Decision time, cycling market and shaving legs:

Almost one week after her last post, miss Fede is back blogging (*chorus of: 'It was high time' coming from all over the world*). There have been some important transfer news in the last few days, and I would have liked to write something about them, but unfortunately I was too busy with university papers and important decisions to spend my time writing about O'Grady leaving Leopard or Renshaw leaving Cavendish. On Thursday in fact, after some moments of indecision, I eventually took a big breathe before enroling in the 'Foreign Languages and Literatures' faculty of the Bergamo university.

I was 12 when I first said that I wanted to study foreign languages at uni, so I didn't actually have any doubt about which faculty to choose. Unfortunately, I did have lots of problems when I had to choose which languages (and related literatures) to study in the next two years. In fact, me couldn't decide whether I should have studied German and English, English and Russian or German and Russian.

The first option would have had lots of advantages for me because high school gave me a very good grounding as far as English and German are concerned. Therefore, choosing this language combo at would have surely spared me a lot of hard work at least in the first year of uni.

Unfortunately in my area there are many people who can speak English and German without difficulties, so I decided not to choose this option because, in a certain way, I felt it was too 'obvious' from the 'future employment' perspective. In order to choose something that would have given me the chance of getting a good job without many problems, I eventually decided to study a pretty uncommon language: Russian. This decision wasn't actually that difficult to take and it was the consequence of three facts. First: the university of Bergamo is considered the best one for the Italian students who want to take up Russian. Second: I can already read cyrillic (understanding the meaning of the words is another issue). Third: Denis Menchov is Russian. Really, it was as simple as that.

After deciding to study Russian, it was time of taking another decision: studying German  or English together with it? English has always been my favourite language and I've always found it very easy, whereas I've always found German much more difficult (although I've always been good at it too). But still, there is no comparison between my English and my German skills: whereas I can communicate in English without too many problems, I still have problems in speaking German fluently. And, in the end, that's the reason why I've decided to keep on studying German and to abandon English.

I'm satisfied with my languages-choice, but I understood the importance of this fact just when a fellow rookie (who, unlike me, is going to study English and German) told me about what she'll study in her literature courses. Whereas she'll spend her days reviewing our high school notes about Blake, Hamlet and Joyce, I'll have to study Gogol, Dostoevskij and Pushkin. At least, the professor who runs the 'German literature' course seems a big fan of Kafka :P

Anyway. Enough ranting about myself for today. It's cycling time now!

The last few days have been full of decisions not just for me, but also for many cyclists who are changing teams. In particular, HTC Highroad hasn't managed to find a new sponsor for next year and this means that the everyone on the team (ds, riders, soigneurs, bus drivers, etc.) now need to find a new equipe.

Mark Cavendish, the most appealing jewel in the HTC crown, is heading towards Sky, just like Siutsou and Bernie Eisel. Mark Renshaw, on the other hand, has decided to go looking for adventure in Holland. In fact the fast Aussie has decided to join Rabobank and to try to become the main sprinter of the Dutch team.

As far as Cavendish moving to Sky is concerned, people talked about this transfer already last year. After all, it was just a matter of time before the British king of the sprints ended up in the only British team of the ProTour... But still, right now I'm wondering how the ds of that team will manage to create a GT line-up which will be able to support Cav in the sprints and Wiggo in the mountains.

Still talking about fast riders, Thor Hushovd has announced that he's going to race for BMC in 2012. In my opinion this is a wise move because, by leaving Garmin, Thor will finally find a team that will support him completely both during the Classics and during the toughest sprints of the season. At Garmin instead the Norwegian rider had to deal with Van Summeren during the Classics and with Farrar and Haussler during the sprints. Unfortunately, Garmin hasn't appreciated this move and in fact it has decided not to bring Hushovd to la Vuelta. Thor has been shocked by the news because the Spanish GT is the best way to prepare the Worlds, which Hushovd could win also this year. By not racing it, Thor will take part in the Danish race with a big handicap.

Still talking about Garmin, the team is going to lose other riders in the next season. In fact, Jack Bobridge and the Meyer brothers have all decided to join the GreenEdge team, which is a very interesting Australian project. Amongst the guys who have signed a contract with this new team there are also Stuart O'Grady and Pieter Weening, two exceptional riders. O'Grady said that leaving Leopard was 'the most difficult decision of his career', but I think no one can criticise him for his will of joining such an ambitious project. Good luck Stuey!

Talking about national projects: Astana has employed Kashechkin, whereas Katiusha has offered a contract to Angel Vicioso.

As far as French teams are concerned, Di Gregorio is joining Cofidis, whereas AG2R has employed Casper. Tony Gallopin, instead, is joining RadioShack.

A team that has been very active so far in the cycling market is Skil Shimano, who has great expectations for next year. In fact the Professional team has already employed Patrick Gretsch and has offered a contract to Degenkolb who, according to Gazzetta, has received an offer also fromLleopard Trek. The German sprinter is behaving in a mysterious way and has said that he'll reveal his new team during the Vuelta. Given the misteryous behaviour, one could assume that he's joining the Leopards.

Talking about LT, the team has recently employed Ben Hermans, who is a solid helper. Quick Step instead has signed the Velits twins, one of which (I never remember who...) is a very strong GT contender.

Whereas Movistar has wisely employed the Italian hope Visconti, Vacansoleil is likely to become the team with the most loved line-up ever, since it has offered a contract to everyone's hero Kenny Van Hummel. He and Hoogerland together at the Tour, wow!

Talking about the Italian market, one of the big names looking for a contract is Pippo Pozzato. I've already said that LT should employ him, but it actually seems that Poz may end up riding for Farnese Vini. In fact Lampre apparently refused to give Filippo a contract after he said that he wanted the team to employ also his soigneur and his friend Paolini. I think Lampre was right in taking this decision, because Pozzato hasn't had any great result in the last two years and, imo, he should have a more humble attitude towatds those who want to give him a contract.

As far as the retiring riders are concerned, it seems that the cyclists who'll abandon the peloton after October are Arvesen (can anyone tell me more about this?), Cuesta, Noé and Loosli. On the other hand, some fresh air is arriving in Cycledom thanks to the neo pros: Keldermann is joining Rabobank, whereas Stefano Locatelli and Enrico Battaglin are joining Colnago. The promising Trentin instead has signed a contract with Omega, whereas Moreno Moser has become a Liquigas rider. Good luck to these boys!

After talking about serious issues like team transfers and universities, now it's time we relaxed a bit with something funny. And that is: 'Why do pros shave legs?', by fitness expert Scott Saifer. This man writes a fitness column for Cyclingnews and he has recently answered an e-mail about the riders' habit of shaving legs. Talking about that topic, Chris Anker Sorensen once said that pros shave because: 1. it's a tradition. 2. it helps the soigneurs during the massages. 3. 'Teams spend thousand euros every year in order to give us the most aerodynamic bikes. Ruining all these efforts because of a pair of hairy legs would be a bit silly, wouldn't it?'

So, what did mr. Saifer answer to the reader who asked him why riders shave their legs? Enjoy!

Okay, I have to tell you the real reason pros shave their legs. It's because pros shave their legs. There are lots of reasons to do it, but ultimately they do it because all the other riders do it. I've heard that pros shave so that it they crash and have to have bandages, the bandages won't stick to the hair, but I don't believe that most pros plan to crash so while that is a reason to shave, I don't believe that's why they do it. I've heard that hair sticks to asphalt and makes road rash worse as bigger chunks of skin get pulled off, but again, I don't think that's why they shave (...)

It's been said that smooth legs might decrease aerodynamic drag and improve competitiveness. It's also been said that a bit of hair could act like the turbulators on airplane wings, actually deceasing wind resistance by disrupting laminar flow and easing the separation of the air from the leg. Since smooth legs being faster makes intuitive sense, aerodynamics could explain shaving. Some pros do shave their arms as well.

Some riders say they shave because "chicks dig it". Many riders say that the first few days after shaving for the first time sliding between clean sheets is an awesome experience. Maybe some pros are closet sensualists.

Bottom line though is that riders shave because pros shave, and pros shave because pros shave. There are lots of arguable reasons but I don't think individual riders necessarily have reasons in that way. On the other hand, show up at a racing club ride in a new town with hairy legs and see how you are received. You'll be accepted much more readily if your legs are smooth.

After this masterpiece of writing, and while trying not to imagine some riders (Pozzato! D:)sliding between clean sheets while looking entusiasthic, I wish you all a good evening.

Hard times in Gap (post updated and improved at 9 pm):

Ok girls: let's take a big breathe and let's start discussing today's stage . It will be hard, but we can make it. Fot those of you who didn't watch it, below there's a little resume of it.
RESUME:

First of all it must be said that, according to many people, this afternoon a breakaway would have succeded. Therefore the riders faced the first two hours of race at a very fast pace. In fact there were so many people who wanted to go on a breakaway that, with 80 kms to go, the complex procedure of creating a breakaway appreciated by every team hadn't ended yet. At that moment the guys on a breakaway were 12 and amongst them there were Hoogerland, Roche, Hesjedal and Kreuziger. Unfortunately for them, in the breakway there was no one from Team Sky, so that the British team decided to pull as hard as possible in order to annihilate that action.

A few kms later, the final breakaway was finally formed. Amongst the lucky breakawayers du jour there were Hushovd, Boasson Hagen, Hesjedal, Roy, Ignatiev, Martin, Devenyns, Grivko, Perez Lezaun and Marcato.

With 20 kms to go, the riders had to face a 9 kms long climb, which was 5% steep. Then they would have been able to reach Gap after riding in front of the famous 'Passage Armstrong'. In 2003 in fact a Tour stage ending in Gap saw Armstrong riding through a field in order not to crash. Since then, that field has been known as 'Passage Armstrong'.

Hesjedal attacked on the last climb and Boasson Hagen tried to follow him. Poor Edvald soon found himself in a Garmin sandwich, since Hushovd soon got glued to his wheel and wheelsucked him during the whole climb. In fact, Hesjedal and Hushovd are teammates and, once again, their team showed that they're masters at sandwiching other riders.

Boasson Hagen reached Hesjedal with 2 kms to go, at the end of the final descent (which was very slippery and dangerous because of the awful weather). Ryder immediately started to work for his captain, who talked briefly with Edvald. When the sprint began, the World champion had no problems in taking the victory ahead of the Norwegian rider of team Sky. Once again, a Tour de France stage ended up with looking like the Nowegian National Championships. And, once again, the Norwegian chronists have had the chance of screaming that they own the cycling world.

As the battle for the stage victory became an all-Norwegian fight, the battle for the GC exploded on the last climb. And guess who started it? Mister Alberto Contador.

The Spaniard attacked three times and the first time Andy Schleck (with a big help from Cancellara) was the one who closed the gap to him. Then the Spaniard's second attack was neutralised by a super Voeckler, whereas the only ones who could resist Conti's last attack were Evans and Samu Sanchez. The trio worked in order to get a decent advantage on the other GC riders, which didn't look that brilliant.

At the beginning of the final descent, los Schlecks and Basso weren't in the first positions of the group and, as a consequence, they lost a lot of time from Evans, Sanchez and Contador. Andy Schleck seemed very uncomfortable on his bike and he had many problems while facing the descent. Frank, on the other hand, was in the same group as Voeckler and Cunego and crossed the finish-line before his brother.

While Monfort was desperately trying to help Andy, Evans crossed the finish-line with an advantage of 21" on Voeckler and Frank Schleck. Contador and Sanchez instead lost 3" from the Aussie. Basso crossed the finish-line 54" after Evans, whereas Andy Schleck crossed it with 1'09" of delay.

DISCUSSION TIME (aka the updated - and improved - part of this post):
So, that was a short resume of what happened this afternoon at the Tour. Now it's discussion. But first, let me explain you the reason behind the title of this post. I wrote a version of this post right after the stage, when I was very angry and, in a certain way, even happy for the outcome of the race. But then I watched the stage again  because, after dinner, I still couldn't realise what had happened on that last stupid climb. Therefore I watched the last 20 kms of the stage once again, trying to let Logic rule over Fangirl. After all, when I saw the stage live I was blinded also by Fangirlism, which wanted Andy to attack and drop everyone else... Luckily, watching the stage once again was the right thing to do. After doing that, in fact, I realised that some of the critics that I had made to the brothers were unfair and that they were just the products of a particularly bitchy moment of mine. However, I'm not going to deny that I loved Contador's attacks on that climb :P
In that first post of mine, I wrote: 'I'm having a tough time writing this post. On the one hand, I'm very disappointed by the result of the Schleck brothers (and of Andy in particular), but I'd like to defend them anyway. After all, they don't like the rain, the final descent was slippery, yesterday there was the rest day, today's stage was very particular because it was short and because there was this climb on which, according to many people, nothing would have happened. These could be some excuses - but still, let's remind ourselves that the rain, the slippery descent, the final climb and the rest day were the same for everyone.

Really, my mind is overwhelmed with feelings right now. If, on the one hand, I don't want to be too harsh with the brothers because they're human beings too, on the other hand it's true that I'm very angry and that, actually, I'm almost happy to see how things have gone. In fact, as a cycling supporter, I'm really happy for having finally seen a true champion like Contador attacking, an intelligent guy like Evans following him, a rider full of grit like Voeckler doing his best, and a cunning boy like Sanchez trying to take advantage from the fact that he's been very underestimated so far. Finally, some thrills coming from the race, and not from crashes and things like that.

As well as that, I'm 'happy' also because this afternoon I understood that, after all, I wasn't wrong when I criticised the Schleck brothers for not attacking. 'One should attack Contador as long as he isn't in good shape', I have often said in the last days. But still, LT guys kept on saying that there was still a lot of time to attack in this Tour. Now, as a reward for their strategy, they had the following thing: Contador is back in shape and in the next days he'll create problems to everyone'.
I'm not going to change or exclude that part of my post because, after all, it is true that I felt that way right after the end of the stage. I felt as I had taken my revenge on those people who hadn't listened to all the critics of the last days but, at the same time, I felt sorry for the brothers. Actually, I had forgotten to mention that at the time I was also relieved because, luckily, on Tuesdays my uncle and my father work until 7 pm, so they didn't have the chance of shouting at me right after the stage.
As far as my post-stage critics to the brothers are concerned, in the first version of this post I had written: 'First thing to say, Baby Schleck could have taken turns at the front with Contador, when he found himself at the head of the peloton, alone with him. In that moment, in fact, the two riders had a little gap on Voeckler and Evans and, by helping Conti, Andy could have managed to gain more time on his adversaries and to bluff in a great way, pretending to be in a better shape than he actually was. But, unfortunately, our boy decided to stay glued to Contador's wheel without helping him - and, right now, I'd like to know why he behaved in that way. Did he do it because Frank was behind him? Well, let me say one thing: if you always want to stay with your brother, buy yourself a tandem. Instead, if our boy was already 'a bloc' there, I think we should seriously start worrying'.
Actually, after watching the stage again I've realised that Andy didn't help Contador because, after all, their gap on their adversaries wasn't that big. Moreover, I realised a very weird thing: Andy looked ok until, with some kms to the top of the climb, he suddenly stopped pulling at the head of the peloton in order to ride to the opposite side of the road while looking backwards. That's when Contador attacked, that's when the final gap was created. A few seconds later, Andy went at the bottom of the yellow jersey group, but then he went back at the front of it, pulling in order to join Evans, Samu Sanchez and Conti. As long as Andy pulled, the trio had a little delay (20") from the trio. But then, when Andy stopped pulling and he left that task to Frank, things got worse. And, at the top of the climb, the brothers' delay from the magic trio at the front was 30". Now the questions are: what happened when Andy turned his head? And why did he suddenly slow down in such an evident way?
Well, unfortunately I don't have any answer to these questions. Did OGL have a bonk? Right now, that seems the only possible explanation to me. Especially because, after all, we saw a guy like Taaramae almost bridging up to the trio at the front with just one strong attack. Rein is a good rider, that's for sure, but the brothers should be better than him... Or, perhaps, Andy stopped riding full gas because he saw that Frank wasn't with him. If things really went that way, well, I can't help but repeating the 'tandem' bit of my original post :P
Another critic that I originally made to the brother is the following: 'I didn't like the fact that Andy (once again) asked the other riders to help him in his Contador chase. This afternoon, the one who was interested in not being delayed by Conti was Andy, and not Cunego or Danielson or Jeanesson!' I watched the stage again and I think that, if Andy really was on the verge of a bonk, his move is perfectly justifiable.
Another critic of mine instead regarded LT's team, 'which this afternoon didn't look that strong'. Even now that I've calmed down, I agree with what I had written. LT's lack of strength was also a consequence of Fuglsang's health problems but, imo, a Tour team shouldn't rely just on one helper.
I've also informed myself about the moment when LT guys eventually decided to talk to the press. Although Italian tv didn't manage to talk with anyone from the team until 6 pm, Danish guys were much luckier and they could talk to Andy immediately after the finish-line. Therefore, forget that original bit of mine about LT not talking to the press.
So far, perhaps this renewed post doesn't sound harsh at all on the brothers. But still, I have some critics about what they said after the stage.
First of all, I suggest you paying attention at the following sentence by Andy: 'Plateau de Beille didn't allow me to make any difference because it isn't a difficult climb'. OGL said this on Saturday, after facing a 15 kms long climb which is 8% steep. Considering that this afternoon he lost 30" from Contador on a 9 kms long climb, which is 5% steep, I can state that that sentence has just managed to make Andy look like a complete idiot.
Talking about the team website, instead, at first I had written: 'Once again, LT website did his best to justify los Schlecks. “We were a bit surprised that Contador went on the climb. We didn’t count out the possibility, of course. We know that he is a rider that attacks when he has good legs, but we had anticipated he would wait for the Alps". Surprised or, better, completely shocked: that's how the brothers looked like after Conti's attack. Luckily for cycling lovers, Alberto does attack when he feels good, and not just when a stage looks hard on paper. And then, if the brothers had't ruled out this possibility, how come that they weren't in the first positions of the peloton when Conti attacked?'
After looking back at the stage, I agree with the bit about Contador's skill of attacking whenever he has the chance. After all, I think we must be grateful to Contador for brightening up this Tour - after 14 stages, it was high time!
As far as the positions in the peloton is concerned, I think that the brothers should learn to race right behind their helpers. This afternoon instead O'Grady, Monfort, Cancellara and Posthuma (where were the other guys?) were behind BMC's riders, whereas the brothers were all alone, on the opposite side of the group.
As far as the brothers' shock in front of Conti's attack is concerned, I must admit that the most shocked one seemed Frank. Andy, instead, reacted very well. Or, at least, tht's what he did at first.
Another thing that I had previously written was: 'By reading LT's website, one gets the feeling that the brothers didn't do well because of the rain and of the final descent. Now, don't the LT guys look at the weather forecasts before the beginning of a stage? Didn't they know that there was a difficult descent at the end of today's stage and that, considering the weaknesses of the brothers, it would have been good to gave a guy like Cancellara (or Voigt or whoever else) in a breakaway? And didn't they know that the brothers had to do everything they could to tackle the descent in the first positions of the peloton?'
In this case I still agree with what I've said, since I haven't found any reference to LT riders trying to make it into the early breakaway du jour. And as far as my last question is concerned, I still agree with it. But still, I can't understand why Andy rode so badly downhill. Frank, who is usually worse than him, rode much better this afternoon!
Here's another one of my previous critics: ' "Contador knows all too well that the Schlecks don’t perform at their best in the cold and rainy conditions.It’s all part of the game - knowing your opponents and knowing their weaknesses. He knows the conditions today, coupled with the dangerous descent, were not our strong point”, Frank continued in the LT article. Since this is part of the game, and since everyone could have guessed that Conti wasn't at his best at the beginning of the Tour, why didn't YOU take advantage of his weaknesses? Seriously, this is getting ridicolous. If someone like me (who is not a cycling expert) had understood that Contador would have been in a good shape this week, that the brothers had lost too many chances in the last days and that today's stage could have been a threat to the GC, I wonder why LT's ds (who get paid for analysing races and predicting the eventual outcome of a race) didn't'. Well, sorry but here I still agree with myself (yes, I know, while reading this post you're thinking that I have a double personality ;)
Anyway, although this renewed post looks much more cold-blooded than my last one, I must say that I have a last critic to make to the Schleck brothers - a critic which didn't appear in the original post. In it in fact I had written: 'I realise I've been very harsh (and chaotic) in this post but, to use Natasha's words, 'emotions are high right now'. However, I'm not the only one who's being harsh on the Schlecks right now. In fact, I've taken a look at Cyclingnews' forum and I've read some disrespectful things about los Schlecks. In particular, it seems that Andy has recently talked to Danish tv and said: "Is this what people want to see, a Tour being decided by a descent and not by a climb? The riders have families at home!' According to another poster on that same forum, shortly afterwards Rolf Sorensen (who was standing in the rain, holding an umbrella) commented: 'Right now, I feel just like Andy Schleck: I don't want to do this anymore when it rains!' - So brilliant!'
Well, I can understand that Andy was probably annoyed, cold, scared and whatever else after the stage, but one should be careful with words even in such delicate moments. Especially because some could say that supporters prefer watching riders losing time on descents than losing time because of crashes. Moreover, if we have to be honest, Andy lost 30" on the climb, and other 39" in the descent. So, he didn't lose time just because of the downhill road. However, I know that 'the words lesson' is very difficul learn - actually, I've had a proof of that this afternoon, when I wrote the original version of this post. Andy, that's something we can learn together ;)

So, this were my two takes on today's stage. Sorry if this post looks very confused, but I'm a honest girl and, when I'm too harsh on someone, I can recognise it. To read the original post, read the parts written with a different colour. To read the revisited one, read the white parts. Sorry for the mess, once again.

Luckily, tomorrow is another day and, hopefully, the brothers will feel better. Btw, look out for the last descent: it is really, really tricky.
I should have visited the Tour tomorrow, but unfortunately some health problems of a familiar will prevent me from visiting the race.

Anyway. Schleck supporters of the whole world, let's rememember something positive: when the Tour hit Italy in 2008, Frankie got the yellow jersey ahead of Evans. And when it hit Italy in 2009, on the following day Frankie won a stage. Seriously, that boy should come racing in Italy much more often.
That's all from me for the moment - once again, please forgive me for the chaos I've made with this post. Simply, when I'm angry I just turn off my brain and open up my mouth. Not a good combination :P

 

PS: A very kind reader, Kat, has left some very interesting comments and links in the comment area of the following post of mine: http://fede-myblog92.blogspot.com/2010/11/picspam-time-wonderful-pictures-of.html . Check them out!

Mors tua, vita mea:

Mors tua, vita mea: the old Latins had already understood that, in life, one's defeat often corresponds to the victory of someone else. And, considering that cycling is a metaphor of life, this old rule applies also to it, just like we could see this afternoon at the Tour de France.

13th stage of the TdF 2011, from Pau to Lourdes. The riders started the stage from one of the most visited towns of the history of the race and arrived in a city that was visited by the Grande Boucle just once, in 1948 (on that occasion the winner was Gino 'the Pius' Bartali). Between the two cities, a giant called Aubisque was ready to create problems to the athletes.

In the morning the atmosphere around the buses of the riders who did well yesterday was euphoric and relaxed at the same time. Basso was describing how his son Santiago had told him off for not having won on Luz Ardiden, Cunego looked as happy as in the Giro 2004 and Voeckler was smiling while wearing the yellow jersey.

However, at the start of the race there were also people who weren't that relaxed. Some adventurers on wheels for example were already focused on entering the breakaway du jour, whereas Alberto Contador refused to give interviews to the non-Spanish journalists and Andreas Kloeden was ready to another day of sufference. The German rider eventually decided to end his Tour shortly after the beginning of the stage and even had problems in getting into the team car.

As soon as the stage began, the riders started to fight in order to enter the breakaway du jour. Everyone wanted to break free from the peloton because today's stage looked too difficult for the sprinters and too easy for the climbers. Therefore, those who wanted to win a stage thanks to a breakaway knew that this afternoon they would have had good chances of making it to the finish-line without being absorbed by the peloton.

After 56 kms faced at a very fast pace, the names of the lucky riders who formed the daily break were decided. And, between those names, there were also some surprises. Sprinters like Petacchi and Hushovd, strong all rounders like Pineau, Boasson Hagen, Fofonov and Tjallingii, time trialists like Bak and Gusev, a climber like Moncoutié and a brave engineer like Jeremy Roy: these were the 9 lucky men who rode peacefully towards Aubisque.

As the 9 men approached the climb, Lars Boom got retired, just like Isaichev and the already mentioned Kloden. Steegmans, instead, hadn't even started the stage because, after 10 days of pain, this morning he finally discovered that he has a broken bone in his hand. Therefore the Belgian decided to say 'Adieu!' to the French race, which so far has been extremely painful for most of the Quick Step riders.

When the Aubisque began, Thor Hushovd was the first rider to try and gain some time on his adversaries. But still, he was soon overtaken by Moncoutié and by Roy, who are less heavier than the Norwegian. The first rider to arrive at the top of the climb was Jeremy Roy who, at the time, had 2 minutes of advantage on Hushovd and Moncoutié. The other breakawayers instead had a bigger delay and therefore they had to say adieu to their dreams of glory with more than 40 kms to go. Dreams of glory which, at the time, had already started to dance in the head of Jeremy Roy.
Now, let's look at Jeremy Roy more carefully: his cycling-ID says that he's 28 year-old, that he's French and that he's been riding for Française des Jeux since he turned pro at the age of 20, although he could actually start racing in a professional way just when he ended his university studies 3 years ago.
Since the beginning of this year Tour from Passage du Gois, Roy has been looking for glory almost daily. Flat stages, mountains, hills, valleys: the Française des Jeux rider gave his best on many occasions and on many terrains. Until this morning, however, the rewards for his efforts had been just the most combative rider award and a decent amount of money (2000 euros), which he earned yesterday by becoming the first rider to ride atop of Tourmalet. As predictable, Jeremy wasn't satisfied by these prizes. In fact he wanted (and he still wants) a stage victory, which he would like to dedicate to his 1 month old baby.

While riding to Lourdes, Jeremy gave everything he had. He ordered his legs to shut up, he tried to catch his breathe several times and he tried to ignore the pain and the fatigue in his muscles. He was on his way to a stage victory in Lourdes, the city of miracles, the city where Bartali won more than 60 years ago: he couldn't believe it and he tried to make his dream last as long as possible. That's why he kept on giving it all, although he knew that two strong guys like Moncoutié and Hushovd were chasing hard behind him.

The World champion this afternoon was as determined as always - or, perhaps, even more determined than usual. Last week he had the honour of covering his rainbow jersey with a yellow one and he lived a great afternoon on Super Besse, as he managed to remain with the best grimpeurs of the world on a difficult climb. Then, on the following day, when he had to abandon the leader jersey, Thor probably realised that he still wasn't fully satisfied with his Tour de France: in fact, the icing on the cake was still missing. And for a guy like Thor (who has won at least one stage of the Tour every year since 2006), the icing on the cake could be just a great stage victory. His will to get a stage win made him enter today's breakaway and it forced him to chase Jeremy Roy with just one thing on his mind: the finish-line in Lourdes, where he could have won in front of thousandth of people, thus making all the Norwegians (and the Norwegian chronists in particular) go crazy once again. But still, in order to win Thor needed to annihilate his delay from Jeremy Roy.

With 20 kms to go, Roy still had a gap of 1 minute on his chasers. His ds was trying his best to encourage him, to make him grit his teeth once again because, in that way, he could have become the first Frenchman to win a stage in this year Tour. Jeremy grit his teeth and kept on pushing hard on his pedals, but the fatigue of the previous days soon started to claim its tribute. While Hushovd kept on pulling hard, Roy started to lose seconds. With 7 kms to go, he had just 20" of advantage on the Norwegian.

The final kms were extremely exciting - and heartbreaking. Hushovd was pulling and gaining time, whereas Jeremy was just losing seconds. 'Come on Jeremy, you still have a chance! Oh no, Thor is getting closer and closer and now even the wind has started to bother you! Poor Jeremy, come on! You deserve this victory and you can stil get it! David is not pulling, so it's a one-against-one battle! Come on boy, you can make it!', people were screaming from behind the barriers, from behind their televisions, from behind their computer screens. Unfortunately, those screams were in vain. With about 1 km to go, in fact, Hushovd overtook Roy with ease. Moncoutié followed the Norwegian, who soon dropped him as well, thus being able to cross the finish-line quietly, with his hands raised above the sky.

A few seconds after him, Moncoutié crossed the finish-line, whereas Roy was the third one to end the stage. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the brave French rider, which started to cry and which didn't feel better in spite of getting the polka dots jersey and the 'red number' as awards for his efforts. "Jerseys are only temporary", FDJ's ds said while talking about Jeremy's disappointment.

As Roy's sportive drama moved half of the cycling world, the other half was amazed by Thor's triumph in a stage between the mountains. By winning today's stage, Hushovd demonstrated that he's a perfect all rounder: this year he won the TdF stage featuring Aubisque, last year he won the cobblestones stage which cost a collarbone to Frank Schleck, two years ago he won on the little climb of Montjuic and a few years ago instead he triumphed on Champs Elysées. Calling Thor 'a sprinter' is unfair and we had a demonstration of that also this afternoon. 'We own the cycling world!', the Norwegian chronists screamed after Boasson Hagen's victory a few days ago. Well, with a rider like Thor, owing the cycling world doesn't even seem that difficult.

While the 'mors tua, vita mea' way of saying found another demonstration of its value in the battle between Hushovd and Roy, the Europcar team led the group on the narrow roads inside Lourdes. Voeckler looked a bit nervous this afternoon, especially when he asked Andy Schleck to help his team in the chase of Gilbert, who had escaped from the group at the end of Aubisque together with Bauke Mollema. In spite of that (and of the fact that the Belgian rider gained 2 minutes in the overall), Thomas managed to keep the yellow jersey in an easy way. Now the question is: will he manage to keep it also tomorrow? The question is difficult to answer, since Voeckler had one of the best days of his career on Plateau de Beille and is determined not to abandon the leader jersey. 'It's incredible how this jersey can transform a rider', Thomas said yesterday evening.
Unfortunately for him, tomorrow Voeckler will have to stand the attacks of the other GC riders, each of which hopes to win the stage and continue the tradition according to which, so far, all the riders who have won a stage ending on Plateau de Beille managed to be on the top spot of Paris podium a few days later. Will the tradition continue also this year? In case of a Schleck's victory, I really do hope so.

PS: Remember the 5 euros I betted on Hushovd yesterday? Well, unfortunately they were 5 imaginary euros. That means, no prize for me (just a big disappointment because I supported Roy in the last kms of race)!

(Pic by Bettini)

Tour of Norwegy:

At this year Tour de France there are just two riders from Norway: Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd. And this afternoon Edvald won the 6th stage of the Tour, whereas Thor managed to keep the yellow jersey for the 5th day in a row. Considering how the Norwegian chronists reacted when Arvesen won a Tour stage a few years ago (get ready to hear some histerical screams /laughs and take a look at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFhiIK7wyk&feature=related), I wonder what they did this afternoon.

Actually, I don't have much to say about today's stage. The day began with two topics of discussions: the crashes of the previous stage and the argument between Petacchi and Rojas. According to the Spaniard, Petacchi was having problems following Cavendish, so he got on the wheel of the British rider by overtaking Alessandro. Ale - Jet didn't enjoy this fact and hurt Rojas with his fist, so that the Spaniard couldn't breathe properly for a few seconds.

However, Petacchi has another version of this story. In fact he said he was on Hondo's wheel when Rojas dangerously overtook him in order to get on Cavendish' wheel. Petacchi reacted by putting his hand on José's hip, but he didn't actually hurt him (that's what Alessandro said).

After crossing the finish-line, the two riders kept on fighting. 'Petacchi is a pig!', Rojas said; 'Rojas is a s***!', Petacchi claimed after getting onto the team's bus. It's always nice to see two riders getting on in a pacific way, isn't it?
Actually, yesterday wasn't a very good day at all for Rojas. Ok, he did end 3rd on the stage, but he lost the green jersey because, according to the jury, he and Boonen had been unloyal towards Cavendish at the intermediate sprint.

Anyway. Back to today. Tom Boonen decided to start the stage in spite of the crash of the previous day, whereas Ivan Velasco didn't start because of a broken collarbone. Sylvain Chavanel, who really looked in pain, managed to finish the stage, whereas Vasil Kiryenka crossed the finish-line 27 minutes after the winner and was forced to abandon the race.

The breakawayers du jour were Lieuwe 'The Beast' Westra, Johnny Hoogerland (again), Anthony Roux, Leonardo Duque and Adriano Malori. With about 50 kms to go, Malori and Westra said 'adieu!' to their breakaway companions and decided to continue the race on their own. Adriano and Lieuwe are both very strong time trialists, but unfortunately this afternoon they were chased by Omega - Pharma Lotto and by Columbia.

With a few kms to go the riders had to face a steep little climb and that's where Malori's chances of victory faded away. With about 15 kms to go, in fact, the Italian rider had abandoned Westra in order to continue his adventure all alone. Unfortunately, good luck wasn't on Adriano's side this afternoon and the Lampre rider was caught with just 3 kms to go. As a little solace, Malori (who was the last rider in the GC of last year's Tour) was awarded with the 'most combative rider du jour' prize. A very good thing, if we consider that Adriano is still very young and is one of the most talented riders of the peloton.

The winner du jour was eventually decided by a sprint. Vinokourov was seen at the head of the race, but he didn't attack. Vanendert, on the other hand, created a little gap between himself and the peloton, but it was just a consequence of the fact that he was pulling too hard for his teammates to follow him. Voeckler ('V' was the magic letter in today's finale) instead attacked intentionally, but couldn't go very far.

When the sprint began, it looked like the favourites were Thor Hshovd (who considered winning today's stage as one of his main goals of the season) and Philippe Gilbert. Also Goss looked in a great form, just like Feillu. And instead, the man who crossed the finish-line first was the young Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was wonderfully helped by Geraint Thomas.

Edvald was very moved after the victory, also because his parents were there to watch him (not a great news, considering that the Boasson Hagen family is always present at the French race ;) and because this victory came after a difficult period for the Norwegian. A few days ago in fact the Sky rider had to deal with herpes zoester and didn't even know whether he would have been able to race the Tour. Not taking part in the French race would have been a bad blow for Edvald who, after an exceptional 2009, had lots of health problems in 2010. Anyway, BH managed to grit his teeth and, today, he was awarded with his first TdF victory. Chapeau!

While Boasson Hagen was already celebrating with his teammates, Levi Leipheimer angrily rode towards the finish-line. The Radioshack rider crashed against a guard-rail with 4 kms to go and lost a minute to the main GC contenders. Luckily, he didn't suffer any injury - just a bruised elbow.

So, this was today's stage of the TdF. As far as the Giro Donne is concerned, the Mortirolo stage was won by Marianne Vos, who's getting 'pinker' day after day. However, the other girls (Pooley, Guderzo, Arndt...) are ready to create her problems in the next stages.

(Pic by AFP)

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!!

Little random post about Suisse, France and exams:

Temporarily back from the land of the Hard Studying, miss Fede has finally found the time to leave her 'studi leggiadri' and her 'sudate carte' apart in order to update her blog.

'What? Update your blog? Are you crazy? You have an exam coming up, you should be studying like hell, girl!!'. That's what I hear you, dear readers, scream as you read the first lines of this post. But still, you shouldn't get so nervous about my exam. In fact, today I've done a really good job, since I woke up pretty early (well, early for my standards) and I've spent the last 12 hours of my life studying.

Although it actually took me a lifetime to review Leopardi and Manzoni (damned Promessi Sposi, how can those critics have so many things to say about it?), I'm pretty happy with what I've done so far. And what I've done so far is: the whole Romantic period in Italy, life/death/miracles of the depressing duo Leo & Manzo (those guys couldn't stand each other, isn't that hilarious?) and life/death (especially death) and miracles of Petronius, Seneca and Lucanus. Considering that I wrote a super-detailled scheme of every author I've mentioned above (scheme including all the possible matchings between the different subjects), I think I can be satisfied with what I've done so far.

Talking about the matchings between the different subject: I've recently discovered that I have an amazing ability to match Martin Heidegger to everyone/everything I've studied this year. Isn't that amazing?

Anyway. Let's finally talk cycling. Here you have a little dialogue between me and my sister, which took place at half past six as we watched the final sprint of today's stage of TdS.
Sister: 'The rider who won has lots of muscles'.
Me: 'Yes, I know'.
Sister: 'I don't like men with too many muscles'.
Me: 'Well, sprinters have muscles...'
Sister: 'Yeah, but I prefer climbers. Also Sagan has too many muscles for me. Uhm...Do you know one thing?'
Me: 'What?'
Sister: 'The rider who's won... I've seen his face before. He reminds me a lot of Thor Hushovd. They look a lot to each other, don't they?'
Me: 'Really?'
Sister: 'Yeah, he really looks like Hushovd imo'.
Me: 'Well, perhaps he looks like Hushovd because he actually is Thor Hushovd...'

From this special dialogue you can understand that, even after 8 hours of studying, my brain can still manage to work better than my sister's one. Amazing, isn't it?

Anyway. Tour de Suisse. Andy Schleck lost a big amount of time in the prologue, but he had problems with his bike, so he's justified for that (poor boy, he has a mechanical every time he hops on a bike!). Yesterday however Our Glorious Leader entered a breakaway and worked hard on the final climb, which was very steep (and long). He eventually got dropped, but he did a good training while pulling at the head of the race.

On to another LT rider, Jakob Fuglsang seems in a great shape right now. Yesterday in fact  he was in the breakaway together with Andy and today he's showed us his pretty face at the front of the race once again. Not that I complain, of course.

Jens Voigt looked very good too this afternoon, as he attacked with 4 kms to go. Also O'Grady showed his form in the finale and this is simply great.

Talking about Frank Schleck, instead, he did a great job on the second day of race, but yesterday he didn't attack. Btw, I'm positively impressed by the fact that he hasn't crashed yet in the race.

On to the other riders who are taking part in Tour de Suisse, some of them are already in a super condition. Cunego simply flew over the mountains yesterday, whereas Soler is finally back in shape. Hopefully he won't crash in the next stages.

Young guns like Van Garderen and Mollema are doing well too, whereas Di Luca seems to have gone back to the good old times when he was known as 'the killer'.

De Greef yesterday impressed everyone with his riding style ('He looks like a camel', the Italian chronist kindly said), whereas Leipheimer is always a dangerous threat for the GC. Bakelandts keeps on attacking every day (I wonder, has anyone ever told him that he's not forced to enter a breakaway once every 24 hour?), whereas Sagan has been showing his amazing talent once again.

On to the fast wheels, Zdenek Stybar (if he can be considered a fast wheel...) had a good 8th placement this afternoon, whereas Cavendish got dropped on the last little climb. He doesn't look very thin or is it just my imagination?

Talking about another sprinter, Matti Breschel has finally made it back to the peloton. Welcome back, Matti! We missed you terribly in the last few months!

Talking about another race, you all probably know that a race called Dauphine Libére took place somewhere in France last week. It is always a very good race, always very exciting and full of surprises. This time Contador didn't take part in it, but the Spaniard is going to take part in the Tour anyway. Oh happiness.

The winner of the 2011 edition of Dauphine Libére was Wiggins who, imo, can make it to the Tour's Top 5. I like Bradley, since he's always very ironical and since he's never afraid to speak his mind.

Second in the race was Cadel Evans. Will he finally make it back to his usual GC levels this year?

Third was Vinokourov (*cheerful screams from the members of AAVL*), who would like to win the Tour next month. Imo he can't make it unless Contador, Andy Schleck and other 10 guys all crash out of the race, but I think Vino has great chances of winning at least a stage. Apropos, did you know that he won the Champs Elysées stage a few years ago?

On to another rider, Van Den Broeck showed he's in a great shape and that he can make it to the Tour Top 5. A great surprise in the French race has been Cristophe Kern, winner of a stage and 6th in the final GC. Europcar will have a strong team at the Grande Boucle, since Kern is a teammate of Voeckler.

Talking about other French teams, next month you'd better look out for Coppel and Moncoutie. Moreover, pay attention to AG2R. This team is really growing on me and it has some very interesting young riders. Poor Nicholas Roche, however, was forced to leave Dauphine after a bad crash. Cyclingnews said he might have broken his elbow, but that his Tour partecipation wasn't at risk. Let's hope so!

Another interesting French rider who showed himself to the world last week is Thibaut Pinot. This boy (born in 1990, just like Sagan) won't take part in the Tour, but showed great things in the French race.

Also Bruno Pires from Leopard Trek was very good in Dauphine Libére (19th in the GC), since he rode better than guys like Gesink and Basso. Right now everyone in Italy is very worried for Basso, but you mustn't forget that the poor boy had a bad crash on Etna at the end of May. Also Samu Sanchez and Brajkovic were a bit disappointing, whereas Rodriguez won two great stages.

Talking about Saxo Bank, Chris Anker Sorensen was 11th in the final GC and 2nd on a stage. I'm very proud of him and I'm actually a bit sorry because, now that Contador is taking part in the Tour, Chris will have to work as a helper. 'It's logical!', Logic says, but the heart of a Fangirl is often immune to tactics and team gerarchies.

So, this is all from miss Fede for the moment. Have a good evening, as I go back to my 'mad and desperate studies' (ok, I'm joking: it's bed time also for me). Good night!

Voigt officially heading to Team Luxembourg + other random news du midweek:

Eventually, the end of the 2010 cycling season has come. In less than a week time, in fact, we'll also know the name of the Lombardy Tour's winner and the long and cold winter will begin.

From the cyclistic point of view, this winter will be very different from the past 3 ones. In fact, for the first time, me will have to divide her attention between the new upcoming Luxembourg team of the Schleck brothers and the old and fading team Saxo Bank.

I've been supporting Riis' team for the last 3 years of my life and in this period I could cheer on the boys' successes and, sometimes, also get desperate because of their problems/ defeats. In particular, me has always been a supporter of the Schleck brothers (that's obvious) and of Chris Anker Sorensen. As well as them, on my 'favourite riders' list there are also riders like Voigt and Breschel, who've been racing for Saxo Bank too. But from next year, things will change a lot for me. In fact not only are los Schlecks leaving Riis and creating their new team, but also Matti Breschel has decided to leave Bjarne and the only one (between my favourite riders) who's remaining faithful to his chief is Chris Sorensen. Therefore this Fangirl next year will have to divide her cyclistic support between 2/3 different teams and 3/4 different riders and this will obviously be a bit difficult.

But still, the 'it ain't over 'til it's over' rule can be applied also to cycling (luckily), so here I stop getting depressed while thinking about the cyclistic future of my favourite riders and try to think about the upcoming races, without getting worried about the future of these boys (although I have to admit that, lately, I've been much more interested in my own problems than in those of cyclists and cycling teams).

Anyway, talking about the riders' exodus from Saxo Bank team, it is now official that Jens Voigt has signed a 1 year contract with the new Luxembourg team of the Schleck brothers (http://www.wort.lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/2010/10/119201/routinier-voigt-ist-auch-mit-dabei.php ). To wort.lu Voigt also told that, in two weeks time, the team jerseys and the whole roster of riders should be decided.

RANDOM NEWS DU MIDWEEK:
BREAKOUT GESINK NEWS:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-out-of-tour-of-lombardy : Robert Gesink, one of the main favourites for Giro di Lombardia, won't take part in the Classica delle foglie morte because his father had a bad crash with his mountain bike and so Robert decided to go back to Netherlands to stay close to his father in this delicate moment. Hopefully everything will end up well for the Gesink family.

HUSHOVD HAS NEVER SEEN DRUGS IN CYCLEDOM:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-i-have-never-seen-drugs-in-cycling . New World Champion Thor Hushovd said that he's never seen drugs in cycling or in society. He didn't deny the existence of these problems in sports and in society, but he has stated that the abuse of these substances "is about what you want to achieve. If I wanted to dope in the cycling context, I would have found it, and if I wanted to dope to have more fun on the town - if it's possible - I would have certainly found the drugs there, too, of course". By chance, these are the same words that Italian teachers use to reassure children when they start to go to the high schools. 'If you don't want to use drugs, you'll never discover where to find them. If you want to use them, you'll have no problems in getting them. It's all up to your will and to your conscience'. And the surprising thing is that, although this may sound very naive, during my scholastic experience I've found out that these words correspond to pure truth.

RIDERS WITHOUT CONTRACTS:

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/furlan-hopes-paris-tours-result-will-secure-new-contract ). After arriving second in Paris-Tours, Furlan has sent out messages to all the teams of Cycledom: 'if you want me, here I am, with no contract for next year'. Unfortunately this sad situation doesn't regard just Furlan but also another great Italian rider who's called Matteo Tosatto.

GP EMILIA:
Emilia is one of my favourite one day races since it's very hard and always has important people riding it. For the 18th year in a row me couldn't go to see it live because of some stupid reasons involving school and the fact that it's a 3 hours long drive from here to Bologna, but hopefully next year things will change.
Btw, the race this year was won by a great Robert Gesink, while second was Daniel Martin and third was Scarponi. 4th was Kolobnev (will he ever win a race?), 5th Nibali, 6th Pozzovivo and 7th was the surprising Coppel. 9th and 10th were too of the most loved people in Cycledom, Patrik Sinkewitz and Riccardo Riccò. I have to admit that, when Riccò was in the group together with all the best riders of the race, I feared he was going to win also this race (last week he had already won Coppa Sabatini). Luckily my horror dreams didn't turn into reality.

I swear that I do try to behave in a 'normal' way towards Riccò, but that's a kind of 'mission impossible' for me. I've never liked him as a person, but after what he did in the Tour 2008 my esteem for him got as low as possible. I know that the fact I like Vinokourov and dislike Riccò could make some of you think I'm a hypocrite, but I really can't do anything about this. I can stand Vinokourov but I can't stand Riccò. Perhaps it's because of the fact that Riccò in 2008 directly damaged some of my favourites riders, while Vino in 2007 didn't damage any of them; or perhaps it's because Riccò receives such a big attention from supporters here in Italy who consider him the savior of Italian cycling, while Vino is still seen as the cycling devil by a lot of people; or, more probably, you're right in saying that I'm a hypocrite. But the thing is, I can't stand Riccò. Sorry, but that's how things are right now.
Going down in the race classification,btw, we found Fuglsang at 11th and the incredible Johnny Hoogerland at 12th. They created one of the best action of the race and I was really sorry when I saw they wouldn't have won this race. Jakob is in an astonishing condition and Johnny impressed me once again with his strength and courage.
14th was Chris Anker Sorensen (yay!), while 17th was Niemiec and 19th was Szmyd.
Andy Schleck didn't finish the race and said on Twitter that he's a bit ill. Get well soon boy!

PARIS-TOURS:
Paris- Tours is a very strange-and difficult-race. You never know how it will finish-in a bunch sprint? in a sprint between 4 or 5 riders? or will someone get to the finish-line alone?
The great charme of this race then lies in its very beautiful landscape: little narrow streets in the woods and, in the end, the great Avenue du Grammont, a 2.7 kms long road which is very large and doesn't have any curve. Unfortunately this was the last time the race arrived on this road, since next year a tramline will be built in the traditional finish zone. What a shame.
Btw, with 20 kms to go the breakawayers du jour had been caught by the peloton. Everyone was awaiting for an attack of Philippe Gilbert, but the Belgian kept on hiding himself (just like Pozzato). With a few kms to go Radioshack's stylist,ehm, rider, Lequatre, launched a solo attack. In the peloton there were some moments of confusion in which no one pulled, so that Lequatre soon reached an advantage of about 30". Some riders like Tosatto or the always good Van Marcke tried to chase him, but didn't manage to. So, with 2.7 kms to go, Lequatre was alone at the head of the race, with 20" of advantage on the peloton.
Poor Geoffre was caught with just 400 meters to go (I felt awfully sorry for him) and at that point also the sprint was launched. Hondo appeared on the right of everyone's tv screen, then Furlan rode past him in a much faster way. Then, from behind, a rider with an orange kit on appeared, rode past Furlan and raised his arms to the sky. This rider was Oscarito Freire, who's said that he'll finish his career in 2011. Oscar had a great sprint, since he managed to win although during the sprint he had been closed against the barriers twice. Third was Steegmans, while second was Furlan.
4th was a surprising Lodewyck (Topsport is a very good team, they always have new surprising riders!), 5th was the amazing Arashiro, 6th R. Feillu, 7th the good Offred, 8th Weylandt and 9th was Eisel. Sebastien Chavanel was 10th, 11th was McEwen,14th was Hondo,15th Vanmarcke, 16th Van Avermaet.
18th was a very good Fabien Bacquet, a 24 year-old rider who rides for the Continental Team Big Mat- Suber 93. Fabien is a very good rider and, although this year he didn't achieve any victory, he got some very good results anyway. After this 18th placement in such a hard race, I'm sure Fabien can head into holidays in a very serene way and enjoy a very well deserved period of rest. If you want to know more about him, here's the link to his official website: http://fanclub-fabienbacquet.com/default.aspx .
Breschel was then 25th while Bennati was 42nd; last year's runner up Bozic instead got lost in the middle of the classification just like Gilbert and Pozzato.

Thor the king:

Eventually, getting up at 6 am on a Sunday morning to watch a cycling race was a good decision. In fact, this year race was very exciting and kept everyone glued to the tv screen until the very last meter of race.
Personally, I spent the whole race asking myself: 'Will the parcours actually suit sprinters? Or will an attacker win?'

I supported the 'attackers' party, especially because Italy's team was mainlyformed by attackers. I usually become very patriotic during the Worlds, so this morning I was hoping for an Italian victory. In fact I didn't believe that my favourites riders (Chris Sorensen and Frank Schleck) had a lot of chances of winning in Geelong, so this morning I was in a very 'Vai Italia!' mood.

When I turned on the tv, the leader of the race was the Ukrainian Kvachuk. He had gone on a breakaway with other 4 heroes earlier in the morning, but unfortunately for him his fate was already decided in the same moment he left the peloton (the other breakawayers du jour were
Diego Alejandro Tamayo Martinez , Jackson Rodriguez, Mohammed Said Elammoury, Oleksandr and Matthew Brammeier). After reaching a maximum advantage of 23 minutes, in fact, the 5 men were caught one after the other.
With 50 kms to go the situation became very interesting, since 2 groups of riders were created. In the first one there were 4 Italians (Pozzato, Nibali, Visconti and Tosatto), some Germans (Greipel included), Gilbert with some teammates, Chris Anker Sorensen (yay!), Serpa Perez, Offredo and other 20 riders. In the second one instead there were big guns like Freire, Kolobnev, Breschel, Cancellara and Thor Hushovd. Farrar, Cavendish and Sagan instead had already got retired.
Tosatto and a Belgian (was it Van Avermaet?) did their best in order to help their teammates, then the fireworks began. Nibali attacked and was followed by Gilbert, Pozzato, Visconti, Evans, Perez and Sorensen. Chris Anker made a great work and showed he's in a very good form. Imo he was simply great today, since he worked a lot for himself and then even had the strength of helping Matti in the very lat meters of the race.
Unfortunately with a few laps to go the breakawayers were caught. In the meanwhile Cancellara had lost contact from Freire's group and the fact that now Freire and Hushovd were in the same group as the Italian leaders frustrated a lot of supporters here in Italy.
In the last kms, Philippe Gilbert showed a lot of courage by launching a solo attack. I think Gilbert was incredible today, he didn't win but he showed to everyone that, if the parcours had been a little harder, he would have been a very hard opponent for everyone. His attack unfortunately didn't have luck and he was caught again with about 3 kms to go.
When Gilbert attacked, Pozzato (the Italian rider who had the task of following Philippe) disappeared. If he had followed him, I'm sure things would have gone differently and we would may have had another World Champion right now.

After Gilbert's attack a group of riders including Frank Schleck, Evans, Kolobnev,Martens and Moerenhout got clear of the peloton. At that point I got a bit angry since I had the impression that everyone was waiting for Evans to close the gap between them and Gilbert. The problem was that Evans had already spent a lot of energy previously, so I thought it was up to the other riders to organise Gilbert's chase. After all, I think that these guys couldn't have a better chance of winning (or, at least, of ending up on the podium) so I think that, if they still had some energy left, they should have used it in that moment. Instead they didn't, and they were caught by the 'sprinters' group', which was pulled by a Slovenian rider, with about 4 kms to go.

A few seconds later also poor Gilbert was caught and Brajkovic and Terpstra attacked. Their action was hopeless, since now everyone who had a fast rider in the main group was trying to make the sprint happen. Chris Sorensen, for example, sacrificed himself for Breschel in spite of his tiredness.

And so, the race eventually ended in a sprint. It wasn't a massive sprint, but still,between the riders who took part in it,there were super fast guys like Freire, Hushovd and Breschel.

Breschel started the sprint first and, for a long moment, I had the feeling he was going to win. Then, Hushovd passed him on the left and won, raising his arms in triumph. Honestly, I have to admit that at that point I let a bad word escape from my mouth.

Matti was 2nd, a surprising Davis was 3rd, while Pozzato was 4th for few centimeters. Without giving supporters the time of realising what had happened, Italian journalists immediately started the dance of the 'Oh, but if they had done so...' 'Oh, but if they hadn't done so...' and so on. Somehow, I have the feeling that this time however they will be softer than they were last year with poor Cunego.

Personally I think that Italy was the strongest team today. They dominated the race and they showed they know how to attack even if they're racing without their radios. Unfortunately for the team, in the decisive moment Pozzato, the team's leader, slept a bit and didn't follow Gilbert. Otherwise, I'm sure things would have gone in a different way.

Imo, Pozzato's problem has always been the following: in the decisive moments, he often takes little naps. He's a good rider, no doubts about it, but he often has defaillances in the decisive moments of the races. And then, he almost always gives the fault of this to something/someone who isn't him.

'I had the cramps in the last lap of the race', he said after crossing the finish-line. Well, personally I think that also Freire and the other riders had cramps (otherwise I think Oscarito would have got a better result), but they didn't blame their placement on them. Well, however, that's how things went and complaining about them now is simply useless,also because I'm sure Pozzato is very angry at how things went, too. Just put yourself in his shoes: 5 months (or whatever else) of sexual abstinence to get a 4th placement in the Worlds.Poor Pippo.

As far as the other teams are concerned, Spain didn't do nothing (as usual). If their 'we don't do anything!' tactic had paid off today, I think I'd have been very angry right now. Fortunately it didn't and Oscarito just got a 6th placement.

Australia was exceptional, since a surprising Davis got a wonderful bronze medal and Cadel Evans was one of the best riders of the competition. Although the parcours didn't suit him,Cadel gave his best to win anyway. And to think that until last year he was known as the 'wheelsucker man'...Amazing.

Denmark rode in a very aggressive style too, especially thanks to Chris Sorensen. You know I really like this rider, but this time I think I won't exaggerate in saying that he was one of the best riders of the race. Also Breschel was very good, but unfortunately he missed the gold medal once again. Btw I think he'll be able to get a good result also at next year's Worlds in Copenhagen too, so he doesn't have to get desperate about this year at all.

Belgium was wonderful too, since Van Avermaet, Leukemans and Gilbert rode in a perfect way during the whole race. I just loved Gilbert's attack and felt very sorry when he was caught with 3 kms to go.

Holland was very good too. Moerenhout and Terpstra showed their class, while Boom was present in one of the most dangerous breakaways of the day.

Slovenia and Russia were very active, but their efforts didn' bring any good result. Kolobnev had his golden chance when he found himself in a breakaway with Evans and Schleck, but didn't grab it because he didn't help Evans in Gilbert's chase. Slovenia pulled the 'Freire's group all day long, but their best rider was eventually 11th. Btw this was a great result for the Slovenian, who were counting on Sagan but then quickly changed their tactics and started to work for Bole and Brajkovic.

France was good too, especially because Feillu got a very good Top 10 placement.The same worths for the incredible Arashiro, who surprised me a lot today.Also Cardoso and Fofonov (Kazakhstan had to deal with the absence of Vinokourov) got a surprising result, while Wegmann showed he's a very strong and complete rider.

Luxembourg didn't have a lot of victory chances today, but Frank Schleck showed his jersey in the last kms of the race. He probably didn't believe a lot in his breakaway and imo that was a mistake. But still, he got a very good placement anyway.

Switzerland instead totally depended on Fabian Cancellara and,when Fabian got dropped, the Swiss had to say 'Auf Wiedersehen!' to their victory dreams.

USA's Van Garderen was very good in entering an important breakaway at the half of the race, but the Americans didn't seem very active in the race anyway.

As far as Cavendish is concerned, I think he didn't believe in his chances of winning this race and that the parcours was probably too tough for him. And then, he definitely needs more than two teammates to win such a long and a hard race.

Talking about teammates, Hushovd's victory was great also because Thor didn't have a lot of teammates around him. I'm happy for his victory because Thor is a very good rider who deserved such an important triumph to enter the Olympus of the great champions of Cycledom. And now that he's got the ranbow jersey, I think he can find even more motivation in himself and therefore I believe we'd better include him in the 'list of favourites for the 2011 Paris-Roubaix' already now, more than 6 months before of that race.

So, this was the first 'Down Under' worlds. The time zone actually made it hard for me to watch the race, but the riders didn't have a lot of problems because of this. Geelong's worlds are over, see you in Copenhagen next year.

(pictures by Mark Gunter)