Heaven and Hell on the way to Cap Fréhel:

Heaven and Hell. Two words that are simply perfect to describe today's stage of the Tour and some other things that have recently happened in Cycledom.

Hell. Perhaps some of you don't know it, but this morning an Australian rider called Carly Hibberd lost her life while she was training near Milan. The 26 year-old from Brisbane died shortly after being hit by a car. For the thousandth time this year, cycling must face a very hard moment.

Heaven. This afternoon Marianne Vos got her fourth victory at the Giro Donne, the most important stage race of the women calendar. The Dutch rider (who is just 24) won in Piacenza by outsprinting pure sprinters like World Champion Giorgia Bronzini and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. And, to make things even more special, Vos won the stage while wearing the Maglia Rosa.

Hell. Tom Boonen crashed with 60 kms to go in today's stage of the Tour and he crossed the finish-line 12' after the stage winner. He looked in pain and he could count just on one teammate, Addy Engels, who helped him just in the last 50 kms of race.

Heaven. Although the stage finale didn't suit him, and although his team made a disaster in the last km of race, this afternoon Mark Cavendish managed to get one of the best victories of his career in Cap Fréhel, a village located in a spectacular French bay.

Heaven and Hell. Reading about Fabian Wegmann's newborn baby Otto (he was born on the 29th of June and I wish him a very happy, long and serene life!) after discovering what happened to poor Hibberd can make you understand how the limit between these two things is very thin. We had two demonstrations of this fact during the last Giro, we had a demonstration of it also today, at the Giro Donne and (in a less tragic way) at the Tour de France.

Today's stage of the Tour de France looked tricky even on paper. The last kms of race in fact were very close to the sea, in a part of France (Bretagne) which has a very characteristic windswept landscape. Moreover, with 2 kms to go the riders had to face a difficult descent that would lead them to the last km of race, which was 3% steep.

The narrow streets of Bretagne, together with the fear of the echelons and with the nervousness of the peloton, didn't help making the stage easier for the group, which soon had to deal with many crashes.

One of the first riders to fall off his bike was Sylvain Chavanel who, as a consequence of his crash, had his acromion-clavicular joint dislocated as a consequence of his crash. Luckily, the French national champion could soon hop back on his bike and managed to end the stage.

"In the fall I also hit my head and broke my helmet," Chavanel told Cyclingnews. "The consequences could have been much worse. Tomorrow morning I'm lining up for the start as usual, but it’s obvious that tomorrow I can look forward to a day of suffering". Also Wiggins was involved in Sylvain's crash, but didn't suffer any injury. Other riders, unfortunately, weren't that lucky.

Janez Brajkovic and Robert Gesink crashed soon after Chavanel. Also Alberto Contador was involved in their crash, the second one of the day for the unlucky Spaniard, who threw his bike to the ground as a sign of anger. But still, Conti was pretty lucky in getting it away without major injuries: Gesink in fact is reported to have bruises all over his body, whereas Brajkovic had to abandon the race with a broken collarbone and a concussion.

Unfortunately, Janez wasn't the last rider to crash this afternoon. In fact, a few minutes after having helped his captain in chasing the main peloton, it was Nicki Sorensen's turn to end up on the ground. Nicki's crash was a really shocking one, since it was caused by one of the photographers' motorbikes. The motorbike rode so close to Nicki that, apparently, the handlebar of the Danish rider got glued to it. As a consequence, Sorensen found himself on the ground and had to bear the sight of his bike being drawn by the motorbike for 200 meters.

Luckily for the Danish national champion, his crash didn't have any consequence. "I was riding safely in the side of the road and then a motor bike knocked me off the bike", Nicki told Cyclingnews. "He was actually going so close that my bike was drawn after his motor bike for 200 meters and I landed heavily on the ground. Luckily, I'm ok and am able to ride again tomorrow" .

'Wiggins, Chavanel, Brajkovic, Gesink, Contador, Nicki Sorensen... Enough crashes for just one day of race!', some of you may think. And instead no, this afternoon bad luck really wanted to create a lot of problems to the TdF riders. As Kern withdrawned from the race because of a tendonitis, it was Barredo, Boonen and Steegmans' turn to crash.

Tom Boonen remained on the ground for a while, looking worried about the condition of his left shoulder. The Tour doctor immediately tried to help him but, at first, it looked as if Tommeke's Tour had to end on that road in Bretagne. And instead, the Belgian found the strength to get up, hop back on his bike and keep on riding. His leg was bleeding and his collarbone worried everyone of us, but Tom didn't care. He wanted to reach the finish-line of this damned 5th stage and he fought hard to make it.

At first Boonen had to do everything on his own. But then, Addy Engels stopped and waited for his captain. Then, with 50 kms to go, the two Quick Step riders began to ride together to the finish-line, fearing to end up out of time limit and trying to hold on.

In the end, Tommeke crossed the finish-line 12 minutes after Cavendish, thus managing to remain inside the allowed time cut.

'Ok, enough crashes for today?' Oh no, dear readers, not yet. In fact, this afternoon the last rider to fall off his bike was Euskaltel's Ivan Velasco, who broke his right collarbone after hitting the ground with about 20 kms to go.

Luckily, that was the last crash for today. I actually didn't mention everyone who crashed this afternoon, because it would actually be impossible to mention all those riders. However, I've read articles saying that also Leipheimer, Horner, Tjallingi and Popovych crashed. I'm sure about Yaroslav's fall (I saw him going to the doctor' car), but I don't have any details about the other crashes. Was Tjallingi with Gesink when Robert crashed? It may be, but I'm not sure.

Anyway. After talking about the hellish parts of today's stage, let's finally talk about the most beautiful part: Cavendish's victory. Mark may be arrogant and he might have changed too many girlfriends in the last months, but after today it is impossible to deny that the boy has class. Class, strength, power, speed: everything a sprinter needs to be successful. And everything a sprinter needs to offer us such great victories.

Although I've been following Mark pretty carefully since 2008, I must admit I had never seen him winning in such a great way as he did tis afternoon. Ok, his Milan - Sanremo victory had been great too: but today Cav was simply superb. His win was exciting, unexpected, amazing, fantastic: a true masterpiece - and, mind you, this is a word which miss Fede rarely uses in her posts.

Anyway, let's talk about what happened in the last kms of race in a more detailled way.

The last breakawayers du jour, Voeckler and Roy (again!!), were caught with a few kms to go. The previous beakaway had included Gutierrez (the friend of the French camera men) and Delaplace, the Tour's youngest rider (he's going to be 22 in September).

With 2 kms to go, HTC Columbia was at the head of the peloton. Velits, Goss, Martin, Eisel, Renshaw, Cavendish: the yellow and white train was ready to roll into Cap Fréhel. But then, with about 1 km to go, something happened: the little train had a problem and Goss found himself at the head of the peloton, with some meters of advantage on everyone else. Therefore, he tried to go for the victory.

Too bad that it was still too early for him and that Boasson Hagen rode past him at amazing speed. It looked as if the Norwegian rider had almost made it, but then a cartel told us that there were still 450 meters to go: too much for the Sky rider to hold on.

As Edvald's speed seemed to vanish, a colourful jersey appeared on the screen: Philippe Gilbert, trying to get his second victory in this Tour. Bonnet, FDJ's rider, looked like a true threat for the Belgian, whereas Hushovd's figure was scarcely visible behind the first line of riders. Then, from the left of the screen, a lightning - or, to say it better, a Cannonball - arrived. Mark Cavendish gave it all in the last meters of race and managed to win the race in front of PhilGil, Rojas and Toni Gallopin.

As Cavendish was dedicating his victory to his pet golden retriever Amber, who passed away a few hours ago, Tom Boonen slowly made it to the finish-line. Hell and heaven, once again. One rider cheering, the other one suffering, One rider happy, the other one disappointed and in pain. That's the Tour de France baby, and that's cycling - and, actually, that's also life.

Phil Gil takes also Fleche:

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. I have no other words to describe Philippe Gilbert's latest victory (and the fact that I'm writing a new post just 3 days after the last one) :P
Fleche Wallonne is the strangest of the Ardennes Classics. The riders race for 5 hours and face the mur de Huy three times during it, but in the end the winner is always decided by the last 800 meters, the steepest ones that you can find in a Classic.
Marco Pastonesi from 'La Gazzetta dello Sport' once wrote a great description of the mur de Huy, saying that pilgrims used to climb it by foot during the Middle Ages. In fact, there are 7 little chapels on the road to the top of the mur and each of them is a different station of the via crucis. Talking about this fact, Pastonesi said: 'The pilgrims saw images of the Virgin Mary at every chapel. By the time the riders arrive on the top of the climb during FW, they see Virgin Mary in person'. I've never faced mur de Huy (I'm not fit enough :P), but I think that said climb can definitely help you if you want to have a deep, religious experience. In fact, here in Italy we usually say that someone 'has seen the Madonna' when that someone has done something very painful or very tiring. Painful and tiring like climbing the Mur de Huy, for example.

Talking about the race, nothing important happened before the beginning of the final km. The first breakaway du jour was formed by Paterski, Vantomme, Van Hecke and Helminen (and not 'Eminem', as someone said yesterday).
In the last 30 kms of race there was the second breakaway du jour, which was formed by Thomas Lovkvist (he's alive!!!), Alexandr Kolobnev, Enrico Gasparotto and Teejay Van Garderen. Also Kiryenka, Gorka Verdugo and Michal Golas joined the breakaway and eventually Kiryenka and Lolo (Lovely Lovkvist) said 'adieu!' to their fellows. Unfortunately, the couple was caught with 8 kms to go, as a consequence of the work made at the front by Omega-Pharma Lotto, Rabobank and Leopard Trek. At that point of the race, Pineau and Marcato attacked, but they arrived at the bottom of the mur with just 20 seconds of advantage. And to win on the mur, you need to arrive at its bottom with at least a minute of advantage on the peloton.
Before the beginning of the climb, Andy Schleck took a turn at the front before vanishing in the bottom of the peloton. He didn't feel well, but apparently his brother Frankie was doing fine. Also Rodriguez, Contador and Gilbert seemed to feel fine, since their men pulled hardly at the front.
During the first part of the climb, Wegmann pulled for some time, followed by Albasini and Le Mevel. Fabian kept on turning his head to see where Frank was, since it was very hard to spot him in the peloton chaos. Then, with about 300 meters, Gilbert launched a terrible attack and no one could follow him. Phil Gil started celebrating with about 15 meters to go and, in spite of this, he managed to finish the race 3 seconds before of Joaquim Rodriguez. Amazing.I was so amazed by Gilbert's strong attack that, when I saw the gap that Rodriguez had from him, my mouth fell open and remained so until the end of the race, when I whispered: 'How can he have done such a thing even today?' in a very allucinated way. I would have never bet on a victory by Gilbert yesterday and that's why I was so shocked. That boy has been winnng Classics since October 2010, isn't that amazing?

Talking about another Cannibal, the women race was won for the fourth (fourth!) time by the Wonder Woman of cycling, the 23 year-old Marianne Vos. Second was Emma Johansson, while 3rd was Judith Arndt and 4th a very good Elena Berlato.
Emma Pooley didn't take part in the race because she broke her collarbone last Tuesday, on a training ride in Switzerland. Hopefully she'll be back in good shape for the Giro Donne.

Back to the male FW, Omega Pharma-Lotto was, once again, the best team. Gilbert told the journalists that he thought that mur de Huy was too long for him and that he decided to try winning yesterday race just because his teammates suggested him doing so. As we could see, the guys were right.
Jelle Vanendert was amazing once again, since he helped Phil and he also managed to come in 6th. Also Van Den Broeck (17th) was really good, just like De Greef.
Second in the race was Joaquim Rodriguez. He was the main favourite, but for the second year in a row someone rode up the mur de Huy faster than him. Katiusha did a great work to help him and Kolobnev and Di Luca really did their best. Moreover, Moreno was a good 8th.
Third instead was Samuel Sanchez. Euskaltel, who was invisible in the North Classics and didn't shine in Amstel, worked really well yesterday and Samu was a surprising 3rd. In fact, I would have expected Igor Anton (5th) to ride better than the Olympic Champion, instead Sanchez managed to end up on the podium. Wow!
4th was Vinokourov (*chorus of joy coming from the AAVL sector*), whose team, Astana, worked well. Especially Iglinskiy and Gasparotto were good, while Vino was surprisingly faster than guys like Gesink, Contador and Hesjedal.

Giving a judgement about the teams in a race like FW is very hard, because in the end the team work doesn't count that much on the mur de Huy. In fact, in the last 300 meters of it (where the hardest part begins) the only things that count are the team leader's legs and his sense of timing. Therefore, the work that the team has done to help the leader until that point of the race doesn't always lead to a good result.
Leopard Trek, for example, did a great work yesterday, but Frank Schleck eventually ended up just 7th. He didn't sound very satisfied with his performance in an interview with Cyclingnews and he said that yesterday he made a mistake with timing. But still, I think that a 7th place in this race (which doesn't suit 'regular' climbers like him or his brother) isn't a very bad result.
As far as the rest of the team is concerned, Wegmann worked well on the climb, whereas Andy had a bad day at the office. "On the next to last climb I didn’t feel very good", Our Glorious Leader told Cyclingnews. "I'm not sure if it was due to the weather, but I had red eyes and some breathing problems. So I decided to work for the team and I did the best I could for Frank in the final kilometre". Hopefully our boy isn't experiencing 'allergy problems', since me perfectly knows that they're extremely disturbing and they can really limit someone's physical performances.
Another team who did well, although its team leader wasn't that strong, was Saxo Bank. Nicki Sorensen worked hard at the front, but Contador was just 11th, whereas Chris Sorensen was 24th. Allergy problems also for the Spaniard? I don't know.
Also Rabobank worked hard, although the best team rider, Martens, was 10th, whereas Gesink was 14th. However, I don't think FW suits Gesink, since he isn't a very explosive climber and mur de Huy is a bit different from the San Luca climb at Giro dell'Emilia (a race that Gesink loves and has already won twice).
Talking about other teams, HTC Highroad tried to do something with Van Garderen. The team leader, Toni Martin, was just 89th, whereas Albasini was 12th. This makes me wonder: why was the team pulling so hard at the beginning of the mur? Mistery.
Landbouwkrediet entered a breakaway too and Bert De Waele was a good 15th.
The climb was too steep for Simon Gerrans, whereas Ryder Hesjedal probably hasn't recovered properly from his stomach problems (he was 13th). Best Garmin rider however was Le Mevel, excellent 9th.
Talking about Italian riders, Cunego was just 61st, but he crashed with about 3 kms to go. Basso instead wasn't in a great form (moreover, the mur de Huy doesn't suit him), while Di Luca worked to help Rodriguez.
A disappointing rider, imo, was John Gadret, who should feel comfortable on climbs like mur de Huy. Still, he was invisible yesterday.
The same worths for the whole BMC team, who couldn't have Evans in the line-up. In spite of this, I think they could have showed themselves during the race, whereas me actually found out that this team was racing when I casually opened a 'start list' page on Cyclingnews a few seconds ago.

Before closing this entry, here's the link to Chris Anker Sorensen's latest blog entry: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry401212.html . In it Chris says that he's asked himself whether Father Christmas has a holiday house in Italy. In fact one day Chris, while training, saw a man working in a field. Said man, according to CA, had the same belly, the same beard and the same face as father Christmas, although he obviously wasn't wearing the same clothes. That made him ask whether Father Christmas has a house where he can spend the summer and whether said house is in Italy.
Moreover, Chris wrote something about Jens Voigt in his blog. Unfortunately, Google Translater doesn't want to let me understand that part, so I beg one of you, dear Danish readers, to help me understand what Chris says in it. Every LT supporter out there would be very happy if you could me this favour!

So, that's all from me for the moment. Have a good time during the Easter holidays and let's hope that one Schleck will cross the finish-line before everyone else on Sunday!
(Pic by Bettini)