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.

Frankie boy gets his joy!

FRANK SCHLECK WINS THE FIRST STAGE OF CRITERIUM INTERNATIONAL! YAY (*faints*)A Fangirl can't even study Nietszche in peace in these days ;) First, I was distracted by mr. Fabian Cancellara's triumph in Harelbeke; then, it was Frank Schleck's turn to distract me with his great victory at Criterium International (mind you, I'm not complaining for that... ;)

Today stage of Criterium International ended on Col de l'Ospedal, a climb that led the riders up to an altitude of 1.000 meters above the sea level. Frank Schleck crossed the finish-line alone, 16" before of Vasil Kiryenka and 22" before of Rein Taaramae. 4th was Lopez Garcia, 5th Geniez, 6th Lagutin, 7th Nordhaug, 8th Rolland, 9th Fedrigo and 10th was Andy Schleck. A very good result, especially if you consider that Andy was in the same gruppetto as Lagutin, Nordhaug, Rolland and Fedrigo.
Unfortunately I can't tell you many things about this race, since it wasn't broadcasted here in Italy. Luckily however I could watch E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke, which was won by a magnificient Fabian Cancellara. Leopard raced amazingly well and O'Grady had a very important role in the race.

Fabian looked very determined this afternoon: I just tell you that, when he had to change his bike for a gear problem, he actually threw it on the ground and, as soon as he got the new bike, he started riding immediately. The mechanic couldn't even help him to get started again!!
O'Grady was in the first group of breakawayers together with Roelandts, Van De Walle, Hinault, Bonnet, Vanmarcke, Iglinskiy and a few other guys (sorry, I can't remember their names). With about 30 kms to go, Sep Vanmarcke (one of my favourite riders, he was born in 1988 and has a bright future ahead of him!) tried a solo attack. In the meanwhile, Cancellara abandoned the peloton on a climb and started his race towards victory. After a few seconds, he joined the 3rd group of breakawayers. Every rider of that group started to follow Cancellara, without giving him a single turn at the front.
Then the Locomotive from Bern managed to join the second group of breakawayers. A few seconds later, he joined the first one. All the riders started to follow him, so that the 3 group of breakawayers just melted into one, formed by about 20 riders. Amongst them there were Terpstra, Chainel, Ivanov, Gusev, Jerome, Tuft, Tankink and Larsson.

Vanmarcke was caught by these riders and O'Grady helped Cancellara as long as he could. Then, with about 18 kms to go, Fabian said 'bye bye!' to everyone and soloed to the finish-line. He really looked exhausted after the finish-line (I thought he was going to throw up!), but he was also incredibly happy.
In the meanwhile, the guys who were chasing him didn't seem to be able to work together. Amongst them there were some strong guys like Larsson, Ivanov, Tuft, Haussler and Terpstra, but it looked as if they had already given in. Terpstra was the only one who tried to start a serious chase, but he soon got very angry at his fellows because of the lack of cooperation. I couldn't understand why everyone gave in all of a sudden and I was pretty disappointed by the riders' attitude. Moreover, I was very confused by Katusha's tactics: firstly, Gusev and Ivanov never cooperated with Terpstra. Secondly, with about 10 kms to go Ivanov tried to break free from his companions a few times. Did he want to chase Fabian on his own? Or was he riding for second place? In both cases, imo that was a totally useless move.
Eventually, second in the race was Roelandts, while 3rd was Gusev. 4th was a great Vanmarcke. Hopefully the Belgian rider of Garmin will show us a good race also tomorrow, at Gand-Wevelgem.

So, that's all from me for the moment. Now I'm off to celebrate Frank's victory ;) Let's raise one of our famous virtual toasts to Leopard Trek's victories, shall we? ;)

PS1: Some of you haven't checked the new post at Bananas About Bikes yet (don't try to cheat me because I have my secret ways to know whether you've checked it or not). Go do it now!
PS2: I couldn't find any pic of Frank's victory, so I posted an old one. However, someone found a picture that is even worse than the one I posted above. Why did they make that choice?!?

'Oh la la Saxo Bank!' in the Flanders, random rumour about the Schleck brothers, Breschel undergoing another operation and more:

Ladies and gentleman, miss Fede is ready to write a little random post containing some little random news. And guess what? She's learned how to underline words so that you can click on them and end up on the webpage I suggest you watching! Isn't that cool? (ok, 2 years and a half to learn a things like that is a very long time, but who cares?)

So, let's talk cycling. First of all, today there was Dwars door Vlaanderen ('A traves de Flanders', 'Attraverso le Fiandre', 'Through the Flanders' or how else that race is called!), which I could see on real time for the first time ever. Yay!

Landbouwkrediet rider Frederic Amorison starred in a long breakaway of about 240 kms. With about 12 kms to go, Geraint Thomas and Nick Nuyens broke clear from the peloton and joined Frederic (see, his name is almost like mine!). They had an advantage of about 20 seconds on the peloton and, with 1 km to go, they just had a 4" advantage. Amorison got caught, while Nuyens hung on together with Thomas. In the last few meters of the race it was 'Oh la la Saxo Bank!', since Nuyens got the victory in front of Geraint, who started the sprint too early. Third, a few meters behind, was Tyler Farrar, while 4th was Matthew Hayman. 5th was another Saxo Banker, Baden Cooke, while the best Leopard Trek rider was Poosthuma, 31st (32nd was Marcel Sieberg, a rider that I really like).

After the arrival, they showed the top 3 riders in a gazebo and I got very worried when I started to hear female screams of joy while the cameras were filming the riders. Then I saw Nuyens' wife and everything became clear ;)

I'm happy for Nuyens, especially because good old Saxo Bank needed a good victory after a pretty disappointing Sanremo. I'm sorry, but I can't help supporting that team!

Talking about other races, the first stage of Volta a Catalunya was won by Smukulis, a 23 year old Latvian rider of Columbia. The second one was won by Petacchi (as a consequence, Italian newspapers have finally understood that Petacchi hasn't lost all his sprinting skills during the winter), while the third one, which ended uphill, was won by Contador. A great day for Saxo Bank, that's for sure, although I'd wait a few months before making the final classification of this stage become official.

Second was Scarponi, 3rd was Leipheimer. It's so good to see Levi racing for himself and not for Armstrong! He's a very strong athlete and I expect him and Kloden to be at the top at this year Tour.

4th was Daniel Martin, one of the best pure climbers, while 5th was Horner. A surprising Biel Kadri was 11th, while Chris Anker Sorensen was 21st. Best leopard Trek rider was Zaugg, 25th.
Denis Menchov was 71st (he arrived 9 minutes after Contador), but he's been having health problems in the last weeks, so I think we should forgive him for that.

Talking about another race, the 4th stage of Tour de Normandie was won by Fabien Bacquet (ok, I don't expect you to know who he is, but his father added me on Facebook for unknown reasons and now I'm a virtual friend of his too). Yay for Fabien!

Settimana Coppi&Bartali instead sees Emanuele Sella as race leader. 'That's a little step forward for cycling, but a big step forward for me'. I didn't know that cycling improves every time that a former doper (one of the worst ones of the last years, to be more precise) gets an important result! I thought that cycling improved when a young, clean rider won something, but apparently I was wrong.

On to other news, poor Matti Breschel had to undergo a minor operation on his knee yesterday. Now he'll be able to go back training in two weeks time.

Talking about another (luckier) Dane, Jakob Fuglsang had his 26th birthday yesterday (and not today, as someone said on Twitter). Birthday boy gets his toy, as they say... Or perhaps he'd prefer some candies and some pancakes. Anyway, happy birthday Jakob! (Hippi has explained me how to say it in Danish, but I can't write it :P)

On to the last Dane about which I'm going to tell you today, Chris Anker Sorensen has updated his blog twice in the last 3 days. And, after reading 'Liquegas' in one of these two entries, I've understood what Susanne means when she says that Chris often makes spelling mistakes.

However, the worst mistakes are the ones of Google Translater. At a certain point, it translated a sentence from Chris' blog in this way: 'A small eruption on 4 men rode away'. A man erupting, that sounds dirty. A part of another blog entry instead was translated as 'I figured I might as well try to erupt'. Please, don't!

On to the Schleck brothers, which I haven't mentioned for a few posts now, I have some rumours and of some complaints about them. First of all, the rumour: La Repubblica (a very important Italian newspaper) has claimed that, after the 'bikes with engine incorporated', there may be a new kind of technlogical doping in the peloton. According to the unknown Denis Mignani, some riders have been using a special kind of 'cuscinetti', which are the things that you put in the central part of the wheel, the one from where the spokes start. Those 'cuscinetti' seem to make the cyclist gain 2.5 seconds pro kilometre and, according to mr. Mignani, they were used by Andy Schleck (and by Fabian Cancellara) during the mountain stage of last year Tour. Now, here are some opinions of mine about this thing:
1) Using that kind of equipment is legal. So, it isn't technological doping. And then, every rider (even amateur ones) can get it, they just need to call an engineer and get it fixed on their wheels.
2) Do you really want me to believe that Andy Schleck was the only one who used those things in last year Tour? Come on!
3) Better using strange cuscinetti than clenbuterol! At least, you don't end up in a doping trial for that (and you don't have to accuse Spanish breeders in order to get away with it!)

On to another news regarding Andy, Vincenzo Nibali has recently said that he doesn't like riders like Andy, 'who ride fast in just two races pro year'. The same was said by Claudio Chiappucci. Ok, I can understand that some people may not enjoy the fact that Andy always focuses just on a few races and doesn't even try to win the other ones, but at least I like the fact that, every time he focuses on an important goal, he achieves it. Moreover, it's not easy to have a good condition during the whole season, is it?

To close this pretty bitter post, on pressphoto.lu you have some pics from a party at the Schleck fanclub in Luxembourg. The brothers's grandmother seems such a really nice person ;) And just look at how big Leea has become! The baby is growing, Frank and Martine must be very proud parents! :D

Milano-Sanremo: Goss!

Ok, my podium prediction was completely wrong. Also my race prediction ('it will end up in a bunch sprint') was completely wrong. Oh dear, what happened to my prediction abilities?
Anyway. Yesterday Milan-Sanremo was even more thrilling than usual, thanks to some big crashes and to some great attacks. La Classicissima is one of my favourite races because of many reasons. Firstly, it's the first one-day classic of the year. Secondly, it marks the official beginning of the true season (next week there is Gend-Wevelgem, yay!). Thirdly, it's a 298 kms long race, but a rider can make the winning move even in the last meter of it (ask mr. Freire for further information). Moreover, la Classicissima has the Poggio and the Cipressa descents, two of the craziest downhills roads that the peloton must face every year. Last but not least, Milan-Sanremo = Primavera (Spring), just like Lombardia = Classica delle foglie morte ('Classic of the falling leaves', aka of the autumn).

Yesterday race began under the sign of Japan. Farnese-Vini's rider, Takashi Miyazawa, was very moved at the start of the Classicissima, when the riders had a moment of silence in order to think about the Japanese tragedy. In order to help his country, Takashi asked his colleagues for help and in fact every rider will sell the jersey that he wore yesterday. Moreover, a big Japanese flag was signed by the 198 riders that took part in the race and it will be sold as well in the next days.
Takashi was one of the early protagonists of the race, since he formed a breakaway after just 12 kms of race. When he got caught, he helped his teammate Visconti and he was one of the 156 riders who ended the race. Chapeau to him!
Yesterday race had its first coup de scene after 208 kms of race, at the start of le Mànie climb. Right before of it, Hushovd crashed together with other riders. On the climb descent, instead, it was Freire's turn to tumble. After these falls, the peloton was broken in two parts. In the first one there were guys like Cancellara, Bennati, Gerdemann, O'Grady, Gilbert, Greipel, Van Avermaet, Ballan, Pozzato, Paolini, Petacchi (only Lampre rider there), Boonen, Offredo, Chainel, Boasson Hagen, Nibali, Sagan, Ventoso, Marcato, Rojas, Rollin, Klier and Haussler. In the second group, instead, there were riders like Hushovd, Farrar, the whole Lampre team apart from Petacchi, Visconti, Cavendish, Renshaw, Bozic, Matthews (who had crashed earlier in the race), Freire, Cooke, Haedo and Arvesen.
BMC, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Katusha immediately started to pull hard at the front of the race, whereas the second group of riders couldn't get organised in a fast way. Amongst the most active teams in the chase there were Farnese-Vini and Euskaltel Euskadi (why?), whereas Columbia never chased in a decided way.
At the beginning of la Cipressa, the first group had about 1.50 minute advantage on the second one. Then, Scarponi attacked and he came back in the first group in a great way. That move made us understand that Petacchi wasn't at his best, while Michele right now has a great condition. Scarponi managed not to be followed by anyone in his chase and that was really a great numero.
In the meanwhile, the race got even more thrilling. Offredo and Ballan attacked, but the first one to arrive on the top of la Cipressa was Popovych. However, he was soon caught and Française des Jeux launched a great attack with Offredo and Chainel, who were soon joined by Van Avermaet and O'Grady. It was a very interesting move, since Van Avermaet and O'Grady are very fast, Chainel seemed in a great form and Offredo, in spite of the young age, is never afraid of attacking riders that are more famous than him. Moreover, Yoann seems to love Sanremo, since he attacked in the finale also a few years ago.
Greipel sacrificed himself for Gilbert during the quartet chase and in the end the 4 breakawayers were caught on the Poggio. Nibali attacked and during the descent he was joined by Cancellara, Gilbert, Ballan, Offredo, Pozzato, Goss and Scarponi.
In the last few kms, Cancellara tried to attack, but he was immediately chased by Goss. Therefore, he immediately interrupted his effort. The second one to attack was Gilbert, who was followed by-guess who?- Pozzato. In the end, the race was decided in a sprint. The one who launched it was Scarponi, but in the end the winner was Matthew Goss, the only sprinter that managed to stay glued to the wheel of the attackers. Second (for a few centimeters) was Cancellara, while 3rd was Gilbert.

I must say that I enjoyed this edition of la Classicissima, although I was sorry for the riders who crashed. Chronists kept on saying that it was the most exciting Sanremo of the last few years and that caused my father (who supported Matthews and Freire) to get very angry. 'If you consider exciting a race that is decided by crashes, well, this year Sanremo was the perfect race for you. On the other hand, if you like races where the strongest, and not the luckiest, wins, then you might have found it disappointing', he said at the end of it.
Luckily for me, although he wasn't in a very happy mood, watching the race with my father was very nice. For example, he was the one who said the quote of the day. During the podium ceremony, in fact, he looked at me and he said: 'Hey, but what colour are Cancellara's hair?'. I looked at him in a pretty surprised way before answering: 'Dark brown, I guess... Why did you ask me? Are you not feeling fine?'. His answer to my questions (be careful not to fall off your chair) was : 'Dark brown? Really? Are you sure? They actually look violet to me...' . I was almost falling off the couch when he told me that. After all, it had been a long (and disappointing) Sanremo also for him...
Talking about tiredness, also Rai's Alessandra De Stefano was exhausted at the end of the race. So exhausted that she said 'That's all from the Lungotevere of Sanremo, good evening everyone!' instead of 'That's all from the Lungomare of Sanremo!'. In fact, Lungotevere is a word that Italians use to indicate places in Rome that are near to the rider Tevere, while 'lungomare' is a word that is used to indicate the long roads near to the sea that you can find in many Italian villages. However, Alessandra was able to correct herself when she saw that her colleagues were grinning at her.
Back to the riders, however, I must say that I'm happy for Goss. I bet that, in the finale, he probably thought: 'The two most dangerous riders right now are Gilbert and Cancellara. Considering that Pozzato will surely follow Gilbert wherever he can, it's better if I glue myself to Cancellara's wheel!' . He did so (he was the only one who followed Fabian when he attacked, the other ones remained behind them) and in the end he got a stunning victory.
Also Cancellara was very good. He stopped his attack when he saw that Goss had followed him (why continuing the attack with Goss glued to your wheel when you know that he is going to beat you in a possible two-men sprint?) and in the end he came 2nd and he managed to outsprint a fast guy like Gilbert.
Also Stuart O'Grady was really good. I was actually happy to see Leopard behaving as a team. Fabian, Stuart, Bennati and Gerdemann were in the first group of riders and I was very glad about it.
Gilbert was 3rd and I'm sure he was pretty disappointed by that. However, he didn't look very brilliant on the Poggio, so I think he should be quite happy for his result.
Pozzato, as usual, seemed to race not in order to win, but in order to make other riders lose. In fact, he was the one who followed Gilbert and helped the other ones to catch him in the final 2 kms of the race. Philippe got pretty angry at that, especially because Pippo has been shadowing him since the Worlds in Australia. However, now that Philippe is not going to take part in Roubaix, Pippo will probably start to shadow another Belgian, Tom Boonen. Therefore, Tommeke, you'd better get ready for that.
On to another rider, I think that Scarponi raced very well. Petacchi didn't feel fine and Michele gave Lampre a good placement anyway. Moreover, he was the one who started the sprint: he knew he isn't very fast, but he gave it a try anyway.
Chainel and Offredo were really strong too. Pay attention to Yoann: this boy's got a lot of talent. It isn't easy to do certain things after 290 kms of race!
Haussler was disappointing, but it wasn't easy to follow guys like Gilbert and Nibali when they attacked. Saxo Bank was considered 'disappointing' too, but their leader was JJ Haedo and he had problems because of Hushovd's crashes. Therefore, Tosatto (the only one who remained in the first group of riders after le Manie) couldn't do much.
Greipel gave a big hand to Gilbert, perhaps because he wasn't in good form. Sagan disappeared in the finale, probably because 290 kms are too many for him. Petacchi instead was 12th although he didn't feel fine, while Bennati was 13th. Poor Marcato, who crashed on the Poggio, was 15th.
Boasson Hagen was 30th, but he doesn't seem in a good form right now. Therefore, no surprises from him. Rabobank was disappointing, but we must consider that its team leaders, Matthews and Freire, crashed, while Langeveld, Tjallingi and Boom had to work hard to help them.
Visconti was extremely disappointed by the race (it looked as if he was going to break into tears when he was interviewed by the Italian tv!) but he was very unlucky. Now Giovanni will have plenty of time to prepare the next races, where I'm sure that he'll get very good results.
So, that's all for now. Have a good Sunday and enjoy the sun (at least, here in Italy it is sunny, I don't know what the weather is like in the rest of the world...)! And don't forget to take a look at Bananas about Bikes: Mar has published a great post about la Vuelta in Assen!!

(Pic by Bettini)