Tour of Norwegy:

At this year Tour de France there are just two riders from Norway: Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thor Hushovd. And this afternoon Edvald won the 6th stage of the Tour, whereas Thor managed to keep the yellow jersey for the 5th day in a row. Considering how the Norwegian chronists reacted when Arvesen won a Tour stage a few years ago (get ready to hear some histerical screams /laughs and take a look at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFhiIK7wyk&feature=related), I wonder what they did this afternoon.

Actually, I don't have much to say about today's stage. The day began with two topics of discussions: the crashes of the previous stage and the argument between Petacchi and Rojas. According to the Spaniard, Petacchi was having problems following Cavendish, so he got on the wheel of the British rider by overtaking Alessandro. Ale - Jet didn't enjoy this fact and hurt Rojas with his fist, so that the Spaniard couldn't breathe properly for a few seconds.

However, Petacchi has another version of this story. In fact he said he was on Hondo's wheel when Rojas dangerously overtook him in order to get on Cavendish' wheel. Petacchi reacted by putting his hand on José's hip, but he didn't actually hurt him (that's what Alessandro said).

After crossing the finish-line, the two riders kept on fighting. 'Petacchi is a pig!', Rojas said; 'Rojas is a s***!', Petacchi claimed after getting onto the team's bus. It's always nice to see two riders getting on in a pacific way, isn't it?
Actually, yesterday wasn't a very good day at all for Rojas. Ok, he did end 3rd on the stage, but he lost the green jersey because, according to the jury, he and Boonen had been unloyal towards Cavendish at the intermediate sprint.

Anyway. Back to today. Tom Boonen decided to start the stage in spite of the crash of the previous day, whereas Ivan Velasco didn't start because of a broken collarbone. Sylvain Chavanel, who really looked in pain, managed to finish the stage, whereas Vasil Kiryenka crossed the finish-line 27 minutes after the winner and was forced to abandon the race.

The breakawayers du jour were Lieuwe 'The Beast' Westra, Johnny Hoogerland (again), Anthony Roux, Leonardo Duque and Adriano Malori. With about 50 kms to go, Malori and Westra said 'adieu!' to their breakaway companions and decided to continue the race on their own. Adriano and Lieuwe are both very strong time trialists, but unfortunately this afternoon they were chased by Omega - Pharma Lotto and by Columbia.

With a few kms to go the riders had to face a steep little climb and that's where Malori's chances of victory faded away. With about 15 kms to go, in fact, the Italian rider had abandoned Westra in order to continue his adventure all alone. Unfortunately, good luck wasn't on Adriano's side this afternoon and the Lampre rider was caught with just 3 kms to go. As a little solace, Malori (who was the last rider in the GC of last year's Tour) was awarded with the 'most combative rider du jour' prize. A very good thing, if we consider that Adriano is still very young and is one of the most talented riders of the peloton.

The winner du jour was eventually decided by a sprint. Vinokourov was seen at the head of the race, but he didn't attack. Vanendert, on the other hand, created a little gap between himself and the peloton, but it was just a consequence of the fact that he was pulling too hard for his teammates to follow him. Voeckler ('V' was the magic letter in today's finale) instead attacked intentionally, but couldn't go very far.

When the sprint began, it looked like the favourites were Thor Hshovd (who considered winning today's stage as one of his main goals of the season) and Philippe Gilbert. Also Goss looked in a great form, just like Feillu. And instead, the man who crossed the finish-line first was the young Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was wonderfully helped by Geraint Thomas.

Edvald was very moved after the victory, also because his parents were there to watch him (not a great news, considering that the Boasson Hagen family is always present at the French race ;) and because this victory came after a difficult period for the Norwegian. A few days ago in fact the Sky rider had to deal with herpes zoester and didn't even know whether he would have been able to race the Tour. Not taking part in the French race would have been a bad blow for Edvald who, after an exceptional 2009, had lots of health problems in 2010. Anyway, BH managed to grit his teeth and, today, he was awarded with his first TdF victory. Chapeau!

While Boasson Hagen was already celebrating with his teammates, Levi Leipheimer angrily rode towards the finish-line. The Radioshack rider crashed against a guard-rail with 4 kms to go and lost a minute to the main GC contenders. Luckily, he didn't suffer any injury - just a bruised elbow.

So, this was today's stage of the TdF. As far as the Giro Donne is concerned, the Mortirolo stage was won by Marianne Vos, who's getting 'pinker' day after day. However, the other girls (Pooley, Guderzo, Arndt...) are ready to create her problems in the next stages.

(Pic by AFP)

Heaven and Hell on the way to Cap Fréhel:

Heaven and Hell. Two words that are simply perfect to describe today's stage of the Tour and some other things that have recently happened in Cycledom.

Hell. Perhaps some of you don't know it, but this morning an Australian rider called Carly Hibberd lost her life while she was training near Milan. The 26 year-old from Brisbane died shortly after being hit by a car. For the thousandth time this year, cycling must face a very hard moment.

Heaven. This afternoon Marianne Vos got her fourth victory at the Giro Donne, the most important stage race of the women calendar. The Dutch rider (who is just 24) won in Piacenza by outsprinting pure sprinters like World Champion Giorgia Bronzini and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. And, to make things even more special, Vos won the stage while wearing the Maglia Rosa.

Hell. Tom Boonen crashed with 60 kms to go in today's stage of the Tour and he crossed the finish-line 12' after the stage winner. He looked in pain and he could count just on one teammate, Addy Engels, who helped him just in the last 50 kms of race.

Heaven. Although the stage finale didn't suit him, and although his team made a disaster in the last km of race, this afternoon Mark Cavendish managed to get one of the best victories of his career in Cap Fréhel, a village located in a spectacular French bay.

Heaven and Hell. Reading about Fabian Wegmann's newborn baby Otto (he was born on the 29th of June and I wish him a very happy, long and serene life!) after discovering what happened to poor Hibberd can make you understand how the limit between these two things is very thin. We had two demonstrations of this fact during the last Giro, we had a demonstration of it also today, at the Giro Donne and (in a less tragic way) at the Tour de France.

Today's stage of the Tour de France looked tricky even on paper. The last kms of race in fact were very close to the sea, in a part of France (Bretagne) which has a very characteristic windswept landscape. Moreover, with 2 kms to go the riders had to face a difficult descent that would lead them to the last km of race, which was 3% steep.

The narrow streets of Bretagne, together with the fear of the echelons and with the nervousness of the peloton, didn't help making the stage easier for the group, which soon had to deal with many crashes.

One of the first riders to fall off his bike was Sylvain Chavanel who, as a consequence of his crash, had his acromion-clavicular joint dislocated as a consequence of his crash. Luckily, the French national champion could soon hop back on his bike and managed to end the stage.

"In the fall I also hit my head and broke my helmet," Chavanel told Cyclingnews. "The consequences could have been much worse. Tomorrow morning I'm lining up for the start as usual, but it’s obvious that tomorrow I can look forward to a day of suffering". Also Wiggins was involved in Sylvain's crash, but didn't suffer any injury. Other riders, unfortunately, weren't that lucky.

Janez Brajkovic and Robert Gesink crashed soon after Chavanel. Also Alberto Contador was involved in their crash, the second one of the day for the unlucky Spaniard, who threw his bike to the ground as a sign of anger. But still, Conti was pretty lucky in getting it away without major injuries: Gesink in fact is reported to have bruises all over his body, whereas Brajkovic had to abandon the race with a broken collarbone and a concussion.

Unfortunately, Janez wasn't the last rider to crash this afternoon. In fact, a few minutes after having helped his captain in chasing the main peloton, it was Nicki Sorensen's turn to end up on the ground. Nicki's crash was a really shocking one, since it was caused by one of the photographers' motorbikes. The motorbike rode so close to Nicki that, apparently, the handlebar of the Danish rider got glued to it. As a consequence, Sorensen found himself on the ground and had to bear the sight of his bike being drawn by the motorbike for 200 meters.

Luckily for the Danish national champion, his crash didn't have any consequence. "I was riding safely in the side of the road and then a motor bike knocked me off the bike", Nicki told Cyclingnews. "He was actually going so close that my bike was drawn after his motor bike for 200 meters and I landed heavily on the ground. Luckily, I'm ok and am able to ride again tomorrow" .

'Wiggins, Chavanel, Brajkovic, Gesink, Contador, Nicki Sorensen... Enough crashes for just one day of race!', some of you may think. And instead no, this afternoon bad luck really wanted to create a lot of problems to the TdF riders. As Kern withdrawned from the race because of a tendonitis, it was Barredo, Boonen and Steegmans' turn to crash.

Tom Boonen remained on the ground for a while, looking worried about the condition of his left shoulder. The Tour doctor immediately tried to help him but, at first, it looked as if Tommeke's Tour had to end on that road in Bretagne. And instead, the Belgian found the strength to get up, hop back on his bike and keep on riding. His leg was bleeding and his collarbone worried everyone of us, but Tom didn't care. He wanted to reach the finish-line of this damned 5th stage and he fought hard to make it.

At first Boonen had to do everything on his own. But then, Addy Engels stopped and waited for his captain. Then, with 50 kms to go, the two Quick Step riders began to ride together to the finish-line, fearing to end up out of time limit and trying to hold on.

In the end, Tommeke crossed the finish-line 12 minutes after Cavendish, thus managing to remain inside the allowed time cut.

'Ok, enough crashes for today?' Oh no, dear readers, not yet. In fact, this afternoon the last rider to fall off his bike was Euskaltel's Ivan Velasco, who broke his right collarbone after hitting the ground with about 20 kms to go.

Luckily, that was the last crash for today. I actually didn't mention everyone who crashed this afternoon, because it would actually be impossible to mention all those riders. However, I've read articles saying that also Leipheimer, Horner, Tjallingi and Popovych crashed. I'm sure about Yaroslav's fall (I saw him going to the doctor' car), but I don't have any details about the other crashes. Was Tjallingi with Gesink when Robert crashed? It may be, but I'm not sure.

Anyway. After talking about the hellish parts of today's stage, let's finally talk about the most beautiful part: Cavendish's victory. Mark may be arrogant and he might have changed too many girlfriends in the last months, but after today it is impossible to deny that the boy has class. Class, strength, power, speed: everything a sprinter needs to be successful. And everything a sprinter needs to offer us such great victories.

Although I've been following Mark pretty carefully since 2008, I must admit I had never seen him winning in such a great way as he did tis afternoon. Ok, his Milan - Sanremo victory had been great too: but today Cav was simply superb. His win was exciting, unexpected, amazing, fantastic: a true masterpiece - and, mind you, this is a word which miss Fede rarely uses in her posts.

Anyway, let's talk about what happened in the last kms of race in a more detailled way.

The last breakawayers du jour, Voeckler and Roy (again!!), were caught with a few kms to go. The previous beakaway had included Gutierrez (the friend of the French camera men) and Delaplace, the Tour's youngest rider (he's going to be 22 in September).

With 2 kms to go, HTC Columbia was at the head of the peloton. Velits, Goss, Martin, Eisel, Renshaw, Cavendish: the yellow and white train was ready to roll into Cap Fréhel. But then, with about 1 km to go, something happened: the little train had a problem and Goss found himself at the head of the peloton, with some meters of advantage on everyone else. Therefore, he tried to go for the victory.

Too bad that it was still too early for him and that Boasson Hagen rode past him at amazing speed. It looked as if the Norwegian rider had almost made it, but then a cartel told us that there were still 450 meters to go: too much for the Sky rider to hold on.

As Edvald's speed seemed to vanish, a colourful jersey appeared on the screen: Philippe Gilbert, trying to get his second victory in this Tour. Bonnet, FDJ's rider, looked like a true threat for the Belgian, whereas Hushovd's figure was scarcely visible behind the first line of riders. Then, from the left of the screen, a lightning - or, to say it better, a Cannonball - arrived. Mark Cavendish gave it all in the last meters of race and managed to win the race in front of PhilGil, Rojas and Toni Gallopin.

As Cavendish was dedicating his victory to his pet golden retriever Amber, who passed away a few hours ago, Tom Boonen slowly made it to the finish-line. Hell and heaven, once again. One rider cheering, the other one suffering, One rider happy, the other one disappointed and in pain. That's the Tour de France baby, and that's cycling - and, actually, that's also life.

Great Top 3 on Mur de Bretagne:

Philippe Gilbert has had a very good Tour de France so far. On Sunday he wore the yellow jersey - which he accompanied with dyed blonde hair and with a yellow wrist watch. On Monday instead he wore the green jersey, accompanied by a green wrist watch. And today, on his birthday, he wore the polka dots jersey, which he accompanied with a white wrist watch. But still, today wasn't a very good day for PhilGil. In fact, although he was one of the favourites of the day, he didn't manage to outsprint Evans on the first uphill finish of the Tour. And to say that it was even his birthday, poor Phil... But still, I'm sure he won't get depressed by this.

The epilogue of today's stage probably surprised many supporters. Not only Phil the Cannibal didn't win, but Thor Hushovd managed to keep the yellow jersey. And guess who won? Cadel Evans, who right now has become one of the most dangerous contenders for the final victory. However, what impressed me the most today was the way Evans got his victory: by outsprinting Contador in the very last meter of race.

Yes, Contador. I thought he could have done something good today, especially because he wanted to give a strong signal to those who have already counted him out of the race for the podium. Therefore, he was in the first positions of the peloton even before the start of the Mur de Bretagne.

Until that moment, few things had happened. Cunego had crashed before the beginning of the race, LL Sanchez had punctured and Johnny Hoogerland (together with Izagirre, Kadri, Erviti and the engineer Jeremy Roy) had gone on a breakaway. A pretty normal day at the Tour, in other words.

The few particular things to point out this afternoon were the funny pursuit of the peloton starring Romain Feillu in the last kms of race and, most important, Van De Walle's retire from the race. Jurgen abandoned the competition as a consequence of his crash on the first day of race and is now on his way to Belgium to have his left aductor examined.

Actually, Italian spectators had another thing that made today's stage pretty peculiar. In fact, Rolf Sorensen spent a few minutes of his busy afternoon in the van of Italian tv, commenting the race and remembering his goold old times in the peloton as a teammate of Davide Cassani. 

As predictable, as soon as I saw Rolf I started screaming: 'Susanne, where are you??' and I also started to think about how Sorensen managed to escape from the van of the Danish tv in order to go chatting with Cassani. 

After some minutes, Rolf had to abandon the Italian comment of the race because his colleagues were looking for him. But still, before going he said that Danish tv is doing a great job with broadcasting the Tour and added that they're broadcasting it all. One of the Italian chronists let him say those things but, as soon as Rolf disappeared from his sight, said that, in reality, no one broadcasts more hours of race than the Italian tv. Now me expects Rolf to give a reply to this statement in the next few days ;)

Anyway, back to the stage. In the last 10 kms of race, LT took the lead of the peloton. In the meanwhile, also Mollema showed himself at the head of the race.

When the final climb began, everyone could see Contador getting closer and closer to the head of the peloton which, in that moment, was controlled by the Lotto guys (Vanendert, Sieberg and Lang did a great job this afternoon). Unfortunately, LT wasn't visible anymore, although Frankie managed to reappear at the head of the race very soon. But still, Andy had already lost his way in the peloton and so, when Contador attacked in the steepest part of the climb, the young Luxembourgian leopard couldn't do anything but watch.

Gilbert, on the other hand, immediately jumped on Alberto's wheel and was followed by Evans, Kloden, Frankie (yay!), Uran, Samu Sanchez, Vinokourov, Van den Broeck and Hushovd (!!). Then it was Uran's turn to attack, although his try didn't have any luck. Therefore Contador tried escaping again, but he was followed by the other riders also on this occasion. As a consequence the race ended in a sprint, which saw Cadel Evans getting the victory right in front of Alberto. Alberto who, thinking he had won, raised his arms to the sky before being frozen by a bad stare coming from Evans (I'm exaggerating).

Talking about Contador's second placement, I think we can all say that it was caused also by the fact that he kept his hands on the upper part of his handlebar while sprinting - a beginner's mistakes, according to Cassani, which made him miss the stage victory.

Scrolling down the stage classification, we can see that third this afternoon was a great Vinokourov, 6th was a super Hushovd (the rider who impressed me the most this afternoon, there are no words to describe what he did!) and 7th was Frank Schleck. All those riders had the same time as the winner.

Wiggins and Basso, on the other hand, crossed the finish-line 6" after Evans, whereas Horner, Leipheimer and Schleck finished the stage 8" after the first 10 riders.

Of course, everyone has already started to say that today's stage showed us that Contador is very strong and that Andy Schleck is really weak. Personally, I feel like underlining the fact that Andy doesn't like short climbs, so he doesn't usually ride that well on them. But still, I must admit that, imo, OGL made a mistake at the start of the climb: he wasn't in the first positions of the peloton. As a consequence, when Conti attacked, he couldn't follow him.

I found Andy's wrong position inside the peloton a bit strange, since LT had been at the head of the group for some kms before the start of a climb. But still, all of a sudden, it became impossible to spot Leopard riders at the head of the bunch. In the following seconds, Frank had to struggle hard to go back to his original place, whereas Andy didn't make it. Actually, I'd like to know what caused the guys to get so scattered through the peloton in the last kms of race.

Anyway, although Contador gave a good signal, I think we can say that today's stage wasn't completely negative for los Schlecks. In fact, Frank was simply fantastic, whereas Andy (in spite of everything) could limit his time loss in a great way.

(Pic by Sirotti)

Remembering WW:

A little sign, after the finish-line: two hands that create a W in the air, not just once, but twice. W W : Wouter Weylandt, the Leopard Trek rider we'll all remember for our whole lives.

The first part of the third stage of the 2011 Tour de France didn't give lots of emotions to the spectators. But still, its final epilogue gave us one of the most touching moments of the year.

For most of the time, the only emotions for the supporters arrived when Gutierrez (one of the breakawayers du jour) decided to joke with the French camera man. For two times in fact the Spanish rider licked the tip of his index finger and then touched the camera lens, forcing the camera man on the motorbike to stop and clean it.

Since the race wasn't that exciting, the Italian chronists had a lot of time to talk about random things. For example, did you know that Riis complained with the jury about Contador's delay after stage one?Here's a recap of what happened.

As you all know, during stage 1 Contador lost contact from the other GC riders after the crash caused by Iglinskiy with 8 kms to go. In the end, Alberto lost about 1' 20" from the Schleck group, although Riis thinks this isn't right. According to Bjarne, in fact, Contador lost time also because of the crash that occurred with 2 kms to go, so his delay after stage 1 should have been the one that he had at the '3 kms to go' mark (43 seconds), and not the one he eventually had at the finish-line. Riis expressed his opinion to the jury, which actually didn't pay any attention to it. Therefore, Conti's delay remained of 1' 20".

Still talking about Contador, I must admit he didn't look that great in an interview he gave to Italian tv this morning. In fact, in it Alberto looked very tired and hadn't even shaved his beard. Moreover, he had a bit of acne (well, sort of) on his forehead. Now, does this mean that Conti is nervous and tired? Or is this a meaningless thing? I don't know how Alberto's skin works but, personally, I get skin problems just when I'm very nervous - and tired. Is this the same also for Bertie? Time will tell.

Back to today's stage, Beppe Saronni said on Italian tv that Alessandro Petacchi isn't feeling very well in these days. In other words: Ale-Jet has a very good form, but his morale is very low as a consequence of a rule that has recently been approved by the Italian Cycling Federation.

Said rule says that those who are banned from cycling after resulting positive at the anti-doping will never be able to take part in the Worlds and in the Italian championships anymore. 'Well, that's a nice rule!', some of you may think. 'What's the problem with it?' Well, the problem with this brand new rule is that it has a retrospective effect. This means that also riders who doped in the past won't be able to take parts in the Worlds anymore.

Amongst the guys who will never be able to take part in the Worlds anymore there are strong guys like Scarponi, Basso and Petacchi and this has obviously caused many polemics here in Italy. In fact, many people think it's unfair to prevent these riders from racing in the Worlds because:

1. when they doped, they couldn't now that they would have lost their chances of representing Italy in the Worlds

2. a rule like that exists just in Italy.

I personally believe that this rule is a very positive one, but I don't really think it should have a retrospective effect. Moreover, I think it's unfair to create it just in Italy. In fact, I don't see why Italians can't have Petacchi in the Worlds, whereas England can have David Millar in the TT and Kazakhstan can have Vinokourov in the road race.

Anyway, I was saying: as a consequence of this new born rule, Petacchi won't be able to take part in the Copenhagen Worlds (the biggest goal of this season for him) and this has really brought him down. Actually, this news has shocked him so much that Petacchi has even threatened he'll race the Copenhagen Worlds for Kazakhstan, if that rule isn't repealed in the next few weeks. Therefore, we can all understand why he isn't in a very focused mood right now.

In spite of all these problems, however, Ale-Jet was in a very good position as the peloton approached the finale of today's stage. In fact he was on Cavendish's wheel, right behind the HTC leadout train. Too bad that the HTC guys all lost themselves in the last curve of the race, so that Garmin could take the best positions at the head of the peloton. Thor Hushovd and Julian Dean did a very good job for Farrar, who eventually managed to win the stage in front of Feillu and Rojas.

As he crossed the finish-line, Tyler created a WW in the air, causing the whole word of Cycledom to get very moved.

"This has been a horrible last two months with everything that happened in the Giro," Farrar told Cyclingnews. "I've had a lot of ups and downs but in the end I wanted to come back and do something special and this is certainly the biggest stage that you can do that. I've trained hard and I could feel I was getting stronger over the last few weeks. It's a little bit unbelievable that it could happen. Everything just came together". And everything comes even more together if we think that Wouter won the third stage of the 2010 Giro, died in the third stage of 2011 Giro and that Tyler won the third stage of 2011 Tour (thanks to Marleen for making me notice this coincidence - if we can call it this way...).

On to other riders, Thor Hushovd kept the yellow jersey, whereas the green one went to Rojas. Talking about the other sprinters, Dumoulin crashed after having a collision with Oss in the last curve. The promising Galimzyanov instead was 11th.

One of my favourite riders, Chris Anker Sorensen, crossed the finish-line 4 minutes after the winner. It wasn't an easy day for Chris, since he had to work a lot at the front of the peloton in order to defend his teammates from the possible echelons. However, I must say that Sorensen also seemed to enjoy his day in the peloton. In fact, first I saw him talking to Voigt, then he rolled towards the finish-line while talking with Navarro and Hernandez (and while fighting hopelessly with his gloves :P).

On to tomorrow, the 4th Tour stage ends on Mur de Bretagne, a 2 kms climb that has some very steep parts (its first km in fact is 10% steep). Gilbert is the main favourite, although I think Cunego could do something good too.

Tomorrow we'll also have to pay a lot attention to the fight for yellow: in fact right now Gilbert (whose birhtday is tomorrow, whereas today was Gusev's birthday) has a delay of 33" from Hushovd, but Evans is just 1" down on Thor. And los Schlecks are just 4" down in the GC, just like Fuglsang and Gerdemann. 

Thor de France: random observations of mine about today's TTT

The second stage of the Tour has come and gone and it has had some important effects on the GC. We all know that the Tour is a 3 weeks long race, but there are guys who have already lost a meaningful amount of time after just two days of race. In particular, Samuel Sanchez is already 2' 36" down in the GC and, considering he's not the best climber out there, he might have already lost all his chances to get on the podium in Paris.

Also Contador has already got a meaningful delay from the yellow jersey (1'36") but, in spite of that, I think we shouldn't cut him out of the list of GC contenders yet. In fact, Alberto is a rider who can gain up to 40" in just one mountain stage, so I won't consider him out of the 'battle for yellow' until I see the final podium in Paris.

Another rider who's got a meaningful delay after just two stages is Ivan Basso, whose team had a disappointing result this afternoon. Right now in fact Ivan has a delay of 57" from the yellow jersey - and a delay of 53" from Andy Schleck. Basso probably knew that his team wouldn't have been the best one this afternoon, but perhaps he didn't expect such a big delay.

However, imo, right now the only one who should start to worry about his final GC is Samuel Sanchez. This year in fact TTs aren't on his side and I think that, in the mountains, the Spaniard isn't as strong as Schleck, Contador, Van Den Broeck or Gesink. Therefore, I think it's very negative for him to have already lost a minute from his main adversaries.

Talking about los Schlecks, Leopard Trek was really good this afternoon. Cancellara did a tremendous amount of work and caused Joost Posthuma to get dropped after a few kms. Also Jens Voigt soon blew up and LT concluded its TTT with just 5 riders. This happened also because the Schleck brothers didn't actually work that much this afternoon. Frank in fact remained at the back of the team' single-file for the whole day, whereas Andy rode right in front of Frank. I never saw Frank taking turns at the front and, honestly, I saw Andy taking just two turns. Of course this is the strategy chosen by the team - a strategy with which I completely agree. By riding this way, Frank and Andy in fact could save up energy and they didn't even risk to slow down the team. And, by riding this way, LT got a wonderful 5th placement. Well done guys!

Actually, other two teams ended the TTT with the same time as Leopard Trek: Sky and BMC. BMC was really impressive this afternoon and Evans really did an awesome work for his team ('and for himself', I'd add). Also the riders from Sky did a great work, of course. Boasson Hagen for example (who's just recovered from herpes zoster, a very painful disease) was very good, just like Thomas and Wiggins. Talking about Sky: have I already mentioned I like their new jerseys? And still talking about jerseys: I screamed of joy when I discovered that Garmin was going to wear a white kit during the Tour. In this way, at least, we supporters can recognise those who ride for Garmin, those who ride for Sky and those who ride for Leopard.

As well as changing kit, however, during this year Tour Garmin has already done other important things like winning a stage (today's TTT) and getting the yellow jersey, which ended up on Hushovd's shoulders a few hours ago. Garmin won this team time trial in a great way, although I actually think HTC would have won if Bernie Eisel hadn't crashed in the first curve after the start.

Talking about other teams, 6th in the stage classification was Radioshack. Talking about this team, did you know that the only 'under 30' rider in its line-up is Braijkovic (who is 27)? Amazing.

Anyway. Back to today. 7th in the TTT was Rabobank, whereas 8th was Saxo-Bank, which ended itsperformance 28" down on Garmin. Saxo Bank was the first team to start the TTT and finished the stage with just 5 men. To my happiness, Chris Sorensen was amongst them.

Talking about Saxo Bank, did you read Richie Porte's last twit about Frank? If not, here's what happened.

Apparently, Frank and Richie shared a trip in a lift yesterday evening (they were in the same hotel) and, while walking out of the elevator, Frank gave a little 'gift' to Richie - who, in a very kind and friendly way, thought it would have been nice to tell the world about it.

This little anedocte pretty shocked me, because I really can't imagine the comments that Saxo Bankers made after Porte told them about that. Actually, I believe I don't even want to think about those comments :P At the same time, however, I can't help but imagining Frank walking proudly in his hotel room in order to tell his teammates about his heroic fart action against the enemy. Apparently, the fight between LT and SB will be very tough in the next weeks - and it will see the riders battling even in the hotels' elevators.

Anyway. Back to the TTT, 8th in the stage was Astana, who wore terrible kits that should be banished from Cycledom right here, right now. Luckily I discovered that those kits (who made the guys look like enormous jelly beans) were just a temporary thing, since experts think that the stuff they're made of could have helped Vino and his friends during their battle against the clock. Experts actually weren't that right, since Astana's time wasn't that good. But still, right now the most important thing is that we won't see those kits for a long time.

Oh, and talking about things that make the riders go faster during TTs: this afternoon I discovered that helmets allow the riders to gain 1" pro km when they battle against the clock. Moreover, I discovered that some of the pro's handlebars can cost up to 14.000 euros. Amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, let's go back to the race. 10th in today's stage was Omega-Pharma Lotto.

Gilbert looked great in his all-yellow look, but tomorrow he'll be forced to abandon it, because he lost the jersey to Thor Hushovd. Talking about Thor, does anyone know how the Norwegian chronists reacted when he got the yellow jersey? Seriously, I love those two men. And talking about jerseys: Gilbert thinks that Lotto's jersey is the worst one in the Pro-Tour. Nice, isn't it?

Anyway. Back to the race (once again). Another team (as well as Liquigas, Euskaltel and Astana) that didn't do that well in today's stage was Lampre, whose rider Adriano Malori could show off his brand new jersey of Italian TT champion for the first time this afternoon. Adriano is a very talented rider, but his efforts didn't prevent Lampre from finishing the stage 1 minute down on Garmin.

19th in the stage then was Movistar. Was I the only one who had very sad thoughts as she saw the riders facing the parcours?

21st instead was Cofidis, who had to wait for poor Toni Gallopin during the first kms of the race. Poor Toni, in fact, kept on having problems with his chain. However, the last team to end the TTT was Euskaltel Euskadi. Poor, poor Samu Sanchez.

So, this is all for the second stage of the Tour: while waiting for tomorrow's flat stage, I wish you a goodnight - and remember, always pay attention to the people who share an elevator with you!!

The man in yellow:

Ok girls, as a little gift for you all, today I've decided to publish two posts in less than 12 hours of time. After telling you about my Maturità adventures, in fact, here I am talking about the Tour. Are you happy? Of course you are! So, let's write a few random observations of mine about the first stage of the French race.

First thing to notice about this year Tour is the fact that the riders started their adventure from Passage du Gois, a passage in the sea that appears just twice pro day. In 1999 the riders had to face this path in the middle of the sea during a stage and that caused a true carnage: lots of people slipping and crashing, riders getting retired, GC contenders losing 6 minutes from Armstrong.
Today luckily nothing serious happened, also because the race actually started as soon as the riders hit the solid French asphalt after leaving the slippery sand behind them.
Dad was slightly disappointed by that and complained about the lack of the 'true' Passage du Gois for a while. My uncle, on the other hand, kept on calling me to tell me that Frank Schleck had just fallen into the sea. His jokes worked 2 times, but then I started watching the race and he couldn't take me in anymore.
To say the truth, however, one rider (André Greipel) did fall while riding on Passage du Gois, but his crash didn't have any consequence.

As soon as the race started, three brave riders (Roy, Westra and Quemeneur) became the first breakawayers of the 2011 Tour. They were caught with 18.5 kms to go, after a big effort by Omega-Pharma Lotto.

Talking about Omega, two things to say: firstly, Jurgen Van De Walle is a hero; secondly, Gilbert should have dyed not just his hair, but also his eyebrows.

Talking about Van de Walle, some of you may wonder why I consider him a 'hero'. Well, the reason is simple: he crashed heavily in the middle of the stage, but in spite of that he pulled in front of the peloton all day long. Simply amazing.

Talking about Gilbert, instead, I must say I do like his idea of dying his hair blonde. But still, I believe he should have dyed his eyebrows too.

Still talking about hair, everyone saw the pictures of Thor Hushovd wearing a wig during the TdF presentation. As predictable, that has already become one of my personal highlights of this year Tour.

Remaining in the Garmin team, here's one thing I didn't know about David Zabriskie: he's become a vegan and now he's following a vegan diet. That means he can't eat meat, eggs and fish and that he can't even drink milk. And in spite of that, he's taking part in a hard race like the Tour: amazing.

Anyway, back to the competition. The stage was actually pretty boring in its first part, so the chronists had a lot of time to talk about the riders taking part in the race. In that way I could discover the existence of Yohann Géne, the first rider from Guadeloupe to take part in the Tour.

The stage became much more interesting in the last 10 kms. At that time there had already been some crashes, one of which involved also Nicolas Roche (another one instead involved poor Linus Gerdemann). Then, with 8.5 kms to go, Maxim Iglinskiy hit a female supporter who was standing on the edge of the road. The collision was very strong (I really do hope that supporter is fine) and it caused a big crash, which involved guys like Sanchez, Kreuziger and Contador. Other riders instead managed to remain at the head of the race. Amongst them there were los Schleck, Basso, Evans, Wiggins and Radioshack's dynamic trio fomed by Leipheimer, Kloden and Horner (the youngest one amongst them is 67 year-old Kloden). Immediately after the crash, Radioshack began pulling hard, helped by BMC. Luckily, this time no one talked about fair play, although an Italian chronist compared the developing situation with Chaingate (that man had to comment the race for 6 hours, so I'll apologise him for this).

With 2 kms to go, then, there was another crash, which involved also Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck. Luckily for them, their final delay was neutralised by the jury, since their crash took place with less than 3 kms to go.

After that crash, the fight for the main positions began. Trofimov tried to surprise anyone, but the first real attack was Cancellara's one. Fabian was followed just by Gilbert but, when he realised that Philippe was on his wheel, he stopped his attack. PhilGil instead continued his action, which brought him to win the stage and to get the yellow jersey. Second in the stage was a super Evans, third was Hushovd.

After the stage, an enthusiastic Gilbert looked simply overjoyed on the podium, where he couldn't enjoy (for the first time in the season) the company of his son Alan. However, I think it's just a matter of time before we see Gilbert jr. back on the podium with his dad.

Talking about los Schlecks, Frank crossed the finish-line with 6 seconds of delay from Gilbert, whereas Andy crossed it 1' 20" after the winner, together with Contador, Basso and Samu Sanchez. However, as already said, Andy and Basso's delays were neutralised, since they were caused by a crash that occured in the last 3 kms of the stage. Contador's delay instead was registered so that, right now, Andy Schleck has 1' 14" of advantage on the Spaniard. Considering that OGL lost last year Tour because of 39", I think he can be satisfied with this result and with the fact that, this afternoon, Contador was never in the first part of the peloton. A bad sign of form, or a simple coincidence?

(pic by Bettini)

The Exam Chronicles:

Ok girls, just a 'little' post to tell you that I'm done with high school. Considering that you've been so patient to bear my Maturità talks during the last few weeks, here's a little report of how things went in the last two days. Enjoy!

1ST JULY 2011, AFTERNOON: Ok. Tomorrow's the day and I'm almost ready. I still have to review a big part of the Maths programme and other little things, but I'm relaxed. Or, better, I'm relaxed until 3 pm. At that point, I finally realise that tomorrow is really my last days of high school. And I also realise that, to get the maximum mark, I need to be flawless. Oh. My. God.

1ST JULY 2011, EVENING: My evening before the Maturità exam (the famous 'Notte prima degli Esami') is pretty chaotic. Familiars are calling me on the phone to wish me good luck, the neighbour's kids are playing (and screaming) in the garden, my bedroom is full of mosquitos. The 'sudate carte' ('sweated papers') are scattered all over my table, some copybooks are on my bed, other books are already in my rucksack. I repeat my 'tesina' (little thesis) while hoping I'll be able to say it all in 20 minutes. The chronometer says that it actually takes me 17 minutes to repeat it, let's hope that tomorrow it won't take me any longer.

It's 9 pm, I've just finished reviewing Dante and, to my surprise, I've just realised that I still remember Heidegger very well. I don't have the time to review everything, so I go for the most important things. At 10 pm I finally stop reviewing the Second World War. Stupid Italy, why do you always have to change allies in the middle of the World Wars? Really, that is annoying to study.

At 10.30 I finally put on my nail polish, watch the clothes I've chosen for tomorrow (a blue shirt with jeans) and go to bed. Now, all I hope is to be able to sleep.

2ND JULY 2011: After a good night sleep, I get up at 7 am. My parents look more nervous than me.

I get in the car and think about those Tour riders who say that pressure makes them feel better. Well, apparently it is the same for me. I feel ready to face the test and in my mind I keep on repeating: 'Let's go and kick some asses'. A part of my brain, however, keeps on thinking about the things I don't know: Calvino, the political situation in Italy after WW 2, the most difficult parts of Maths programme, half of the Latin programme. The other half of my brain, however, has the following thought: 'It's impossible to know everything, but it's also impossible not to know anything'. Btw, one thing is sure: I'll play my cards well.

7.50: my best friends are with me, ready to witness my examination. The Italian teacher stops to talk with us and asks us whether we're doing fine. 'Hell yeah!', I'd like to answer, but I can't.

8.04: I walk inside the classroom for the last time in my life. The exam starts. I introduce my tesina and I say 'justifiable' rather than 'right'. This means I'll be surely asked about Hegel, a thing that I wanted to avoid. In spite of that, I keep on talking about the editions of the Olympics that were characterised by boycotts. Most of the teachers remember the facts I'm talking about and this doesn't make things any easier. But still, when I finish to talk about my tesina I'm very satisfied with myself. Let the questions begin!

The first question comes from the philosophy teacher. Hegel, I would have bet on that. I defend myself in a decent way, then he shows me what I've written in the philosophy test. 2 questions out of 3 look perfect, but the third one is a mess. 'I was surprised when I read your answer, I didn't expect you not to understand the question. You always reflect a lot before answering!'. Actually, I'm much more surprised than him when I see that that answer isn't correct. Now I understand why I got a 41 out of 45: at least 1.5 points in my partial result were taken away because of that question. Anyway, enough philosophy for the moment: it's history time now!

'Tell me what happened in Russia during the 20th century', the teacher asks. I start talking about the 1905 Revolution and I try to gain time while talking about the terrible conditions of farmers in Russia at the beginning of the last century. The teacher then asks me two questions and seems satisfied with my answers. Then he looks at me and asks me: 'Listen, I know this isn't in the programme, but...Do you know when serfdom became illegal in Russia?' Dates are a weak point of mine, so I take a big breathe before saying: '1861'. 'Exactly!', the teacher says with a smile. I expect a standing ovation from my friends, but it doesn't happen.  I would have deserved it!

Then it's time to talk about Italian literature. First I talk about futurism, then about Pirandello and Leopardi. Another question has me talking about Verga and Svevo. The teacher looks satisfied and tells me I'm doing a great job. Too bad that there are still 4 teachers who have to ask me something.

The German teacher wants me to talk about Buechner, a writer that my classmates and I had to study on our own. In spite of that, I manage to answer his questions and to pretend I'm much more confident than I actually am. As someone once said: 'Everyone can act, except a few actors'.

Then it's Maths time. Oh man, I'm scared. Luckily I have the answers to my teacher's question, so I can pass to English. The teacher asks me about Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' and about my plans for the future.

The Spanish teacher is the last one to ask me something. She makes me talk about the Spanish futurism and about Lorca's 'Poet in New York'. Then she and her colleagues begin to explain me which results I got in the written part of the exam. I see that one of the two answers of Spanish is good, while the other one isn't. On the other hand, the English essay is nearly flawless, whereas the Italian essay is good. One of the Maths questions, instead, is a complete mess.

At 8.52 the teachers stop showing me the written tests. One of them asks me what I'm going to do next year. I say that I'd love to become a sportjournalist and that causes a lot of comments. 'So you'll be able to go to the Olympics!', a teacher says, smiling. 'Let's hope to see your name on a pink newspaper then', another one adds. Everyone wishes me good luck for my future. The atmosphere is now really relaxed, although someone hasn't run out of tricky questions yet. In fact, all of a sudden my philosophy teacher asks me why Zio Crocifisso ('Uncle Crucifix') is so unpolite with the Malavoglia family. 'After all, they're relatives!', he says. He says it with a very light-hearted tone, as if he was joking, and I reply by smiling and saying: 'Well, apparently there were familiar arguments already at the time!' 

Then, all of a sudden I realise that the other teachers are looking at me and at their colleague. The atmosphere has become slightly more serious, so I understand that my teacher is trying to make me slip on his tricky remark. I realise I must say something to get out of his trap. Before he can open his mouth again, I say: "And then, Crucifix is called 'uncle' just because that is his nickname; in reality, he's not a relative of the Malavoglia at all!". After my answer, everyone in the classroom smiles at me and laughs, my philosophy teacher included. However, I soon discovery that he's kept a special question for the end of my exam.

 'Listen', he asks me with another smile as I collect my things before leaving the classroom, 'who wins the Tour this time?'. 'Andy Schleck', I reply in a very confident way. My teacher pulls a strange face and says: 'But he isn't good in time trials'. 'Well, then I just hope Contador doesn't win', I say with a serious expression. My teacher looks at me, smiles and says: 'Contador will win'. All of his colleagues smile (although I don't think they understood what we were talking about) and shake hands with me.

At 8.56 I'm finally out of the classroom, out of the exam, out of everything. As I walk out of the school, I think about all the things that I didn't know and that the teachers didn't ask me. 'They didn't ask me anything about Latin!', I tell my friends. "Well, do you want to go back in that classroom and say: 'Sorry, but you forgot to ask me Latin?' ", my best friend replies me. We all start to laugh and we start talking about the holidays. My high school career is finally over and, for the first time in 5 years, I'll face a summer without homeworks and without worries. And then, it'll be time for new challenges. But before of that, let me relax a while ;)