Ruta del Sol,Giro di Sardegna and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

VUELTA A ANDALUCIA:

The last stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia was won by Ventoso,who outsprinted the climbing sprinter Simon Gerrans and race leader Michael Rogers,who won the overall classification of the race.5th in the stage and 4th in the GC was Jens Voigt,who now will have to answer to questions like "Did you expect it to begin your season so well after your dreadful crash in the Tour 2009?" in every single bloody interview.You have my support,Jens.

19th in the last stage was Frank Schleck,who was also 13th in the GC.Second in the GC was Jurgen Van Den Broeck,whereas 3rd was Sergio Pardilla.

Considering Frank's good results,me is confident that he will get good results also in the Paris-Nice.

THE GIRO DI SARDEGNA:

The Giro di Sardegna overall classification was won by Roman Kreuziger,winner of stage 2.The 1st stage was won by Gavazzi and the 3rd one by Petacchi,who's already looking forward to the Milan-Sanremo.The 4th stage ended in a bunch sprint which wasn't won by Petacchi but by his teammate Hondo.In fact Petacchi fell in the last meters of the race because he hurt the arm of a spectator who was taking a picture of the sprint.Also Gatto,Colli and Sabatini fell.Luckily none of the riders suffered major injuries and they were all able to take part in the last stage of the race.

The "rider hits spectator and goes down" scenery is unfortunately pretty common in cycling (it happened also last yer at the Tour Down Under,if my memory doesn't fail me) and I think I'd go crazy if I caused an accident like that during a race.In fact the idea of hurting a rider without realising it disturbs me so much that every time I go to see a race I always climb a hill/wall/something similar in order to avoid this kind of problems.Unfortunately,not everyone pays attention to these things...

Anyway,the last stage of the race (and the only one that I managed to watch) was won by Loddo, who outsprinted Petacchi and Gatto.The stage was characterised by a solo attack by Bruno Radotic,a Croatian rider from team Mediterrania Kamen,who broke clear from the peloton after few kms and was caught with just 10 kms to go.

The sprint,as already said,saw the victory of Alberto Loddo.This victory was pretty special to Loddo,since he actually comes from Sardinia and because this victory (the 27th in his career) was the first one that he ever achieved in Italy.

OMLOOP HET NIEUWSBALD:

The Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (what does its name mean,me wonders) was won by Juan Antonio Flecha,also known as Van Der Flecha because of his love for Classics held in Holland or Belgium. This race,whose name is impossible to pronounce for me,allowed Flecha to get his first individual victory since October 2008.The Spaniard (who I still considered a Rabobank rider until few minutes ago) attacked with 20 kms to go and got a very nice and important victory.

Haussler came in 2nd,Farrar was 3rd,4th was Paolini,5th was Sieberg and 6th was Boasson Hagen. (Pics by Bettini and AFP)

Rasmussen gets another victory for team SB/ Is the 2012 Giro really going to start from Washington?

PART ONE OF THIS POST: RUTA DEL SOL

When I read "Rasmussen wins the 4th stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia",I must admit that for a moment I feared,ehm,thought that Michael Rasmussen had won.After few nanoseconds anyway I remembered the Tour de France TT in which the Chickenman crashed 2 or 3 times in a row and I understood that no,he couldn't have won,also because of the fact that he wasn't actually racing in the Ruta del Sol this afternoon.After realising this,Fangirl could express her joy for Alex Rasmussen's victory with a nice squee and start to annoy Logic by telling her how great the Saxo Bank riders are. Rasmussen rode the 10.9 kms long TT in just 12.59 seconds and therefore he won the stage with 5" of advantage on Bradley Wiggins ("muawawawa! Sky didn't win!",the Evil part of me thought while reading the stage classification).3rd was Toni Martin,whereas Rogers (new race leader) was 4th.5th was His Amazingness Jens Voigt,whereas 6th was Roulston and 7th was Larsson.
Second in the GC is now Van Den Broeck (he has a delay of 19" from Rogers),3rd is Pardilla and 4th is Jens Voigt (yay!).
Frank Schleck was 21st with a delay of 53" from his teammate Rasmussen.In my impartial opinion,I think that Frank went pretty well,since Lovkvist (who is much better than him in TTs) was just 1 second faster than him.Frank was also faster than Fuglsang (33rd) and Wegmann and now he's 14th in the GC,with 1'01" of delay from Rogers.Larsson instead is 7th.
After his victory,Alex said: ”It was a mindblowing experience to be standing on the top step of the podium in the great line-up of world class riders.The time trial was a good fit for me and I knew it was all about raw power without thinking about restraining my self.The win was a surprise and I never expected to beat these top riders.It is a promising result prior to the World Cup on the track,Tour des Flandres and Paris-Roubaix and the main objective now is to maintain the good shape and make it peak in about a month and a half".
Kim Andersen instead said: "It was an amazing experience to follow Alex from the car today.I knew Wiggins' intermediates and I knew he was the man to beat and Alex was a few seconds better than him most of the way.In the overall position,Jens (Voigt) was only one second away from the podium and it surely would have put the icing on the cake to have finished third overall as well.But make no mistake,it was a good day for us”.
The Ruta del Sol ends tomorrow with a stage that is hilly and whose finish-line isn't completely flat.Of course,Fangirl's battle scream for tomorrow will be,once again,"Allez Jens!"

PART 2 OF THIS POST: RANDOM LINK AND PERSONAL OPINION OF MINE ABOUT THE POSSIBLE GIRO DEPARTURE FROM WASHINGTON
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/washington-dc-start-to-2012-giro-falling-into-place :I haven't written anything about a possible Giro start from Washington yet,but now I really do feel like giving my opinion about this story.I understand Zomegnan's will of making the Giro become more popular,I understand the fact that he's probably frightened from the prophecies that say that the World is ending and therefore wants to bring the Corsa Rosa in the USA before of December 2012 ("After all",Zomegnan probably thinks,"it's a matter of 2012 or never,isn't it?"),I understand that we Italians see USA as the land where dreams come true,I understand that the American supporters would love to see a great Grand Tour in their country,but this is simply too much,in my opinion.I mean,you start a race from Washington.Said race is called "Giro d'Italia",aka "Tour of Italy,Vuelta a Italia,Tour de Italie,Italien Rundfahrt". Therefore, sooner or later the race will have to arrive in Italy (otherwise it would be called "Tour of USA,Giro degli Stati Uniti,Vuelta a los Estados Unidos" or something similar,wouldn't it?).And a 100 years old tradition suggests the race coming to Italy after 3/4 stages raced in a foreign country.

To make a race,then,you need strange creatures called riders.Those strange creatures are actually normal human beings,even if they can ride their bikes like you'll never manage to.

Now,if you want to make the Giro d'Italia start from Washington,you'll need riders who feel like going to the USA,racing there for 3-4 days and then coming back to Italy with a 8 hours long flight over the ocean.After said flight,the riders will have to cope with the jet lag,a strange little thing that can cause people to wake up at 4 am and magically fall asleep at 8 pm.

Jet lag is a very annoying thing already when you come back from a holiday and have 2-3 days to pull yourself together before of starting working/going to school/doing whatever else again. Now,imagine suffering from the jet lag and having just 1/2 rest day(s) before of facing 3 hard weeks of race.Terrible.

I think that the only reasonable explanation for Zomegnan's latest idea is the following:lots of riders have complained about the long Giro transfers over the last 3/4 years.Therefore, what can the Giro organizers do to solve this problem? The answer is simple: they make the race start in Washington.In this way,the riders will be so fucking tired because of the jet lag that they won't even have the strength to complain about anything.

And talking about the riders,me wonders: where will the riders find the courage to train hard for a race where they may fail to get good results just because of the jet lag and of the long transfer USA-Italy? And then perhaps some people will even have the guts to complain about the lack of great peloton stars in the 2012 Giro start list...I understand that starting the Giro from the USA would be good for Zomegnan,for the race's popularity and for the American supporters,but what about the riders?

Anyway,after expressing my opinion in this particularly complicated way,and knowing that I could spend hours debating this latest crazy idea of Zomegnan,here I close this post,thinking that people are right when they think that Italians are completely crazy.

(Rasmussen's pic by Claus Bonnerup)

Ruta del Sol stages 2 and 3:

The 2nd and the 3rd stage of the Ruta del Sol,also known as Vuelta a Andalucia,saw the Saxo Bank riders getting good results once again.

The second stage of the race (the first one was won by Pardilla) saw Jesus Rosendo (team Andalucia-CajaSur) getting away alone after forming part of an initial move with Johnny Hoogerland (me really likes this guy) and Garikoitz Bravo (CajaRural).The brave Rosendo was caught after 100 kms of race and no one attacked during the second half of the race because of the strong wind.

With few kms to go,every team began to prepare the path for their sprinters.

Lots of people were probably expecting a Cavendish's victory,but the Manx boy is still suffering for a teeth problem and therefore he arrived "just" 4th.Because of this problem with his teeth,Cav rode just 300 kms since January (lots of other riders have ridden more than 2000 kms since the New Year's beginning) and he lost weight because he couldn't eat.Now things seem to go slightly better for Cav,although he has to wear dental braces.Me wore dental braces for 4 years in the past (also because of the already mentioned gap between my front teeth,a gap that still exists nowadays in spite of all the pain caused by that terrible thing),so I feel a bit sorry for Cav whose name,after all,doesn't appear in the list of riders that I can't bear at all (not yet,at least).

Anyway,going on with the race report,the winner of yesterday's stage was Oscar Freire. Richard,ehm,Robert Wagner was going to be the first rider to cross the finish-line,but he started celebrating too early and so Freire managed to win the stage.Poor Robert Wagner-I believe that we can't even imagine how annoyed he was yesterday afternoon...

Third in the sprint was Alex Ramussen,Saxo Bank's track rider,who got a very good result .

"As we entered the streets of Córdoba,I moved to the front of the peloton and teammate Jens Voigt guided me the last meters to Cavendish's wheel where I stayed until 500 meters from the finish line.I felt there was nothing to lose so I opened the sprint immediately and was only passed by Freire and Wagner Of course,it's a pleasure for me to beat the best sprinter in the world as I am still not feeling in peak shape.For a while,I have found it hard to get my real breakthrough on the road but today,I showed myself that everything is possible for me.Now, I am looking very much forward to do the Spring classics and the World Cup on the track which are this season's biggest events for me”,said Alex after the race.

5th in yesterday's stage was Ventoso,whereas Jens Voigt got an amazing 9th place and Schleck was 38th.

The 2nd stage was also characterised by a crash with 500 meters to go.In fact a barrier near to the finish-line fell into the riders' path because of the wind and caused a crash in which 6 riders were involved.Laurens Ten Dam suffered a cracked pelvis (ouch!!) and Jelle Vanendert suffered head,facial and knee injuries,whereas Damiano Cunego had a severe pain in his right forehand, although it seems that nothing's broken for the Italian rider.None of these 3 riders took part in today's stage.

Gerdemann was the first rider to fall and received some bruises,just like Kiendzys and Janiszewsky,2 Polish riders who were also involved in the fall.Anyway,they were luckier than their colleagues and managed to race also today.

3RD STAGE:

Although it wasn't completely flat,today's stage of the race was supposed to suit sprinters. Anyway Brice Feillu and José Marchante attacked on the first climb of the stage and were caught with 25 kms to go,after gaining a maximum advantage of 4 minutes.

Luckily during the sprint nobody crashed and the victory went to Oscar Freire for the second time in a row.Second was young Lampre's Slovakian rider Grega Bole,while third was the "climbing sprinter" Simon Gerrans.6th was His Amazingness Jens Voigt,who punctured with 30 kms to go and had to make a great effort trying to get in the peloton again.

Frank Schleck was 14th.The race leader is still Pardilla.

Tomorrow stage of the race is a TT,in which hopefully some SB riders will get a good result. With "some SB riders" I don't mean just Gustav Larsson (who is a TT specialist),but also Jens Voigt.After today's stage,Jens said: “Man,I am glad I stayed on my bike this time.I had a puncture with 60 km/h but managed to keep the balance.Soon after,André Steensen,Alex Rasmussen and Jakob Fuglsang were there to help me back to the front.Fortunately,I had a few kilometers to catch my breath before the slight uphill finish which actually suited me perfectly. Who knows what might have happened if I didn't have to close the gap? I am looking forward to tomorrow's time trial which is five kilometers along the coastline and back.I'll keep my head down and go full power.I am feeling stronger every day".Allez Jens!

(Pics by Bettini)

Saxo Bank's good results in Spain,France and India (plus 2 random links):

Oh yes,over the last 48 hours the Saxo Bank riders got some really good results.First of all,JJ Haedo won the first edition of the Mumbai Classic,whereas Baden Cooke came in 4th.Bradley McGee told Cyclingnews that "JJ and Cooke broke clear of the bunch and with two laps to go JJ took off in the winning break with Dirk Muller (Nutrixxion) and he easily won the sprint".Third was Tobias Erler,4th was Cooke and 7th was O'Grady.Congratulations guys!Second good result for SB team was Chris Anker Sorensen's 6th place in the Tour du Haut Var.Le Mevel attacked on the climb to the finish (said climb was about 22% steep in some sections),rode past Fedrigo (who had previously broken away from the peloton) and managed to win the stage and the overall classification of the race.Fedrigo was 2nd,3rd was De Waele (not the photographer),4th was Pineau,5th was El Fares (a rider I pretty like) and 6th was Chris Sorensen (I rider I simply belove).Laurent Didier impressed me once again by arriving 15th.

"The stage was extremely hard with numerous painful climbs.We stuck to the plan once again and I was protected until the last climb and I'm especially happy that Anders Lund and Laurent Didier delivered a perfect performance keeping me out of trouble.As le Mevel escaped I instantly tried to close the gap but my legs simply exploded in the effort and I had to settle with sixth.It's actually a good result for me as I was feeling weak during the race series on Mallorca and I'm now looking forward to some more action in the upcoming Paris-Nice",said Chris Sorensen,who got the 6th place also in the final GC.
Yestrday stage of the race was won by Rinaldo Nocentini (my screams "Vai Rinaldoooo!!" still resound in the Valle D'Aosta mountains...),who also got the leader jersey.Second was Dumoulin, whereas third,once again,was De Waele (Bert,not Tim).4th was Le Mevel,whereas the best Saxo Bank rider was Jonas Aaen Jorgensen (9th).Chris Sorensen was the 20th rider to cross the finish line 11 seconds after the winner.

Another good result for Saxo Bank team was the 13th place that Frank Schleck got during the first stage of the Ruta del Sol.As known,Frank is racing in Andalusia to train,not to win,therefore I think this result is absolutely satisfactory for him and for the rest of the team.As well as that,Frank had a problem with his chain with about a km to go and had to stop because of that.Perhaps,without that problem,Frank could have got an even better result.The stage was characterised by a 4 men breakaway formed by Jesus Rosendo,Laurent Beuret,Ruben Garcìa and Stephane Rosetto.They were caught before of the last climb,on which Tamayo decided to attack.Soon after also Voigt (yay!) and Carrara (yay also for him) attacked, but the decisive move was made by the Spaniard Sergio Pardilla with 2.5 kms to go.He managed to keep some seconds of advantage on the other riders and got the greatest victory of his career.
Second was Van Den Broeck,while 3rd was Cunego (how will the Italian press react?).The idol of the other 2 female members of my family (Thomas Lovkvist),came in 10th.
As already said,Frank Schleck came in 13th,whereas Voigt was 15th and Larsson 17th.

RANDOM LINKS:
http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/20-02-2010/ginanni-visconti-paolini-603059727365.shtml : In 46 years of history,until yesterday,,the riders who had managed to win the Trofeo Laigueglia two times in a row were 2 and their names were Eddy Mercx and Filippo Pozzato.Now also Francesco Ginanni is a member of this very little group of people,since yesterday he managed to win the race in front of Lampre's duo formed by Gavazzi and Pietropolli.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-organiser-says-italian-girls-will-be-on-the-podium-in-amsterdam :the "podium guys" idea wasn't bad,but me was wondering whether all the riders would have approved it...

(First pic by AFP,Frank's pic by Waldbillig)

Interview and Article about Frank Schleck:

As usual,my translations from French into English aren't very good,so if you know French I suggest you taking a look at the original articles.

LINK N.1: http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/8700.html (article written by Le Quotidien journalist Denis Bastien)

FRANK SCHLECK: "I'M CONFIDENT"
Frank Schleck is ready to race the Ruta Del Sol (21-25 February)."I'm going in Andalusia to train,not to win",he says.

Today,after 2 flights (the Luxembourg-Paris and the Paris-Malaga ones),Frank Schleck will arrive in Andalusia.La Ruta Del Sol starts on Sunday and the Mondorfois will be one of the strongest riders there."The race,and especially the first stage during which we'll face an uphill arrive,seems hard.Anyway I'm going to Andalusia to train,not to win",Frank says.
However Frank knows that over the stages,that are never totally flat,he should emerge as one of the best riders,since "the race is pretty hard everyday..."

Obviously,Frank Schleck doesn't hide his pleasure when he thinks about the possibility to race with a pleasant temperature,quite different from the one that prevailed in Luxembourg over the last days."It isn't easy to train on icy or snowy roads.We went to Maiorca five days before of the beginning of the Challenge Maiorca,therefore we managed to train well there.But since our return,the weather in Luxmbourg has been terrible,even if today (yesterday),I managed to train for 4 hours and a half with Didier Laurent.In two we worked well.Anyway our condition didn't get better since we left Maiorca".

Frank feels a sense of satisfaction when he talks about Mallorca."I think I did a good work.I'm gaining confidence.I've never had problems during that race.It's good to start the season well, although also in that race the results didn't matter a lot to me... "

Things will be different in Paris-Nice,the first goal of the season."It's true,the Paris-Nice will be my first serious test of the season,but if one day I find myself at the back of the race,I won't make a tragedy out of it.If I can,I'll try winning,but I'd like t to avoid getting too stressed.There is always a nice parcours in this race and I usually feel good during it.Anyway sometimes I wonder whether it would be better to delay the arrive of my first form-peak as much as I can. The Ardennes classics are still far away from here...I remember that last year Andy had troubles during the Tour du Pays Basque and that he won the Liège-Bastogne-Liege 15 days later... "
Taking abou form-peaks,Frank Schleck usually achieves a good level of form during the Classics and therefore he won't probably risk to peak too early in the season.Now anyway he will continue his preparation a little away from Andy,who is now in Maiorca. "We phone each other in the mornings and in the evenings.Andy is training well and his knee seems ok.The most important thing is that he's fine now",Frank confesses.Indeed,Andy will have enough time to recover before of the Ardenne's classics. LINK 2: http://www.lessentiel.lu/sports/sports/story/17373721 (article by Nicolas Martin)

Before of leaving Luxembourg on Friday in order to race the Ruta del Sol,Frank Schleck talks again about his 2010 goals.
How important is the winter for your preparation?
Frank Schleck: During the first month you can relax and avoid to think about cycling.It is easier if you end the season with a good result.This period can be useful to spend time doing thingsyou like doing,for example I fished a lot.I also went on holiday to Curaçao.During this break anyway we keep on training our bodies and then we take up cycling again.
Are you happy with the results you got in the Challenge Mallorca?
Yes.It was my first race of the season and at this time of the year I can't and I don't want to be in my top form.My first important goals will arrive in 1-2 months time,therefore what I did in Mallorca was ok.From the phisical point of view,I'm right where I should be.
You'll race La Ruta del Sol without Andy.Does his injury worry you?
No.This kind of things are annoying but they happen.Last year I had problems with my knee too.He's trainining in order to get the right form quickly and reach the right level for taking part in races.
What are your expectations for the Ruta del Sol?
It's a training race.I won't go there to win,but to train and to find the race rythm again.
Will it be a preparation for the Paris-Nice?
Paris-Nice isn't one of my goals of the season,but if my form is good I'll try getting results as good as last year's ones.
What are your biggest goals of the season?
They're the Classics,the Tour de France and the Worlds in Australia.
Do you share these goals with Andy?
Yes.We'll both try fighting for the victory in these races,although we know that there is always just one winner.Some changes during the season may also depend on the how things will develop.However, we'll both give our best during these races.
Do you think you can win the Tour?
I was 5th last year and I've aleady won stages of that race twice in my career.I'm always with the strongest riders.This means that I can win the Tour,therefore I'll give my best to try achieving that result.
What do you think of your team?
I think it is very good.2,3 riders left the team,but it is still as good as last year.Some young riders like Fuglsang will go very well this year and I'm sure that they'll replace the ones who left the team.
What do you think of the Saxo Bank's withdrawal from sponsoring the team?
I'm a cyclist and my job is to run as fast as possible.It's not up to me to think about this kind of things.Bjarne Riis is looking for sponsors and we just have to get good results in order to attract the attention of possible sponsors on us.

(pic from Cyclingnews)

First Saxo Bank victory 2010!

Although he was out of training during January because of an illness,Fabian Cancellara won the overall classification at the Tour of Oman.In fact he arrived 2nd in the last stage of the race,a TT of 18.6 km which was won by Boasson Hagen.Congratulations Fabian!

(Pic by TDW)

Andy's Blog Entry: February

Welcome to the club, Pippo!
Well if it isn't my good friend Pippo Pozzato,popping up on Cyclingnews.com.Welcome to the club Pippo and I congratulations on your inaugural blog,although I'm still on the fence when it comes to your recent tattoo.
A word of caution before you set out on this journey of new found journalistic fame: The world of blogging and journalism isn't as easy as everyone in the press makes out.There's the writers block; the deadlines for copy; the screaming editors and the emails from fans correcting your every mistake and don't even get me started on the pay.All I'm saying is don't quit your day job. Stick to cycling,chest waxing and fast cars.
I'm kidding of course and I really enjoyed reading the first blog.I think over the next few months you,the readers,will receive an insightful view into one of the peloton's most colourful characters.As for my thoughts on Pippo, well he's a good friend of mine and we've known each other for a very long time so he'll know that all my words are in jest.
But don't let his metrosexual exterior fool you,as he's one of the most talented riders around.And like he says,he works damn hard on the bike and trains like a total professional.Don't be surprised to see him up there in the Classics vying for a big win this season.
We're very different in terms of our lifestyles but we've had a lot of fun together in the past. One thing you can't say about him is that he doesn't take care of himself. He's always in the nicest designer clothes but despite that front he's always good for a laugh and he doesn't take himself too seriously.
At the Tour de Suisse last year he had a different jersey for every stage. He'd just won the Italian national jersey and Santini were sending him different designs every day.He kept on asking me opinion every day but to be honest I thought they all looked good.
And he's always asking me about what car I have. I have one,but it's the sort of thing Pippo wouldn't be seen dead in.

Training through injury
Anyway, enough about Pippo, this is my blog. I'm currently in Mallorca, Spain for some training. As you may have read a few weeks ago,I came here with the team to do some training but ended up picking up a slight knee injury.
Well,two weeks later and I'm back on the bike but my racing debut has been put back again and instead of riding Ruta de Sol I'll be starting my season at the Giro del Friuli in March.
It's another setback after I was forced out of the Challenge Mallorca earlier in the month but I'm not worried about the Classics just yet. They're still some way off and I know that I can improve my fitness and form and be strong for them.
It is of course frustrating though. No one likes being off the bike through injury,but if the doctors tell you that a rest is needed then you have to listen and obey.They're the experts and the last thing I want is for this injury to turn into something more serious.Everything happens for a reason,so I'll remain positive.
From Friuli I'll head to Erioca and then Tirreno-Adriatico so by the time the first goals in my season come around I'll have plenty of miles in my legs.And anyway I'm doing some good training here in Mallorca.The weather is good and I'm here with my best friend Gilles. We'vebeen friends since I was a kid and he can cycle pretty well so he's able to keep up without any problems.
On a brighter note,I spoke to Jonny Bellis again last week.He'll be leaving hospital in the next couple of weeks and there's a chance he'll be on the bike again sometime soon.He's a great kid and he and his family have been through an awful lot in the last few months.I'm really happy to hear that's he's doing better.
And on that note I'd better dash. Gilles is ready to go for a ride and this training isn't going to do itself.
Andy.

NB: Check http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/ to read the latest post written by Chris Anker Sorensen on his blog.