Although 5 of my teachers have decided to examine me in the last 6 days, showing their evilness and their hatred towards me , here I am to write a post about what's happened in Cycledom over the last few days.
First of all, this week the winners of the 3 Velo d'Or awards have been announced. And the 2010 winner of the main prize was....Fabian 'Spartacus' Cancellara!
I completely agree with this result, especially because this year Fabian won Roubaix in a totally spectacular way. Moreover, he won Flanders, wore the yellow jersey at the Tour, helped Andy on the cobblestones, decided to neutralise the Spa stage of the Tour, won 2 stages at La Grande Boucle and also won the TT World Championship for the 4th time in his life. Amazing.
Second in the trophy's classification was Alberto Contador, while third was Andy Schleck.
As far as the Velo d'or français was concerned, its winner was Thomas Voeckler. Me was very surprised by this because I thought that Sylvain Chavanel was going to win that award. And instead no, there comes Thomas and gets the prize. Third however was the track sprinter Grégory Bauge.
First of all, this week the winners of the 3 Velo d'Or awards have been announced. And the 2010 winner of the main prize was....Fabian 'Spartacus' Cancellara!
I completely agree with this result, especially because this year Fabian won Roubaix in a totally spectacular way. Moreover, he won Flanders, wore the yellow jersey at the Tour, helped Andy on the cobblestones, decided to neutralise the Spa stage of the Tour, won 2 stages at La Grande Boucle and also won the TT World Championship for the 4th time in his life. Amazing.
Second in the trophy's classification was Alberto Contador, while third was Andy Schleck.
As far as the Velo d'or français was concerned, its winner was Thomas Voeckler. Me was very surprised by this because I thought that Sylvain Chavanel was going to win that award. And instead no, there comes Thomas and gets the prize. Third however was the track sprinter Grégory Bauge.
Velo d'or Espoirs instead was won by Andy Schleck in front of Nibali and Cavendish.
Talking about this award, I'm afraid I'm going to write something that the most of you won't like. And that something is: I don't think Andy deserved that award more than Nibali.
Ok, Andy was second in the Tour just because of a mechanical problem. As well as that, he is younger than Nibali and this year the battle between him and Contador made the Tour very exciting. Moreover, the Luxembourgian won 2 stages at this year Tour and also won the TT national champiobship. But at the same time Andy didn't get any good result in the Ardenne classics and was also kicked out from his team during the Vuelta, which he rode without getting any decent result.
Nibali instead won a stage at the Giro, wore the pink jersey, was 3rd in the GC of the Italian GT and in September he won la Vuelta. As well as that, he rode very well in the Worlds. Therefore I think that, if we have to compare Nibali and Andy's seasons, Vincenzo's one was more regular and more successful than Andy's. That's why I think he, and not Andy, should have won that award.
Nibali instead won a stage at the Giro, wore the pink jersey, was 3rd in the GC of the Italian GT and in September he won la Vuelta. As well as that, he rode very well in the Worlds. Therefore I think that, if we have to compare Nibali and Andy's seasons, Vincenzo's one was more regular and more successful than Andy's. That's why I think he, and not Andy, should have won that award.
Anyway, after getting my part of insults for what I've just written, I go on to another topic. In fact, the other day Gazzetta gave the news that Gino Bartali, one of the most famous cyclists ever, is going to enter 'Il Giardino dei Giusti', which is internationally known as 'Yad Vashem'. Under this name people indicate a number of gardens (spread all around the World), where every person that during the 2° World War saved at least one person of Jewish origins, has a tree planted in their honour.
Gino Bartali is considered to have saved a lot of Jews during the 2° WW since, using his trainings on the bike as an excuse, he used to go from a city to another with false documents hidden in his bike (for example, inside the handlebars). These false documents were then given to people of Jewish origins, that showed them to the authorities in order to avoid being sent to the Nazis lager.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/guldhammer-steps-away-from-professional-cycling : The Danish rider Rasmus Guldhammer, 21 year-old, cancelled his contract with Columbia and decided to step away from professional cycling. He told DR Sporten that he missed his friends and family during his first year with a ProTour squad, therefore he decided to quit professional sport for one year.
Gino Bartali is considered to have saved a lot of Jews during the 2° WW since, using his trainings on the bike as an excuse, he used to go from a city to another with false documents hidden in his bike (for example, inside the handlebars). These false documents were then given to people of Jewish origins, that showed them to the authorities in order to avoid being sent to the Nazis lager.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/guldhammer-steps-away-from-professional-cycling : The Danish rider Rasmus Guldhammer, 21 year-old, cancelled his contract with Columbia and decided to step away from professional cycling. He told DR Sporten that he missed his friends and family during his first year with a ProTour squad, therefore he decided to quit professional sport for one year.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chris-anker-sorensen-aims-to-be-top-climber-at-2011-giro-ditalia : Chris Anker Sorensen is going to ride the Giro again next year and this is obviously causing me great fangirlistic attacks. As well as that, also Lovely Lovkvist has said he's going to race the Giro next year, so the battle between me and my sister (I support CA, she supports Thomas) has already begun.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/barredo-bids-farewell-to-quick-step-team-and-fans : Carlos Barredo is leaving Quick Step in order to join Rabobank. However, Carlos won't be able to race in his new team until 28 February 2011. In fact, he's been banned from 1st January 2011 to 28th February because of the fist fight he had with Rui Costa at this year Tour.
Talking about bans, also Johan Bruyneel has been banned for 2 months after that Radioshack wore Livestrong jerseys in the last stage of the Tour.
On http://www.gazzetta.it/Sport_Vari/Golf/27-10-2010/brevi-inverno-711609874872.shtml there are some short, interesting news. For example, on that page you can discover that, just 3 days ago, Philippe Gilbert and his wife Patricia became the parents of the little Alan (congratulations to the whole Gilbert's family!!).
However, one of the news that caught my attention was the 'Tour, WADA chiede controlli notturni' one. In fact, WADA has said that it would be better to repeal the unwritten rule according to which riders can't be tested by the anti-doping guys in the middle of the night. To me this makes no sense, because cyclists are human being too and they need a good night sleep as well when they're riding a Grand Tour. Actually, I think that waking up riders in the middle of the night could create differences also in their stage's results, since it's obvious that those who wouldn't sleep because of the controls would probably feel their legs much heavier than anyone else on the following day.
CANCUN CRITERIUM: The race was won by Mancebo. The Schlecks didn't start because their flight to Europe (?) was anticipated of some hours and prevented them from taking part in the race.
Some pictures (featuring los Schlecks, Kreuziger, Sagan and Vinokourov, who wore a newspaper rather than a t-shirt) can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=293162&id=103246938668&fbid=490618488668 .
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/barredo-bids-farewell-to-quick-step-team-and-fans : Carlos Barredo is leaving Quick Step in order to join Rabobank. However, Carlos won't be able to race in his new team until 28 February 2011. In fact, he's been banned from 1st January 2011 to 28th February because of the fist fight he had with Rui Costa at this year Tour.
Talking about bans, also Johan Bruyneel has been banned for 2 months after that Radioshack wore Livestrong jerseys in the last stage of the Tour.
On http://www.gazzetta.it/Sport_Vari/Golf/27-10-2010/brevi-inverno-711609874872.shtml there are some short, interesting news. For example, on that page you can discover that, just 3 days ago, Philippe Gilbert and his wife Patricia became the parents of the little Alan (congratulations to the whole Gilbert's family!!).
However, one of the news that caught my attention was the 'Tour, WADA chiede controlli notturni' one. In fact, WADA has said that it would be better to repeal the unwritten rule according to which riders can't be tested by the anti-doping guys in the middle of the night. To me this makes no sense, because cyclists are human being too and they need a good night sleep as well when they're riding a Grand Tour. Actually, I think that waking up riders in the middle of the night could create differences also in their stage's results, since it's obvious that those who wouldn't sleep because of the controls would probably feel their legs much heavier than anyone else on the following day.
CANCUN CRITERIUM: The race was won by Mancebo. The Schlecks didn't start because their flight to Europe (?) was anticipated of some hours and prevented them from taking part in the race.
Some pictures (featuring los Schlecks, Kreuziger, Sagan and Vinokourov, who wore a newspaper rather than a t-shirt) can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=293162&id=103246938668&fbid=490618488668 .
