La Vuelta: crashes, victories and heat

Spain is a hot country, everyone knows that. And that is the reason why Spaniards are known in the world for their very particular daily routines. For example, they have lunch at 2 pm, they dine at 10 pm and their shops are usually closed from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm. These three hours of the afternoon are usually dedicated to the so called 'siesta', aka the moment of the day during which people can relax and defend themselves from the hot temperatures outside their houses. Unfortunately, the three hours of the siesta are also the hours in which cycling races usually take place. Now: take the wonderful Spanish cities, take some of the best riders of the world and have them racing in Spain in the warmest afternoons of the year. To make this recipe even better, add a few climbs and shake everything with energy. Then, serve this dish to all the cycling supporters you know: they'll surely approve. Oh, and if they ask you the name of this tasty dish, tell them that it's called 'Vuelta a España' and that they can have a free sample of it every day for three weeks between the end of August and the first half of September.

So far the 2011 edition of la Vuelta has been very exciting and also very moving. Drama, excitement, sufference, joy: this is cycling, this is la Vuelta.

The third stage of the race was a very exciting one: whereas in other competitions you must wait at least one week before you can start experiencing some emotions not connected to riders crashing and retiring, the Spanish competition is known for its exciting and always thrilling parcours. On Monday, for example, people expected the race to end with a bunch sprint. Instead, 5 brave and strong riders (Irizar, Lastras, Chavanel, Pydgornyy and Edet) attacked after 6 kms of race and successfuly exploited the hilly terrain of the stage in order to stay out of the peloton's reach for the rest of the day. 

After 90 kms of race, the unlucky Edet was dropped by his companions because he had been stung by an insect. In the meanwhile, Cavendish and Kittel were having problems too and they soon got dropped by the peloton. They eventually crossed the finish-line 12 minutes after the winner (and together with tough guys like Taylor Phinney, Toni Martin and Nick Nuyens). This sudden defaillance obviously caused the alarm-level in the heads of Cannonball' supporters to raise. The Manx rider in fact showed he's not in a very good form already in the TTT, when he got dropped from his teammates. Will Mark manage to get back into shape before the Worlds? That is the question everyone would like to answer.

As Cav and Kittel were struggling, Team Leopard tried to defend Bennati's leader jersey. On the last climb of the day, however, the peloton lead was taken by team Sky, which did their best in order to set a good pace at the front.

With about 13 kms to go, the breakaway still had an advantage of about 1' 30" on the main peloton and Chavanel, Irizar, Pydgornyy and Lastras all started to dream of the stage victory. The Movistar rider was particularly keen on getting this victory, especially because his last victory before Monday dated back to 2008. Not a flattering thing for a rider who has improved a lot in the last few years and who has often been close to getting prestigious results... Lastras was aware of that and, right before the end of the last climb, he laucnhed a strong attack, thuis dropping Chavanel & Co. Pablo gave it all in the last kms of race and he eventually managed to cross the finish-line in triumph. Even in this great moment of joy, however, the Spaniard had a thought for some colleagues of his who aren't in the peloton anymore. In particular, Pablo dedicated his victory to his teammates Xavier Tondo and Mauricio Soler and to the Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt. "I think that I won today because of the expertise that I've built up as a veteran rider, I think it was a good win", the Movistar rider told Cyclingnews after his victory. "I really wanted to raise my arms at the finish today and I dedicate the win to Xavi Tondo and to my teammate Soler who is very ill, as well as to all the friends who have been lost this year". As well as winning the stage, Lastras also managed to get the leader jersey. In fact the former owner of the red jersey, Daniele Bennati, ended his day on the saddle 3' 06" after Lastras. However, 'The Panther' was in good company: also Denis Menchov, Steven Kruijswijk and Robert Kiserlovski finished the stage with him, 23" later than the other GC contenders.

On the following day, the riders had to face the Sierra Nevada climb. A tough day for the riders, not just because of the heat and of the toughness of the final climb, but also because of the memories.

Exactly three months before, in fact, the Movistar rider Xavier Tondo lost his life in a garage atop of Sierra Nevada, a few meters far from the finish-line of Tuesday stage.

Benoit Inxausti, who was with Xavier on that day, finished the stage 18' after the winner. 'I still remember a lot of what happened on that day. I would prefer not to remember it, but I can't help it. And tomorrow, I'll remember that moment in an even worse way', the young rider said at the end of Monday's stage.

The first uphill finish of the Vuelta wasn't clement with the riders who weren't in a good form. With 10 kms to go, halfway up the final climb, Igor Antòn (one of the main contenders for the overall victory) lost contact from the rest of the peloton and ended the stage 1' 38" after the winner. Mark Cavendish, on the other hand, got retired with 40 kms to go. 'I'm tired and I want to sleep', he said as he hopped on his team car, before hiding his head with a towel in order to get shelter from the photographers.

As the last climb began, the breakawayers du jour were caught and Liquigas took the lead. With 5 kms to go, however, Chris Anker Sorensen managed to escape from the peloton. The Danish rider was followed just by Daniel Moreno and really gave it all in order to get a victory for his newborn daughter Laerke. Unfortunately, in the end the stage winner was Moreno, who got the victory by outsprinting Chris  in the last few meters of race. In spite of that, Sorensen was pretty happy after the stage. 'It’s huge to finish second on Sierra Nevada and I’m naturally proud of the result. The team put me in a great position at the foot of the climb. Rafa Majka was close to me and his attack created the opportunity for me to launch a counter-attack. Moreno was simply stronger than me. I tried to drop him with 1.5 kilometers to go, but he remained with me and maybe he was even fresher than me. However, I have no regrets and I will try winning again'.

As most of the GC contenders seemed to ride on the climb without many problems, the race leader Lastras ended the stage 18 minutes after Moreno and 17 minutes after Chavanel, who became the new leader of the race.

On the following afternoon, another tough climb was waiting for the riders: the Valdepenas de Jaén wall, which is 2 kms long and whose central slopes have an average of 24%. With about 8 kms to go, David Moncoutié went on a solo attack. He got caught with 2 kms to go, after that Liquigas had chased him at a very fast pace. When Dani Moreno attacked in the steepest part of the wall, the only ones who could follow him were his captain (and favourite du jour) Joaquin Rodriguez, the surprising Wout Poels and Vincenzo Nibali. Unfortunately the Liquigas rider isn't as good as Rodriguez at riding on extremely steep climbs, so he soon had to abandon the rear wheel of the Spaniard who, led by Moreno, managed to get a prestigious victory on one of the hardest short climbs of Europe.

Bauke Mollema was a great 4th, whereas Scarponi was 5th, Fuglsang was 7th, Roche 8th and Menchov (who usually prefers longer climbs) was 14th. Sylvain Chavanel grit his teeth and managed to keep the leader jersey for another day.

Today's stage saw the peloton riding towards the amazing city of Còrdoba and losing some important riders. Kurt - Asle Arvesen's retire was caused by the consequences of his surreal crash of the day before, when he hit a child who was picking up a water bidon in the middle of the road. At that point the riders were riding at 75 kmph and, as a consequence of the crash, Arvesen's bike got shattered and Kurt-Asle suffered some bruises. The child suffered some bruises as well, but he didn't break any bone. The Sky rider managed to finish yesterday's stage, but this afternoon he decided to retire from the competition. The Norwegian has no broken bones and has promised that he would do his best to make it to the Norwegian line-up for Copenhagen Worlds. That in fact would surely be the perfect way to end his amazing career.

Unfortunately, Arvesen wasn't the only one who crashed badly in the last few hours and who had a lot of bad luck during the whole season. In fact, a breakout news says that Matti Breschel (who crashed during today's stage) has two broken fingers and isn't likely to take part in the Worlds.

Talking about crashes, however, it must be underlined that la Vuelta isn't experiencing the same amount of crashes as the Tour. Of course this is a consequence of the fact that the riders are  less nervous and stressful in the Spanish race, but the hilly terrain of the first few stages surely helped the peloton to avoid the dangerous situations that supporters had to witness during the first week of the Tour de France 2011.

As some riders abandoned the race and some other ones tried their luck by going on a breakaway (Taylor Phinney was amongst them), some sprinters (Haussler, Farrar, Petacchi, Haedo) lost contact from the main group. As a consequence, Bennati's team started to set the pace in the final kms, but the situation changed when, with about 20 kms to go, David Moncoutié attacked on on the 'Alto del catorce por ciento' ('Mountain of the 14%'). The Frenchman was soon joined by Toni Martin, Kevin Seeldrayers and David De La Fuente, whereas Liquigas took control of the main peloton. In the last few kms, the whole Liquigas team set a hellish pace on a downhill road and this caused a split in the peloton. Four Liquigas riders (the team leader Nibali, Peter Sagan, Valerio Agnoli and Eros Capecchi) found themselves at the head of the peloton together with an intruder, Pablo Lastras. Behind them, Chavanel understood that his leadership in the race was in danger and gave it all to limit his time loss. With him there were Rodriguez and Toni Martin, one of the best time trialists of the world.

Liquigas rode a superb TTT towards Cordoba, whereas the chasers couldn't get any closer. When the final sprint was launched, Sagan easily won in front of Lastras, whereas Agnoli made a big mistake. In fact he crossed the finish-line in third, thus stealing the bonus of 8" from his captain. Nibali looked slightly angry at that but, after all, everyone knows that it's hard to think things through when you're riding at 75 kmph and adrenaline is running through your body. However, at the end of the day, Liquigas can surely be happy with what they've achieved. So far Nibali has raced like a true champion, since he attacked whenever he could and he had his team working really well. Antòn has already got a big delay in the GC, but it's still too early to count him out of the race for the podium. Scarponi has hidden himself while waiting for the stepper climbs, whereas Rodriguez has showed a lot of strength. Moreover, Joaquin has a very good helper, Daniel Moreno. Denis Menchov, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a good team behind him, but I'm sure he'll slowly start gaining time in the GC. The Russian in fact usually improves his form in the second / third week of a GT, so Nibali should paying a lot of attention to him in a few days time.

As far as the Worlds-favourites are concerned, this Vuelta seems to bring bad luck to them. Haussler and Farrar haven't got any good result yet, Cavendish, Goss and Breschel all retired. Kittel hasn't had any reat gresult either, whereas the only sprinter who really did shine was Peter Sagan. This Vuelta is his first GT and, although he's the youngest rider of the Spanish peloton, he's already won a stage. If he's improved his resistance in the longest races, it will be hard to defeat him in Copenhagen.

As far as other races are concerned, GP Industria e Commercio was won by Giovanni Visconti. Second was the exceptional Simone Ponzi, whereas third was  Manuel Belletti.

As far as the Tour of Colorado is concerned, instead, the prologue was won by Gretsch. Fifth was an amazing Jens Voigt, whereas Basso received very harsh critics for his 52nd placement. Imo Gazzetta was pretty disrespectful towards him and Juraj Sagan, since that newspaper began the (little) article about ToC by saying: 'Ivan Basso is as good as Juraj Sagan. It sounds like a heresy, but it's true. Ivan isn't better than Sagan (...) and we're not talking about Peter, but about Juraj, who is much less talented than his brother'. It's always so nice when people are respectful towards the riders!

The second stage of ToC, however, was won by Levi Leipheimer. Second was the strong Henao, third was Frank Schleck. Given the condition of Schleck and Leipheimer, perhaps someone should remind these guys that at this time of the year there is another race going on, that it's called Vuelta a Espana and that is one of the most important races of the world. If someone is interested, I'll tell them a secret: a victory in the Vuelta is something that people can use to get a better reputation amongst European journalists and it is something that people can write in their CV in caps. Ah, but I was forgetting: the sponsors seem to care more about the American money than about the Spanish traditions.

The third stage of ToC saw the victory of George Hincapie, whereas an excited Van Garderen got the leader jersey from Leipheimer.

 

 

So, that's all from me for the moment - and, perhaps, for the month. I'm leaving on Saturday and I won't be back before September the 9th. In the meanwhile, enjoy la Vuelta and use the comment area as you please - and don't forget to take a look at Figbash's reports from the Tour on Bananas about Bikes!!!

PS: who has just come across this webpage by writing 'Menchov, hugs' in Google? And, more important: were they satisfied with what they found?

San Pellegrino, Macugnaga and Sestriere before the last stage:

After two days spent between San Pellegrino and Bergamo, stalking Smiley Menchov and bringing bad luck to Pinotti and Lewis, here I'm back again, resuming the last 3 stages of the race.

Morbegno- San Pellegrino Terme
Pinotti and the other Bergamask riders really wanted to win this stage, which ended in a villagethat is famous worldwide because of its mineral water. Actually, at the beginning of the 19th century San Pellegrino was also a very famous holiday location and its 'Grand Hotel' hosted members of the Romanoff and of the Savoia families, as well as celebrities like Maria Callas and Federico Fellini, the football players of Helenio Herrera's Inter and Italian poets like Quasimodo and Montale.
Anyway, back to the Giro. Amongst the Bergamasks who tried their luck on Thursday there were Carrara, Vanotti and Pinotti. Possoni remained hidden in the peloton, whereas the Sicilian Tiralongo decided to attack too (he lives near San Pellegrino as well).
The first hour of race was really fast (the riders had an average speed of 53 kmph) because everyone wanted to enter a breakaway. Eventually, in Bergamo Alta some riders managed to escape from the peloton. They were Carlos Sastre (he's aliveeee!), Oscar Gatto, Gianluca Brambilla, Russel Downing, Bram Tankink, Jerome Pineau, Paolo Tiralongo, Marco Pinotti, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Jan Bakelandts and Eros Capecchi.
On Passo Ganda (and not 'Gandalf') just Seeldrayers, Capecchi and Pinotti managed to remain at the head of the race. The trio reached San Pellegrino with a minute of advantage on Brambilla and Tiralongo, so they had a lot of time to 'study' each other. In the end, the victory was decided by a sprint, won by Capecchi.
This was the first professional victory for Eros, who comes from a family of farmers and who, according to Gazzetta, is 'so handsome that every day even the podium misses turn their heads towards him as he rides towards the start'. Eros gave us a very emotional moment after the stage, when he burst into tears after remembering his grandfather, who died 5 years ago, and his cousin Rudi, who died last winter at 18.In the meanwhile, Pinotti did look disappointed, but he was also very happy because the people on the road (including the 5 inhabitants of Tagliata, one of the least populated village of Italy) supported him in a great way.
I'll just tell you that, when he reached the spot where I was staying, I screamed 'Go go Marco!!!' as loud as I could. In spite of my effort (and in spite of hurting one of my vocal chords while doing that), I couldn't even hear my voice, such was the noise made by the crowd. And then, as soon as we got the news of Capecchi's victory, everyone stopped screaming and talking. But still, we were all very proud and happy - both for Pinotti and for Eros.

Bergamo - Macugnaga:
On the following day, me went to the start in Bergamo. Amongst the riders I saw there were Pinotti and Lewis, who were really kind with me and with the other supporters. I got Craig's autograph (he was really nice with me) and I wished Marco good luck, happy because I had also managed to take a pic with him.
However, as soon as I got home I learned that Marco had broken his 'acetabolo', which is the part of the femur that ends in the pelvis. Ooops...
A few seconds later, my dad told me that also an American teammate of Marco had crashed. 'What? Don't tell me...It wasn't Lewis, right?', I asked, worried. 'No, it wasn't. Or perhaps...No no, you're right, it was Craig Lewis, he broke his femur', he said, putting an end to my hopes. Well, at least now I know that I'll have to avoid the HTC bus for a lot of time now :P
The Macugnaga stage saw the victory of Tiralongo, who eventually got his first (deserved) victory as a pro at the tender age of 34. For that result he really has to thank His Majesty Contador, who let him win the stage (Alberto and Paolo are really good friends).
Contador yesterday had a very good reason to be happy, since his trial has been postponed. Therefore Riis is already talking about bringing him to the Tour, causing great despair amongst cycling fans, who don't want to see Alberto ruling another Grand Tour in such a boring way

Verbania-Sestriere:

Today's stage was another tough one. The riders had to face Colle delle Finestre, where Savoldelli won the 2005 Giro. Colle delle Finestre is about 20 kms long, has 45 (45!) hairpin turns and it isn't completely asphalted. The scenery, as usual, was great, although I don't know how some supporters could watch the race from the top of the mountains.
The riders who went on a breakaway this afternoon were Yaroslav Popovych, Kevin Seeldrayers (again!), Eduard Vorganov (who didn't pull a meter), Angel Vicioso, Frederik Veuchelen, Luca Mazzanti, Josep Jufre, Vasil Kiryienka, Sebastian Lang, Cristiano Salerno, Diego Ulissi (this time it was him who complained about Vorganov's lack of collaboration, and not the opposite), Carlos Betancourt (the youngest rider of the race) and Miguel Minguez.
On Colle delle Finestre Kiryenka abandoned his companions, whereas Szmyd set the pace at the front of the peloton (welcome back at the front, Sylwester!). Rujano attacked a lot of times and eventually managed to escape the group of the best riders. He wasn't the only one who absolutely wanted to break free this afternoon. In fact, Kruijswijk often attacked in order to annoy (and possibly drop) Kreuziger, while Gadret wanted to drop Nibali and Menchov attacked in order to improve his GC placement (no, I didn't wish him good luck when I saw him the other day :P).
Eventually, the ones who got the worst consequences from this stage were Sivstov and Nieve. Poor Kanstantin arrived 9 minutes after the winner, whereas Nieve arrived 1 minute before him. However, we must point out that the winner, aka the amazing Kiryenka, won with 6 minutes of advantage on Contador, Scarponi and the other GC riders.
Vasil was really moved towards the finish-line and he dedicated his victory to his fallen teammate Tondo (*sobs*). After the stage, Kiryenka admitted that he had worn his looking glasses in order to hide the tears.
Vasil is a really good rider and I think one can't help liking him. This rider from Belarus in fact has a very tough past, since in 1986 he lived near Chernobyl. As a consequence of the nuclear disaster, he lost both his parents and his brother. And the other day, he even lost a teammate. "This was the best way to remember a teammate that was with us only for this season, but yet seemed to have been here for so much time,” Kiryenka said after the stage. “We decided that the best form to pay him tribute was staying into the Giro, and I think we made a good choice because winning in such a hard mountain stage and from such a long break, it was a kind of winning that he liked so much”. Joaquim Rodriguez, interviewed after the race, didn't feel like commenting about Xavier's death, since he was a very close friend of his. Back to the race, Kruijswijk, Gadret and Scarponi managed to gain a few seconds on Nibali and Kreuziger. This last rider made me close my eyes a few times during the descent from Colle delle Finestre, since he really risked a lot there.
Second in the stage (4'43" down on Kiryenka) was Rujano, whereas third was the promising Betancourt. Dupont (yes, I know you're all rooting for him now) was 12th, Brambilla 13th and Nieve 17th. 64 riders ended the race 42" after the winner.

So, these were the last 3 stages of the race. Tomorrow there will be the last stage of the Corsa Rosa, which is taking place in Milan (I can't go, desperation!). Let's hope it'll be an exciting one! (and please Denis, do not crash, really, I don't want a heart attack!)
Pic 1 by Sirotti, 2 by Scanferla, 3 by Bettini

Italian polemics at the Giro, random news and more:

Two days after her last post, miss Fede is ready to write a new one. She couldn't watch yesterday's ITT, but she knows who won and she knows that there weren't many surprises. On the other hand, she did manage to watch today's stage, which saw a rider making one of the most dangerous things she's ever seen. Anyway, let's start from the beginning.
Today the riders had to face Passo Tonale and Passo Aprica. The descent from this last climb ended with 7 kms to go and people thought that Nibali might have tried something there. Moreover, every expert said that today's stage was perfect for those who wanted to go on a breakaway in order to get a victory. That's why, after just 55 kms, a very large group of riders had already broken clear of the peloton. These athletes were the Italian champion Giovanni Visconti (who's had serious knee problems in the last two weeks), his teammate Leonardo Giordani (who worked a lot at the front of the breakaway), Christophe Le Mevel, Hubert Dupont, Jan Bakelants (a hero!), Robert Kiserlovski, Kanstanstin Sivtsov (who wanted to improve his GC)), Jesus Hernandez, Ben Gastauer, Pablo Lastras, Diego Ulissi, Eduard Vorganov, Alberto Losada, Mathias Frank, Fabio Taborre and Addy Engels.
These riders had a maximum advantage of about 8 minutes and arrived on the top of Aprica with more than 3 minutes of advantage on the rest of the peloton. Liquigas, Lampre and Geox worked hard to gain time on the 16 men, but they didn't succeed.
On the Aprica descent both Kiserlovski and Frank looked very uncomfortable, whereas Lastras showed that, as well as being a very good sprinter, a very good climber and a very good Classic rider, he's also a very good downhill rider.
As said, people expected an attack by Nibali, but Popovych went at the head of the peloton during the Aprica downhill and nothing happened. Therefore the main part of peloton quietly rolled towards the finish-line, arriving 3 minutes after the winner.
With 3 kms to go, Bakelandts, Visconti, Lastras and Ulissi got a small gap on their adversaries. In the final 2 kms Visconti looked really nervous (he kept on turning his head backwards), whereas Ulissi and Bakelandts both tried to attack in the last 1500 meters of race. But still, they didn't have a lot of luck and they had to face Lastras and the Italian national champion in a sprint.
Poor Bakelandts had to start the final 'volata' and sat up as soon as Ulissi started the 'serious' sprint. At that point Visconti, who was on the right side of the road, suddenly moved to left, trying to follow the Lampre rider and to hide from the wind. On the other hand, Lastras was behind the two Italians, ready to outsprint them. However, soon it became clear that Visconti would have never been able to outsprint Ulissi: in fact there wasn't a lot of space between him and the barriers and Visconti, who isn't a pure sprinter, felt as if he was in a trap, although he was riding much faster than his companions. What did Giovanni do, then? Well, simple: he screamed at Ulissi twice, then he tried to push him to the left of the road. Considering that Ulissi didn't change his riding direction, Visconti pushed him again, this time with more anger. Ulissi was forced to go to the left, trying to recuperate his balance, whereas Visconti crossed the finish-line in first. Poor Lastras avoided hitting Ulissi from behind at the last moment and, in this all-Italian mess, he was the one who had the worst consequences. In fact, poor Pablo found himself third, after that he had to change his direction all of a sudden in order to avoid a serious crash. Right after the finish-line, no one looked happy. Visconti started talking with Lastras, whereas Ulissi, interviewed by Italian tv, said he didn't think he had done something wrong. Visconti, on the other hand, was really angry at Diego. “Sometimes the ones who decide to risk their own lives are the riders themselves, it's incredible! I shouted at Ulissi ten times to let me pass because I was going at twice the speed, but he closed me in against the barriers and, if I hadn’t raised my arm to push him far from me, I would have fallen. He's behaved in a very bad way during the whole day, he's been rude and it's not nice to see a young rider behaving like he did during the breakaway. Now I may be relegated to the last place, just because he wanted me to crash against the barriers. It's not fair!”, Giovanni said after the finish-line. He was very angry and probably still scared because he had risked to crash and hurt himself badly during the sprint.
In his defense, however, it must be said that there's a lot of pressure on him right now, that he's had big health problems in the first two weeks of Giro, that for his team this is the most important goal of the year and that he really wanted to win a stage in the Italian national jersey. Moreover, it must be said that he was interviewed right after the finish-line, when riders don't have the time to think about what they're saying.
After Visconti was relegated to third place (did Bulbarelli understand what the jury told him in French? That is question... :P), his ds decided to take part in 'Il Processo alla Tappa'. Farnese's ds, Luca Scinto, is a very peculiar person, since he always puts a lot of passion in whatever he does. Today he admitted that his rider had done something wrong, but he also said that Ulissi did change his direction during the sprint. "Therefore", Scinto said, "the jury should have given the victory to Lastras, and not to Diego".
A few minutes later, it was Ulissi's turn to arrive on the stage of 'Il Processo'. With his very nice accent, Diego explained how things went from his own point of view. “I tried to surprise the other riders by going early and I was always on the left hand side of the road, and I don’t think I really veered that much towards the barriers”, he said. Then, when asked about his behaviour in the breakaway, he was really honest. "I behaved in a cunning way, I admit it. My ds had told me not to take turns at the front, that's why I didn't work as much as the other riders. Btw, I wasn't the only one: also other 8 riders didn't pull very much. The Saxo Bank rider, for example (ndr; Hernandez), he didn't pull at all, perhaps because he had Contador in the oink jersey. However, I paid for my behaviour. In the first kms of breakaway in fact I argued with Vorganov, he said some bad things to me".
Then also Visconti went to 'Il Processo' and he said that he got angry too because of Ulissi's behaviour in the breakaway and that he thought that Diego was a bit too arrogant. "At a certain point", said Visconti, "I told him: 'If you keep on behaving like this, many riders won't consider a very nice guy anymore', and he thanked me for the advice". Luckily, in the end the two Italian riders made peace and Visconti said some very nice things. In fact right now there is a jersey worn by him during Etna stage on sale on EBay. "The money that people will spend to buy it", said Visconti, "will go to the family of a child who has a very bad disease. Thinking about all the parents that have children who suffer, and thinking about all the tragedies that occurred in cycling in the last weeks, well, it makes you understand that arguing for a victory really doesn't make sense at all. Things have gone this way, it's useless to talk about them now". Very wise words, said by a very young boy.

Talking about the poor Lastras, instead, I must say that I found it absolutely nice when Italian tv interviewed him. In fact they asked him what he thought about the sprint, whether he thought Ulissi should have been punished, whether he thought he should have deserved to win the stage and whether Movistar was going to protest against the jury's decision. In spite of all these question, Pablo always answered with the same: 'Non lo so' ('I don't know'), said with a big, shy smile and an embarassed face. Thinking about Movistar's problems and watching Pablo behaving in that way really made me want to go to Tirano and give a hug to him and to his teammates.

Back to Diego Ulissi, I think he didn't make any mistake in today's sprint and I agree with the jury's decision.
Personally, I like Diego because of different reasons. In fact he's strong, he's not afraid of anything (his arrogance towards the older riders show it), he's just 21, he's pretty and he also has a great accent. I could spend a whole day listening to him saying 'Horsa' rather than 'Corsa', and I think I'd pay a few euros to make him say 'una Coca Cola con la cannuccia' (I always melt when I hear people from Tuscany saying this sentence...).

Still talking about today's stage, here are two random things to point out: first of all, Matthew Wilson, my personal hero of the race, didn't finish today's stage.
'Who is Wilson?', some of you may ask. Well, Matthew is that great rider who was last in the general classification for a lot of stages. Now hat he's retired, I'm a very sad supporter.
Another (very fangirlistic) thing to point out, then, it's a recent discovery of mine (male readers can skip this part of the post, I don't have problems with it): Hubert Dupont is veeeery good-looking. Really, AG2R guys must do everything they can to bring both him and Nicolas Roche to the Tour de France. In that way, they could become Fangirl's second favourite team.
Ok, end of the fangirlistic part of the post. Now it's time for some random link and for a 'communication service':

RANDOM NEWS:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contadors-mechanic-expelled-from-the-giro : A SB mechanic got expelled from the Giro after that, during yesterday's ITT, he opened the door of the team car in order to 'punish' a tifoso who, according to him, had tried to punch Contador. However, Alberto says that the tifosi are always very nice with him and that he loves us all (ok, I'm exaggerating). The mechanic instead said that yesterday Joaquim Rodriguez received a punch from a supporter and that on the Zoncolan the tifosi threw eggs at the SB riders/team cars (I've read two versions of the story). Now, this seems a little strange to me. I mean, the guys would have complained about an episode like that, wouldn't they? And then: isn't it a bit difficult to center a rider with an egg while he's riding? And about the team cars: they couldn't drive up Zoncolan behind the riders and I don't think someone followed SB car in order to throw eggs at it... :P

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-ditalia-forced-to-change-milan-time-trial-course : The Milan elections, as well as causing an earthquake in Italian politics, have also forced the Giro organisers to change the route of the last stage of race. Now I'm seriously considering the chance of going to Milan to support both the riders and Pisapia.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/golas-withdraws-from-giro-ditalia-to-get-married : I wish all the best to Michal Golas and his fiancé Agata, who are getting married this weekend!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tondos-funeral-to-be-held-today : DEP, Xavier :'(

COMMUNICATION SERVICE:
Dear readers, you all know that tomorrow's stage of the Giro arrives in San Pellegrino Terme.
Considering that the Giro is riding also through Bergamo, tomorrow many roads in the center of the city will be closed. 'A good chance to stay home from school', I thought. And instead no, because we Bergamasks love killing ourselves with work (everyone describes us as 'loyal people who work hard without complaining', whereas I describe ourselves as 'a bunch of crazy people who can't understand what the priorities in life are'), so tomorrow students will have to stay in the schools at least until 12.30 . Then, at that hour, all the students of the city will finally be free.
Now, just imagine this: all the people going to pick up their little children by car, all the students who get the bus to go home, all the teachers/people older than 18 who drive their cars outside town, all the workers who try coming back from work before the roads get closed. All together, at the same time of the day, in the center of the town. I predict problems. And I predict that it will be impossible to get out of the city before half past one.
'What about miss Fede then? Will she go to school or not?', I hear some of you ask. Well, to everyone's joy, miss Fede decided in November 2010 that she wouldn't have gone to school on the 26th and on the 27th of May 2011, so this afternoon she said 'See ya on Sunday!' to all her schoolmates, wished them good luck for tomorrow, predicted that they'll be struck in the biggest traffic jam every for a lot of time and then promised she would bring them some nice photos of the hottest cyclists. Oh yeah, because miss Fede tomorrow will be in San Pellegrino, rooting for every single cyclist who's still racing (Contador included), trying to take good pictures (it won't be easy) and forgetting about all her duties. Because, as Queen sang, 'Bicycles races are coming your way, so forget all your duties oh yeah'.

PS: No, I won't be posting anything tomorrow :P

Xavier Tondo Volpini, 5th of November 1978 - 23rd of May 2011

Exactly two weeks ago, Wouter Weylandt passed away on a Giro descent. This morning, Movistar's Xavier Tondo lost his life in a domestic accident.

Xavier Tondo Volpini passed away this morning, after that his garage door fell on him while he was preparing for a training ride together with his friend Intxausti.
I had to stop twice while reading this news on Cyclingnews because I couldn't realise what I was reading. My eyes were watching the words, but my brain couldn't understand them. 'Xavier Tondo died this morning'. Unbelievable. Dying in such a terrible way, when you're just 32, really makes no sense.
Xavier was a great rider, one of the best climbers of the world and one of the most honest guys in the peloton. He became a hero in December, when he told the Spanish police about a group of people who sold doping products.
Right now I really can't believe that Xavier has really died. I'm shocked, sad and confused and I'm waiting for someone to come and tell me that this is just a joke. Not again, not two weeks after Wouter, not Xavier.
Unfortunately, no one will come - Movistar's manager has confirmed the news and the riders are already paying their tribute to their colleague.
I feel useless, powerless and I can't find the right words for this tragedy. Moreover, I cannot understand why those things can happen. And I cannot understand how our destiny can be so cruel.
Now I'd really like to send all my strength and support to Xavier's family, to his teammates, to his friends and to his supporters. Once again, the cycling family has to face another terrible loss and grief again all together.

Descansa en paz, Xavier. We will all miss you terribly. May you stay close to all the ones that loved you and support them in this awful moment. Once again, DEP.

Random Post about Martin Pedersen:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good weekend!