Haussler!

Two posts in one day:isn't it a bit much?

Btw,today's stage of P-N (Saint Brisson sur Loire-La Chapelle Saint Ursin,195 km) was won by Heinrich Haussler,a Cervelo rider .At the beginning of the stage there was a breakaway formed by 4 riders (Aitor Hernández, Aleksandr Kuschynski,Christophe Laurent and Piet Rooijakkers, that started the breakaway immediately after the start of the race).The weather was sunny but windy,and so some riders lost contact with the main group.For example, Saxo Bank’s rider Chris Anker Sorensen managed to join the main group with 15 kms to go after having problems with the wind.Also Cadel Evans and David Moncoutié had problems with the wind.
With 51 kilometres to go there was a crash in which Kevin De Weert,Vladimir Efimkin and José Angel Gomez Marchante were involved.With 22 kms to go the last man from the breakaway (Laurent) was caught.With 2 kms to go there was another crash,in which both Contador and FRANK SCHLECK were involved.Fortunately they didn’t hurt themselves too badly...

"Fortunately for Frank he was not severely hurt, but leaves only one destroyed back wheel to the mechanics", Kim Andersen said."Tomorrow we will again, and hopefully successful, make sure to stay up front, avoiding accidents and save strength for later this week."

The stage’s victory was decided with a sprint,and first (as I already said) came Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo).Second came Mark Renshaw (good rider) and third came Lorenzetto (that has already won some good races this year in front of guys like Bennati and Petacchi).
"It's pretty much a dream come true," said Haussler."We knew there were going to be crosswinds, and there were splits, but the boys did a great job.This is definitely a great season. Even if it ended now, it's already unbelievable. But there are so many great races coming up like Flanders and Roubaix, which are my main goals this season".

Here are the stage results:
Results
1 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam 4.45.01 (42.31km/h)
2 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
3 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre - NGC
4 Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil-Shimano
5 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas
6 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
7 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis
9 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
10 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
11 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto
13 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
14 Thomas Fothen (Ger) Team Milram
30 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream
31 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad
45 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
48 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas
53 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
60 Walle Jurgen Van De (Bel) Quick Step
62 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank
68 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence-Lotto
69 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
70 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto
71 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step
78 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto
97 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana
100 Chris Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
101 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team Columbia - Highroad
109 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank
110 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank
127 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream
128 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank
139 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
140 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale
142 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
150 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram
153 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
158 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank
DNF Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis

For those between you who understand Danish and/or like C.A.Sorensen,he's updated his blog lately.You can use Google Translate if you want to understand what he says.I understood just a few things but they were really funny.For example:"We also had time to do some shopping during the training camp in California,even if it didn’t go as well as last year.In fact now dollars are stronger than euros,so we didn’t buy lots of things.Under another point of view,this made things better than last year:in fact a year ago I had problems with closing my suitcase,this year instead I just had to use little violence to close it”.The link is this one: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry303904.html .

PS: if you want to leave comments after the other post I made today,you can! (Photo from Eurosport).

Random Post about Thomas Lovkvist:

First of all,here are some interesting links that you might like:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/bobbyjulich_mar09 :if you like Fab Fab,on this link there's an article written by Bobby Julich about the ToC's prologue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GMbokAJd8E :if you want to see the last kms of Eroica,here's a vid taken from Italian tv.

http://www.tdwsport.com/ :good photos of pretty Lovkvist and of yesterday's TT of P-N.

Talking 'bout Lovkvist,I've decided to translate a short article of La Gazzetta dello Sport about his victory.Here it is:

"Strade Bianche,a rider risks to finish in a wood but then wins in Piazza del Campo":the crazy day of the Swedish rider Thomas Lovkvist,that left everyone behind on the last climb.But what a fear with 20 kms to go!

20 kms to go,the white road turns right:Thomas Lovkvist goes straight out of the road and finishes in a wood:"I was too fast in that curve.There was gravel on the ground,so I didn't try to turn the bike in the curve's direction because otherwise I would have slipped.I prefered keeping on riding on a path in the wood,risking perhaps to end up in a ravine.I was lucky.I managed to return on the road and some riders from the group were still there".Then,he won.

One year ago,Thomas Lovkvist was conquered by this race.This year,he conquered it. "This race's got a soul.Maybe it is because of the gravel roads,of the landscape,or because of the finish line in Piazza del Campo.I discovered it last year,asked to run it again this year and I hope I'll come back next year too".Swedish of Columbia team,24 year-old,3 younger brothers that don't go cycling,a girlfriend (Katherine Josefsson) who is a professional rider,a home in Zurigo where he lives with her.Thomas discovered cycling at 16 year-old.Before,he used to run,play ice-hockey and play football. "I go well on the climbs and in the time-trials.That's the first one-day race that I win.I prefer Italian classics to the Belgian ones" (report of the race...) Interviews Post-Race: Thomas Lovkvist:"The Eroica is a nervous and stressing race for pioneers and romantics".Wegmann: "It's a crazy race.It's a second Paris-Roubaix".ANDY SCHLECK: "The result is just a little detail.The important thing is the pleasure,and the pride,that you feel when you run a race that is so fascinating".

(Photos Bettini)

Contador!!

It's just March,and this Spanish boy has already terrified everyone.Today in fact Contador won the first stage (a ITT of 9.3 kms around Amilly) of P-N.And some people dare to say he's not a time-trialist..."I am a good time trialist, but this was a short distance, a flat course, not really my thing, and then against all those time trial specialists...Moreover, with the rain, I did not take extreme risks in the corners. Of course, everybody had the same bad weather conditions. I am becoming more and more a complete rider." We've noticed it! If Astana treats him well,and sir Lancelot doesn't disturb him,I think he could be able to win his second Tour this year.

The weather was pretty bad ("it was raining cats and dogs",you say that in English,don't you?) and some riders suffered because of it.VdV,for example,didn't go well.

Kim Andersen,SB's ds,has said that "Larsson was really strong today, but unfortunately he crashed due to the slippery road when he actually had the second best time.Tomorrow we must keep Fränk [Schleck] and Chris [Sørensen] in front of the peloton because of the strong winds (go guys!), and otherwise try to get a rider in a breakaway."

Yeah,Frank.I think he went pretty well and that he's improved in the last months.He hasn't become the best time-trialist of the world,but I think he's improved a bit.Is it just an impression due to my lacking knowledge of cycling or do you think that too?

Btw,here's the stage's classification:

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 11.05 (50.346 km/h)

2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0.07

3 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.09

4 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.11

5 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0.14

6 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 0.18

7 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 0.19

8 Antonio Colom (Spa) Team Katusha

9 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0.21

10 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis 0.22

13 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0.27

14 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.29

15 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram 0.30

19 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto

20 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank (good job!)

21 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana

27 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas

32 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank (yip de do da day!)

60 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank

65 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.47

73 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank

74 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale

80 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto (He went really well in last year Giro)

101 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank

103 Chris Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0.56

111 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank 0.58

138 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 1.10

142 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 1.15

157 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence-Lotto

(Photo from Chicago Suburbs Online).More photos available on Cyclingnews and probably also on TDW website.

THOMAS LOVKVIST!!!!

I've just finished to watch Eroica on tv and I'm happy.But what happened?
When Rai3 started to show the race there were still 20 kms to go.Three riders (Chiarini,Caccia and Grivko) were in a breakaway but,after 160 kms,they just had a few seconds of advantadge on the chasing group.The funny thing is that Caccia (whose surname means "hunting" in Italian) was run over by a deer during last year's Eroica and broke his nose because of this.
Btw,the 3 riders were caught after a piece of gravel road (is this the correct name??).Bennati tried to attack and just a few riders stayed with him.Between them there were ANDY,Ljungqvist,Gerdemann,Eisel,Boasson-Hagen,Bennati,Lovkvist (lots of peloton pretties in that group!),Hesjedel,Visconti and other riders whose names I don't remember.Pozzato,the one that was sure to win,had already disappeared at that time.
With a few kms to go,Bennati,ANDY,Visconti and Gerdemann tried to make the decisive move,but didn't succeed.In fact the decisive move that was made by Lovkvist on the final km,that is at 14-16% of difficulty (don't know how you say that in English...Sorry!).He won all alone while Andy got eight.My sister at the moment is out and hasn't seen the race. Unfortunately,she also forgot to record it...Poor sister!

More news (and photos) later because I'm off to the cinema now.Bye!


(Photos from CorVos Pro and Sirotti).

Eroica (and vids about Frank):

Tomorrow there is Eroica Monte Paschi Siena. This race has a very short story but is very nice.The first edition (2007) was won by Alexander Kolobnev in front of Marcus Ljungqvist (I'm afraid this is not the correct spelling...),while last year edition was won by Fab Fab in front of Ballan.It is 190 kms long and a big part of it is run on gravel roads around Siena.The race arrives in the famous Piazza del Campo (the one in which also the Palio di Siena is raced) and is pretty hard.In the final two kilometres there is a section of nine percent gradient, which kicks up a percent in the last 900 metres through Porta di Fontebranda.
Here's a partial list of the riders who will take part in the race:
Saxo Bank: Kurt-Asle Arvesen,Matti Breschel,Frank Høj,Dominic Klemme,Kasper Klostergaard,Marcus Ljungqvist,Stuart O'Grady,Andy Schleck (yip de do da day!!).Fab Fab still has problems with his shoulder (he hurt it during a training ride) and won't take part in the race.Sadness...
Acqua e Sapone:Masciarelli (there are 3 different riders with the same surname,I remember one of these riders had some victories in Italy last year but I can't remember which one).
AG2R La Mondiale:Alexander Efimkin.
Barloworld:Longo Borghini,Caccia.
Ceramica Flaminia-Bossoni:Khalilov (I like that rider),Rossi.
Cervélo:Klier,Lancaster,Rollin.
Diquigiovanni:Ginanni (pretty strong rider).
Garmin:Hesjedal,Tuft,Farrar,Frischkorn,Maaskant (good rider).
ISD:Visconti,Cioni,Gatto (who got his first victoriues between pro-riders a few days ago).
Lampre:Ballan,Righi,Bindi,Mori.
Liquigas:Bello Bennati,Carlstrom,Guarnieri,Oss,Quinziato,Vanotti.
LPR:Ermeti,Ongarato.
Columbia:Boasson Hagen,Cavendish,Eisel,Grabsch,Lovkvist (joyful screams from my sister), Hincapie,Rogers (what a team!).
Katusha:Pozzato,Brutt (good rider), Ignatiev,Ivanov,Mazzanti,Pfannenberger (other good rider).
Milram:Ciolek,Gerdemann,Wegmann.

The photo I've published is taken from "Borgo something appartamenti (flats)'s website".They have a special offer for who stays in their flats for three days during the race.Unfortunately I think it's already too late to book a flat :(

Now I'm off to study philosophy... :( But before to go,here are some vids about Frank (hope they're new...At least for me they are).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfSCeB92MMY :short vid with Frank (German) about his winning on Alpe d'Huez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2J-D6AFd2k :vid with Frank and Uncle Bjarne about Frank's victory on Alpe d'Huez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPzNwpAFDUE :if someone's interested,this is a long vid about last year Paris-Nice (Mont Ventoux stage).Frank did pretty well in that stage,as well as Herr Voigt (the stupid nickname that my sister and I use for him was created on this occasion).Btw,if you don't like Cadel Evans,you shouldn't watch it because he finally won the stage in front of Robert Gesink (who got the yellow jersey).

ANDY'S DIARY!!!!!

Yesterday,before of going to bed,I thought:Listen,tomorrow you come home,use the computer for just 10 minutes and then go straight to study Petrarca (70 pages).Well,now I know I'll be distracted for the whole afternoon because of this thing that you can read here...Have fun!

March 3, 2009
Planes, trains and underwear
I don't like airports. The queues, traffic jams, security checks, belt off, shoes off, arms up, left leg in, left leg out – it's just so painstaking. I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark, airport right now and I've just managed to make it to the departure lounge in the nick-of-time.
It's been a whirlwind few weeks but before I tell all about I need to get this airport angst off my chest. Call it self-therapy if you will, but without it you'll click onto Cyclingnews tomorrow to read a news flash about an incensed cyclist being bundled off a 747 after an episode of plane rage. I'm kidding of course, but anyone who knows me knows I'm a relaxed guy - perhaps too relaxed at times – so maybe it's the stress of travelling that gets to me and puts me out of sync. I don't like airports.
I remember picking Fränk up from an airport once on our way to a criterium. Despite some early fretting I thought everything was on track, until, after 150 kilometres of driving, I realised that I'd forgotten my bike. "My bike, Fränk. It's not in car!" I said, looking back to the rear seats. He checked over his shoulder before mumbling, "Quite important for a bike race, don't you think?"
The worst thing was that I'd washed it that morning. Yes, Andy you'll have a nice clean bike for today's race, I'd bthought as I'd eagerly stood over my sparking machine. It looked spotless in the porch. These things happen though. In another episode I took Fränk's shoes to a race and left him with mine. He's two sizes too small and I almost ended up needing an operation by the end of the race, my feet were so sore. He was at Milano-Sanremo and ended up having to borrow Matti Breschel's second pair.
So why am I'm in Copenhagen? Well, I came back from the Tour of California two days ago and after a quick shower and coffee, I headed to Denmark with Jens Voigt for a Craft presentation. Craft make our clothing and they were showing off their new range, including their cycling underwear.
Don't worry, they didn't make Jens and I prance around in just bib shorts and a discreetly stuffed arm warmer,and it was actually a really good trip. It's important to see what we'll be wearing during the season. Small details you might think but for us it's vital. We wear that gear day in, day out, so it has to be good and Craft have done a nice job.

Of course the highlight and lowlight of the month was California. As soon as we arrived in the US we launched into our training camp, but I got sick on the first day and missed six days of riding. I'd already been suffering with an Achilles problem and things weren't looking great.
Bjarne Riis knocked on the room door one night and we had to have that dreaded chat that makes every rider break out in a cold sweat. It's the one where the boss and you talk about whether starting a race is a good idea. He knows you're out of form, you know you're out of form, but all a rider ever wants to race, no matter their condition. With some relief we both agreed I could start and see how things went. I didn't want to come all that way and not race.
The team got off to a great start. I got through the prologue without any problems but Fabian Cancellara's win was fantastic. Over that distance no one in the World can beat him. What made it more impressive was that he was sick the day and he'd been coming down with a fever and had pain all over his body.
I was really surprised with how I did on the first road stage. Unfortunately, Fränk suffered badly but I tend to go quite well in the cold and when the selection was made I was able to stick with the leaders. The situation was good and I was even thinking of a crack at the overall but on the next stage I was struggling and decided to take things easy. There was no point busting a gut just to lose four or five minutes, so I decided to sit up and not worry about the clock. Sometimes that can be good as it means you can go for stage wins.
On the last stage the bunch never really let us go and for about 40 kilometres the gap was never more than a minute, with Astana chasing really hard. But on the final long climb we still had a good chance. The leaders were closing and with Fränk amongst them, I decided to wait and then bury myself in order to shed him of his rivals. It paid off and he broke clear with Vincenzo Nibali, and then beat him in the sprint.
Race over and I can safely say that California is my favourite place outside of mainland Europe. I've been there for training camps a few times and I love the place. It's perfect for training; it could not be better.
So next I'm off to Eroica and then after a few days of training I'll tackle Tirreno-Adriatico. I wasn't down for that race but because I'm a bit behind where I want to be in terms of preparation and because Fränk is really strong we've decided to swap racing schedules. It's not a big deal, and Tirreno will still be a good test for me. We're sending a strong team to the event, with Stuey [O'Grady], Fabian, Matti and me.
Right, they're calling me to board the plane. Bag, check. Passport, check. Self, check. See you next month.
Andy

NB: This is Saxo Bank's team for Paris-Nice:Jens Voigt (Yip do de da day!), Gustav Larsson,Frank Schleck,Karsten Kroon,Alexandre Kolobnev,Jakob Fuglsang,Chris-Anker Sörensen (yip de do da day),Nicki Sörensen.The race starts on the 7th March with a ITT of 9,3 kms.

(Photo from Sportphoto.Lu)

VIDEO WITH FRANK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIy-pUHnHoo .Have fun!

Random Post about the Schleck Gebridder:

March has just begun and between a few days the season will really take off,with Tirreno-Adriatico,Paris-Nice and,above all,Milano-Sanremo. Then, even before that we'll be able to realise it,there will be the Belgian classics and the Ardenne's classics.And then the Giro,the Tour de Suisse, Dauphine Libere (is this the correct name?) and then the Tour will come and pass in 3 weeks of passion and,hopefully,joy.Btw,there are some people on Cyclingnews that are already thinking about what could happen this year in July.In fact,on this link http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/tour_de_france_ladder_mar09 you can find who,in CN's opinion,could win this year's Tour.The candidates are 1.Levi Leipheimer (I think-hope-the numbers in which the riders appear on the link is totally random,because otherwise I would have something to say about the choice of putting Leipheimer at n.1) 2.Contador 3.Michael Rogers 4.Sir Lancelot 5.Frank Schleck 6.Menchov 7.Cunego 8.Evans 9.Vandevelde 10.Sastre 11.Andy Schleck 12.Valverde. There you can also find a photo of Andy while he writes his name (me doesn't know what the correct English verb for that action is) at the starting of a stage in ToC.

Then: Yesterday I found this short article in Luxembourgian about the schedule of the Schleck "Gebridder":

Wat de Programm vun de Gebridder Schleck ugeet firt de Frank, deen an enger gudder Form ass, Paris-Nice.De Andy fir säin Déel ass an Italien am Asaz. Lass geet et de 7. Mäerz mam Pendant vum franseischen Paris-Roubaix, nämlech dëm Grand Prix Herroica an der Toscane. Duernooass hien dann bei der Etappen-Course Tirreno-Addriatico virgesinn.

Google Translater completely ignores the existence of the Luxembourgian language,so I've tried to guess the meaning of this short article basing myself on my not-so-great-knowledge of German.Here's what I understood: Frank will go to Paris-Nice because he's already in good form,while Andy will race Eroica in Tuscany (yip de do da day!) and then Tirreno-Adriatico.As you can see,in the article is also named the Paris-Roubaix (as well as the Tirreno-Addriatico and the Herroica),but I think it's a mistake.I think the sentence should be "Instead of racing Paris-NICE,Andy will be at the start of Eroica and Tirreno-Adriatico".Btw,I don't know Luxembourgian,so if someone has a better interpretation of the article,please let me know.