes but I promised Bjarne and myself that that I owed him something and that I'd continue to focus.
"We'd worked together for eight years and we had a super strong team. Even though everyone there knew we were changing teams everyone was great and we stuck together without any questions. Every rider gave everything and you can't ask for more than that.
"At the end of the day I didn't have to agree with Bjarne, it wasn't my decision. Of course I have my opinion on it. As Andy said he made a mistake and has to live. No, I didn't agree with the decision but I respect it and had to live with it."

Fränk Schleck's time with Riis has seen the climber win a number of races including the Tour de Suisse, two stages in the Tour de France and Amstel Gold. While the Operación Puerto cloud will always be a low, the Luxembourg rider believes that the relationship between former boss and employee will always remain strong.
"I heading for new challenges - we both are - but we'll still respect each other on or off the bike," Schleck said, putting aside any of the perceived friction that was on display during the tail end of the season.
"Bjarne gave me a chance and I remember it like yesterday. I remember reading online that the CSC riders were preparing for boot camp and I was sat at home and didn't know if I was going or not. I almost gave up and then a day later Bjarne called me and told me to get on a plane. I was so excited when I was packing, I had to get everything, flashlight, everything. He gave me a chance to grow and gave me a good programme."
Next year, any respect will be put to one side when the Riis and the Schlecks will be part of different teams. At next week's Tour de France presentation in Paris, the Schlecks will sit aside Nygaard, while Riis, presuming he attends, will be without his leader, Alberto Contador, who is still fighting to clear his name from doping allegations.
As Prudhomme unveils his 2011 route both Schlecks and Riis, assuming Contador clears his name, will be already thinking of opportunities to take the fight to each other and win next year's race.
"Yeah, that's going to be strange because we had a great friendship. We've tried to be as professional as we could, at all times. I raced the Vuelta and gave my all and Andy is at Lombardia right now. I'm sure that we'll sit down with Bjarne for a beer after a race from time to time.
"Professional cycling is a competition but we have friends in the bunch and once you finish a race you leave everything on the road."

RANDOM NEWS:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/giro-del-piemonte-1-hc/results : Gilbert won Giro del Piemonte yesterday in front of Bertagnolli and Breschel. By the way me would like to share a thought for Solari, Puyol, Gallopin, Colbrelli, De Marchi and Favilli. These riders in fact were in a breakaway that, with 30 kms to go, had 4 mnutes of advantage on the peloton. Then, apparently, the organisation's car that they were following took the wrong road and the riders followed it. By the time the boys realised they had taken the wrong road, the peloton had already ridden past them and so all their efforts were in vain. Poor unlucky boys.

PERSONAL LOMBARDY PREDICTION: Gilbert, Kolobnev and Fuglsang. Attention also to Brajkovic and Horner.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/velo-retires-after-lombardy : Lombardia will be the last race of Marco Velo, an athlete who in his career won some Italian TT championships, helped Pantani on the climbs of the Giro and the Tour and then worked in Petacchi's lead-out train.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/di-luca-free-to-race-after-coni-reduce-ban : I'm speechless and, right now, too angry to write a decent comment about this story. I mean, what message do you send out when you reduce the ban of a rider just because he helped you in your investigations? If a rider dopes, it's obvious he knows where to get doping, and it's obvious he'll help you just to have his ban reduced! Stupid Italian justice...

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.

Fangirl@Giro di Lombardia:

Yes,I'm surprising myself as well in publishing this post just one day after the Lombardy Tour.It normally takes me ages to write a Fangirl post,but this time I don't have much to tell (and I don't have lots of pics to post),so it has taken me less time than usual.
So,what happened to me yesterday? After school (and after that bloody maths test during which Logic had an unbelievable "mental bonk"),I got into my parents' car and we drove towards Lecco.There we found a bar,ate something and understood why some people say that the Lago di Como is very nice.The team cars started to arrive at 14.30 and I laughed a bit when the 2 Cofidis cars both took the wrong road.You may think I'm evil,but I assure you that it was a very comic scene:all the team cars one behind the other,the Cofidis cars behind the Rabobank's ones,the Rabobank's ones that take the right road and the Cofidis ones that,riding very fast,take the wrong direction. Funny.
Anyway.According to the info I got on a website,the riders should have ridden through Lecco between 14.55 and 15.20.Little problem,at 15.30 the riders weren't in Lecco yet.Then,after a few minutes of waiting during which Fangirl started to fear that the riders had imitated Cofidis team cars and taken the wrong road towards the Ghisallo,the cyclists finally appeared.Or at least,4 of them appeared.They were Klimov,Roche,Velo and Honig.Roche's appearance was nice because it made me found out that,although my eyes can't read what the teachers write on the blackboard at school,they can recognise the Irish cycling champion from more than 300 meters of distance.After about 4 minutes,also the rest of the peloton appeared.There was a Silence-Lotto rider pulling together with a Lampre and an Euskadi's one but unfortunately,I couldn't recognise any of them.Fortunately for Fangirl,I managed to recognise Chris-Anker Sorensen,Jens Voigt and also Sylvester Szmyd while they were riding in front of me.
Chris-Anker was looking at a rider behind him,while Jens was looking as good as usual.Fangirl didn't scream anything at them because she was disturbed by that Lovkvist supporter beside her.Said supporter in fact was in a great Fangirl mood and kept on screaming things about how good-looking Lovkvist was.
Btw it was great to see Jens riding in front of me again,since it was the first time since the Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard stage of the Tour that I saw him live.Of course you all know what happened after Voigt rode in front of me that day and so you'll probably understand what it meant to me to see him again.
When all the riders had ridden in front of us,my family and I ran to the family car,got inside it and started to drive towards Albavilla.Our plan in fact was to see the riders in 2 different places since,acording to the plan-creator,going to Como or to the Ghisallo would have been impossible because of a series of reasons involving police,car-parking and other things.Btw,according to the plan-creator,in Albavilla we would have managed to see the riders riding slowly and already divided in little groups.Unfortunately things didn't go as easy as planned.
First of all,Italian drivers and Italian roads are simply terrifible and we had a direct experience of that yesterday,while driving to Albavilla.We had an hour time to get there,but a fucking traffic light and some stupid Italian drivers (why the hell do you have to drive around on your tractor on a Saturday afternoon? Why? And you,why do you have to phone your boyfriend when you're driving? Why?) made us arrive in Albavilla just 5 minutes before of the riders.And even if the riders were supposed to arrive in 5 minutes time,the policemen still let the cars drive on the road as if it was a normal moment of a normal day.Between the vehicles we saw driving on the road in those 5 minutes there was also that bus that the riders nearly hit during the last part of the race.Luckily no one got injured.

Anyway,the first riders to arrive in Albavilla were the breakaway ones:Santambrogio,Martin, Devenyns,Carrara,Hoogerland and Larsson.A nice breakaway,I must say:Santambrogio is my favourite Italian rider at the moment,while Carrara comes from my same city and Devenyns, Martin and Hoogerland are riders that I pretty like.And then of course there was Gustav Larsson.Fangirl found herself in a state of confusion and couldn't scream anything also this time.Of course Logic was very shocked by this fact.
After a few seconds,the rest of the peloton arrived.Unfortunately there were still lots of riders all together and me could see just Evans.Then,between the team cars,I could see Lars Boom.The Dutch rider was looking tired and had probably just ended his portion of work.
After the peloton,some other riders arrived (I could recognise Bertagnolli,Velo,Klimov and Brandt).Then the cars began to ride again on the road and we got inside our car as well."Are we sure that all the riders have ridden in front of us? I haven't seen the car with the 'finish of the race' cartel on yet" Fangirl said to Logic."I haven't seen it either,but there must be a reason if the police has opened again the road",Logic answered to Fangirl.Unfortunately,there wasn't a reason.In fact after few seconds a group of riders arrived and the policeman had to stop every car that was on the road in a very dangerous way.Logic got soooo angry at the policeman!!!! She wanted to get off the car and tell something to that man,but Fangirl managed to stop her.And so,we started to drive home while listening to the race-transmission on the radio.Of course people in that transmission didn't talk just about cycling,but also about football.After finding out that in a Serie B team there are 2 guys called Troianiello and Caianiello (I'm not joking!) and that there is also someone else called Troiano,I finally heard about Gilbert's victory.I must say I'm happy for him:he was the strongest rider in the last days and he showed it also yesterday. Sanchez came in 2nd and Kolobnev came in 3rd,while Fangirl's favourite Chris-Anker Sorensen came in 23rd.

And so this was the last "Fangirl@race" post of the year.It's been a great year for me (it's the first time I see so many races live in all my life) and hopefully you had fun reading these posts.

NB: The pics I've published in this post are less (and worse) than usual since the family photographer yesterday was on a photography strike against me for unknown reasons.
(All pics by myself except the last one,who was taken by AP/La Presse).