Eroica, Paris-Nice and more random things:

Good evening everyone, dear readers. The serious races have finally started but, unfortunately for me, I haven't managed to watch any of them on real time yet. In fact, first of all, Italian tv didn't broadcast Eroica Strade Bianche until 19.30 of Saturday (at 20.oo of that day Fangirl was cheering happily for the riders, when Logic suddenly told her: 'They stopped racing 4 hours ago, so why the hell are you screaming in such a loud way?'- Fangirl was so shocked that she stopped screaming for good!); then, me had to miss the first stage of Paris-Nice because 'Come on, it is Carnival day! You can't stay the whole day trapped inside your house to watch a cycling race! You'll have plenty of time for that during the year!', Logic told Fangirl; moreover, I had to miss the second stage of P-N because I was 'working'. Therefore, I'm honoured to tell you that, on the 7th of March 2011, my personal cycling situation is the following: zero races seen on real time on television, zero races seen 'live' and a few races seen in the evening. I guess it's useless to add that my cycling withdrawal syntomps are getting worse than even.

Anyway. Let's talk cycling and, more precisely, let's talk Eroica Strade Bianche. First of all, I must say that I made a beginner's mistake when I didn't include Gilbert in my podium prediction. He won Tour of Lombardy in October 2010, he's won Eroica in March 2011. A monster. Ladies, watch out for him in Sanremo! During the race, I was happily surprised to see some riders riding better than expected. For example, Andy Schleck seemed in a good form and he worked hard to help Cancellara. Fabian could keep the pace of riders like Hesjedal and Cunego also on some of the toughest climbs and, of course, this is a very good news. Also O'Grady was very good, just like Fabian Wegmann. Talking about Fab the Blonde, I'm afraid I may a little crush on him. He always looks so sweet and cute! And I can always recognise him by looking at his riding style. Strange.
However, miss Fede didn't pay attention just to Leopard Trek's guys. In fact, me really liked Rocchetti's performance (the boy's got talent, he goes on a breakaway whenever he can!) and I was extremely glad to see Cunego and Ballan up there again. In fact, Alessandro had disappeared from supporter's radars in 2009 and it's great to see that he's finally back at a top level.
Also Gatto rode surprisingly well, considering that he's a sprinter. Also Jure Kocjan, that rides for Team Type 1, got a very good 4th place.
Amongst the best riders, imo, there were also the young Craig Lewis and Przemyslaw Niemiec. The Polish rider was simply great and he worked very hard in order to help his captain Cunego. Moreover, he allowed me to show my familiars my great Polish skills, since I pronounced his name without any problems. 'How can you do that?', they asked. 'Misteri della Fede', I answered.
On to the 'disappointing riders' du day, I expected more from Sagan and Oss. As far as Hesjedal is concerned, I predicted him as likely winner of the race, but he couldn't resist Gilbert's final attack. However, I really liked the way he rode because, although he wasn't in a good condition, Ryder tried hard to make the race harder.

Talking about Paris-Nice, I could watch yesterday's stage at dinner-time. Jens Voigt was part of a great 3 men breakaway and his companions were Thomas De Gendt and Jeremy Roy. These 3 riders are very good when it comes to riding fast on a flat terrain, so they could arrive at the flamme rouge with a few seconds of advantage on the peloton. The escapers were really loyal to each other (none of them skipped his turn to pull and they didn't waste time looking at each other in the final meters of the race) and, in spite of the large, long road that led to the finish, they could cross the finish-line before of the peloton guys. Or, at least, that's what Thomas De Gendt and Jeremy Roy could do. Voigt in fact was outsprinted by Haussler, Sagan and Henderson and came 6th. De Gendt instead could raise his arms to the sky, while Roy got a second place.
However, is this just me, or was De Gendt wearing a Fugl-scarf during the race? On to today's stage of the race (which I'm off to see in 15 minutes time), it was won by Henderson in front of Goss, Galimzyanov (the boy is strong, I've already told you that!), Haussler and Sagan.
The stage was very nervous because there was strong wind and everyone wanted to stay at the front of the race. Vinokourov apparently made a great work at the front with his team (you've gotta love that man), while Frank Schleck and Jakob Fuglsang crashed. They both managed to end the race (Jakob arrived 1 minute after the winner) and they both seem likely to continue the race. Frank's crash was said to be 'without consequences', while Fuglsang's one as a bit more serious. I've found something about it on http://www.fyens.dk/article/1802006:Sport--Leopard-afskriver-Fuglsang-med-snitsaar and I tried to translate it with Google. According to it, Kim Andersen said that Jakob (why does Google keep on calling him 'James'?) 'got hurt seriously in a lot of places. He also had a deep cut in one hand, which bled a lot. However, he seems able to continue the race, although I don't know what his results will be. Jakob had to stop because Frank had crashed and, when he stopped, another rider hit him with his bike. Fuglsang's bike was damaged, so he needed a new one. After changing it, Jakob started to chase the peloton but, when he arrived at a roundabout, he entered it too fast and he fell'. Hopefully our boy will feel better soon.

Talking about other news, in the comment area of the previous post I mentioned Michael Matthews' victory in Vuelta a Murcia. You're not interested in knowing who won the overall title and the last stage, are you? Anyway, 3rd on the last stage (a ITT) was Denis Menchov (yay!!), second was the surprising Coppel, 4th was Dowsett, 5th Kiryenka and 6th was Saxo Banker Manuele Boaro, who is a very promising athlete.
As far as the second stage of the race is concerned, the only thing to know is that Menchov was second and Coppel 3rd.
Here above you have a picture of Menchov who, in spite of the great news he's received today, doesn't look that smiley. 'What great news?, I hear you ask. Simple: his team was invited to the Giro. Yay for Menchov!
The great thing is that Zomegnan managed to get the permission to invite 23 teams, and not 22, to the Italian Grand Tour, so that not only Geox will be riding in the Belpaese in May, but together with it and the other 18 ProTour teams there will be also Acqua&Sapone, Androni Gocattoli, Colnago-CSF and Farnese Vini (as I had predicted ;).

On to other news regarding Paris-Nice, Frank Schleck has said that, in his opinion, the race is likely to be won by Toni Martin. Vinokourov instead has said he'll go for a stage victory. Can't wait for that! In the meanwhile, I'm going to catch up with today's stage, whose broadcast is starting in 30 seconds time ;)

Have a good night everyone and don't forget to take a look at the comment area of my previous post. If you're interested in working at Leela, Mar, Marleen, Susanne and Fede's cycling blog, you're still on time to join us! ;)

(first picture by Bettini, second one by Isabelle Duchesne, third one by Rafa Gomez)

Random post about Sorensen, Dominic (yay!), Voigt and more:

To everyone's joy, a week after her last post, miss Fede has finally come back writing again (*sounds of people singing happily while jumping joyfully around their computers*) :D

It's been another busy week me here in Italy and now I'm finally enjoying some moments of peace after an afternoon spent writing the so called 'tesina' ('little thesis') that I'll have to present at that cursed final high school exam. Actually, I think it will be the first thesis in the scholastic history to mention Leopard Trek (written in caps, the examiner might be an Italian relative of Nygaard!), Contador, Menchov, Vinokourov, Katiusha and Proudhomme in its introduction. Of course, this has been done in order to ensure that none of the examiners will realise what I'm talking about (come on, have you ever heard of an examiner who knows who the Schlecks are?).

Anyway. As well as being very busy, over the last days I've been also trapped by the atmosphere of sadness that is surrounding Bergamo in these days (if you're Italian, you'll understand what I mean). Moreover, this morning another teacher of mine spent some long minutes telling me strange things that have no connections with truth. According to said teacher, in fact, if I study languages at university, in 5 years time I'll end up being an unemployed person. And, still according to her, in 15 years time from now I'll become either a frustrated housewife with a child that weeps all day long, or a frustrated teacher who'll let it out on her students-if I'm lucky, of course. Perhaps I won't even be able to find a husband and I won't even manage to become a teacher, imagine what a crap. So, what does my teacher suggest to avoid those future possible problems of mine? Simple: abandon Bergamo, go to Trieste, try entering the only 'Translater School' of Italy and, after 5 years of hard sudies, pack your things and g working at the European Parliament. Simple, isn't it?

Anyway. Forget about that. Let's talk cycling and, most important, let's party all together because this afternoon our super-hero Dominic Klemme took the first Leopard Trek victory of the year! YAY FOR OUR BANANA-MAN!!! YEAAAH! (Girls, all together: *Yay!*)
"I'm super happy," our red haired boy told Cyclingnews after winning GP Le Samyn."I had cramps in the final kilometres, but I knew I had to hang in there because everyone was half dead back in the chase.I wasn't sure my attack was going to last until the finish line, but the top of the climb was visible, so I could see the finish all the time. I was super motivated to win this one for us". Well done boy!

Still talking about Leopard Trek team (sorry, I can't write it correctly three times in the same post!), it now has a new sponsor, Enovos. On http://www.tageblatt.lu/sport/story/%20Selbs%20tvertrauen-pur-12652985 you have some pictures of the new jersey (it's the same as before, don't worry) with the Enovos sponsor on and you also have some pictures of the brothers.

Talking about LT riders, here's an interview with Jens Voigt: http://velonews.competitor.com/%202011/02/news/jens-voigt-concedes-slim-shot-at-criterium-international-record-holds-off-on-retirement-announcement_161966 . Talking about his retirement, the Fucking Amazing Jens said: "I take it day by day, year after year. We’ll see. At the moment, maybe I am good enough to go one more year, but maybe my wife gets pregnant with baby number seven and I have no time to train at all anymore.I don’t know yet. I cannot really tell you.”

On to another Leopard news, here are two interviews with the Schleck brothers: http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/20709.html and http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/20708.html . Unfortunately, I don't have time to translate it now (they're in French), so you'll have to use our terrible Google Translater.

About Google Translater: Chris Aker Sorensen has made his seasonal debut (yay!) in Tour du Haut Var and has written two posts on his blog (geez, this year he writes almost as often as me!). The last one is a good entry and it talks about radio bans (http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry397658.html ): "In my last post I wrote about the Tour de Haut Var", Chris wrote, "but in it I completely forgot to comment on my first experience of racing without radios. The change wasn't actually that big. However, I still support the radios and I'd like to be able to put them back in my ears again during races. In fact, competitions go in the same way, with or without radios: at Tour du Haut Var, the morning breakawayers were caught as usual and the race finale was run as usual. The only changes I saw regarded security. Sometimes a team car had to enter the peloton to talk with its riders and this always created stress and anxiety, because it's never comfortable to ride in front of a car. Moreover, the always stressful "feed zone" was even more stressful than usual. With the radios, we are told where our soigneurs are standing with our feed bags and what team they are next to. Without radios, nobody really knows where their soigneurs are, so everyone moves to the right side of the road simultaneously to take their food bag. The intelligent reader now will probably think: 'Hey, why can't they tell you where your soigneurs are going to stay BEFORE of the race?' It could be a great idea, but if all teams say that their soigneur must be the last one, we'd be back at starting point. (...) Actually, I'm going to propose a system that will make us different from any other team: I will suggest our soigneurs to buy some blue little flares (ndr; the translater suggested using 'rockets', but I don't trust it). When we approach the feeding zone, the soigneurs light up the flares, so we can immediately know where they're standing. The problem with this idea is that of course every other team would adopt it as soon as possible too. Therefore we'd see the sky become purple, gray and blue and the effect would be the same that you get when you mix the 9 tempera colours of your palette during your art lesson at school'.
So, this was a part of Chris' latest entry. Fangirl compliments him on the clever idea and wonders herself how someone can avoid to like this boy.

Changing subject, let's now talk about Matteo Pelucchi's victory in Clasica de Almeria, which was the first victory for Geox-TMC. Matteo, being the boyfriend of Marina Romoli, dedicated the victory to his girlfriend. A good way to remind everyone about the fight that this girl is still carrying on. Well done Matteo- and hold on Marina!

Last topic of a day, a not very pleasing one. In fact, Matti Breschel is unlikely to race the Classics this year because of his annoying knee injury. Actually, even his Tour de France participation seems to be in danger right now. About his schedule for this season, poor Matti said: 'I think the positive thing is that now I will have the energy and mental strength for late in the season. It might be hard to get up there after a long, grueling season. Now I’m doing everything I can to build my way up to the world championships in September.” (news from: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/breschel-set-to-miss-classics ).

Let's wish Matti a lot of luck and let's now close this post with a 'good night everyone'. And remember: don't study languages at school if you don't want to end up unemployed! -.-"

Giro di Sardegna, Rohregger and more:

23rd February 2011, 20.05. An Italian family is watching a cycling race on tv.

'Hey dad, did you hear what has recently happened to Tondo (ndr; whose name means 'circle' in Italian)?', one of the daughters asks the father. 'No, I don't', answers the father. The daughter is going to tell him the news of Tondo's tip to the Spanish police, when her young sister suddenly begins to speak: 'I know what happened to Tondo! He became Square!!'.

After reading these first lines of this post, I think you've finally understood why my mental condition is so bad: simply, it is in the family genes. However, that was just one of the little dialogues that I had with my familiars a hour ago, while we were watching Giro of Sardegna' second stage (one of said dialogues also included my sister screaming: 'Where the hell have the breakaway riders gone?' while Cunego was crossing the finish-line; in fact, in that moment she hadn't realised yet that the breakaway riders had ended their lonely adventure about 6 kms before of the finish-line).

Anyway, the most important thing about this post's beginning is that not only miss Fede's sense of humour could be even worse than it is, but the real great news is that she's finally managed to watch a cycling race on tv at a decent time of the day (allelujah!). Before of tonight in fact I had managed to watch just the first stage of TDU and a stage of Tour of Oman but unfortunately, in order to do so, I had to stay awake until 11.30 pm- not a very clever idea, if the following day you have to get up at 6.25 in order to go to the bus stop, where you'll find that disturbing, logorroic boy who stares at you during your whole journey to school.

By the way. I'm digressing again.

Talking about Giro di Sardegna, yesterday stage was won by Peter Sagan. Today stage, instead, was won by Damiano Cunego, who exulted in a great way after the finish-line. In fact, not only did he raise his arms: he even went towards a tv camera, shouted 'Evvai!' and started to shake it.
I was very happy for Damiano, because during last year Tour de France some people (*cough* journalists *cough*) were really terrible with him. Moreover, journalists had tried to eat him alive after Mendrisio Worlds. So, considering all the critics and pressure that Cunego has had to carry on his shoulder since May 2004 (and that have become even bigger over the last years), I always feel incredibly happy when he wins. When he wins, in fact, I always feel as if it's a deserved victory. I like Damiano, I can't help it.

Second in today's stage (which was very hilly and whose 7 final kms were completely uphill) was Serpa 'Zorro' Perez, whose moustache are much more stylish than Pozzato's ones. If you don't believe me, look at the pic above (by Sirotti). Third in the stage was the little Sella, José's teammate, while 4th was Peter Sagan. Unfortunately for him, Peter couldn't keep the leader jersey, which is now on Cunego's shoulders.

Amongst the riders who did a very good job today there are Hermans (the Radioshack rider was 4th), Capecchi (5th), Scarponi (who did an outstanding job for Cunego), Kiserlovski and Stortoni (Colnago riders are really brave, they always attack as soon as they can). Ballan was 15th (he was second in yesterday stage) and hopefully this means that he's back at the level that he had when he won the Varese Worlds. 25th was 40 year-old Noé, while a special mention must go to the breakaway riders du jour: Mikhail Ignatiev (who kept his knees in a very strange way while riding uphill), David Boily, Alessandro De Marchi, Elia Favilli and Alessandro Malaguti. De Marchi was the best breakawayer (?) du jour, since he abandoned the peloton after just 8 kms (18 if you consider the 10 kms between the start village and the true start of the race) and he was caught with just 6 kms to go. Therefore, chapeau to Alessandro!

RANDOM NEWS:
Talking about breakaways, you'll be happy to know that Andy Schleck was part of a breakaway during today's Ruta del Sol stage, wich was eventually won by Freire. Good to see our boy riding at the front of a race! :D
Still talking about Andy, he now has a new teammate: Thomas Rohregger, born on the 23rd December 1982, former Milram (and Pegasus) rider, winner of 2009 Tour of Austria. A good climber and another German speaker for Leopard Trek. All together now: *Herzlich Willkommen, Thomas*!!

On to another news, Jens Voigt has recently said that the riders should do something 'big', like boycotting this year Worlds, to show their disapproval of UCI's radio ban. Aren't we exaggerating a bit? (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/voigt-calls-for-worlds-boycott-over-radio-ban ).

Still facing the news du jour, I've just read on Cyclingnews that Amstel Gold Race organisers have given their race's wild cards to the following teams: Topsport Vlaanderen (yay!), Landbouwkrediet (double yay!), Skill Shimano (we want Kenny Van Hummel!) and Verandas Willems.

I also wanted to put the link to a little Cyclingnews article in which Romain Feillu said that, perhaps, Vacansoleil shouldn't have given Riccò a contract, but unfortunately I couldn't find it anywhere. Well, it seems like someone was brave enough to say these things publicly.

Anyway, it is pretty late right now, so here I close this post (which isn't actually that great, but that was written in a big hurry). Have a good evening and a good night sleep!
(pic by Sirotti)

Random Post about Martin Pedersen:

More than one week after my last post, here I am again, to everyone's joy (and mine in particular).
The last 7 days have been pretty tough for me. For example, I've recently shocked my English teacher by telling her that in her books Jane Austen complains about the conditions of women in the 19th century (the fact that they depended on men from the financial point of view and so on). Unfortunately, Teacher didn't agree with me and she spent half of the oral test repeating that my interpretation wasn't correct because 'Jane Austen wasn't a revolutionary, really. I mean... she wasn't a revolutionary. Did you understand? She wasn't a revolutionary!". She was so shocked about what I said that, during the examination (that lasted 40 minutes), she just asked me about Jane Austen and W. Blake. And who cares if I spent hours studying also Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth, the Victorian age, Dickens, Byron, the Industrial Revolution, the Corn Laws and the Bronte's sisters: The only important thing is that Jane Austen wasn't a revolutionary. Apparently, my interpretation of J. Austen's work was the biggest bullshit I've ever said in my scholastic career. But luckily, it didn't prevent me from getting a good mark in the tests :D
Anyway. Enough about me for today. Let's now talk about cycling.

Over the last days, Contador has been cleared of his doping accusation by the Spanish Cycling Federation. This matter has already been analysed by our dear Cougar Girl, so I think it's useless to write about it also here. Moreover, the name 'Alberto Contador' can cause me strong headaches and irrational anger in these days, so the less I pronounce it/write it/read it/ hear it, the better.
Still talking about news related doping, Riccò has been fired by Vacansoleil.

Another important news is that Spanish police has recently discovered an illegal commerce of doping thanks to Xavier Tondo. 'Oh gosh, was he found positive at the anti-doping too?', I hear you ask in a worried way. 'Oh no!', I answer you. In fact, Xavier received an email last December, which offered several doping products at special low prices. Tondo immediately passed it along to the police, who's now investigating this case carefully. Finally, a good news that shows us that not every cyclist is a doper.
On to a Schlecknews, it has been said that Frank Schleck may have to change his national jersey. http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/7432/Frank-Schlecks-Luxembourg-champions-jersey-may-have-to-be-redesigned.aspx talks about jersey changes of the recent years, mentioning Pozzato. As you may remember, Pozzato changed about 324567 different national kits when he was Italian national champion. And everything began because his first 'champion jersey' had the skyline of Moscow designed on the Italian Tricolore. And guys at the Italian Cycling Federation didn't like it, oh no. Hopefully Frank and LT designers won't have to change as many kits as Pozzato and will come up with a good solution to this problem.
As far as the races that are going on right now are concerned, Gesink has won two stages of the Tour of Oman in the last two days. Unfortunately, Leopard Trek guys haven't won anything yet.
Talking about Leopard Trek guys, here you can find a short introduction to Martin Pedersen, one of the least known guys on the team.

Martin P. (not to confuse with Martin M.) was born on the 15th April 1983 in Brondby, Denmark. As you can see, Martin's birthday is on the same day as Frank and Leea Schleck. He isn't the tallest guy of the peloton (170 cms) and he weights 62 kgs.
His first U23 team was Team PH, for which he raced in 2004, when he won the Danish National RR Championship for young riders for the third time (he had already won it in 2002 and 2003). Martin also has a past as a track rider, since he was Madison National Champion together with Michael Smith Larsen in 2003.
The following year Pedersen moved to team GLS and he won Liége-Bastogne-Liége for U23, Gran Premio San Giuseppe, a stage at Tour of Tuscany for U23, a stage at GP Veckan, a stage at Horsens, 2 stages at the Olympia's Tour and three stages at the Ringerike GP. Moreover, Martin was 16th in the Madrid RR Worlds for U23 riders.
In 2006 Pedersen became a pro rider and started to ride for Team CSC (oh my, is this enough to make him another 'bye bye Bjarne, hello Leopard' guy?). Frank and Andy were already racing for Riis at the time, so they probably got to know each other already 5 years ago. That year, Martin won the first stage and the GC of Tour of Britain. The following year instead he won the Mountains Classification at the Eneco Tour.
In 2008 Pedersen went back to Team GLS, for which he won Omloop van het Houtland, a stage of Circuit des Ardennes (see pic below) and a stage of Kreiz Breizh.
The following year Martin raced for team Capinordic together with Jonas Aaen Jorgensen, who's now a Saxo Bank rider. That year he won Rund um Koeln, Grand Prix Cristal Energie and GP de la Ville de Nogent-sur-Oise.
Last year instead Pedersen rode for Footon-Servetto (yes, he was one of the men with the ugly kits) and he won Aalborg-Aalborg, a Danish race. However, Martin took part in 2010 Giro d'Italia (he got retired after the 10th stage) and he also came 131st at Vuelta.

As soon as he joined Leopard Trek, Martin said: 'Although it is a super team, it's also a place where it will get very hard. It might not be there right now, but there will be a lot of pressure for us to deliver. I'm looking forward to that though'.
According to www.velonation.com , Martin is a fast finishing strong man who can do well both in one day races and in sprints. Talking about himself, Pedersen said: "I'm a rider that can work hard for the team, but I can also take the opportunity if it presents itself. It's probably going to be hard to get into the Tour de France squad, because in its current form, we could field two teams for the race and still be sharp. I could also ride the Vuelta, but I'll take it as it comes. My priority right now is to be fit to fight and be there for the team, then the the rest will follow". In another interview, he added: “I think my strengths rest in my ability to do well in many different terrains which will mean that I can be a service to the team in multiple situations.I also have a snappy sprint, so that I can take advantage of that when given the chance in breakaways, for instance".
During Leopard Trek presentation, Martin (who was presented with the young riders) was asked if he was superstitious: “No, I’m not that superstitious. I used to have a lucky charm, but it seems like it was better without it. Since then, I haven’t been that superstitious.I know it’s a dangerous sport sometimes ,but if you get too superstitious, maybe it’s a little bit bad for you.I try to stay calm and relaxed and just hope for the best".

Unfortunately, that's all I could find about Martin Pedersen. I didn't have a lot of time to look for information about him, so if you have more information and want to share, do it! And feel free to correct the mistakes that you may find in my post.
Now, to close this blog entry, here you have a picture of Martin (he was still racing for Capinordic at the time). The pic comes from http://www.cyclingstars.dk/ , where you have an impressive list of Danish cyclists. Amongst them there are 21 Pedersen, 19 Petersen and just 17 Sorensen :O

For more pictures/results of Martin, go on: http://www.cyclingstars.dk/Rider.aspx?id={d11c2b0a-6dfa-491a-9725-02f88617ac57}

Have a good weekend!

Random Post about Giacomo Nizzolo plus interview with Frank Schleck and Brice Feillu:

Surprisingly, miss Fede is already here, just 3 days after her last post, to write another entry on her blog. What a joy!
In this post I'm going to try talking about Giacomo Nizzolo, a neo pro of Team Leopard Trek.
Before of that, however, I'd like to congratulate Andrea Guardini for his Tour of Qatar victory. When he won all those stages at Tour of Malaysia, many people commented by saying 'Well, it's Tour of Malaysia, it isn't the Tour de France!'. Ok, Tour of Qatar isn't the Tour de France either, but the adversaries beaten by Andrea this afternoon were tough guys like Renshaw (GC winner), Haussler, Bennati (a good race for him), Boonen and so on. Therefore, chapeau to Andrea.
I must admit that I didn't follow the race live, I just saw the results on the Internet. However don't worry: March is finally approaching and in that month miss Fede will watch lots of cycling races live and will give you her boring opinions about them. I bet you're looking forward to that, aren't you? ;)
Before I start talking seriously about Giacomo Nizzolo, who was 5th in yesterday race at Mallorca Challenge (race that was won by Fischer), let me tell you a funny thing about this blog: the other day, someone came across it by typing 'Denis and Carlos naked' in Google. I'm shocked. Someone else instead has recently bumped into this webpage lost in the Blogosphere by looking for 'Stefan Denifl operation'. You're curious about that operation, eh? Well, I once read an interview in which Stefan mentioned it, but I'm not going to tell you where he needed to be operated...Mwhahahaha!

Anyway. Giacomo Nizzolo. Italian, born in Milan on the 30th January 1989, 184 cms of height for 72 kgs of weight.
This young rider is considered a good sprinter who can do well in long races. He got his first important results as a track rider. In 2007 in fact he was 2nd in the Italian National Championship of Keirin. In the very same year he was 3rd in the Team Pursuit at the Track World Championships for young riders. On that occasion Giacomo rode with Paolo Locatelli, Luca Pirini and the promising sprinter Elia Viviani. For your curiosity, the team who won the team pursuit at that edition of the Wolds was formed by Jack Bobridge, Leigh Howard, Glenn O'Shea and Travis Meyer.
The following year Nizzolo kept on racing on the track and he was 3rd in the Tre Giorni di Pordenone. He also won Trofeo Sc Marcallo, Memorial Crescenzo and a race in Magnago (race roads). As you can see, our boy got 3 good victories in his first year as a U23 rider and he did so in spite of a serious injury he got at the beginning of the 2008 season (I looked for more information about it, but I couldn't find any*).
In 2009 Giacomo got 9 victories (all together: 'Woooow!'). In fact that year he won Trofeo Papà Cervi, Gp dell'Industria, Coppa san Bernardino, Coppa Città di Melzo, Coppa Caduti Buscatesi, Circuito de Termen, Gp San Virgilio, Medaglia d'Oro Nino Ronco and Targa Libero Ferrario. Moreover, he was 4th in the Mediterranean Games, where he was beaten, amongst others, also by the above-mentioned Andrea Guardini.
The following year Giacomo got even better results. For example,he was 2nd in the Popolarissima di Treviso (beaten by Viviani), 9th in the GP Liberazione for U23 (one of the most important Italian races for young riders, which last year was won by the Slovenian rider Jan Tratnik), was 2nd in a stage of Giro Baby (beaten- again- by Guardini) and 5th in the European U23 Championship. Moreover, he won Coppa del Mobilio, Circuito San Donà di Piave, Coppa Quagliotti, Gp Ceda, Il Gandolfi, Circuito S.Urbano, Gp Fiera dell Possenta, Premio Rinascita, Trofeo Artigianato e Commercio Piombino Dese, Medaglia d'Oro Nino Ronco, Circuito dell'Assunta and Medaglia d'Oro Città Villanova (12 victories).
Last year Giacomo rode for Trevigiani Dynamon Bottoli together with Manuele Boaro, who became a pro with Saxo Bank this year. In 2009 instead he rode for Bottoli Nordelettrica Ramondi, while the previous year his team was Filmop Sorelle Ramonda Bottoli Parolin*.
Nizzolo took up cycling when he was 6, 'as a birthday gift'. Talking about his relationship with the track world, he says he's recently abandoned track racing, although he thinks that riding on a cycling track is very important for sprinters.
Talking about his hobbies, Nizzolo likes riding his motorbike, skiing, going out with friends and going dancing. Talking about his qualities, Giacomo says he's generous and honest. On the other hand, he's stubborn, he's often late and he 'sleeps too much'.
Speaking of his climbing abilities, Nizolo says he can resist on mid-difficult climb when he's in a good condition. His dream race is Milan-Sanremo and his model as far as cycling is concerned is Tom Boonen. He's got a girlfriend and, talking about Team Leopard, he said: 'The official language in the team is English, I'm getting better at it!'.

Talking about 2011, Giacomo says he's not going to take part in any Big Classic, but he's likely to race in a Grand Tour.

Speaking of his Leopard Trek captains, the Italian rider says that they've impressed him because of their confidence and because they seem to do everything in a very easy way. He likes the atmosphere of the team and he says that he's become a good friend of Bennati.
In the picture below, you can see Guardini and Nizzolo (the rider at your right) joking together before of a race. So, this was my little introduction to Giacomo Nizzolo. It's not very long, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Let's wish this boy a nice season!

Still talking about Leopard Trek riders, on http://www.lequotidien.lu/les-sports/20036.html there is a nice 'double' interview with Frank Schleck and Brice Feillu.
Here is a little translation of some parts of it.
Journalist: Do you remember your first conversation?
Brice Feillu: First conversation? Uhm...
Frank Schleck: I think it was after his victory at the Tour, in Arcalis. I went to congratulate him. Then we saw each other in Curaçao, where we both spent about 10 days of holidays.
J: (joking) And that was when Brice said: 'One day, I'd like to race with the Schlecks'. Right?
BF: Well, I've always thought that they're nice people, but now I've got to know them even better because we're part of the same team and I realise that they're really great guys. They're the ones who came up to me to talk. (Watching Frank) Frank, I'll pay you a beer later...
FS: Ok, thank you.
J: Do you have something in common?
BF: The weight. 67, 68 kgs.
FS: Oh no! I weight 64 kgs, you're a bit fatter than me and also a bit taller (ndr; they laugh).
(...) J: Brice, what does Frank represent for you?
BF: If someone asked me if I wanted to have the same career as Frank's, I would immediately sign a contract with that person. Frank's career isn't over yet, but I'd be happy to win as many races as he did in those last years. Frank is an example for many people. Frank, you realise this, don't you?
FS: No! But I'm proud to know that other riders take me as example. I'm proud of this. Brice was able of winning a Tour stage and now he says he'd like to have the same career, the same results as me. It makes me feel proud. And it makes me aware of the responsabilities I have in this team.
J: Frank, what do you think of Brice?
FS: He's a pure climber. When I had to think about this new team, I immediately thought about him. We know he'll help us in hard races and he's also got a very big potential. He's also in a very good team now, where he can develop his full potential (...).
(...)
J: Brice, when did you hear the names of the Schleck brothers for the first time?
BF: It must have been at a Liége-Bastogne-Liége. When they were amateurs, I used to take part in thriatlon competitions, so I didn't have a big bike culture...
FS: Attention to him, he's not bad at swimming. When we had a competition in Curaçao, he fucked me up. And I'm not that bad at swimming...
BF: It's true (he laughs). I love swimming, I think it is good for your body, especially during the winter. It was my first sport.
J: You can't remember when you first heard the names of the Schleck brothers.
BF: No, although I like cycling, I watch tv and read newspapers I can't remember exactly when I heard their names for the first time. Romain (ndr; Brice's brother, Vacansoleil's rider) and I couldn't avoid to pay attention to them, because they are brothers, just like us.
J: Do you remember Frank winning Amstel 2006?
BF: No, I know he's won it but I can't remember watching that race. I remember an open jersey. He once won an important race and he kept his jersey open. Was it at the Giro?
FS: No no, it was Alpe d'Huez, in 2006...
BF: It's funny, I remember about the open jersey...
FS: The open jersey, and you dare talking about that! When you won in Arcalis, your jersey was even more open than mine!
BF: Yes, that's true.
J: The sponsor complained about it...
BF: Yes, I was scolded. Well, on occasions like that, you're young and you don't always think about everything. It's true that, if I won an important race today, I would surely zip my jersey before of crossing the finish-line. But still, I didn't think about it that day. It is that kind of stupid things that young people do and that sponsors dislike.
J: Frank, when Brice won his Tour de France stage, Andy was fighting against Contador. Do you remember Brice's victory?
FS: After that stage, inside the bus, I watched the arrival of Brice. I's true that, however, we were more focused on Contador. Brice had got in a small breakaway and we didn't get worried about him. We focused on our race. On Contador, Evans and Armstrong. Brice got a brave victory.
(...)
Talking about racing for a non-French team, Feillu says: 'It widens your horizons. For example, I'm starting to understand English, although I don't speak it well. For me, it's a barrier to destroy.
FS: He doesn't always understand the orders from the radio. In Mallorca there were no radios, so everything was fine with him (laughs).
BF: Great thing, races without radios! Actually, cycling language isn't that complicated, but I have problems with more complicated discussions. It's a common problem for French riders. They ask me for advice, they have the same problem as me with the language. Racing for a non-French team allows you to discover a new universe, it isn't easy for everyone.
(...)

As you can see, I didn't translate the whole interview. I suggest you reading it in French because it's very nice. Moreover, I'm not sure about my translation: I did my best, but there may be some mistakes in it.
So, that's all for tonight, have a good weekend!

UPDATE*: 15 February 2011
A very kind reader, Bru, has told me that Nizzolo broke his right hand in a nasty crash at the beginning of the 2008 season. Moreover, in that crash the poor boy lost 3 front teeth and got a nasty wound on his face.
Moreover, Bru has told me that Trevigiani Dynamon Bottoli, Bottoli Nordelettrica Ramondi an Filmop Sorelle Ramonda Bottoli Parolin are all names for the same team.
Thank you very much for these information!!

Riccò's horrible news, latest races, radio bans and other random issues:

At 4.47 pm of the 8th of February 2010, aka today, miss Fede had just decided to write a new post on her blog. She was going to post a pic of Hippi and Hoppi (the new friends of Cougar Girl's Itsy and Bitsy, see pic at http://eisenandy.blogspot.com/ ), she was going to give her opinion about the latest protests against UCI's radio ban and, if she had had enough time, she would have liked to write the personal profile of Giacomo Nizzolo, Leopard Trek's rider.
At 4.49 pm, instead, miss Fede had already changed her mind, because she had just been shocked by the following 'Gazzetta dello Sport's article: http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/08-02-2011/ricco-nottata-tranquilla-8084685384.shtml . Protagonist of said article is Riccardo Riccò, the Vacansoleil's rider who was banned for doping in 2008. This year should have marked Riccò's return to the most important races of the world, since last year he couldn't take part in any Grand Tour and he didn't actually have the chance of taking part in any important ProTour race. But, as I was saying, this year Riccò was riding for a ProTour team and he already had the Giro d'Italia as his main goal.
I never liked Riccò, I'll be honest about it. I couldn't stand him in 2007, I couldn't stand him in 2008 (even before he resulted positive at the Tour) and I couldn't stand him last year, when he came back racing after helping cycling justice and getting a discount on his ban. Towards the end of last year, however, he started to cooperate with Aldo Sassi, 'a living biological passport', as Pastonesi called him in his necrology on Gazzetta dello Sport. I believed that that could make a difference in Riccò's life and I was ready to give him a bit of trust this year.

Trust is important in cycling because, if you lose trust in the riders, there's no point in following cycling races. So, although it wasn't easy, some weeks ago I had decided to give a bit of trust to Riccò.

Then, two days ago, Riccardo was rushed to hospital, officially because of a kidney ailment. There was an article about it on today's Gazzetta, which I found pretty strange. In it in fact there were the words of Riccardo's father, Rubino, who didn't seem to know a lot about the conditions of his son. He often said: 'I think...I believe... It seems...' . I don't know why, but I smelled a rat about that article. There was something wrong with it. And there was also something wrong in Riccò's problem. It didn't seem normal to me.

A few minutes ago, then, I went on Cyclingnews to read the latest news and there I could read that Italian police is ready to investigate Riccò for blood doping. 'What did I miss?', I asked myself. Somehow, the answer was already in my mind. I had thought about doping when I had read Gazzetta's article this morning, but then I sent that suspect away from my mind. 'Come on, the boy already has enough problems. Why do you always think of him as a doper?', I told myself.
And instead, according to Cyclingnews and Gazzetta, my suspect was completely right: in fact, Riccò apparently started to feel sick after practising blood doping. When he called the ambulance, in fact, Riccò told a doctor that he had done a blood transfusion and that he was worried about the poor conservation of the blood he had put back in his veins after having kept it in his home fridge for 25 days.
Personally, right now I'm waiting for someone to come and tell me that what I've just read on la Gazzetta's webite is a big joke. Come on, it can't be true. I had just started to trust Riccò, he had started to work his Aldo Sassi, 'a living biological passport'... And now, once again, I find myself disappointed by a doper. For the thousandth time in the last 5 years. It can't be true. Come on, it's impossible.
Right now, the evil part of me is in her 'I had told you that this would have happened!' mood. But still, this can't help me at all at the moment. Especially because, right now, I'm thinking about those who really trusted Riccò, who had always trusted him and who had always backed him, even while he was suspended.
And then, I'm thinking about Riccò's family. His fiancé, a cyclocross rider, was found positive at the anti-doping too last year, but the counter-analysis on her urine later resulted negative. If Riccardo has really practised doping again, her career is pretty much destroyed.

And then, we mustn't forget that Riccò has a 2 year-old child who will have to deal with such a heavy surname during his whole life. Riccò still had the chance to cancel his past, but he threw it away because of a stupid blood transfusion.
I'm disappointed, that's it. But perhaps, the best thing to do now is to shut up and think in silence about Riccò. Hopefully he'll be able to create himself a new life after this last news. Personally, I wish him to recover from his problem soon. And that's it.

RADIO PROTEST, SCHLECK'S NEWS:

On to another topic, let's now talk about radios and cycling. You all know that the results of the first stage of Mallorca Challenge were nullified because the riders protested against UCI's radio ban.

Personally, I completely agree with the athletes' protest. In fact, I think that radios are important for riders' security and I don't believe that races will become more exciting if radios are banned. I mean: according to UCI, nowadays riders are always controlled by their ds during races and therefore UCI guys think that modern cyclists lack of originality. Btw: If you take away the radios and the ds, don't you think that perhaps the riders' (supposed) lack of originality will become even worse? If someone isn't brave enough to attack if his ds doesn't tell him to attack, do you really think he'll attack as soon as he can if he finds himself without a radio? Personally, I think that that rider would become even more unsure and unoriginal, because he would probably be afraid of being scolded by his ds at the end of the stage. Or, at least, that's what I would do if I was an unoriginal rider forced to ride without radios.

On the other hand, I think that original riders can show their talent even if they race with radios. Therefore, I think there's no point in banning race radios (just my opinion, of course).

Talking about Mallorca Challenge, Frank Schleck apparently didn't take part in today's part of the race because he decided to take a day off. Andy instead didn't take part in the first race of the Challenge because he didn't feel fine. Things that happen, especially if you consider that half of Europe right now is suffering from flu or things like that.

Talking about the brothers, sweet daddy Frank has told Cyclismactu(http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-trofeo_cala_millor_les_schleck_debutent_leur_saison-12372.html ) that he has recently made a vow to his wife Martine and his daughter Leea. 'It regards cycling, of course. However, I can't tell you what it is about'. Isn't he incredibly sweet? :)

Still talking about the brothers: you all probably know that Jakob Fuglsang has just moved to the apartment under Andy's one. As predictable, I've already applied to work as a servant in that block of apartments. Anyone wants to join me?

TOUR OF QATAR:

Talking about Tour of Qatar, the prologue was won by Lars Boom. Cancellara was second and imo this shouldn't be considered a surprise. The TT percours in fact was just 2 kms long and this isn't the best race length for Fabian. 3rd was a surprising Tom Veelers, while Jack Bobridge was 'just' 13th. But still, I can imagine he had a good amount of parties after his world record in the individual pursuit, so I don't blame him for his result ;)

The second stage was won by Boonen. I'm very happy about this, because Boonen's previous victory dated back to March 2010. Boonen also got the leader jersey, since Boom had some stomach problems during the stage won by Tom and lost a lot of time from the other riders.

Today stage instead has been won by Barbie Barbie, aka Heinrich Haussler. I was happy for his victory too, since it arrived after a very difficult period for Heinrich. I'm ready to bet on you for Sanremo, boy! ;)

However, I think it's important to notice that Haussler got his victory in front of Leopard Trek's Bennati. Considering that also Bennati hasn't won anything over the last months, I think there are high chances for him to win one of the next stages. We'll all be looking forward to that, you can bet on it! It is nice to see Bennati up there, especially because he's likely to be one of Italy's captain at Copenhagen 2011 worlds.

Talking about today stage, third in the sprint was the Russian rider Denis Galimzyanov. Note down this name, because this is a very interesting rider!

RANDOM SLIPPERS DU JOUR:

Before of closing this post, here are Hippo and Hippi, friends of the above-mentioned Itsy and Bitsy (I admit it: I was wearing my pijama when I took this picture): Here instead you have Hippi, who looks sad (and sleepy) because he needs to be sewed to his white slipper once again:
So, this is all for today. Waiting for further news about Riccò, I close this post and wish you all a good evening. Bye bye from me, Hippo and Hippi!!
(Schleck's picture by Reuters)

Totally random Thursday post about a few different things:

Good day everyone, dear blogmates! Unfortunately miss Fede (or FeeDee, or Féd or however else you call her ;) has been very busy over the last days, so she didn't find the time to update her blog. Sorry for that, dear readers.
Between the things I had to do over the last days there was a lot of studying, especially for my philosophy test about Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard (again!). To my shock, when I first read it this morning, I didn't even understand what I had to do in the first exercise. If I couldn't understand that part, just imagine how well I could understand the extracts from 'Aut-Aut' and 'The world as will and representation' (I'm making up the English names of the books, I wouldn't swear they're correct!). Moreover, over the last days I've been preparing myself to the approaching end of my favourite tv series by watching many times the second episode of it. 'What is your favourite tv series?', I hear you ask. 'Whitechapel!', I reply proudly while thinking about the main character. 'What?', I imagine you asking. 'Whitechapel! Come on, you've never heard of Whitechapel? Think about it more carefully, I'm sure you've heard about it somewhere...Come on, Whitechapel! Whitechapel I say! What? You don't know what it is? No? Well, you're not the only one', I answer you. In fact, over the last 2 weeks I've found just one (one!) person in my class who watches that series and likes it. However, she doesn't find it as exciting as me and this morning she told me that my favourite character is very likely to end up in a mental hospital in the next (and last) episode of the series. And to say that this is the only police-series that has ever managed to thrill me in the last 18 years... What a sad possible end for it :(

However, let's talk cycling. First of all, congratulations to Jack Bobridge on the new world record in the individual pursuit. The former record had been made by Chris Boardman 15 years ago and to do it Boardman rode a very strange bike which was later prohibited by the UCI. Now, Bobridge has broken that record with a 'normal' bike. Chapeau to him then!

On to another news, the Ladies Tour of Qatar began yesterday with Rochelle Gilmore's victory. The Australian rider outsprinted world champion Giorgia Bronzini and Chloe Hosking.
This year I'm going to talk about women cycling more often than usual, because I think that becoming a professional cyclist and making a living out of it is much more difficult for a woman than for a man. Therefore, here there's a video with the highlights of stage 1: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-stage-1-highlights-of-the-ladies-tour-of-qatar . You can't see the finish very well in it, but it's always better than nothing. Bronzini complained about another rider creating her problems in the sprint, but the video doesn't allow me to tell whether she's right or not. By THE way, the funny thing is that, when Giorgia won the Worlds in Geelong, Gilmore was working for Australian tv and she was the first one to interview the Italian rider. Yesterday, instead, the interviewed one was her.

On to another news, Menchov has recently declared that he's not going to leave Geox for Saxo Bank (I've always said that Denis is a great person ;)
Talking about Geox, the team presentation should have been held 4 days ago, but it was postponed to the 12th of February. However, UCI has published the list of Geox riders on its website (or at least, that's what I understood from an Italian unclear article I've just read) and it has accompanied the list with a picture of how the new team's jersey should look like: http://tribunatreviso.gelocal.it/sport/2011/01/27/news/geox-il-giallo-della-maglia-svelata-3291209 . Someone has already said that it isn't the true official jersey and I hope that those people are right. Geox' kit is better than Footon-Servetto's one, but what about the 'breathing shoe' on the front of it? Dreadful, isn't it?

Talking about another team, Saxo Bank has put the pictures of the riders wearing their new kits on http://www.riis-cycling.com/person_profiles.asp . Watcing those pics, I must admit it, my eye always fell on the eagle. I did try to fight that instict, but I couldn't: that animal is a real eye catcher (better if I stop here, otherwise someone may take this blog as a naughty one!). Anyway, has anyone else noticed David Tanner? ;)

Penultimate thing to say for today, I've recently got the news of the opening of Leopard Trek official website. I must admit I was pretty confused when I typed its name in Google and saw a picture of Giacomo Leopardi appear on my computer screen as I was writing, but luckily it soon disappeared and left me free of wandering around http://www.leopardtrek.lu/ . I must say I pretty like this website, although I find its design too classy. Moeover, the black and white style doesn't appeal too much to me. But hey, it is a good website anyway.

BTw, am I the only one who has confused Brian Nygaard with Bjarne Riis as I entered the 'Riders' section of the website? :S

RANDOM LINK OF THE DAY:

http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry395538.html : as you can imagine, this is the link to Chris Sorensen's latest blog entry, in which he talks about his first approach to track riding by saying that he stayed at the bottom of the steep track, 'looking like Bambi walking on the thin ice'. What a poetic similry!