News about Frank Schleck and Jonathan Bellis:

Finally I've managed to find some news about Frank Schleck.On RTL.Lu there's an article whose title is "Frank Schleck: Operatioun um lénke Knéi gutt verlaf".Here it is:

Virun anerhallwer Woch gouf de Frank Schleck um lénke Knéi operéiert. De Frank Schleck huet RTL gesot, dass d'Operatioun gutt verlaf ass.Dem Saxo Bank-Profi gouf Knorpel ewech geholl.
Den Ament dréit hien nach eng Schinn,déi hien awer an de nächsten Deeg kann ausdoen.Déi nächsten3 Wochen däerf hien awer nach kee Vëlo fueren.Duerno fänkt da schonns d'Preparatioun op déi nei Saison un.

It's not a secret that I can't understand Luxembourgish,so if someone wants to help me with the translation,please leave a comment.However,here are the few things that I understood:
"About a week ago Frank Schleck had to undergo an operation on his left knee.Today Frank has told RTL.Lu that the operation went well.(???).The Saxo Bank rider won't be able to ride his bike for the next 3 weeks.After that time,Frank will be able to begin his preparation for the new season."Anyway that's not the only news I've found about Frank.On http://www.schleck.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=468:fraenk-hoopt-op-vroege-rentree&catid=7:nieuws&Itemid=14 in fact I've found another article.Here's my translation of it:

Frank Schleck's already thinking about his comeback.In fact he would like to participate in the Charity Bike Cup,a race held in Stuttgart for the organization Care Star,a charity organisation that cares about children.Frank's partecipation in the race depends on his left knee recovery.The race is held on the 3rd October.If he takes part in the race,Fränk will be the captain of the Radsportakademie & Partner team and will have to ride his bike for 100 kms.Other celebrities who are going to take part in the race are Jan Ullrich, Danilo Hondo,Steffen Wesemann,Rudi Altag and Hanka Kupfernagel.

Fränk said:"To me,helping children is a matter of honor and love.I just hope that my knee recovers soon so that I can be at the start of the Lila Logistik Charity Bike Cup on the 3rd of October.The goal of the race is to help children and this is the reason for which I'll do everything that's possible to be at the start line!"
Of course I hope Frank will manage to be at the start of the race,since helping children is always a really nice thing to do.

Unfortunately in contrast with the good news regarding Frank there's one bad news regarding Saxo Bank rider Jonathan Bellis.During the night between the 18th and the 19th of September,John had a motor scooter accident in Quarrata,near Florence.Fortunately today his condition has improved from "critical" to "stable".

Bellis suffered head injuries in the accident,that occurred at 3:30 am.Jonathan was wearing a helmet and travelling along Via IV Novembre,according to Il Tirreno.Medics took Bellis to a hospital in Careggi, north of Firenze.Police are determining the cause of the accident.National British Under 23 director Max Sciandri immediately joined Bellis at the hospital. Bellis' parents flew to Italy Saturday after they heard of the accident,according to isleofman.com.
Bellis is in Quarrata to train with other British riders and Sciandri.British Cycling had him listed him on the preliminary list of riders for elite World Championships Sunday in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
He finished third in the 2007 Under 23 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. After a trainee period with ProTour team Saxo Bank last fall, he turned professional with the team this season.
"We are saddened by the news of Jonathan's accident, but we know that he is in good hands at the hospital in Florence. Our thoughts and hopes go out to Jonathan, his family and friends,"said Saxo Bank team owner,Bjarne Riis.

Do you remember...

...the parrot mentioned by Andy in his last blog entry? Well,on Saxo Bank Taking The Lead website (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1615) there's a vid featuring the now famous (at least among Schleck-fans) parrot,Cancellara,Kolobnev,Fuglsang,Kroon and Breschel.Andy doesn't appear in the video,but the guys talk about him anyway...

Since there aren't lot of news about the Schleck brothers around,on this link (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/breschel-looking-forward-to-worlds) I've found a short article about Matti Breschel and the Worlds."If I can find the legs of last year,it should be good," Matti told Cyclingnews".I hope to go for a medal again,otherwise Jacob Fuglsang is showing he is ready and we have Chris Anker Sørensen as well".

After having repeated that a Dane rider will end up on the World podium,me was obviously happy when I read the names of the Dane riders who will take part in the Worlds.In fact the Danish team will be formed by both los Sorensens,Jakob Fuglsang,Matti Breschel and Lars Bak (who are all Saxo Bank riders,as you can notice).

Talking about the Worlds,here are the Spanish,the Australian,the Norwegian and the Colombian teams.Spain team will be formed by Oscar Freire,Juan Manuel Gárate,Alejandro Valverde,Joaquím Rodríguez,Daniel Moreno,Samuel Sánchez,Juan José Cobo,Carlos Barredo and Rubén Plaza.

The Australian riders will be Gerrans,Evans,Clarke,Davis,Hayman,M.Lloyd,O'Grady,Rogers and Sulzberger.

Norwegy will be formed by Boasson Hagen,Arvesen,Hushovd,Rasch,Nordhaug,Remme and Wilmann.

Colombian team instead will be formed by Ardila Cano,Serpa,Marin,Soler,Duque and Uran.
Finally,the French team will be formed by Sylvain Chavanel,Fedrigo,Voeckler,Dimitri,Le Mevel and Riblon.

Poor Robert Gesink!

Yes,I'm sorry for Robert Gesink.The Dutch rider today has lost 4 minutes and 44 seconds to Valverde,Basso,Mosquera,S.Sanchez,Evans,Tiralongo,Cobo and Moreno and is now 6th in the GC (this morning instead he was 2nd).
Robert fell 2 days ago and injured his knee.Today he had some problems in getting over the penultimate climb of the stage but eventually managed to join the group again before of the beginning of the last climb.Unfortunately for him,after about 2 kms uphill he was already losing 30 seconds from the other GC men. Of course Gesink's adversaires didn't feel sorry for him and so Euskaltel riders went to set the pace at the head of the peloton.Then it was Szmyd's turn to set the pace at the "cabeza de la carrera",that on the top of the climb was formed by Valverde,Samu Sanchez,Basso,Mosquera,Evans,Tiralongo,Cobo and Moreno.

As soon as the descent began,Sanchez attacked and was followed just by Valverde,who descended better than the Euskaltel rider.After some kms downhill the 2 men at the front of the race were joined also by the other riders that were with them on the top of the climb.
As soon as the road returned flat,Mosquera attacked.As soon as the other riders caught him,it was Tiralongo's time for attacking.The Italian didn't have a lot of luck and was soon caught again by the other riders.

With 2 kms to go Juan José Cobo set the winning attack and managed to win the stage.Valverde came in 2nd and Evans got 3rd.As I already wrote,Gesink crossed the finish line 4'44" after Cobo.He was with 2 teammates and with other riders.Unfortunately the 23 year-old Dutch rider probably won't be on the podium in Madrid and me's very sorry for him,since he rode very well during the whole Vuelta and it must be very disappointing to miss a podium in a Grand Tour just because of an injury.And then you mustn't forget that Gesink also had to quit the Tour de France because of an injury,so 2009 wasn't actually a very lucky year for him (or at least it wasn't a very lucky year for him so far-who knows,he may manage to win the Worlds or the Lombardy Tour).

Anyway.tomorrow there is the penultimate stage of the race,a TT that will probably decide who will win this year's Vuelta.At the moment the GC Top Ten is the following:
1 Alejandro Valverde,Caisse d'Epargne
2 Samuel Sanchez,Euskadi Euskaltel 01.26
3 Ivan Basso,Liquigas 01.45
4 Cadel Evans,Silence-Lotto 01.59
5 Ezequiel Mosquera,Xacobeo Galicia 02.11
6 Robert Gesink,Rabobank 05.30
7 Paolo Tiralongo,Lampre 06.49
8 Joaquin Rodriguez,Caisse d'Epargne 07.42
9 Deignan Philip,Cervélo Test Team 09.37
10 Juan José Cobo,Fuji-Servetto 10.40

Avila stage:Irish victory and great 3rd place for Fuglsang

Today's stage of the Vuelta ended in Avila,a very nice city.The stage wasn't easy,since the riders had to face about 30 kms uphill.
On the slopes of the first climb of the day,16 riders formed a breakaway."Los escapados" were Jesus Hernandez (Astana),Philip Deignan (Cervélo TestTeam),Bingen Fernandez (Cofidis),Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis),David Moncoutié (Cofidis),Tadej Valjiavec (AG2R La Mondiale),Rémy Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux),Mikael Cherel (Française des Jeux),Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi),Manuel Vasquez (Contentpolis-Ampo),Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas),David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia),Del Nero Montes (Fuji-Servetto) and,last but not least,Sexy Bankers Jakob Fuglsang and Matti Breschel (allez guys!).
On the last climb of the stage Gilbert attacked and soon gained some seconds on the adversaires. Matti Breschel unfortunately got dropped,while Jakob,Kreuziger,Deignan,Herrero and Vasquez were the only breakaway riders able to catch Gilbert.As soon as they passed him,the Belgian slowed down a lot and finally crossed the finish line 3 minutes and a half behind the stage winner.
On the final descent towards Avila,Kreuziger and Deignan accelerated and left their breakaway companions behind.Jakob and Herrero started to chase them and the stage got even more exciting.
Unfortunately for Saxo Bank supporters,Kreuziger and Deignan managed to keep about 20 seconds of advantadge on Jakob (that during the last kms of the stage rode completely alone) and so the victory was decided in a 2 men sprint.Kreuziger isn't very fast and so Deignan won in an apparent easy way.
I must say I felt a bit sorry for Kreuziger (and I've started to wonder who's the fastest rider between he and Frank),but Deignan fully deserved his victory,the second one of his career.A great Jakob Fuglsang arrived rd,16 seconds behind the winner,while Matti Breschel came in 16th,7 minutes after Deignan (who now is also 9th in the GC).
Talking about the GC ,the biggest change was caused by Tom Danielson's retire."I have a bad infection in my lungs",he said after retiring from the race."I've been fighting illness for the last six days and I felt like I was in a good enough condition to fight it.I was in really good form,but I had no choice today.I couldn't race.I'm obviously really upset.I thought I had a chance of winning or finishing on the podium.I'll go to hospital tonight and get checked out.I think I might have broken a rib in my crash yesterday".Of course it's always sad to hear about an ill/injured rider and so I hope Danielson will soon feel better.
Between the people who didn't start/got retired today there were also Iglinsky, Hesjedal, Grabsch,Christian Meier,Julien Loubet,Ciolek and Leukemans.

Tomorrow there's the last mountain stage of this year Vuelta and I think there will be lots of attacks between the GC riders (or at least I hope so,since it would be nice to see some good attacks on tomorrow's climbs).
(Pic by Cyclingnews)

Video with Andy,some Worlds team and random randomness:

School began yesterday here in Italy,so me's terribly busy right now.The first 2 days went,erm,well,if you don't consider my epic fall in the school car park on the first day and the problems with my mobile phone this morning.My dear mobile in fact started ringing even if it was off and kept on ringing for a while because Logic didn't accept the idea of an "off-phone" who suddenly switches on and starts to ring.The teacher of course was pretty annoyed by this,noticed that the ring seemed to come from my jacket,looked at me and said: "Your mobile phone is ringing,why don't you switch it off?" "It's already off!" "No,it can't be off,it's ringing!" Of course Teacher was right and Logic was wrong.The problem was that 5 minutes later,the phone started ringing again! I immediately stated "It's not mine,my phone is off NOW! It's someone else's!" And instead it was still my phone.Finally a classmate suggested that perhaps I had the alarm clock function on ("it works also when your phone is off",she explained to me later),so I gave her the phone and she managed to make it shut up.Oh,peace.
Anyway,let's talk about cycling.

I've found this video (http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=1610) on Saxo Bank Taking The Lead.It features Fuglsang,Arvesen,Andy and Model Matti and I decided to watch it because right now my right knee is violet with yellow and green stripes,so I thought that watching some serious injuries could have made me feel better...The audio doesn't work and I can't uderstand why.A little advice? Prepare yourself mentally before of watching the vid...

WORLDS WORLDS WORLDS:

The 27th of September is rapidly approaching,so yesterday Italian team was announced.The riders will be Cunego,Pozzato,Basso,Paolini,Garzelli,Tosatto,Bruseghin,Visconti,Santambrogio (yay!),Scarponi and Ballan.The only Italian who's going to race the Worlds TT race is the Professor Marco Pinotti.There was an other Italian rider (Maurizio Biondo) scheduled to run that race,but he failed an antidoping test and had to said adieu to the chance of racing the Worlds.

The women Italian team will be formed by Baccaille,Guderzo,Cantele,Berlato,Bronzini, Carretta,Luperini and Tamanini (Cantele and Guderzo will run also the TT).

Switzerland team instead will be formed by Fab Fab,Albasini,Bertogliati,Mathias Frank (yay!), Rast and Zaugg.The reserves will be Loosli,Salzinger and Morabito.

Belgium riders instead will be Tom Boonen,Francis De Greef (Fangirl's happy,very happy!), Kevin De Weert,Maxime Monfort,Nick Nuyens,Greg Van Avermaet and Maarten Wynants.The team leader will be Philippe Gilbert.

Devolder hasn't been included in the team and has said that this has been "the biggest humiliation" of his career.

Germany's team instead will be formed by Gerald Ciolek,Johannes Fröhlinger,André Greipel,Christian Knees,Paul Martens,Tony Martin (allez Tony!),Grischa Niermann,Marcel Sieberg and Fabian Wegmann.The reserve will be Simon Geschke.

Netherlands has announced 5 of the 6 Worlds riders.They are Lars Boom,Johnny Hoogerland,Robert Gesink,Karsten Kroon and Koos Moerenhout.Laurens Ten Dam,Sebastian Langeveld,Bram Tankink and Pieter Weening are the candidates for the final place.

Usa riders will be Tom Danielson,Tyler Farrar,Brent Bookwalter,Craig Lewis,Andrew Bajadali, Jason McCartney,Tim Duggan and Tom Peterson.

VUELTA:

Yesterday stage was won by Lars Boom,who left all his breakaway companions behind with about 25 kms to go and won the stage with 1'30" of advantadge on the second rider,Spaniard David Herrero.3rd was Roels,while Saxo Banker Kolobnev was 6th.

Today's stage ended up in a bunch sprint and was won by André Greipel.2nd was Bonnet,while 3rd was Bello Benna.

RANDOM RANDOMNESS:

First random news: Baden Cooke has signed a contract with SB.

Second random news: Jakob Fuglsang has Twitter.Probably you already know about this,but don't forget that me's been away from a computer for 15 days and so this is a news to me.

Random link: http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry335317.html :yes,Chris-Anker Sorensen has updated his blog.He talks a bit about USA and about his preparatin for the Worlds.He also compliments on Wozniacki's great performance in tennis.

Cunego!

Today's stage of la Vuelta was a great one,very exciting and with lots of attacks.

9 men formed a breakaway and built a big advantadge on the leader group.These 9 riders were Cunego,Alan Perez,Fuglsang (yay!),Knees,Palomares,Gonzalo Rabanal,Tankink,Xavier Florencio and De Weert.

With about 30 kms to go the advantadge of the "escapados" was of 8 minutes,but soon it started to decrease because of Euskaltel's and Caisse d'Epargne's efforts at the head of the peloton.

The final climb (divided in 2 Gpm) began with about 20 kms to go.Palomares attacked a lot of time on the first part of the climb (the longest but easiest one),but with 14 kms to go it was Damiano Cunego's time for attacking.The Little Prince soon started to gain time on the other 8 companions,while in the leader group Liquigas started to set the pace.

Zaugg,Kreuziger,Carlstrom and Szmyd did a great work on the climb and Basso attacked with 4 kms to go.Valverde lost some meters from the Italian rider,that was soon joined by Evans, Gesink and Mosquera in his action.Valverde was overpassed also by Samuel Sanchez,but then he managed to get over that bad moment and joined again the 4 riders (the olympic champion Sanchez did the same).Then Basso lost some meters,while Sanchez and Mosquera gained time on the other GC riders.In the meanwhile,Cunego had already crossed the finish-line and won his 2nd stage in this year's Vuelta.Gesink and Valverde then managed to drop Basso and Evans,and then Valverde also managed to gain few seconds on Gesink.

Second came a great Jakob Fuglsang (did he read what I wrote yesterday,perhaps?),while 3rd was Sanchez.4th came Mosquera,while 5th was Valverde.Gesink came in 6th,while Evans was 7th and Basso 9th.Here's the new GC Top 10:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
2 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:31
3 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:10
4 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 0:01:28
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 0:01:51
6 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 0:01:54
7 Joaquím Rodríguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:05:53
8 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-NGC 0:06:24
9 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:08:28
10 Juan José Cobo (Spa) Fuji-Servetto 0:10:45

I must say I'm happy about the stage's final results.Cunego is one of my favourite Italian riders (Pozzatolocks is clearly not included in that list),while Fuglsang is not just a Saxo Bank rider but he's also an ex-mountain biker and seems a very nice boy.Sanchez is a very good rider, while Mosquera is probably my favourite Spanish rider.

Regarding the GC,I'm a bit sorry about Basso.His team worked a lot for him (Zaugg was just great),but unfortunately he couldn't make the difference.

(Photo Afp)

Randomness du comeback:

After 14 days of holiday during which I had a lot of fun,read a lot of books (Bill Bryson rocks!) and had many meetings with jellyfish (they all ended up with someone-me,a member of my family or another unlucky tourist screaming:"F****** animal,you got me!"),here I am again.Lots of things have happened in the last few days: the FA Jens Voigt has returned racing,Italian team for the Worlds is almost ready (and it includes mr.Pozzatolocks,unfortunately for me), Kroon,Burghardt,Hincapie,Ballan and Santambrogio have decided to go to BMC team, Boasson Hagen,Lovkvist,Thomas,Arvesen and lots of other riders have signed a contract with Team Sky,Kirchen has decided to go to Katusha,Bak and Goss have signed with Columbia,Berlusconi has made me feel ashamed of being Italian...And then of course there were the 2 news regarding the Schleck brothers.As you probably already know,Andy left the Vuelta because he was ill (I don't know why,but an Italian journalist wrote:"he's got talent,but he still has a lot to learn".Does it mean that expert cyclists know how to avoid illness?),while Frank had to leave the race because in order to face a surgery operation on his left knee.

Frank was operated yesterday in Gand,Belgium,and won't be racing until 2010."The problem actually began back in the Basque Country Tour in April where I was wondering about how the classics would turn out from my part.I did OK through the spring but I could tell that my knee was not feeling as it should be.After my break from racing everything went really well,although the problem still appeared now and then.After the Tour of Luxembourg and the Tour de Suisse the pain returned and I must admit that I had some really tough days during the Tour where most days darkened because of the knee.Fortunately managed to finish the race and make some results with the team which I am enormously proud of.But now it has come to a point where an operation is the only way out,so I can be ready again for the next season.I am sorry that this season ends like this but after all,I have been in progress continuously since February and it makes it worth while finishing the season now.The most important thing is that after surgery I can compete without pain when the new season starts”, Fränk said.According to the doctors,he will be able to get back on the bike after four weeks and without permanent injury.

"Frank has had big problems with his knee and the decision to abandon the Vuelta to have surgery is the only right thing to do.He has now been riding with pain since April and the following year and in principle the rest of his career in mind we have to take the situation seriously.Fortunately,he will soon be on the operating table and although he stands in front of a long break he can easily make up for the new season.He is obviously not happy to drop out of the Vuelta and miss the World Cup and Lombardy,where he could have done really well.However,he can look back on a great season and look forward to next year's challenges without having to endure the pain”,said Kim Andersen.

Of course I wish Frank a fast recover and hope he'll come back even stronger next year. Unfortunately this news completely destroyed Fangirl's project for the "Perfect Worlds Road Race Podium in Mendrisio".In fact her dream podium for the Worlds would have been the following: 1st Frank,2nd C.A. Sorensen,3rd Andy Schleck.Fangirl would have liked to see C.A. on the podium because Logic has finally convincted her that a Dane rider will end up on the Worlds podium and also because her ideal race-finish would have been very similar to the Grand Bornard one,with Frank winning and Andy 3rd,very happy and with arms raised up to the sky.

But since Frank won't be racing the Worlds,Fangirl's new perfect podium is the following: 1st Andy (who else?),2nd C.A. and 3rd an Italian rider (Cunego or Garzelli).

As you probably know,the Vuelta is still on.Today's stage was won by a great David Moncoutié.Second came Mosquera,while 3rd was the race leader Valverde.Evans punctured with about 15 kms to go and lost over a minute from Valverde,Gesink and Basso.Also Danielson lost a lot of time.

When the Vuelta began,I thought that the final Top 5 could have been formed by Evans, Valverde,Basso,Gesink and Fuglsang.Unfortunately Fuglsang is already out of games, but the other 4 riders are all in the high rankings of the GC.

Tomorrow's stage will be another hard one,and perhaps Jakob could do well there.In this way he would be the 2nd rider of Saxo Bank to win a stage at this year's Vuelta,since Fab Fab has already won 2 TTs.
Regarding other Saxo Bankers,Haedo won a stage at the Tour of Missouri some days ago,while Matthew Goss has won Paris-Brussels this afternoon.