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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paris-Nice,Tirreno-Adriatico and Rumours:

The last 2 stages of the Paris-Nice 2010 were really thrilling,although they didn't see any big change in the GC.Both Saturday and Sunday stages were pretty hard,therefore lots of riders (especially on Saturday) tried to enter the right breakaway and get a victory,whereas the GC guys tried to attack Contador in the mountains (without succeeding).
On Saturday about 23 riders broke clear from the peloton and between them,to Fangirl's joy,there was also Chris Anker Sorensen.The other riders were Cunego,Moinard,Machado, Leipheimer,Toni Martin,Turgot,Sicard,Gautier,Tondo Volpini,Champion,Vorganov, Kolobnev, Perget, Fofonov, Monfort, Casar, Cherel,Dessel,Seeldrayers,Sylvain Chavanel,Van Den Broeck,Geschke and Cummings (hope I didn't forget anyone).With about 40 kms to go Tondo,Cunego and Gautier left the other breakaway riders behind.Soon Tondo showed he was the strongest and so he attacked and grabbed a great solo victory.Valverde was 2nd in the stage in front of,guess who?,Peter Sagan.
The last stage of the race was characterised by Voeckler and Moinard's breakaway.They managed to keep a gap of about 20" on the main group for a lot of kilometers and in the end the victory went to Amael Moinard.
The GC riders tried to attack Contador a lot of times,but they didn't succeed.In the end,the podium of the race was 1.Contador 2.Valverde 3.LL Sanchez.4th for just 1" was Roman Kreuziger.Best Saxo Banker was Jens Voigt (6th).As you can see,the podium totally belonged to the Spaniards.
A funny moment immediately after the end of yesterday stage was the hug between Taaramae and Moinard,who are teammates.In spite of this,Taaramae often tried to break clear from the main peloton in he last kms of yesterday's stage and with all his attacks he seriously risked to allow the poursuivants to catch his teammate.Considering that Moinard hugged him in a very happy way,I think he probably wasn't aware of his teammate's behaviour inside the peloton.
Talking about SB,I believe the team raced well.In fact,although Frank's race wasn't as good as last year,Jens Voigt managed to wear the yellow jersey,even if just for one day.Then Fuglsang and Larsson were ill during (that's why I never saw them at the head of the peloton!),whereas Frank and Chris Sorensen suffered the cold more than other riders did.

TIRRENO ADRIATICO:
The 4th stage of the Italian race was won by Michele Scarponi,who made an incredible effort on the very last climb of the stage and also managed to get the leader jersey.In the last kms me was supporting Kiryenka,a rider that I really appreciate and that was part of an early breakaway that lasted for about 220 kms (also Pozzato was part of that breakaway).Poor Vaugrenard,2nd in the stage,raised his arms to the sky as soon as he crossed the finish-line,since he thought he had won.Of course I don't envy the person who made him realise that,actually,he wasn't the stage winner.
Talking about the stage,here's a great sentence that the chronist said during it: "It looks as if Scarponi's going to take this victory! Anyway,we musn't take it for granted,because in cycling bonks are always behind the corner...Just like monkeys!".So,dear readers,be careful the next time you walk around in your town: a monkey could jump out from behind a corner and attack you.Still talking about the broadcast of the race: Paolo Savoldelli's bergamask accent is amazing.Really,his accent is far stronger than mine! So far stronger that,actually,everytime I hear him talk I start to laugh and/or speak dialect.I must be mad.
Yesterday stage was very hard as well.With about 17 kms to go Gasparotto joined Oroz Ugalde,who was alone at the head of the race in that moment.With about a km and a half to go there was a 850 meters long wall,that was incredibly steep.Gasparotto managed to get over it in a decent way,but he was joined by Garzelli,Iglinsky and Evans.Scarponi was few meters behind,probably because he was suffering for a crash that occurred to him previously during a descent (and in which also his teammate Serpa was involved).The sprint saw Gasparotto getting a great and well deserved victory,whereas Garzelli came 2nd.Leader in the race is still Scarponi. Andy Schleck was 70th and arrived about 6 minutes after the winner.
Talking about Andy: probably you've already read that Biver confirmed the fact that he's talking to some Luxembourgish sponsors in order to create a Team Schleck already next year (link: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/biver-confirms-possibility-of-team-schleck-in-2011 ).The little question that comes into my mind now is: why doesn't that Luxembourgian sponsor decide to sponsor Riis cycling and make everyone happy by doing so? No answers.Anyway,in the meanwhile Riis has said to Velonation that he's talked to the brothers and that they've said they don't know nothing about these rumours.Btw,me has the feeling that this telenovela will go on at least until August 2010...

Sagan: the boy is impressive

The title of this post comes from the fact that what Peter Sagan did in the last 2 kms of the 5th stage of the Paris-Nice was a really great thing to see.Whereas Logic is always very careful in celebrating a young rider's great debut,Fangirl said that Sagan's 2nd victory was "a masterpiece". "In fact",said Fangirl,"Peter is not just strong-he's also incredibly young (20 year old) and this is his first year as a pro rider"."I have to admit that he rode in a great way this afternoon",Logic stated,"but we can't say that he's a champion just 2 months after his debut in the professional Cycledom,otherwise we'd put too much pressure on him.I believe it's better to avoid using words like 'masterpiece' and 'champion' for very young people"."Yes,but one thing is sure",Fangirl replied."Whereas lots of guys need months,if not years,to get their first professional victory,Peter Sagan from Slovakia has already got 2 important victories at the Paris-Nice-a very important race-in just 5 days.And then,he's just 20 year-old! This time,dear Logic,you have to admit that a new star is born"."Ok,ok,Sagan is young-and he's strong",Logic admitted."However I think it's better to wait before of considering him a champion .You never know what could happen in the future.Perhaps he starts to think he's the best rider of the world and he stops training.And if you stop training,you can't win anything.Anyway,now let's stop arguing and let's pull ourselves together in order to write down what happened during today stage,ok?"

So,today stage: First of all,the cyclists set a very high pace immediately after the beginning of the race and this caused some problems to some athletes.With 50 kms to go,Barredo,Gustov, Calzati and Taaramae broke clear from the peloton,but their action didn't last long.With 25 kms to go,Ag2r set a very high pace at the head of the peloton in order to create advantages for Nicolas Roche. Sagan attacked with about 2 kms to go and no one could join him again.Second behind the Slovakian came Lorenzetto,whereas Valverde was 3rd.Voigt was 5th and Frank Schleck came 25th.Here's a pic of today winner:

Talking about the P-N,the Col du Mende stage was won by-guess who?-Contador,who also got the leader jersey (and kept it yesterday).Unfortunately Jens Voigt lost about 50 seconds in the GC and therefore he isn't in the Top 3 anymore.Frank Schleck came 30th,with 1'09" of delay from Contador.After the stage,Frank talked to a Wort journalist (whole news: http://www. wort. lu/wort/web/sport/artikel/78918/es-ging-irgendwie-nicht.php ).Here's what he said:"I can't actually explain what happened thi afternoon,I thought the stage would have gone much better for me.As we started to ride on the last climb,I tried to go nearer to Jens,but somehow I couldn't.The day was extremely cold,perhaps I was wearing too warm clothes and so my muscles got blocked.I know I'm in good form,but this simply wasn't a good day for me.I can't always ride at the front of the race and I accept this fact,but this afternoon riders like Voeckler or Roche rode past me on the climb-and this usually doesn't happen.Anyway,I'm not looking for excuses.Now I just need to analyze the situation and find the reasons that I rode that way".

In my opinion,Frank's words were a bit too pessimistic.I mean,everyone can have a bad day,especially if there is an uphill finish,the season has just begun and the day is really cold,therefore I believe that Frank shouldn't get too worried about Thursday's result. TIRRENO-ADRIATICO:
The 2nd stage of T-A was won by Boonen and the 3rd one was won by Bennati.Cavendish is still having problems in these days and Andy isn't getting great results either.Anyway we must consider that Andy had problems with his knee,therefore he can't have a super form and he's racing the Tirreno just for training.In my opinion,this is the right thing to do.If the peloton rides too fast,I believe it's better to slow down and ride at your own pace rather than kill yourself trying to remain in the main group-it would just make things worse.

Random Link: Chris Anker Sorensen updated his blog after that Voigt took the leader jersey at P-N.In his last entry,he asked Sarkozy to plant some forests in the South of France in order to give the riders a shelter from the wind when they're riding there.Then talking about the 3rd stage of the race,Chris writes: "A funny thing about today's stage is the following: today's winner is the youngest rider who's taking part in the race,whereas the new GC leader is the oldest.In fact there are 19 years of difference between Sagan and Voigt.Anyway I think it is better if I avoid to tell Jens that,in theory,he could be the father of today's stage winner..."

(Pic 1 by AFP,pic 2 by Waldbillig)

Der Jens ist immer der Best:

Yes,I know that I should have written "Beste" and not "Best" in the title,but since I've got a poetic licence (aka the freedom that poets and other artists have to ignore grammar rules because what they are making is poetry or art),don't get too shocked by it.Anyway,poetic licence or not,the message I wanted to give with that title is the following: the Fucking Amazing Jens Voigt,also known as His Amazingness,is the new race leader at the Paris-Nice.Of course me's very happy for Jens,since he's not just a great athlete,but also a great person.

Today stage of the race was shortened of 53 kms after that a lot of snow fell on the parcours (funny thing,if you consider that the nickname of the race is "Le course au Soleil").The stage was eventually won by the Slovakian rider Peter Sagan,20 year old.

The Liquigas rider arrived 2nd yesterday and rode a very good prologue on Sunday,so he's really showed very good skills in these days.And don't forget that he was born in 1990,therefore he is extremely young.Second in today's stage was Joaquim Rodriguez,while 3rd was Roche.Jens Voigt,Toni Martin and Contador crossed the finish-line 2 seconds after the winner.The previous leader,Lars Boom,got 27" of delay from Sagan and lost the jersey that,as already said,is now on the shoulders of His Amazingness Jens Voigt (who,whereas sir Lancelot,ehm,someone else starts to show his age,can still ride in a very great way).Congratulations Jens!

PS: Yesterday's stage of the P-N was won by William Bonnet,a Boygues Telecom rider.As already mentioned,Sagan came 2nd.Grega Bole,Lampre's rider,crashed with about 1 km to go and he decided to leave the race.Together with him,also Toni Martin,Jimmy Casper and Dan Martin fell.

Frank Schleck hasn't lost any second in the GC in the last 2 days and has now 1'06" of delay from Voigt.Tomorrow stage is supposed to be hard,with the riders arriving on the Col du Mende.

TIRRENO ADRIATICO:
Today's stage of the Italian race was characterised by a very bad weather.At the moment the weather conditions in Italy aren't normal at all,since in March the sun should start to shine and the rain should be the only "precipitazione atmosferica" allowed.Anyway it seems that not just Italy,but also other countries are experiencing strange weather conditions.For example,Robert Gesink had a lot of problems while trying to arrive in Italy because of the snow in Spain (more on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gesink-nearly-stranded-in-spanish-snow ).
Anyway,back to the race: Grabovskyy (whose surname was written as "Grabovsky" until last year) was the first brave rider to launch an attack,but he didn't have good luck.With about 12 kms to go,Urtasun Perez and Terpstra attacked as well.Again,they didn't have any luck.

On the descent of the climb that the riders had to face towards the end of the stage,Paolini, Breschel,Lastras and Gerdemann broke away from the group.Team Sky's men in black caught them with few hundreds of meters to go."It's over for these riders",one of the two Italian chronists said.And instead,Gerdemann managed to counter attack again and win the sprint,while Lastras came 2nd and Breschel was 3rd.

PS: Since writing the results of a race that ended more than 2 hours ago is apparently a very complicated thing,I haven't found any news about Andy's placement yet.Anyway Frank wrote on his Twitter that his brother is feeling good,so I believe he probably crossed the finish-line with the first group of riders.

Random Link:

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry362372.html :In his last blog entry, Chris Anker Sorensen says that he thought it was spring,but that he changed his mind after starting the Paris-Nice prologue on Sunday.Then he talks about the riders pre-TTs routine and says something that my online translater translates as "Gustav Larsson is always very focused and during the warm up he always makes his way into his own little world".Then,talking about His Amazingness Jens Voigt,Chris says that,since there is a white jersey for young riders,there should be a special grey jersey also for over 35-year.Of course me completely approves this idea,because the grey jersey would probably belong to Jens Voigt for at least 11 months and 2 weeks pro years.

(Pic 2 and 2 by AFP,pic 3 by Scanferla)

Andy didn't start today's stage of T-A and Fabian got retired! Aargh!

So,I closed the last post here on My Blog saying:let's hope Andy can do well in today's T-A stage.I didn't know that Andy (and his teammate Marcus Ljungqvist) didn't start the race this morning.Of course Italian chronists didn't say a word about that and so I realise just now why I didn't see him in today's stage (that was won by Michele Scarponi,that also took the leader jersey). Also Faboulous Fabian got retired "im Laufe der Rennen" ("during the stage,"sorry but I have to train a lot in German those days) .I've found some infos about what happened to three riders on Saxo bank's website: "Andy asked not to start because of pain in his left knee and Markus Ljungquist had to surrender due to a stomach pain that had made the Swedish rider suffer the previous two stages. “It was not the best beginning, but the profile of the stage showed that it would be pointless to make the two riders do the race. Markus was decidedly ruled out because of the stomach ache,and Andy had already incipient pain during the stage of Montelupone. Fabian did nearly 170 kilometres, which certainly was acceptable in relation to the condition he is in right now”, sports director Torsten Schmidt said after the stage from Civitanova Marche to Camerino “The other riders did some useful, yet ruthless race kilometres, and with nearly seven hours in the saddle through constantly undulating terrain, we must say that such a day serves as an excellent preparation for the classics. Today's stage matched the level meters and distance of the toughest stages in the big stage races, so it's no wonder that many rider didn't make it through”, Schmidt added.
As I already said,the stage was won by Scarponi in front of Basso and Garzelli.Lovkvist and Kloden had problems during the Sasso Tetto ascent and lost about a minute in the GC.
At the moment I just hope Andy's pain (and also Fabian and Ljungqvist's problems) is not so serious to make him lose other races or important hours of training.Hope to get more news tomorrow.
(Photo from Schleck.lu)

Frank's 2nd place in P-N and little report about T-A:

In yesterday's final stage of P-N Frank came 3rd and this allowed him to get on the 2nd spot of the final podium.First came LL Sanchez,while third was Chavanel.
Yesterdays stage was won by Colom in front of Contador and Frank.Contador attacked with 40 kms to go and was then joined by Frank and Colom,that arrived with him at the finish-line.
Team Saxo Bank won the team competition (see photo at http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/mar09/parisnice09/index.php?id=/photos/2009/mar09/parisnice09/parisnice098/20090315-SCH-0777 ),Martin got the mountain's one,Chavanel the points one and Kevin Seeldrayers won the young riders' one (Fuglsang arrived 5th in this classification).

Regarding T-A:three stages ago,victory went to Tyler Farrar,that crossed the finish line in front of Cavendish,Enrico Rossi (that is the brother of Riccò's girlfriend) and Robbie McEwen.O'Grady arrived 6th,while Andy arrived 92th.Fabian Cancellara arrived 7 minutes after the winner :( :(

Saturday's stage was one of the toughest (if not THE toughest) of T-A:in fact at the end of it the riders had to face the "Montelupone's wall".Andy was one of the favourite for the stage's victory,even if Rai's commentators said he's still having problems with his knee. Unfortunately,good luck wasn't on his side.Before of the first climb on the wall,there was a crash in which also Matti Breschel got involved.He lost some time,but fortunatwly didn't get seriously hurt.Andy was now alone at the feet of the climb and struggle a bit during the ascent.During the last passage on the wall,Joaquim Rodriguez left all the other riders behind and won,arriving alone on the finish-line.2 wins in 2 years:good job mr! Rebellin arrived 2nd (how strange!),pretty boy Lovkvist 3rd (my sister was very happy,as you can easily imagine) while 4rd arrived Di Luca,that said that Montelupone's wall is a lot harder than Huy's one.
Andy arrived 24th (after 1'02),while other Saxo Bank riders came much later.O'Grady arrived after 13 minutes,while Cancellara arrived (together with Breschel and other SB) after 16 minutes.Here's what SB's ds said about the stage:"It was a really unfortunate day for us. On paper, both Matti and had a Andy really good chance to do a good final, but none of them were able to display it. Matti was rather bruised but he fought beautifully to the finish line and it seems like he has only received some superficial scratches. At least he can relax on tomorrow's time trial and then try to recover for the last two stages, if he is not too hurt".Not only the stage's victory,but also the race leader's jersey went to Rodriguez.

Yesterday's TT was won by German Kloden,that also took the leader's jersey.Second came Devolder (!),while third was Lovkvist.Andy arrived 48th and lost 2 minutes from Kloden.Fabian lost 4 minutes,but at least he didn't arrive last.Maybe his condition is improving.
Andy is now 23rd in the GC,but I think he may be able to improve his position in today's stage,that is supposed to be the toughest one of T-A.Let's hope we'll have fun (and congratulations again to Frank Schleck).

(Photos TDW and Bettini)

Petacchi (and Capelli's great breakaway)!

Second big question of the day:what happened yesterday in T-A's stage? Well,a few kms after the start of the stage,Polish rider Marcin Sapa and ERMANNO CAPELLI formed a breakaway.I particularly like Capelli,since he lives in the village near mine (also the names of our villages are very similar and sometimes people get confused between them).Capelli was born in May 1985 and is a rider that likes riding on the cobblestones.Last year he made a very long breakaway in Gand-Wevegelm and his dream would be to win the Tour of Flanders or the Paris-Roubaix.If you want to read more about him,here's an interview he made for an Italian website: http://www.cicloweb.it/art963.html .
Unfortunately Capelli was caught with a few kms to go :( and the race was decided by a sprint.In the stage there were some climbs,so not all the sprinters arrived at the sprint in the right way.For example,Cavendish had been dropped on the last climb,while Boonen had fallen in the first part of the stage.The sprint was finally won by Petacchi,who smiled 3 times (3 times!!!) during the podium's moments and the interviews post race."I did a great race today: strong on the climb and my teammates protected me – Di Luca, Bernucci, everyone. To win after a lot of bad luck with my knee and other problems is great," he said.
Second came Bello Bennati,that was very unlucky because he crashed before of the penultimate climb.""My teammates – Sabatini and Agnoli – pulled me back, but I wasted a lot of energy for the sprint",he said.
Unfortunately there have been lots of crashes yesterday.Janez Brajkovic (Astana) had to abandon the race,while also Thomas Lövkvist,Tom Boonen (who fell twice),El Fares and other riders were involved.
Andy finished the race in the main group,while Fab Fab arrived 12 minutes after Petacchi :( .Let's hope he can recover from his shoulder's problems in time for the Belgian Classics.

Btw,here's the stage classification:

1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini 4.32.42 (40.704 km/h)

2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas

3 Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi

4 Dominique Rollin (Can) Cervélo TestTeam

5 Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo

6 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

7 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Saxo Bank

8 Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

9 Baden Cooke (Aus) Vacansoleil

10 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step

12 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha

17 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Columbia-Highroad

19 Matti Breschel (Den) Saxo Bank

20 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana

21 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

24 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Katusha

28 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto

29 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Lampre-NGC

30 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Fuji-Servetto

34 George Hincapie (USA) Columbia-Highroad

43 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

45 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Caisse d'Epargne

46 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Milram

47 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

57 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Milram

58 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Columbia-Highroad

64 Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis

70 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank

73 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

74 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas

75 Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank

79 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana

83 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

85 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

87 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

95 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia-Highroad 0.20

97 William Frischkorn (USA) Garmin-Slipstream

106 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step

118 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Silence-Lotto

119 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

121 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Katusha 5.54

122 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto

131 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Saxo Bank

132 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre-NGC

134 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Saxo Bank

137 Kasper Klostergård (Den) Saxo Bank

150 Martyn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin-Slipstream

154 Frank Hoj (Den) Saxo Bank

155 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-NGC

175 Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce 9.27

180 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli 9.31

184 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step

185 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto

190 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Milram

196 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Saxo Bank :( 12.06

DNS Jesus Del Nero Montes (Spa) Fuji-Servetto

DNF Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana

DNF Alexandre Blain (Fra) Cofidis

LINK OF THE DAY: On this link you can find a interview with Saxo Bank's masseure: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/saxo_physiotherapist_mar09 .
Now I'm off.More news later.

(Photos from Bettini and Wikipedia)

El Fares!

Second post in one day AGAIN:this is becoming a very bad habit.I'm not going to talk about today's results because there aren't enough info (and photos) around at the moment and I don't want to do 4 posts in one day.So,here we are with the question:What happened yesterday at Tirreno-Adriatico? Well,the stage was supposed to be suitable to sprinters (at the T-A in fact there are Bello Bennati,Petacchi,Breschel,Pacio Cavendish,McEwen,Hushvod,Boonen and other ones).Unfortunately for them,the race was won by Julien El Fares,who formed a breakaway together with Ukrainian Vladimir Duma and crossed the finish-line first,right in front of the breakaway's companion.The group arrived after 12 seconds and third arrived Bello Bennati.
"It was an incredible day and I am very happy for this win. You have to attack if you want to win," said El Farès."The group waited too long to catch us.In the sprint I played with the nerves of Duma, he was worried about me."
But who is El Fares? Well,Julien El Fares is a French rider of Cofidis team.His grandparents come from North of Africa and his surname means "The Knight (Il Cavaliere in Italian)".El Fares's grandfather was a soldier in the French army and,when the indipendency war exploded in Algeria,he decided to escape in France,in Manosque (near to Aix-En-Provence). "My dad is a Muslim and my mother is Christian,but I'm an atheist and so religion is not a problem in my family",he says.El Fares became pro last year and started to love cycling when he was 6 years old,even if he"wasn't fascinated by a rider in particular,I just loved bycicles.I don't have any contact with Algeria now.Doing cycling as a sport is very hard there,there aren't enough money to buy a bicycle.And then the weather is always very hot and the roads are not good".

El Fares yesterday took all the jerseys of T-A (the climber's one,the young rider's one,the leader's one and so on) and managed to keep the leader's jersey today too.And what happened to Andy yesterday? Well,he finished the stage with the main group.On this link he says he was surprised by his performance at the Eroica and talks a bit about his form: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/mar09/mar12news2 .Matti Breschel came 10th,while Fab Fab probably hasn't fully recovered yet from his injury :( I hope he'll be ok for the Classics,even if it won't be easy :( :(

Btw,here's the stage classification:
1 Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis 3.34.03 (40.644 km/h)

2 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 0.12

4 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step

6 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Milram

7 Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

8 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis

9 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana

10 Matti Breschel (Den) Saxo Bank

12 George Hincapie (USA) Columbia-Highroad

15 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Columbia-Highroad

17 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo

18 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Lampre-NGC 1

19 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream

20 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

21 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Milram

22 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

24 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

25 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana

27 Andy Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank

29 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

41 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank

43 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Silence-Lotto

46 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

52 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-NGC 1.12 (he's had some health problems lately)

54 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto

70 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervélo TestTeam

71 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini

76 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana

77 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Caisse d'Epargne

78 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Saxo Bank

91 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Columbia-Highroad

98 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step

99 Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Slipstream

118 Kasper Klostergård (Den) Saxo Bank

124 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha

140 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Saxo Bank 4.43

144 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Saxo Bank

146 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

150 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto

158 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Milram

168 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

182 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Saxo Bank

183 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia-Highroad

186 Filippo Simeoni (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce

187 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto

188 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

189 Frank Hoj (Den) Saxo Bank

197 Martyn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin-Slipstream

NB:As usual,if you want to leave comments after the older post you can do it.