Some cycling news plus Royal Wedding Fever (yes, I've come down with it too)

Almost one week after my last post, here I am writing a few things about cycling and about (guess what?) the Royal Wedding. Oh yes. You thought you could break free from the 'event of the year' by ending up on this blog, didn't you? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I've come down with 'the Royal Wedding Fever' too. If you feel you can't stand another long comment of someone about the 'marriage of the century', go to the second part of my post: I won't be offended by your decision.
Actually, in the last months I did try to ignore the royal marriage as long as I could. After all, I don't know Kate and William, so I thought that I shouldn't have cared so much about their wedding. 'Just leave them a bit of privacy, poor things!', I thought every time I heard news about their marriage.
Just this morning I abandoned my indifferent attitude and I started feeling pretty excited about the wedding. So excited (and curious) that, as soon as I came home, I abandoned my dignity in the garden, entered the house and immediately asked: 'What was Kate wearing this morning?!?' to the first person I saw (who was my dad, aka the only creature in the house who hadn't watched the wedding). Ok, perhaps I've exaggerated this part. Actually, I must confess that the first thing I asked as soon as I entered the house was: 'How many seconds of advantage does Sorensen have on the peloton?'. Then, I asked about the wedding :P

In the last days I've tried to give a reason for all the big interest around weddings and , in particular, I've thought a bit about why women love marriages so much.
In my opinion, there are at least three elements that make most of us women go crazy about weddings. First of all, there's a 'historical' reason, if we can call it this way. In fact, girls start hearing stories like 'Snow White' and 'Cinerella' when they're 3/4 year old and they don't forget about them until they eventually come down with Alzheimer. These fairy tales enter our girly genes as soon as we start understanding things, just like they entered our mothers and our grandmothers' genes in the past. And how do these fairy tales always end? Well, simple: there's a commoner who marries a gorgeous prince and has an amazing wedding. An amazing wedding with 4 WHITE horses pulling a carriage, the prince wearing his best uniform, the bride wearing the most beautiful dress ever and the church bells ringing happily as soon as the married couple leaves the church. Now, compare this typical 'happy ending' of a fable to the story (and the marriage) of Kate Middleton: there isn't any difference,is there? (No, the fact that William is becoming bald can't be considered a difference). Imo, that's what we girls love so much about important weddings: every time, it's like watching a fairy tale that comes true.
Another important 'marriage love' factor, imo, is that there's a truly important wedding just once (or twice) every 30 year. Watching it (even if on your own little telly) makes you feel like you're part of the history of the world, it makes you able to say 'I was there!' when people in the future will talk about the wedding of William of England and his wife. After all, who doesn't love being part of the world history?
As we girls grow up, actually, another 'wedding love' factor makes its appearance on the stage: the love for dresses. And where can you see more dresses than at a wedding? And where can you see more dresses than at a royal wedding?
I think it's because of these three reasons that many people (especially women) couldn't help watching the wedding this morning (or catching up with it this afternoon). Apropos, thank you BBC News for the super long coverage!!!

Anyway, I realise I'm digressing. Talking about the Royal Wedding, I must say that I really liked it. Kate looked very nice and natural and with William she forms a very nice couple. Talking about the Prince, my mother's best comment about the ceremony was: 'Poor guy! And to say he had so much hair when he was a kid!' Btw fear not, William: you can ask Berlusconi what treatment he used to make his hair reappear on his head again. If it succeeded with him, it will surely succeed also with you.
Talking about fashion, I really liked the dresses worn by Kate (of course), by her sister, her mother and by Victoria Beckham. As far as the Queen is concerned, my sister said 'she looks like a banana'. I actually found her very sweet, in her yellow dress, looking like a normal granny who goes to her nephew's wedding. Actually, this morning the most discussed issue at school was: how does William address to her grandmother? I mean, does she call her 'Dear Grandmother'? Or does he refer to her as to 'Her Majesty'? Or do Harry and Will simply call her 'Betty the Granny'? (It's a fascinating topic of discussion, isn't it?)
Still talking about today's topics of discussion at school, one of the most 'successful' ones was the following: 'which prince am I going to marry?' Here you have some pictures of the Princes that haven't got married yet. Most of my friends went for Harry, but I'm afraid that they're not the only ones who had this idea today, while watching the marriage...
Talking about the nobles who took part in the ceremony, it was nice to see the faces of some people whose existence I had ignored until this morning. I was really curious to see the Grand Duke of Luxembourg (of course) and I was shocked when I saw the dresses of two of the members of the Royal Family (the Duchesses of York, perhaps?). However, I was very relieved that no one from Italian government attended the ceremony. Otherwise, we would have distinguished ourselves in a negative way even today. Moreover, I was very happy to see that no one from Casa Savoia went at the wedding either. I wouldn't have beared it if Emanuele Filiberto had started singing and dancing at the post-ceremony party. In fact, whereas Holland has a guy like Boogerd taking part in 'Dancing with the Stars', the Italian edition of the programme has had the Prince Emanuele Filiberto amongst its most famours performers. Thanks God Italy's no longer a monarchy.

CYCLING NEWS:
After expressing my few trivial thoughts about THE wedding, let's finally talk about cycling. Today was a joyful day for the whole AAVL, who could cheer for Vinokourov's victory in Neuchatel stage of Tour de Romandie. Vino followed Toni Martin (who had attacked with 2 kms to go) together with Cherel and he eventually won the eventual 3 men sprint. Cherel complained about Vino's way of sprinting, but imo the Kazakhistan rode in a correct way. The Frenchman tried to pass where there was no space, it's not Vino's fault if he made that mistake!
Still talking about Tour de Romandie, yesterday stage was won by Damiano Cunego and everyone was very happy about it (at least here in Italy). Moreover, CA Sorensen tried to escape from the peloton yesterday and he tried again this afternoon. Today he's even remained alone at the front o the race for some time, before being eventually caught with just 10 kms to go. Chris looks very good in these days and this makes me ask why he's not taking part in the Giro (and the same goes for Vinokourov and Cunego).
A rider who certainly won't take part in the Corsa Rosa is poor Daniele Bennati, who crashed two days ago in Romandie and broke his right collarbone and 4 ribs. I wish him a fast recovery and I hope he'll be able to race problems-free in the second part of the season.
Also Kiserlovski has had some physical problems lately. The Croatian rider in fact has just discovered that he has a cracked vertebrae, which is a consequence of his Paris-Nice crash (the one in which he ended up under a truck parked at the side of the road). Hopefully he'll be able to take part in the Giro, since I have high expectations on him.
Talking about another race that is going on right now, Tour of Turkey is a goldmine for sprinters. In fact, every stage of the race so far has been won by a sprinter. Today it was the turn of Andre Greipel, whereas Saxo Banker Jaroslaw Marycz, who attacked in the last km of race, couldn't get to the top 3. However, chapeau for trying.
So, these are some of the cycling news of the last days. As you can see, it isn't much. In the next days I'll probably post something about the Giro, so stay tuned!

King Philippe gets his 4th consecutive victory:

Amazing, wonderful, great, epic, destined to enter cycling history.
These are just some of the words/sentences that people could use to define Philippe Gilbert's victory in today Liége - Bastogne - Liége. The Belgian was the strongest rider of the field once again and on the podium he was sandwiched between the Schleck brothers. In fact, for the first time since 2009, this afternoon a Schleck (actually two) came back on the podium of a Classic. But still, the brothers seemed unable to do anything to beat Gilbert, who brought his little son Alan on the top spot of the podium once again. And so, after less than one year of life, Gilbert jr. can already say that he's been on the top spot of both AGR and LBL's podiums. I'm sure there would be lots of older people who'd pay very big sums in order to have those experiences too.

Today race was really exciting, at least if seen from the (impartial) point of view of a Schleck supporter. For the first time I could see Leopard Trek working as a team at the front of a Classic, although the pulling style of one of the riders made me ask some questions about the team preparation. That rider (who I didn't recognise) was pulling with about 30 kms to go and looked simply desperate: open mouth, grimacing face, up on his pedals... Unfortunately, in spite of his efforts, the breakaway guys weren't losing any second of advantage. Actually, their gap on the peloton was increasing. Ops...
Talking about the breakaway, it was formed by very good riders and that's why it lasted a lot. Said riders were Vorganov, De Gendt, Gallopin, Frank, Sivtsov, Garate, Ten Dam, Van Avermaet, Kadri, Cataldo, Pineau, Caruso and Gasparotto. After the Redoute, some of these guys were still at the front of the race, whereas Van Avermaet got dropped by the 3 strongest riders with just 6 kms to go, on the Cote de Saint Nicolas (which is located in the 'Little Italy' of Liége and is also called 'the cote of the Italians').
With about 20 kms to go, on the Roche aux Fauçons, the race seriously started getting exciting. In fact on that climb there was an attack by Andy Schleck, who could be followed just by his brother Frank and by Gilbert.
In the meanwhile, poor Vinokourov had a mechanical problem and also had a misunderstanding with Iglinskiy ('Give me your front wheel, Maxim!! Now! Be fast!' 'Ok Vino, give me a second and I'll give you my wheel' 'Oh no, it's taking you too much to take that damn wheel off your bike, give me your bike!' 'What? My bike? But the wheel has almost come off! And you had said you wanted just my front wheel!' 'Ok, I'v changed my mind, now just give me the BIKE!!!'). By the time Iglinskiy and Vino ended the mute, imaginary discussion that you've just read here, poor Alexandre had already lost all his victory chances. What a bad way to end his love-story with LBL... :(
While Vino was facing this little drama, los Schlecks were riding up the Roche aux Fauçons with Gilbert and Van Avermaet, whereas Gasparotto had already got dropped.
As you may know, Roche aux Fauçons is a climb formed by two parts. I expected an attack by one of the brothers in the second part of the climb and instead I got nothing. 'Well, perhaps they'll attack on the flat terrain between this climb and the next one', I thought. I expected an attack there, and I got nothing. Before the Cote de Saint Nicolas, I thought: 'Well, it looks like Frank is going to attack here!' and instead I got nothing. On the Cote de Saint Nicolas, I thought: 'Well, one of the brothers should really do something now, apart from turning his head backwards'. This time, I eventually got something. In fact the brothers (Andy in particular) tried to increase the pace, but then they and the supporters were surprised by an attack. A strong attack. Too bad that the rider who did it was Gilbert, and not one of my beloved brothers.
Frankie had to struggle to follow Phil, while Andy had some problems and Van Avermaet was dropped for good. Luckily Andy soon reached Frank and Phil again and he started pulling hard. In fact, behind the first three riders there was now a group of chasers formed by strong guys like Kreuziger, Sorensen (YAY!), Anton and Uran.
With 4 kms to go, I still thought that a victory was possible for the Schleck brothers. I thought Andy could have attacked, leaving Gilbert with the hard task of chasing him at the end of a 250 kms long race. 'If Phil reached Andy, then Frank could attack and try to win the race!', I thought optimistically. But apparently the brothers were too tired / too impressed by Gilbert's strength to try doing something. In the last km I still hoped that one of them would have done something, but eventually Frank tried to attack Gilbert just in the final 200 meters. And so Phil Gil could cross the finish-line in a calm way, after an easy sprint, with two Schlecks as side dishes.
4th was Roman Kreuziger (this made me ask what results Scarponi could have got if he had raced this afternoon), while 5th was Uran and 6th was a great Sorensen (YAY!). 7th was an exceptional Van Avermaet, while 8th was Nibali, 9th Leukemans and 10th Samu Sanchez.

The podium was the best looking one of the year so far, no doubts about that. Ok, Phil Gil isn't the most good-looking guy of the peloton (although he isn't bad-looking either), but Alan, Frank and Andy contributed to making the podium look great. I was hoping to get a glimpse of little Leea on the podium, but Frank and Martine decided to avoid that. Good choice, if I can say it.
Both Frank and Andy were really nice towards Gilbert. Frank bowed in front of him, while Andy shook hands with the Belgian right after the finish-line. This fact (and the brothers' declarations after the race) made me think about one thing. After last year Chaingate, in fact, some people complained about the fact that Andy hadn't got angry at Contador in the last Tour stages. At the time, some people said: 'It's Riis who made Andy behave in this way, he had no choice'. Well, I actually think that this afternoon we could finally understand that that behaviour wasn't imposed by Riis. Simply, Andy is a nice, classy guy who plays it fair. And the same goes for Frankie.

Talking about the teams, from my race report you might have understood that I wasn't completely satisfied with the eventual outcome of the race. In fact, I had the feeling that the brothers, especially after the Cote du Saint Nicolas, were racing for the second and for the third place, rather than for the victory. According to Andy, he did try to increase the pace on the penultimate climb, but I thought that then Frankie could have tried something too. Or perhaps, the brothers could have tried attacking already in the second part of the Roche aux Fauçons, so that they would have forced Gilbert to get a bit tired while chasing at least one of them.
However, I understand that talking from a couch is always simple and that there's a reason why I'm not a ds. Liége is a 250 kms long race and Gilbert's attack on Cote du Saint Nicolas was terrific, but I still have a bittersweet taste in my mouth. In some ways, I think the brothers could have raced better. At least, they could have been a bit more brave.
Talking about the rest of Leopard Trek, Jakob Fuglsang was simply amazing. Also Stefan Denifl worked very well, just like Monfort, Wegmann and Voigt.
Omega - Pharma Lotto, on the other hand, didn't look that great today, especially because for the first time Phil Gil found himself alone with 20 kms to go. However I'd like you to notice that a great Jelle Vanendert was 17th also today. The boy has talent, believe me.
A team who raced very well, although it didn't have good luck, was Astana. Gasparotto was simply amazing and I really liked his post - race comments ('I wanted to ride on the top of the Redoute first at least once in my life'). He joined the breakaway, was first on the Redoute and he even helped his teammates in the final kms. Simply great.
Kreuziger was really good too, while Vinokourov and Iglinskiy were both victims of the bad luck. I'm sorry for Vino, especially because this was his last Liége and he managed to come in 33rd anyway.
Another team who raced well this afternoon was BMC. I had scolded this team off in my last post, saying that they had been invisible in Fleche. Today instead they rode much better, since Frank joined a breakaway and Van Avermaet was a super 7th.

As far as the other teams are concerned, Rabobank sometimes pulled at the head of the race, but eventually the best rider was Martens, 13th (hey, Paul has been riding very fast lately!). Freire instead was 15th (Oscarito, are you sure you want to retire this year?!?).
Also Katiusha and Euskaltel pulled at the front of the race for some kms. The team from the Paìs Vasco got a good 10th with S. Sanchez and a good 14th with Igor Anton, whereas Katiusha had Kolobnev as its best rider (11th). A good result, although Joaquim Rodriguez was a bit disappointing.

Other riders instead managed to do well although they didn't have a good team. Sky was very good, since Uran got 5th and Gerrans 12th. Still, the team riders never pulled in the last kms.
Saxo Bank instead had the two Sorensens as its best riders. Nicki tried to break away, while Chris was a super 6th. This boy will entertain us in July, that's for sure.
Liquigas best rider was Nibali, 8th, who is in a very good shape ahead of Giro. Basso instead was disappointing, but he's not going to take part in the Corsa Rosa.
Leukemans (9th) was excellent once again, while Van Garderen (18th) was a good surprise.

So, this was 2011 Liége and this was 2011 Campaign of the Classics. Now the hills and the cobblestones of Belgium, France and Holland are ready to leave the stage to the Italian roads, that will soon be the theatre of the Giro d'Italia.
But still, we have to wait some weeks before of that ;) In the meanwhile, let's enjoy the last days of Easter holidays and let's talk LBL all together ;)
(Pic by Bettini)

Phil Gil takes also Fleche:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A super Gilbert wins Amstel Gold Race:

A week after my last post, here I am, ready to write a post about Gilbert's victory in Amstel Gold Race. To give you an idea of why I haven't written anything in the last days, I just tell you that, when Andy Schleck attacked during today race, I was repeating the definition of 'asinctote'. Of course, as soon as Baby Schleck launched his attack, I threw the Maths book off of the couch and I interrupted myself in the middle of the definition. Maths can't wait, a Schleck attacking in AGR can't.
Talking about the race, it was a very exciting one, although Leopard Trek didn't have a lot of luck in it. The line-up was much better than the one for the North Classics, since it was formed by experienced guys like los Schlecks, Cancellara, Voigt, Fuglsang, Wegmann, Monfort and Lund. Useless to say that, if they rode in different teams, guys like Voigt, Cancellara, Frank, Andy and Fuglsang would all be team captains in a race like Amstel. Unfortunately, none of them could get on the podium today, especially because key riders like F. Schleck and Cancellara were both hit by bad luck with about 23 kms to go, when they crashed right before of the Kruisberg. This fact unfortunately forced them to say 'adieu!' to their dreams of glory and postpone them to the next race.
But let's now review some key moments of the race thanks a brief resume of mine.

Things started to become interesting with about 100 kms to go, when De Gand, De Negri, Timmer and Ponzi created a good breakaway. 40 kms later, Ponzi and Timmer had been dropped, but their place had been taken by Jan Ghyselinck and Carlos Barredo.
Unfortunately for these 4 riders, their adventure at the front wasn't destined to last long and they were soon caught by the peloton guys.
With about 24 kms to go, Fabian Cancellara crashed in the middle of the peloton (yes, I'm as surprised as you by this fact). His crash unfortunately forced also Frank Schleck to stop and, when Frankie arrived at the bottom of the following climb (the Kruisberg), bad luck hit him again by making his bike chain pop (aaaaargh! Memories of the past, leave me aloneee!). By the time he stopped and changed his bike, his chances of winning the race had vanished.
In the meanwhile, an attack by Joaquim Rodriguez made the difference on the climb and created a big selection inside the peloton. Just 20 riders (more or less) could follow the Spaniard and, with 13 kms to go, it was Andy Schleck's turn to attack.
Andy's attack was very strong and it lasted a lot, although his maximum advantage consisted in just 10 seconds. Unfortunately for Leopard Trek and for its supporters, Gilbert (the main favourite of the race) pulled the group of chasers together with Van Den Broeck and a great Vanendert and Schleck was caught on the Cauberg, with just 500 meters to go (sigh!). Rodriguez accelerated as soon as he saw Andy, but Gilbert's kick was much more devastating than the one of the Katiusha rider.
The Belgian passed JR in a very easy way and he crossed the finish-line in triumph. Second in the race was Rodriguez, while third was Gerrans. Fourth instead was a very good Fuglsang.

After the finish-line, Phil Gil (can I call him this way?) gave us a great moment of tenderness by bringing his little child on the podium. Rodriguez played a bit with the baby, who started to cry when Joaquim and Gerrans joined Philippe on the top spot of the podium. In that moment, I could clearly read Gilbert's lips (he went: 'Noooo!'), whereas Rodriguez and the short Gerrans smiled. What a cute image! After mentioning this little moment of tenderness, it's now time to analyse the race.
First of all, big congratulations to Omega-Pharma Lotto. Gilbert was the strongest and he showed the world that, on this kind of climbs, he has no rivals. Moreover, he also booked himself as a main favourite for the Worlds 2012, which take place in Valkenburg.
Gilbert's great form was highlighted also by the fact that he helped Vanendert when he was chasing Schleck. Phil gave a single turn at the front, but it allowed his teammate to take a little break and it showed everyone that he was ready to win this Classic for the second year in a row.
Talking about Jelle Vanendert, I must say I was very impressed by his performance. He pulled for a lot of time and when one of the Italian chronists said that the Belgian was still pulling at the head of the race, Fangirl actually went bananas. 'For what stupid reason is he still there pulling?', she asked. Luckily Logic was ready to remind her that poor Jelle was just 'doing his job. And his job makes him pull at the front when someone has escaped the group in which his captain is. Apologise to him now, or I'll never talk to you again', Logic told Fangirl in a very annoyed way. Of course, Fangirl apologised for what happened and is still deeply sorry for what she said in that moment of anger.
Also Jurgen Van Den Broeck rode really well and he was a very important rider for Phil Gil.
Another team who rode very well this afternoon, imo, was Leopard Trek. Unfortunately this strong team has had a lot of bad luck today, since Cancellara and Frank Schleck both crashed at a key point of the race. Btw, was I the only one who thought that Frankie was going to throw his bike away when his chain popped?
Talking about the other Schleck, I must say that I really liked Andy's attack (well, who didn't? ;). He had no chance of winning against a guy like Gilbert and, rather than ending up 5th, our Glorious Leader fought to get a great victory with a great assolo. His action didn't end up with a victory, but I was very happy to see him attacking anyway.
On to another cyclist, a great Jakob Fuglsang was 4th in the race and this is a very positive sign for the future. In fact this boy was 4th in Lombardy 2010 and today he's got a 4th place in Amstel. Something suggests me that we may soon be able to witness his first important victory in a road race, how exciting!
Second in the race was Joaquim Rodriguez,Katiusha's rider. Unfortunately Cauberg is too easy for a guy like 'Purito', who needs climbs like the Mur de Huy to shine properly. Btw, he 'tried his leg' for Wednesday race this afternoon and I must say that the results were really good. Also Ivanov rode well, just like Kolobnev (5th).
Third was a great Simon Gerrans, 'the climbing sprinter', as I used to call him when people used to say that he was a sprinter. His podium placement finally signs a good result for team Sky (it was high time!), how nice.
Btw, where has Thomas Lovkvist disappeared? A race like Amstel could suit him, but he wasn't even selected in the team-line up. Why?
Talking about another team, Vacansoleil had a good result with Leukemans (7th), whereas Hoogerland was 12th (Andy Schleck was 11th, while Frank was 22th). Johnny tried to break away in the last part of the race, whereas Bjorn got another good placement.
Talking about J.H., I was shocked when I discovered that he's already 27. How can it be? :(

Talking about the disappointing teams du jour, Astana didn't particularly shine, although Iglinskiy tried a little attack and Gasparotto and Vinokourov could have done well in a race like this (Enrico was 2nd last year, Vino won it some years ago).
Also Lampre was disappointing, probably because its leader, Cunego, is suffering because of the doping rumours coming from Italy. Although he pretends the opposite, in fact, I've always had the feeling that Damiano isn't a Mster in handling pressure and so imo the news coming from Mantova may have played a role in his odiern poor performance.
Saxo Bank didn't get any striking result either, just like Garmin and HTC Columbia. Actually, Garmin's leader, Ryder Hesjedal, was stopped by stomach problems that forced him to get off his bike and ring a house on the parcours to beg the house owners to let him use their toilet for a few minutes. Then, he hopped back on his bike and finished the race 14 minutes after Gilbert. Amazing, isn't it?
Talking about Columbia, it showed us a very funny guy , the 24 year-old Jan Ghyselinck . After joining the original breakaway, this rider clearly made the usual 'I can't go on anymore!' gesture to the other breakaway guys. Of course, the other cyclists got pretty angry at him (especially De Negri did) and poor Jan had to take his turns at the front anyway. Poor thing!
However, we must say that Columbia has never shone in the Ardennes Classics and that this year team was formed by really young riders.
Another disappointing team was Euskaltel Euskadi (Samuel Sanchez didn't look in a very good form), whereas the only Liquigas rider that I could see during the race was the poor Dominique Nerz, who crashed with about 30 kms to go.
Farnese Vini didn't get any stunning result either, but at least one of the team riders was in a breakaway and poor Visconti has a good excuse for his disappointing result (he didn't feel well during the week).
However, the most disappointing team imo was Rabobank . At the beginning of the last climb in fact Freire, Martens, Gesink and Tankink were all part of the main group. In the end, the best team result was Freire's 6th placement. A bit disappointing, isn't it?
Perhaps one of the team guys could have tried to break away with Andy Schleck or they could have tried to anticipate Gilbert, instead they didn't do anything. And if you arrive at the foot of the Cauberg without a strategy, things can be very hard even if you have 3 teammates next to you.

So, this is all from me for this evening. Let's get ready to enjoy another great race on Wednesday!! Who will win on the mur de Huy? That is the question! Have a good evening all!
(Pic by Sirotti)

A surprise winner for an exciting Roubaix:

The season of the outsiders continues. After Goss and Nuyens' victories, the third Monument Classic of 2011 was won by another outsider, the lanky Johann Van Summeren.
Not that I complain, of course. Actually, I was very happy to see Van Summeren (can I call him 'Summie?') triumphing in Roubaix because it was like a breath of fresh air for this Fangirl. In fact, me likes unpredictable races - and unpredictable races often have unpredictable winners. And yesterday race was really unpredictable, since crashes, punctures and motorbikes did their best to create more suspence.
Having to predict the name of the race winner, yesterday morning I would have said 'Thor Hushovd'. At the end of the day, however, it wasn't Thor who entered the velodrome first, but it was Van Summeren. At least, I had guessed the winning team.
Talking about Garmin, their race was really good. Hushovd was simply flying, while Van Summeren entered a very important breakaway right after the Arenberg forest. Said breakaway was formed also by Bak, Hayman, Quinziato, Guesdon (winner of 1997 Roubaix), Cooke (who was feeling very well) and Roelandts. After the forest, these 10men bridged up to the leading group, which was formed by Boucher, Engoulvent, Tjalingii, Docker, Oliveira, Veilleux, Seubert and Elmiger. Van Summeren & Co. however weren't amongst the last guys to join the main group at the head of the race: their example in fact was soon followed also by Degenkolb, Rasch, Rast and Leezer. Arenberg forest was one of the key points of the race also because it saw Hincapie and Boonen puncturing before/while facing it. Quick Step was actually chased by bad luck, since a few kms later Chavanel and Boonen even crashed and eventually said 'Adieu!' to their victory chances. Also Pozzato crashed, just like Sagan, and had to abandon his dreams of glory.
With about 35 kms to go there was the decisive moment of the race. With one of his usual attacks, Cancellara got rid of the other peloton guys. The only ones who could follow him were Hushovd and Ballan. The fate of the race seemed almost decided but, when the magic trio had a disadvantage of just 25" from the leading group, Cancellara (who hadn't received a single turn at the front yet) suddenly stopped pulling. 'I'm not going to bring you into the main group if you don't pull too', Fabian probably said to his fellows in that moment. Both Ballan and Hushovd looked a bit confused and in the end they decided not to help Fabian. That was the decisive point of Roubaix, since after that moment Fabian stopped pulling and the advantage of the breakaway guys went back to the previous 1 minute gap.
Imo both Hushovd and Ballan did the right thing in not helping Cancellara in that moment. Fabian is a very dangerous adversary and he had no one in the leading group. Garmin and BMC, on the other hand, had Van Summeren and Quinziato at the front.
Talking about Quinziato, he suddenly disappeared from the first positions of the race. This happened because he hit a motorbike on le Carrefoure de l'Arbre (right after Van Summeren had attacked) and he lost all his victory chances there.
Motorbikes often disturbed the riders yesterday, not just because of the dust that they caused (a necessary thing, unfortunately for the athletes), but mainly because of the obstacles that they created to the guys. Cancellara even had to stop one of his attacks because of a motorbike, that was a true scandal!!

Talking about the eventual results, I must underline once again the great race that Garmin managed to do. As well as putting a key rider like Van Summeren in the leading group, Vaughters' team also exploited the huge talent of Sep Vanmarcke, who worked hard for Hushovd and arrived 20th anyway. As you could read on my Twitter page, yesterday I was supporting Sep, since he's now become one of my favourites 'Cobble riders' (together with Breschel, Iglinskiy and Leukemans).
Still talking about Garmin guys, Hushovd paid a lot of attention to Cancellara and it was great to see someone being able to resist Fabian's attacks on the cobblestones. Poor Haussler instead abandoned the race after a crash. Talking about Van Summeren, he was simply amazing. He even punctured with 5 kms to go, but he kept on riding because he couldn't change his bike wheel. He held on and he won. Amazing.
People often say that Roubaix is the 'Hell of the North', but Johann actually found his own Paradise in this terrible race characterised by dust, cobblestones and risks. In fact, not only did he enter history by soloing to the finish-line of Roubaix alone: he also proposed to his girlfriend at the end of the race! Things couldn't have gone better for this lanky Belgian, right? ;)
Talking about other riders (and other teams), Fabian Cancellara was a great second. When he attacked with a few kms to go I thought he was going to catch Van Summeren! Unfortunately, Fabian didn't have a very strong/experienced team yesterday and that was a pity. If he had had a teammate at the front, things might have gone in a different way. Fab ad Mortensen in fact were the only Leopard Trek riders who finished yesterday race, while Nizzolo, O'Grady, Posthuma, Stamsnijder, Klemme and Weylandt all got retired.
Third in the race was a surprising Tjallingii, the only vegetarian rider of the peloton. Rabobank also had Boom and Langeveld who were in a great condition and this makes me wonder how things would have gone if poor Matti Breschel had been able to race.
4th in the race was Rast, who got one of the best seasonal results for Team Radioshack.
5th instead was Bak, a Columbia Danish rider. Columbia rode well, since Eisel was a good 7th and the young Degenkolb attacked after the Arenberg forest and eventually came in 20th. The boy has all the physical qualities that the North Classics demand and moreover he seems to have a great mentality. Therefore, I'm sure that in a few years time he'll surely take home at least one of the North races.
Talking about Bak, was I the only one who laughed when he made that gesture to tell the others that they all needed to take regular turns at the head of the breakaway?
The 6th rider to cross the finish-line yesterday was Ballan, whose team was very unlucky. In fact, as I already mentioned, BMC lost Hincapie because of a flat tyre and Quinziato (who had excellent victory chances) because of a stupid motorbike.
The best Sky rider instead was Flecha (9th), while Hayman was 10th. Poor Thomas crashed together with Boonen and other guys (I almost had a heart attack when I saw him crashing).
11th was the eternal Frederic Guesdon, whereas 13th was a surprising Mirko Selvaggi. Vacansoleil team leader, Leukemans, crashed a few times during the race and he eventually got retired (just like De Gendt, Mol and Bozic). Stijn Devolder instead was 105th, but at least managed to cross the finish-line.
Also Hoste and Pozzato got retired and Pippo said that he had lost all his victory chances when Katiusha's car punctured. Actually, I must say that I've seen him at the front on a very few occasions in this year North classics.
Quick Step was cursed by bad luck as well, although Sylvain Chavanel managed to cross the line in 38th, together with his brother Sebastien. Also Liquigas didn't have a lot of luck, since Sagan crashed when he was in a very good position.
As far as Saxo Bank is concerned, Cooke had high ambition for the race, but he was stopped by bad luck too.
Talking about Riis' team, I'd like to point out Marycz's performance: the Polish rider went on a breakaway in the very first kms of race and then he managed to cross the finish-line in 93rd. Chapeau!

So, these are my opinions about the 2011 edition of the Queen of the Classics. There was dust, there was blood, there was sweat and there was excitement. And in the end, there was also a wonderful (although surprising) winner. Well done Johann - and best wishes for your marriage!

PS: If you haven't done it yet, check out Marleen's post on Bananas About Bikes (the one about the Bourg Saint Maurice stage of 2009 TdF). And remember that, if you have tales from old/recent cycling races, you can send them to bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com and see them published on our wonderful blog!

Tour of Flanders (finally!), Vuelta al Paìs Vasco and more:

Three days after Tour of Flanders, miss Fede has finally found the time to write a post about that race. It was high time, wasn't it?
Actually, the last few days have been pretty tough for me, since one of my relatives had a health problem on Friday evening and since then everything has gone bersek here at my house. Said relative is now feeling fine, but he/she won't be able to come back home from hospital before Easter. The above mentioned health problem, as said, made my whole life go bananas in the last days. I've had problems with studying, I've argued with my best friend (and deskmate) several, several, several times (the last one this morning), I haven't had a decent meal in days and, when I went to book a book (is there any other way to say that in English?) at the local bibliotheque, they told me that said book is available just in 3 Italian cities: Florence, Rome and Genova. Moreover, Berlusconi had his trial put off and Inter lost 3-0 from Milan on Saturday evening. What a shitty period.
Luckily there is cycling that cheers me up a bit in these days. Or, at least, it cheered me up a little as long as I didn't know that Vinokourov won the only stage of Paìs Vasco that I deliberately chose not to watch. Oh, anger.
Vino soloed to victory in front of Freire and, judging by the race report, his victory must have been really good. Too bad that I didn't see it. However, girls of the AAVL, are you ready to raise a virtual toast to our secret favourite rider? Yes? All together: *YAY*! And btw, is there anyone who can invent a victory motto in Kazakhistani out there? It would be great to have an official Khazakistani motto for our anonymous association of Vino's Lovers! Still talking about Paìs Vasco, yesterday stage was won by Kiryienka. He's a tough guy who survived Chernobyl disaster and I'm always happy when he wins. Moreover, I was there when he won the Monte Pora stage of Giro 2008, so I've kept a 'special eye' on him since that rainy dayof May.
Third in yesterday stage was Andy Schleck, while 4th was Chris Anker Sorensen (*YAY*!). Richie Porte instead had a bad day and now he's focusing on winning the TT of Vuelta al Paìs Vasco. Anyway, am I the only one who's shocked by Horner's strength? The guy gets better as he gets older!
Back to the very beginning of this race, the first stage of VPB was won by Joaquim Rodriguez. On that day Leopard Trek worked hardly at the front, but then the Schleck brothers disappearead as soon as the final climb became steep. An useless team effort? A demonstration of weakness? No, not imo, at leasy. Personally, I think that the guys on the team must learn how to ride when they face stage races. And they can't do that at the Tour de France, so why not practising in Vuelta al Paìs Vasco?

Still talking about Leopard, a good news for the team: Daniele Bennati won yesterday stage at Circuit de la Sarthe. After 5 second places, the first victory finally arrived!
Today unfortunately Bello Benna was outsprinted by the young Michel Kreder in the second stage of the race (third was Ravard), but he soon got his revenge by winning this afternoon TT in front of Millar and Zabriskie (how impressive!!).
Circuit de Sarthe also marks the return in the peloton of Davide Viganò (Davide, not Danilo! - and not even Daniele, to say it all :P). Allez Davide!

Scheldeprijs instead was won by Mark Cavendish in front of Galimzyanov and Hutarovich. However, the race saw a terrific crash in its last meters, which saw Farrar and Weylandt as unlucky protagonists. Luckily it seems that none of the riders got broken bones from that scary experience.
Amongst the crashers du jour there were also Tom Boonen, who crashed twice, and De Wilde, who was suffered head/vertebrae injuries.

After talking about these 'minor' races, let's now talk about Her Majesty De Ronde. Nick Nuyens won it and, I must admit it, I was very happy about that.
I understood I had made a mistake by not including Nick in my list of favourites as soon as I saw Saxo Bank pulling hard at the front of the peloton. Bjarne Riis usually doesn't employ his riders when he hasn't got a plan and on Sunday he did have a plan. He wanted to celebrate his 47th birthday (he's just 47?!?) properly, so he asked Nick to bring home a good victory. And Nick did it, in a very good way. He was cunning and smart and, unlike others, he didn't exaggerate. He was cold-minded until the end of the race and that paid off in the end. A great victory for Saxo and a great satisfaction for Bjarne. Btw, am I the only one who found Bjarne's screams in the team car a bit... feminine?
Back to seriousness, second in the race was Chavanel, while Boonen was 4th. This caused a big fight on Italian tv since, one one hand, 2 chronists said that Chavanel had made the wrong move (according to them, he should have done everything to stop the final breakaway and he should have led Boonen in the sprint); on the other hand, the other 2 chronists said that Chavanel had been amazing. I agree with these last two guys, since imo Sylvain was simply great on Sunday. He went on a breakaway with 88 kms to go and I'm sure that, if he hadn't been closed towards the barriers, right now we would be talking about a different Flanders' winner.
Back to the podium, third was Fabian Cancellara, the great disappointed of the day. Fabian attacked on Molenberg (as predictable) with 40 kms to go and the only one who could stay with him was Chavanel. Before Grammont however he lost all his advantage (one minute) because of cramps. This edition of Flanders has been very exciting also because of this kind of things: the favourites all had problems/exaggerated too much and so there was a surprise podium.
Amongst the unpredictable things that happened on Sunday there was the 9th placement of Gilbert. The Belgian looked great, he attacked several times but imo he exaggerated a bit (he made the first attack with about 90 kms to go!).
Also Ballan exaggerated a bit in the finale, since he closed everyone who tried to break free from the little group of the best riders. However, I soon found out that Alessandro was working for Hincapie at that point of the race, so this explains the behaviour of the Italian rider.
As far as the surprises du jour are concerned, I was very impressed by S. Scheirlincx (can anyone pronounciate his surname?) and Geraint Thomas' performances. I knew that Geraint was strong, but I didn't expect him to be that strong! Chapeau to him then!
Looking at the final results, I was surprised also by Hondo (16th) and Rojas (18th).
On to the disappointments, Pozzato was just 38th, while Garmin-Cervélo soon disappeared from the race. Team Leopard (with the exception of Cancellara) didn't look that strong and the second captain of the team, O'Grady, was just 69th.
In the last 50 kms of the race, the only Leopard Trek riders at the front were Cancellara and Posthuma (who followed a tv motorbike and found himself in a field together with many other riders).
On to the 'young guns', Jaroslaw Marycz was 85th, while Oss was 122nd. The Italian was terribly disappointed after the finish-line and he seemed very likely to break into tears. Luckily the journalist who was interviewing him understood his feelings and let him go after exchanging a few words. Oss really needed a hugh in that moment!
The last words of mine about the race are for the riders who got retired. Amongst them there was also poor Kroon, who broke his collarbone. In the 'retired riders' list there were also Weylandt, Nizzolo, Vanmarcke (*Noooooo!*), Malacarne, Blyth, Smukulis, Arvesen, Sagan, Rosseler, M. Iglinskiy (he crashed in the finale), Bole, Spilak and Kluge.
Hopefully they'll all be able to hop on their bikes for Roubaix on Sunday. Unfortunately it seems that Boasson Hagen won't be able to take part in the race, while Hincapie crashed twice during Scheldeprijs and is feeling very sore.

(Pic 1 by Cyclinginside, pic 2 by Bettini)

Worrying news about Frank Schleck, a look back on the last few races and the start list of Tour of Flanders:

Welcome back on my blog, dear readers! Here's the usual random post, my last one before the Ronde van Vlaanderen (*chorus of 'yays' coming from every direction*).

Before talking about Ronde, however, let me tell you about the news that appears on 'Gazzetta Cycling''s homepage right now. The title is very simple: 'Schleck, this is a trick!' and it is right above a big pic of Frankie riding the TT stage of Criterium International. In fact, it seems that on that stage Frank hid something in his jersey in order to be more aerodynamic.

Unfortunately, as you can see in the pic below, that aerodynamical something was clearly visible during the stage (take a look at the unnatural shape of Frank's chest): Well, what to say about this news? Shall we hope that it's a 1st of April joke? Unfortunately for us, I don't think this is a possible explanation. In fact, this awful news was reported not just by La Gazzetta's (online and paper) edition, but also by Marca and by a Luxembourgish online newspaper. They wouldn't have talked about this news if it was a big joke by Gazzetta, right?
Talking about Gazzetta, the journalist who wrote the article says that Frank's 'secret' device could have made him gain about 2" pro km during Sunday TT. No wonder he rode faster than Vinokourov on that day...
Frank hasn't commented on this news yet, but imo he'll be surely given a fine - or something worse- by the UCI, whose rules clearly don't allow to hide aerodinamycal device under a rider's jersey .
I don't think that Frank will be able to find a decent excuse for the unnatural shape that his chest had on Sunday but well, hope dies last. In fact, right now I'm still backing my 'First of April Joke' theory.
However, if I could talk with Frankie right now, my only comment would be: couldn't you use a comfortable, invisible bike engine rather than a thing like that? It would have spared you a big damage to your image, believe me.

Anyway. I had already prepared today post on yesterday evening and I'm not going to change my programmes just because of this news. Over the last years in fact I've realised that, more than being a Schleck supporter, I'm a cycling lover. And this has saved me a lot of times in the past. So, let's talk bikes.

First of all, however, I remind you taking a look at our new post on 'Bananas About Bikes'! It is a very nice one, with lots of pictures of cool riders who ride/used to ride with the Schleck brothers. And of course there is also a pic of Andy (without things hidden in his jersey), how cool! (*allows you a break to go checking the new post*)

So, did you go checking the new post? Really? I'll know it if you haven't done it, so be careful with your answer to this question. And if you're thinking about visiting the blog later, no way, dear: by the time you arrive at the end of this awful post, you'll have surely forgotten about it. So go checking the new post now! It's worth reading, really! Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere else while we wait for your return. Listen, I give a two minutes break, ok? It's enough to go there, read the post, watch the pics, leave a comment and come back. Nice programme, isn't it?
...2 minutes later...
So, did you read the new post? Did you like it? Yes, really? I had tod you about that!
Ok, now we can continue.

GAND-WEVELGEM: So, let's talk a bit about Gand-Wevelgem. Imo the race was pretty exciting, although I couldn't enjoy it completely because I was studying for an exam. However, I was very happy for Boonen's victory: Quick Step needed UCI points and Tom's victory was the best way to get them.
Second (for the thousandth time this year) was Daniele Bennati. A bit more of good luck and Daniele could have already won some great races! However, I think it's good to see him getting good placements so often. It means that Daniele's got very good legs and this is good for the whole Leopard Trek team and also for the Italian team. After all, Copenhagen's Worlds are approaching... Btw, have you read about the Giro starting from Denmark in 2012? That's a nice news, isn't it? I just hope the Danish roads are wider than the Dutch ones!
Back to G-W, the third rider to cross the finish-line was Tyler Farrar, who showed his good condition once again.
Still talking about G-W, I must say that I was a bit disappointed by the way the final breakaway (starring Sagan, Bodnar, Stannard and Chavanel) ended up. It was a very good one, but then Chavanel and Stannard stopped pulling and the breakawayers lost all their victory hopes. Well, you can't always have an Arashiro in your breakaway...
Another thing to notice about this year GW was the reaction that Cavendish had after his second crash. The guy is short, but he knows how to look angry!
Talking about being angry, I was both shocked and furious after Offredo and Duque's post finish-line crash. How can a professional photographer cause such a dangerous crash? And the thing is that he didn't even look sorry - he actually disappeared right after the incident. And because of that, Offredo will now have to skip Flanders. Oh, anger!

INTERVALLO: Here I had written a very nice post section about Frank's victory at CI (including the *Eisen Andy* song turned into *Eisen Frankie*), but I've deleted it immediately after getting the infamous news above. And to think that I had spent about 25 minutes writing it yesterday evening, how stupid of me...

TROFEO BINDA: Rather than talking about such a topic, here I go with a littleparagraph about Trofeo Binda, a women race that was held in Cittiglio on Sunday. 'Oh no, women cycling!', I can hear some of you think, 'I don't care at about it!' Well, if you had that thought, let me explain you why I'm dedicating some space on this blog to women cycling.
First of all, it's because I'm a girl and I'm tired of seeing the female cyclists being treated as strange creatures with nice legs but who can't cycle. In fact, girls' races are just like the ones of the boy, with a little difference: girls have much more difficulties than man.
Firstly, a female cyclist has to fight prejudices against female cycling ('they're just a bunch of cute girls pretending to ride a bike'). Secondly, she must be very brave to take up a career like that. Just think about the fact that, at the end of a cycling career, for a girl it's much harder to become a ds than for a male rider. Moreover, the salary isn't exactly as high as the one of Cavendish or Schleck or Gilbert. In addition, male riders can become parents without interrupting their careers, whereas female riders can't. Last but not least, women have a certain problem every month; men don't.
Then of course there are also agonistic reasons behind my interest for women cycling. In case you didn't know, at last year Giro the girls had to climb Passo Stelvio (yes, the one that also the boys usually climb during the Corsa Rosa). Stunning, isn't it?
Anyway, hoping that I convinced you about the fact that women races are worth watching too, let's go back to Trofeo Binda. Bad weather, long race and an amazing Emma Pooley: this was the race.
The 28 year-old rider from London attacked with 80 kms to go and won with a minute and a half of advantage on Emma Johansson and Annemiek Van Vleuten. 4th was Martine Bras, 5th Shelley Olds, 6th Chantal Blaak,7th Judith Arndt and 8th Grace Verbeke. The peloton sprint was won by Pauline Prevot,whereas the first Italian rider was Elena Berlato, 12th.
Talking about Emma Pooley, she's the perfect example for explaining you what I meant when I talked about the sacrifices of female cyclists. In fact, being a woman cyclist provides you a job for 10, 15 years, but what can the girls do after their retirement from the sport world? Well, Pooley has found the answer: she has a degree in Engineering, which she got at Trinity College in Cambridge (wow!), and right now she lives in Zurich, where she's studying in order to get a PdH in Geotechnical Engineering. Amazing, isn't it?
3 DAYS OF LA PANNE: After this pink stroke, let's talk about another race: Three Days of La Panne. Read the following Top 3 very carefully:
1. Denis Galimzyanov, 2. John Degenkolb, 3. Peter Sagan. It is the top 3 of the second stage of 3 Days of La Panne and it is also a short list of the greatest Cycledom talents. Denis Galimzyanov is 24 year-old, has had a tough childhood (he has 5 brothers and they were all grown up by their mother) and, according to Cipollini, 'he still has to discover what his limits are. Moreover, he can still improve'.
John Degenkolb instead is 22 and this year he's already won a stage at Volta ao Algarve and the first stage of Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Last year instead he was 2nd at the U23 World Championships, behind a certain Michael Matthews.
As far as Sagan is concerned, I think we all know about this boy. As I said, look out for these guys. And since you're here, add to the list Andrew Talansky: he's 22 and he's a very good time trialist.
Back to 3 Days of La Panne, a rider who's done well in it is Lieuwe Westra, 28. He's not that young, but I hadn't heard anything about him in the last few years. However, it is always nice to discover some talents here and there ;) Unfortunately Westra lost the chance of winning the overall GC of the race during the last TT, which was won by an amazing Sebastien Rosseler.
The penultimate stage of the race instead was won by Jacopo Guarnieri, yay!
However, what can we understand from Westra's defeat in the TT, which cost him the overall prestigious victory in 3 Days of La Panne? Simple: he should have hidden something in his jersey(ok, sorry for that, but that's how I react to certain news)!

TOUR OF FLANDERS START LIST: Talking about some of the last races, now it's time to look ahead, to the Tour of Flanders that we'll be able to enjoy on Sunday. Since this is my last post before Sunday, here I go with the provisional start list of the race, my personal opinion about the teams and some latest news regarding injuries and things like that. Enjoy!
LEOPARD TREK: Cancellara, Klemme, O'Grady, Posthuma, Stamsnijder, Viganò, Nizzolo, Weylandt. Banana boy facing the cobblestones, yay! And Viganò, the latest crush of miss Mar! And look, there is also Nizzolo! What a fangirl-friendly team! Unfortunately, Robert (and not Richard) Wagner won't ride on Sunday because he broke his shinbone during GP Harelbeke. Poor Robert was knocked off his bike by a commitee car (!!) after he gave his rear wheel to Cancellara (the Swiss rider had just punctured). Wagner won't be operated, but he won't be able to race for 4/6 weeks now.
Torsten Schmidt called Nizzolo to replace the German unlucky rider and I totally believe Giacomo when he says he's very happy to ride Flanders. "I was in Milan when Luca Guercilena called me", Giacomo told Cyclingnews. 'At first, I thought he was joking. I couldn’t believe it. This is my first year as a pro and this might be the highlight of my maiden season. Still, it’s unfortunate that I get this chance at the cost of my teammate, Robert Wagner. I feel sorry for him, because he has been working for months toward this goal'. Good luck to Giacomo then!
Another rider who's not taking part in Flanders is Daniele Bennati, who's afraid that the cobblestones may damage his Achilles heels, which has been giving him huge problems in the last few years. A pity, since Daniele is in a very good condition. However, health always comes first!
Looking at the riders who are racing, Cancellara is my favourite number one for the race, although the whole group will be following him across Flanders on Sunday. Btw I'm sure that we can expect a Top 3 placement from him or from O'Grady, whose condition is really good right now. Stamsnijder, Posthuma, Klemme and Weylandt are very solid cobble-riders too, so I'm expecting a good race from the guys. Allez boys!
GARMIN-CERVELO: Hushovd, Farrar, Hammond, Haussler, Klier, Millar, Van Summeren, Maaskant. A very good team for Garmin, no doubts about that. Hushovd and Van Summeren have recently got good results at Paris-Roubaix (the Norwegian rider was 2nd last year, Johan was 5th in 2009) and this year Thor looks better than ever. Farrar was 5th in Flanders last year, while Hammond was 4th in Roubaix. Maaskant instead was 4th in Flanders in 2009 (hopefully he's fully recovered from his terrible crash at Paris-Nice: he broke 7 ribs that day!). Also Klier and Millar are very good riders, while Haussler was 2nd in the 2009 edition of De Ronde. I think the captain will be Thor, but I'm sure the team will have some etra cards to play in the finale.
BMC: Van Avermaet, Ballan, Burghardt, Hincapie, Kroon, Phinney, Quinziato, Schaer. Talking about strong teams... Ballan is one of my favourites for Sunday race, he's determined and he's in a good condition. His team is full of talented guys who know how to ride on the cobbles. Burghardt won Gand-Wevelgem a few years ago, Hincapie has been fighting for a victory in the North campaign for years, Kroon is experienced, Van Avermaet is fast and resistant and Quinziato, as well as having a great musical taste, knows how to rock the cobbles. Schaer is young (24), but he's got talent, just like Phinney. The boy amazed everyone in his years as young rider, now it's time to see what he can do in the professional peloton. I wish him a lot of luck!
KATUSHA: Hoste, Pozzato, Gusev, Isaichev, Ivanov, Kuschinsky, Paolini, Vandenbergh.

Hoste and Pozzato will be the captains, with Kuschinski ready to help them and Ivanov and Gusev who showed their faces during Gand-Wevegelm. Poor Hoste had a bad crash the other day: he actually wasn't mr. Peloton, now he's also got a bad cut over his eye and he's lost a tooth. Poor boy! On to Pozzato, he is the eternal promise of Italian cycling. Will he win his first Classic since 2006 on Sunday? We're all waiting for the answer.
COFIDIS: Keukeleire, Sijmens, Ista, Duque, Labbe, Petit, Saramotins, Valentin. The young Keukeleire (23) is one of the most talented Belgian riders and this year he'll have his debut in the North campaign. Together with him there will be the experienced Nico Sijmens.
SAXO BANK SUNGARD: Nuyens, Cooke, Klostergaard, Larsson, Marycz, Morkov, Tanner, Tosatto. A good mix of experienced and young guys for Uncle Bjarne's team. Nuyens is in a great condition, while Cooke and Tosatto are tough guys who know how to ride on cobblestones. Larsson has looked good in the last few races, while I'm curious to see what the young guns will do. Klostergaard isn't actually that young anymore and is a solid rider. Morkov had good results in the U23 Tour of Flanders some years ago and I think he'll help Nuyens in a great way. Marycz is a very brave rider, who's not afraid of attacking and I think he may have a very good race on Sunday. Tanner is a neo-pro, I wish him (and the other 'Flanders-virgins') a lot of good luck!
LAMPRE: Petacchi, Bole, Buts, Hondo, Kondrut, Krivtsov, Spilak, Szeghalmi. Look out for Simon Spilak, ladies and gentlemen: the boy was 8th in 2008 and is in a great form now. Petacchi has had some health problems recently, so he probably won't be at his best.
FDJ: Bonnaire, Bonnet, Chainel, Delage, Geslin, Guesdon, Rollin. Offredo should have been the team captain, but he's had a heel injury after his collision with a photographer on last Sunday. Poor Yoann! However, the team has good some good cards like Chainel (great form) and Guesdon (39 year old, he won Paris-Roubaix in 1997).
QUICK STEP: Boonen, Steegmans, Devenyns, De Weert, Van Impe, Maes, Chavanel. Terpstra broke his collarbone during 3 Days of La Panne, so the very unlucky boy (he who broke both arms in Beijing 2008) will have to take a period of forced rest. Heal soon, Nicki! Unfortunately, Boonen loses a very good helper, although I'm sure that Steegmans and the others will help him in a great way on Sunday. Look out also for Chavanel, he likes attacking!
VACANSOLEIL: Devolder, De Gendt, Leukemans, Veuchelen, Marcato, Mouris, Selvaggi, Westra. Devolder won 2 Tour of Flanders in 3 years and he's as determined as usual. Moreover, this year he has a new team formed by very strong guys. Marcato is in a very good form, just like Westra. De Gendt surprised me a lot in Paris-Nice, while Leukemans is one of my favourite riders as far as cobblestones are concerned. Add Westra and you have one of the best line-ups of the race.
SKY: Flecha, Boasson Hagen, Arvesen, Barry, Hayman, Hunt, Stannard, Thomas. Boasson Hagen has hopefully recovered from his health problems. Flecha is an expert of North races, although imo he's more keen on Roubaix than on Flanders. Arvesen is a very experienced and fast rider too (how would the Norwegian chronists react if he won?), while Thomas is young, brave and strong. Allez Geraint!
MOVISTAR: Amador, Erviti, Herrada, Konovalovas, Lastras, Madrazo, Rojas, Ventoso. Allez Konovalovas, one of the best time trialists of Cycledom!
SKIL SHIMANO: De Backer, Curvers, De Kort, Docker, Kluge, Reimer, Van Zandbeek, Veelers. 'Where's Kenny?', everyone's asking right now. Unfortunately, Kenny isn't in the start list of the race. Poor thing. However, Skil has some very good riders like De Kort, the former track rider Roger Kluge (who's very fast), Tom Veelers (who knows how to ride on cobblestones) and De Backer.
LIQUIGAS: Bodnar, Dall'Antonia, Guarnieri, King, Koren, Marangoni, Oss, Sagan. 'Young is cool' could probably be the new motto of Liquigas. Bodnar, a strong (and quite good-looking) Polish helper, is 26. Dall'Antonia and Edward Carrington 'Ted' King are 28 and carry the shame of being the oldest ones in the line-up. Marangoni is 26, Koren is 25, Guarnieri and Oss are 24 and Sagan, the team puppy, is almost 21. Amazing. And very competitive, since Sagan and Oss (the latter compared Flanders to 'Smell like Teen Spirits' by Nirvana) can fight for a top 5 placement, while Koren and Guarnieri are very promising too. Moreover, Oss said to look out for Bodnar and Dall'Antonia, very strong riders too.
EUSKALTEL: Aramendia, Castroviejo, Cazaux, Fernandez K, Izagirre, Perez Lezaun, Minguez, Sesma. Lo siento mucho, pero no hay 'cobblestones riders' en el Paìs Vasco. EUROPCAR: Chavanel, Claude, Gaudin, Gene, Haddou, Jerome, Pichot, Turgot. Decent team, but I don't think they have good chances of ending up in the top 20. Where's Voeckler?
OMEGA: Gilbert, Kaisen, Roelandts, Van de Walle, Hansen, Lang, Reynes, Sieberg. Yay, Sieberg is racing! Ok, sorry for that. Gilbert wants to win Flanders and he's in a good form. He also has a very strong team, in which there are some experienced guys like Kaisen and Van de Walle.
RADIOSHACK: Rosseler, Cardoso, Hunter, Kwiatowski, Lequatre, McEwen, Murayev, Rast. Good riders, but not exactly cobblestones specialists.
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Amorison, Barbe, De Waele, Dockx, Helminen, Scheirlincx, Traskel, Verheyen. Good team, with De Waele, Traksel and Scheirlincx as best ones of the line-up. Look out also for Amorison!
RABOBANK: Boom, Flens, Langeveld, Leezer, Matthews, Tjallingii, Van Emden, Wynants. In spite of the absence of the poor Matti Breschel, Rabobank has a very good line-up. Langeveld is very strong and is in a good condition, Matthews is at his 'cobblestones baptism' and Boom knows how to face extreme race conditions. Also Leezer is young but talented, while Flens, Tjallingii and Van Emden add their experience to the talent of the young guns.
HTC: Bak, Cavendish, Eisel, Ghyselinck, Goss, Roulston, Smukulis, M.Velits. Goss has won Sanremo, will he do the 'doppietta' with Flanders? I don't think so, although this boy from Tasmania never ceases to amaze me. Roulston is good on the cobblestones, while Cavendish didn't get any great result in the last races. Imo Eisel will be the team leader, although we may expect something also from Gatis 'Smuki' Smukulis, who won U23 edition of Flanders in 2008.
AG2R: Elmiger, Goddaert, Hinault, Houanard, Lemarchand, Minard, Mondory, Ravard. The captains should be the experienced Elmiger and Hinault.
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Gourov, Grivko, Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, Lorenzetto, Vaitkus. Astana has one of the guys who could surprise us on Sunday and that guy is Maxim Iglinskiy. He's in a good form and was 8th in last year Flanders. Davis is a resistant guy, but I don't know how he can cope with cobblestones. Vaitkus is a good cobble rider too, while I'm curious about seeing Grivko in such an important race.
TOPSPORT: Coenen, Cornu, De Vresse, Jacobs, Neyrink, Van Hecke, Van Vooren, Vanspeybrouck. Ah, Topsport: every year they have a guy who gets a surprising result in the races they are invited to. The team is very young, but I expect something good from Cornu and also from Van Hecke.
VERANDA'S WILLEMS: Caethoven, De Vocht, Drucker, Goris, Van Groen, Scheirlincx, Schmitz, Van Dijk. Oh, Drucker! He's a Luxembourgish rider, so some of us will surely cheer for him ;)The team leader might be Scheirlincx, hopefully this team will offer us some good surprises.

So, this is the start list for Flanders. My picks? Cancellara, Boonen and Ballan (and Gilbert). Outsiders: Langeveld, Iglinskiy.

Waiting for Frank's comments on the Gazzetta news and for an amazing Tour of Flanders on Sunday, I wish you all a good weekend.