Saxo Bank new sponsor and 4 random links:

Yes,Saxo Bank has found a new sponsor for the team.Its name is SunGard and it is a company that provides softwares,disaster recovery services and does lots of other things (you can read about them in the following article).The company won't be the main sponsor of the team this year (or at least,that's what I understood) and will work with Riis also in 2011.

Of course I think this is a very good news for the team and I hope Bjarne will soon find another sponsor for his riders.Allez guys!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sungard-signs-on-as-sponsor-for-team-saxo-bank
US IT firm signs on for one year as minor sponsor
Team Saxo Bank has signed US-based SunGard as a new sponsor for the team this year. The information technology firm will not serve as name or co-sponsor, but the news gives some much needed morale support to the team after Saxo Bank announced they would terminate their support at the end of 2010.
SunGard is one of the largest privately owned companies in the US, with annual revenue exceeding $5 billion. According to its web site, it “provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.”
“This agreement sends a very strong signal, and it could not come at a better time,” team manager Trey Greenwood told sporten.dk. “It is a real scoop for our team.”
While the amount of the sponsorship was not announced,it was speculated to be anywhere from one million dollars to “several million dollars”.According to Greenwood, “it is not enough to be a co-sponsor,but it is big enough to change some things for us.”
Team owner Bjarne Riis did not dismiss the notion that the sponsorship might be expanded in 2011.“It is a great sponsor who wants to be here. Whether it could ultimately become something more remains to be seen. The important thing is we get them on board and we now show them what we have to offer, " Riis told sporten.dk.
Greenwood added,“Compared to the exposure you get as our sponsor,you will certainly get back more than you paid for.”
That is exactly what the company is hoping for.“We see a great potential to improve SunGard's brand awareness and visibility as a global IT business by sponsoring Team Saxo Bank.We are pleased that SunGard now stands stand side by side with one of professional cycling's leaders,” according to a statement issued by Brian Robins, SunGard's director of marketing.
The agreement provides the team with more than moral support, though.It “means that we can pass this year on the same or slightly higher level than last year.And we can keep a level we can be happy with and start with some of the steps we'd like.”

RANDOM LINKS
http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ :Chris Anker Sorensen has updated his blog with a funny list of "Goals achieved during the 2009 season".In said list,cycling is just very briefly mentioned.

http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/dansk-stjernerytter-skadet :according to Sporten.dk,Jakob Fuglsang is having some problems with his knee and his training camp may already be over after just one day.Me warmly hopes that the online translater is not telling me the truth and that,in case my online translater isn't a liar,Jakob's problem isn't too serious.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/saxo-press-conference :link to SB press conference.I've watched it this afternoon and I've really liked it,also because it rememberd me why I like the Schleck brothers so much.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=7900&status=True&catname=Latest%20News The title of this interview,"You gotta love Kenny Van Hummel",speaks clearly about its topic.

2009 cycling awards decided by moi:

Since the current year is ending,me thinks it's time for Fangirl to make a final balance of the 2009 cycling season.After all,it's a matter of "now or never",isn't it?

So,2009 has been a good year for Schleck supporters.12 months ago I wrote a very Fangirlistic post about my dreams for the 2009 cyclistic season and some of them became true.For example,Andy Schleck won the Liége and arrived on the Tour podium.Frank didn't arrive on the podium because of a damned TTT,but he won the Grand Bornard stage.And then Andy won the Luxembourgish RR Championship,the white jersey at the TdF and a stage at the Tour of Luxembourg,while Frank won a stage at the Tour of California,a stage and the overall classification at the Tour of Lux and the already mentioned Grand Bornard stage at the Tour. Considering all these victories,I think that the tifosi of the 2 brothers can be fully satisfacted with the 2009 season.Ok,the Schleck brothers also made us worry a lot sometimes (just think about Frank's crash in the Amstel or Andy's recent crash with a car while out training),but they've also allowed us to live a very good cyclistic season this year.So,I must say a big "thank you" to the Schleck brothers because of all the emotions they gave me during this year.

Of course the Schleck brothers weren't the only riders who gave me emotions during this year. For example,this year I supported Chris Anker Sorensen (this actually isn't a great news,since I've been supporting him since 2007),I felt terribly happy when Nicki Sorensen and Sylvester Szmyd won some races,felt extremely relieved when Menchov won the Giro and I've also felt terribly disappointed when Kreuziger lost the Avila stage of the Vuelta,when Gesink crashed in the Vuelta and in the Tour and also when Kenny Van Hummel had to retire from the Tour.

Unfortunately this year there have been also some bad moments not connected with losing races or seeing some riders crash.Nolf's death at the beginning of the season,Vanderbroucke's one and all the doping cases were some of the worst moments of the year,and hopefully we won't have to go through problems like this also in 2010.

Anyay,since everyone's writing things about the 2009 season,here are my "2009 season awards".The first ones are serious,while some of the last ones have been suggested by Fangirl and,consequently,are pretty stupid.Enjoy.

Best performance: The winner of this award,no doubts about it,is Andy Schleck's performance in Liége-Bastogne-Liége.Also Contador's victories at the Tour,Devolder's victory in Flanders, Guderzo's and Cancellara's victories at the Worlds and Nicki Sorensen's victory in the Tour de France have been great,but Andy's amazing ride towards Liége was simply the most perfect moment of the season,at least in my opinion.

Best Team: Team Columbia.Who else has won so many races with so many different rider this year?

Best sprinter: Cavendish.He's not the nicest guy on Earth,but he's the fastest man in the peloton.
Best TT rider: Cancellara.Take a look at what he did at the Mendrisio TT race and you'll understand why this award has to go to him.

Best young rider: Andy Schleck.Second at the Tour and winner of the Liége,no one else under the age of 25 did better.

Best helper: Sylvester Szmyd.He's always helped Basso,although the Italian rider never paid him (and his other teammates) back.And then,one of the few times he got the chance of doing what he wanted,this Polish rider won the Mont Ventoux stage at the Tour of Dauphiné Libére. Chapeau.

Most emotional moment of the year: the Grand Bornard stage.See what happened in the last km and immediately after the end of the stage and you'll understand what I mean.

Most surprising rider of the year: Heinrich Haussler.He won a great stage at the Tour and did very well at the classics.And I must confess that,until this March,I had no clue about who he was (sorry for the ignorance).

Rider to watch in 2010: I couldn't decide which rider to choose between Chris Anker Sorensen, Matti Breschel and Jakob Fuglsang,but at the end Fangirl forced me to say that the rider to watch in 2010 will be Chris Sorensen.This is due to the fact that,according to Fangirl,Chris in 2010 will win the Zoncolan stage at the Giro and arrive in the overall top 3 of the race causing great surprise and confusion ("Wasn't he called Nicki when he won that stage in France?",people will ask) in Cycledom and in Italy.

Craziest moment of the year: Everything that Menchov did in the month of May.This involves going around Venice in a gondola,attacking on the Alpe di Siusi climb,screaming under the Colosseo,falling during the last stage of the Giro and laughing in post-race interviews.

Best race I saw live this year: The Mendrisio Worlds because on that occasion I could see my favourite riders a lot of times and I could also get very near to Andy Schleck without looking mad or doing something that would have caused me to end up in a psychiatric hospital.

Best brothers du peloton: Like the dear Italian chronist Bulbarelli always reminds us,the 2 Sorensens who ride in the Saxo Bank team aren't related,therefore this award has to go to the Schleck brothers,Andy and Frank,because Fangirl wants so.

Best hair du peloton: The choice is between Thomas Lovkvist and Linus Gerdemann.But since I do know that Lovkvist's hair are perfect also after a race of 250 kms (I got the chance of observing this phenomenon in Mendrisio) and I have no clue about how Gerdemann's hair look like after such a hard proof,I guess I'll go for Lovkvist.

Most supported rider of the year: Kenny Van Hummel.The Tour streets talked clearly.

So,these were,say,the "good awards".Of course there have been also some bad moments during the season.Here are the "worst things of the season" awards:
Biggest doping disappointment of the year: Rebellin.I did not expect his positivity.He really let me down.

Worst crash of the year: It's a battle between Jens Voigt's crash in the Tour,Frank Schleck's one in the Amstel,Impey's one in the Tour of Turkey and Pedro Horrillo's one in the Giro. Considering the consequences of his crash,I'd say that Pedro Horrillo was the protagonist of the worst crash of the yer.

Most unlucky rider of the year: Poor Robert Gesink because of his crash in the Vuelta.And Serge Pauwels because of what happened to him during the Giro stage eventually won by Bertagnolli.

Worst supporters of the year: those stupid guys who booed at Garzelli after the Blockhaus stage.I just hope they felt a bit sorry for what they did when they found out about Di Luca's positivity.

So,these were my very personal 2009 awards.If some of you have other opinions,feel free to tell me.

Links to some Curaçao pics plus article about Chris Anker Sorensen:

Yes,I've already seen the pics featuring the Schleck brothers swimming with some dolphins and that appeared on Cyclingnews and on Corvos yesterday.And as a consequence of those pics, Fangirl has spent the last 24 hours envying the Curaçao dolphins and wishing she were one of them.Anyway,leaving Fangirl's envy issues behind,here's a link that may interest you: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF05112009_058 .On it you can find some nice pics of the Schleck brothers that haven't appeared yet on the traditional "Curaçao pics website" (Corvos,Bettini,Tim De Waele and so on) and that I found pretty nice.Of course on that link there also pics involving Contador,Boom,Boasson Hagen and the other riders that are in Curaçao in these days.

Btw,even if the Curaçao pics have been the main object of my posts in the last 2-3 days,I haven't forgotten that the riders are in the Netherlands Antilles also because of the Amstel Curaçao criterium.
The Amstel Jan Thiel Criterium (which is a "warm-up" for tomorrow's race) saw the victory of Kenny Van Hummel (yay!), a hero for lots of supporters (me included).Second was Hoogerland, while third was Brice Feillu.

According to http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=15948 (click on this link if you want to know more about how the Criterium went), the Schleck brothers didn't take part in the race and this explains why I can't find any news about their placements in the race.

Anyay,let's now change topic.In fact I haven't forgotten Chris Anker Sørensen's existence even if he's not in Curaçao swimming with dolphins.Therefore,I'd like to publish an article about him that I found on http://www.riis-cycling.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=2560 .In this article Chris talks about the Japan Cup,the chopsticks,his fat percentage (if he gets worried about it, what should I do?), the off-season, his book about the Tour (I hope it will it be released also in English or in German!), the future and other things.And if I've managed to make you like Chris Anker so much that you even want to see some vids with him (perhaps in the English language,since Danish is so terribly complicated to understand),on this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7oOZ7Bb9xw ) there's a nice interview with him.
Btw,back to the interview,here it is:

He was saved by the bell. The goal for the 2009 season was the same as for many others in the field - a win. And Danish Chris Anker Sørensen took it by himself. On the last passing of the steepest hill on the circuit in Japan Cup he dropped his companion, Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne) after having taken the initiative to slip away from the peloton.
"It was great to win in Japan. The season has, however been great and full of amazing experiences where I have helped teammates to great achievements. But there was still a large and gaping "0" next to “number of victories” this season before the trip went to Asia and it was such a satisfying moment crossing the finish line in solitude”.
In several aspects, there is a long way from Japan to Hammel, Denmark where he was born and raised and visiting his parents.Chris Anker Sørensen has just returned from a run in a meteorologically bad temper which primarily consisted of sleety gales before he picked up the phone to speak with me about the 2009 season. But apart from the geographical gap there are some cultural differences between Japan and Denmark which put his precision skills to the test.
"Michael Mørkøv and I had agreed that everything we ate in Japan had to be consumed only by the use of chopsticks and naturally it turned into a competition of ability which I clearly won.I wonder now whether the chopsticks may be a great tool of helping me keep my weight down over Christmas since gravy and pudding seem rather difficult to consume with a pair of pointy pieces of wood”,says the skinny climber with a wink in the eye and continues:"I am training very hard to the upcoming Christmas holiday so I don't have to restrain myself completely during Christmas dinner."
The fat percentage is being kept to a minimum and does not cross the six percent boundary at any time of the year. Chris Anker is still on his bike several times a week in the early off-season and he even tops his training off with a couple of jogging sessions every week when we hit late autumn.But otherwise,the 25-year-old Dane enjoys a welcome opportunity to meet with his friends and talk about things other than cycling.In addition, there will be a golden chance to be spending time with his girlfriend, Michelle-a Danish soccer player from Copenhagen.
Reaching December, the mountain bike finds its way in the cold and rainy Luxembourg where he resides on a daily basis.To achieve a spot in the line-up for the biggest cycling event in the world requires an endless number of training hours in vast examples of weather conditions. "There have been several great moments this season. Tour of Luxembourg was special because it took place in my second home and because we won the race in superb style with three stage wins, the point classification and the overall victory.But Tour de France was a childhood dream came true for me and it was much bigger than I ever dreamed of. The number of spectators and especially the number of Danes, journalists and the fact that just a few weeks on the bike making me world famous was a slightly surreal but also a truly fantastic experience. In fact,it was so personally rewarding that I along with sports journalist,Dennis Ritter has written a book about my thoughts and conversations during the race. In addition, the book contains race reports of the stages from my and from Dennis' point of view”.
It is no secret that Team Saxo Bank says goodbye to eight riders at the end of this season. But it is not necessarily all negative according to Chris Anker Sørensen:
"Personally,I will without a doubt miss being around several of the riders who are leaving the team. On the other hand, they are leaving a few empty spots in the upper part of the hierarchy and other young riders now have the opportunity to take responsibility and thus get to develop on a higher level and every team needs progression like that.From a Danish point of view,to become successful national representatives in the biggest events like the World Cup or the Olympics,we need an expanded approach to gain the necessary experience which can only be achieved through participation in major races.I am looking forward to welcoming four new riders on the team when we all are going to take part of the survival camp with B. S. Christiansen in the beginning of December."
Thus, the young Dane gets a month off work before he embarks on another season. A new year from which he expects quite a lot:
"My main objective is the Tour de France as I hope to get another chance in the line-up.I expect to become even stronger so I can be an even greater help for Andy.Besides the Tour, I hope to receive a chance in the overall classification in the Vuelta in the autumn where I aspire to take another win in the Japan Cup.All in all,I would like to take another step up the rankings and that is now possible on Team Saxo Bank”, concludes Chris Anker Sørensen.
NB: The Dane's book release, "Debutantens dagbog" (Diary of a Debutant) is being published Monday 23rd November.
(Pics by Amstel Curaçao Race 2009 and by Cycletime website).

Random News:

Here are some totally random news about what's going in Cycledom these days...

Schlecks: In these days there aren't lots of news about the brothers around;for what I understood,their next race will be the Gp of Plouay (23rd of August).Then the brothers will be racing the Vuelta that this year begins on the 29th of August and ends on the 20th of September.

Di Luca: the news du jour is that Di Luca's counter-analysis confirmed that the Lpr rider was doped during the Giro 2009.

Every time a rider "gets caught" at the anti-doping,people usually say the same things about disappointment,honesty and so on.And the rider always says the same thing:" What? Doping? Me? Are you crazy? I'm the cleanest rider of the peloton! It can't be true! I'd be a stupid if I doped".Anyway,I'd like to write here an article that Marco Pinotti wrote on the local newspaper after receiving the news of Di Luca's positivity.Here are some sentences that I remember:

"I got the news of Di Luca's positivity after having finished a race.I was on the team bus with my teammates.Normally,when you get the news of a rider's positivity,you feel angry and disappointed.This time I felt happy.Anger and Disappointment came later,perhaps because I didn't realise the importance of the news and because I was still excited about the stage that had just ended (...).Di Luca is not new to this kind of problems:he had problems already in 2004;in 2007 he was disqualified because of the "Oil for Drug" inquest;In 2008 instead CONI wanted to ban him for 2 years because of some strange things that the doctors found out while analysing blood samples from the 2007 Giro.Then he had problems because of his doctor,mr.Carlos Santuccione (ndr;see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santuccione to find out more about that man).Now,he's finally been found positive to an anti-doping test (...).He'll probably be disqualified for 2 years,but it doesn't matter.It doesn't matter because no one will ever pay back all the riders who lost a victory,a good result,an important chance of getting a good result because of him over the last years".

It was a very strange article because Pinotti is normally a very diplomatic person,but this time instead he really looked angry.And the last sentence of his article really made me think a lot.If Di Luca hadn't raced this year's Giro,how would things have gone? Yes,Menchov would have won anyway but perhaps Lovkvist would have kept the maglia rosa for more time,2 stages would have been won by other 2 riders (Basso and Garzelli,perhaps),there would have been less polemics between Lpr and Liquigas...It would have been a different Giro.

COMEBACKS...

Let's change topic...Here' the "Comeback section news".

After the Emaciated Chickenman,also Vinokourov has come back racing again.And me likes Vinokourov even less than Rasmussen,so you can probably understand how happy I am.

A much nicer comeback is Kenny Robert Van Hummel's one. The Dutch rider suffered a severe laceration to his knee on July 22,but now is ready to come back racing.Kenny said he expects to race in the Profronde van Oostvoorne,a Dutch criterium,on Thursday afternoon. (see full article about Van Hummel's comeback on: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-hummel-returns-at-profronde-van-oostvoorne ).Of course,after having supported him at le Tour,I'm really looking forward to see Kenny on the roads again.

Another rider who is coming back soon is Kurt-Asle Arvesen,who is scheduled to ride the Tour of Ireland.
Then: Do you remember that horrible fall caused by Theo Bos at the Tour of Turkey?
Well,Daryl Impey (the rider who fell together with Bos) returned racing again this week,in GP Carnago.In the April crash Impey suffered facial injures,broken teeth and 2 broken vertebrae. Hopefully the South African rider will get some good results soon.He would deserve it,after that crash.

TOUR OF POLAND: I know that I have ignored that race completely so far,but here in Italy they broadcast it at crazy hours and so I just have to read the results on the newspapers.

The leader at the moment is Alessandro Ballan.The Italinan rider also won a stage in this race and achieved his first victory 315 days after the one at the Worlds.2 stages were then won by Edvald Boasson Hagen,while other stages instead were won by Bozic,Furlan and Guarnieri.

TEAM CHANGES
Bruseghin will race for Caisse d'Epargne next year.

Talking about my favourite team (Saxo Bank),Luxembourgish rider Laurent Didier has signed a contract with Riis' team.
Didier is 25-year-old and took the second place in both the road race and time trial at the National Championships 2009. Didier has been riding with Team Designa Kokken over the last year.Also Jakob Fuglsang,Alex Rasmussen and Chris-Anker Sorensen raced in that team before.
"I'm really happy about this contract and I'm looking forward to joining the team.I know Fränk and Andy quite well and know that I'll get ample opportunity to improve myself with Team Saxo Bank.Last fall I did a couple of races as a helper and I also went to the training camp this winter, which only made me even more sure that this is the right team for me,"says Laurent Didier,who's become a fulltime pro this year because he wanted to end his engineering studies first.

A fangirl at Le Tour part 1: Martigny-Bourg Saint Maurice

2 weeks ago I went to see the Martigny-Borg Saint Maurice stage of the TdF.
I arrived in Valle d'Aosta the day before the stage and the first thing I did was to go on the Col du Petit Saint Bernard (in Italian it is "Colle del piccolo San Bernardo") and take a look at the climb.

There were already a lot of supporters there:people from Germany (I also saw the famous "Devil",already dressed up in red even if it was just 11 am of the day before the stage),Belgium, Australia (of course they had a big kangaroo peluche outside their camper),Denmark, Norwegy,Ireland,Great Britain,Spain,Basque Country,France (of course...),Italy (there was also a camper from my same city),Slovenia,Czech Republic,Holland...And of course,there were also lots of people from Luxembourg.And a lot of people were riding on the climb with their bikes.

There were even some things already written on the road,like "Go Hushovd!","Cav Cav Cav", "Go Wiggo","DK:Brian,Nicki,C.A."(it's not an abbreviation of mine,Dane supporters actually wrote "C.A." probably because "Chris-Anker" was too long),"Allez Schleck! Andy and Frank", "Vamos Contador!".I had never seen so many people from so many different countries in just one place before.
The weather was nice,so we parked the car in France and then we went to an Italian bar and ate something (that morning I went back and forth between France and Italy at least 10 times...). The landscape was amazing,so we decided to eat near to a little lake.

In the afternoon we went to take a walk,but me couldn't concentrate a lot on the wonderful landscape because Fangirl was taking over. The following day,we woke up at 6.30 and immediately got in our car.Bad news,it was raining. Fangirl said: "Who cares?",but Logic immediately reminded her that sitting on the wet grass for 12 hours isn't actually a nice thing.Fangirl couldn't do anything but agree with Logic. Logic was actually a bit envious of people with camper and tried to imagine her day and compare it to the day of "a camper owner".
Logic's day: 6 am:wake up. 7.30:you're on the top of the climb. 8.00:you go and have breakfast. 9.00-12.00:you wander on the top of the climb.12.-14.00:you eat something (probably a roll or an hot dog) in a really slow way,so time passes faster.14-16.00:you use your English/German/ Spanish skills to try and get information about the race from someone who has a television,a radio,or is talking on the phone (who knows,perhaps they're asking for race updates).16.00-18: your daily turn is over,now it's Fangirl time.
Camper person day: 11.00: wake up. 12.00-13.00:you eat something warm and good,not a roll like other supporters do.13.00-14.30:you take a walk around your camper.14.30-16.00: ou watch the race on your own tv,without the need of using your English/Spanish/German skills in order to steal information about how the race is going.16:00:you go out from your camper and watch the race live.Of course you don't look as anxious as other supporters because you perfectly know when the riders will arrive,who is at the front of the race and so on.
Actually,I soon found out that "camper people" were already awake at 7.00 am and they were already having breakfast.And other people (the Dane guys at the bottom of the climb,for example) even slept in their car,using Denmark's flags as curtains.In particular,a Norwegian old man attracted my attention:he was awake,outside his car,wearing shorts,flip flop and a sweater. And it was raining and there were just 10 degrees.
A Swiss man instead put his tent on the top of his car and slept there.Unbelievable.
At 7.30 people started to built the "GPM" things on the top of the climb and weather started to get better.From 7.30 until 16.00,supporters kept on arriving by bike at the top of the climb.Some of them were riding very strange bicycles.
The supporters also began to show their love to their nation during the morning.This is a big flag made by Dane supporters (they used 21 sheets to make it).I know it may look like Switzerland's flag but believe me,it was a Denmark's flag.After having breakfast,my family and I started to look for a good place where to sit and see the race.I wanted to go on a little hill on which there was a big Luxembourgian flag and a big "Schleck flag" (see pic),but then I changed idea because it was too crowded.
We eventually found a very nice place near to the little hill and,since it was beginning to get too crowded,we sat down there and stayed there the whole day. Little thing to notice: we sat down there at 11 am.And the riders arrived between 16.30-17.00. Ouch.
There were some things written on the road in front of us,here are 2 of them that I really loved: The Dutch family at our right wrote things in support of Rabobank and Skill riders and they even wrote "Go Kenny Van Hummel" on a sheet they had with them.If the guys at my right were Dutch,the ones at my left were probably Dane.Or at least,they were both blonde,with light blue eyes,tall and looking tipically Dane.Considering also the facts that they were wearing Saxo Bank uniforms and they yelled in an incredible way at los Sorensens,I guessed they were Dane. In front of us instead there were Kreuziger's supporters,while in the distance there was the "Luxembourgish hill".
At 15.00 the publicity caravan started to arrive.Boygues Telecom was the most generous team,IMO:they gave everyone they saw an official t-shirt of the team and a little hat.I managed to get the t-shirt without making any effort:I was walking on the road and a man on a car threw me a t-shirt.
Also Caisse d'Epargne threw some t-shirts and hats,but I couldn't get any (damn!).At the end of the caravan,I had a Boygues Telecom t-shirt,a polka dots hat (that I immediately wore because my patriotism was starting to show,jus like it does in every big occasion with lots of non-Italian people around),a pen and some sweets.
And of course in the publicity caravan there was also THE YETI.I was speechless when I saw it. Anyway,when the publicity caravan ended and some minutes passed,I started to hear the sound of an helicopter."Am I getting crazy or do you hear a strange sound as well?",I asked my father.No,I wasn't getting crazy,he was hearing that sound as well.
The feeling you get when you're on the top of a climb,waiting for a cycling race,and you suddenly hear the helicopter sound is a very strange one.

I didn't know anything about how the race was going,and I didn't know if the riders were already on the climb or not.Of course all the kind of thoughts started to run through my mind:"And if you don't see los Schlecks? And if they got retired? And if they have fallen? And if they're on a breakaway? And if a big doping affair was found out this morning?".

Also people near to me were very anxious and,probably,worried:they started to stand up,wake the little kids,start to laugh in a nervous way...
Then the motorbikes started to arrive and,after a few seconds,we saw the 3 riders at the head of the race:Astarloza,Van Den Broeck and Pellizotti.I didn't take any pic 'cause in some situations I think you just have to enjoy the moment and focus on the riders,not on things like "Is my camera right? Oh my,I have to zoom that! When do I take the pic? Now? F***,they already rode past me! Is it better if I take a pic or a vid?".

My patriotism unfortunately was already free,so when Pellizotti rode in front of me I screamed "Vai Franco,vai,vaiii!" and I felt pretty stupid.Anyway,I wasn't the only person looking a bit "strange":all the people I could see were screaming,clapping their hands,whistling,jumping...I suddenly felt relieved: I wasn't crazier than anyone else.
Then a group of riders including Fedrigo and Roche came;you don't need to have a great fantasy to understand how I managed to recognise the French rider.
Then,after a little group of riders including also Karpets,the GC contender group came.I just recognised 3 people between all the ones that were in that group:Voigt,Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck.I didn't see Armstrong,Contador,Wiggins,Nibali and the other riders:I was paying too much attention to the Saxo Bank guys.
Voigt was pulling hard,with a look of pain on his face,while Andy was on his pedals.I just saw Frank's back because I was a bit too much concentrated on Andy. Random thought: "Man,Frank's skinny!".
Of course you all know that Jens crashed 3-4 kms after riding in front of me.When I found out about that (and phoned home to ask if he was badly injured),my day got worse.Anyway,Jens is now doing ok after the circumstances and has said he may come back in September. Obviously, me's looking forward to see him on the road again.

After the GC group there were Kreuziger,Sastre and Kirchen.I didn't recognise Kreuziger,but I saw Sastre and Kirchen very well.Then I saw Brice Feillu,riding with Cadel Evans.Evans was clearly suffering,while Feillu was just...skinny.Random thought "He's even skinnier than Frank Schleck! And he even looks taller".

Then I saw Nocentini (patriotism made me scream "Vai Rinaldoooooo!!!"),Gerdemann (Fangirl went:"Leeenooos! Gooo!") and Sylvain Chavanel.

A few seconds after them,all alone,came Chris-Anker Sorensen.He didn't look as suffering as usual and seemed to have a very good pace.Of course I had to scream something,and Fangirl and Logic had a little debate: Fangirl:"I'll scream 'Go Chris-Anker!".Logic:"You can't scream that,it's too long.By the time you open your mouth and scream,he will already have ridden past you". F:"What about 'Go Sorensen?" L:"nah,if Italian chronists heard you,it would sound as if you couldn't recognise the Sorensens.And you can tell who is Nicki and who is Chris-Anker after all this time,right?".Logic approved Fangirl's last idea and found herself screaming (together with Fangirl): "Go Chris!!!".The Dane guys near me screamed the same thing,adding something in a language I didn't understand.Random thought I had when I saw C.A.? "Man,he's very skinny as well!"

The following Saxo Banker that rode in front of me was Nicki Sorensen.And here,Fangirl and Logic agreed in screaming: "Go Nickiiii!".There was another little debate when Gustav Erik Larsson rode past me,but agreement was soon found and I screamed "Go Gustav!".
Then Vanotti rode past us and Patriotism connected with Neighborhood made me scream "Vai, Alessandro,vaiii! Bravooo!!",while someone of the family was screaming something in Bergamask.

I also yelled something at Menchov and at Tony Martin.Sister was disappointed to see him in the last position of the race and so was I.

Then came the first gruppetto.And it was lead by-guess who? Pozzatolocks (and Ballan).Nobody didn't scream anything for him,probably because people were more concentrated on supporting Hushovd and Freire.With them there was also Fab Fab,who I recognised at the last moment because he was already wearing the "descent jersey" (how d'you say "mantellina" in English?).
Then there was the 2nd gruppetto,including Bello Benna,and the third gruppetto including Cavendish,Renshaw and other Columbia riders.I didn't see O'Grady and I was pretty worried about him.

After the 3rd gruppetto,everybody started to go on the road,but there was still one rider missing:Kenny Robert Van Hummel.He eventually arrived,alone,looking in pain,and everybody (everybody,Dutch family,Italian people,Dane boys,mountain rocks) supported him in a great way.Probably he was the most supported rider on that day.
And so the race was over.
We got back to the car,tired but happy,and got the news of Astarloza's victory.

We all know how it ended up with Astarloza.When I heard the news that he failed an anti-doping test,I remembered a person I rapidly saw that day:it was a basque man,driving his camper in the column of vehicles heading towards France immediately after the stage;He was looking happy and showing everybody a Basque flag and a pic of Euskaltel-Euskadi.I smiled at him and he smiled back at me.That was my first thought when I heard that bad news.People say: "There's always a risk when you start to love cycling",but I'll never get used to it.And,even with doping,cycling is the only sport that can allow you to live amazing days,waiting for hours on a climb (or doing 12 kms uphill by foot,like an Irish supporter did) just to see your favourite riders ride near to you.
(pics by me and my sister-"Second day at le Tour" will arrive soon).