Giro d'Italia stage 1 and 2: random randomness and more

Scene du jour number 1:

Herning-Herning stage of the Giro. The three breakawayers du jour and Lars Bak have been caught. 8 kms to go. The peloton speeds up. All of a sudden, a rider at the back of the group crashes and has a mechanical. The RAI camera zooms on the unlucky rider, my father and I identify him (ok, it wasn't difficult): it's Taylor Phinney, winner of yesterday stage, leader of the GC. The young American champion looks calm even if his team mechanic seems unable to solve the problem with his bike. After about 30 seconds he hops back on his bike and starts his peloton chase, looking as calm as ever.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said about my father and I: as soon as we recognise Taylor, we start screaming like mad. 'Go Taylor, go boy, you can do it!!', I scream. 'Naah, he had ill luck! He could have crashed at any point of the stage, but he crashed now. So unlucky! And why don't they stop his teammates?', dad goes. Mum enters the living room after hearing my screams and starts supporting Phinney too. Less than 3 kms later, the BMC rider is back and safe in the peloton. He looks calm and relaxed, my parents and I look as if we had just ended a 40 kms TT. How embarassing.

Scene du jour number 2:
Last curve of the Herning-Herning stage. Sky is in the lead, Guardini, Ferrari and the other Italian sprinters are behind the English team. Suddenly, a bike flies, a man crashes: Theo Bos hurts Renshaw (or was it Graeme Brown's?)'s rear wheel and falls off his bike, forcing poor Kristoff to fly against the barriers. Guardini crashes behind them too.

Still, my mind is focused on the final sprint: a wild BMC rider (Hushovd) appears, dad goes 'Hushovd!', sister goes 'Cavendish!', I go 'Demare!!!' as soon as I see a rider with a white jersey at the front of the race. I scream that name once, twice, thrice, until Cavendish doesn't cross the finish-line in triumph. Grandmother, who had just come upstairs to ask my mother for some sugar, watches me in astonishment. I try to understand if Demare ended up in the top 3, and I discover that the rider in white who placed in 3rd was Soupe, and not Demare. So, so embarassing.

So, dear readers, these are just two extracts from the second stage of the Giro seen from my personal point of view. As you can imagine, it was a very thrilling stage, especially in its finale. However, let's go in order and let's talk a bit about yesterday's stage too. The Giro in fact took off yesterday with an exciting prologue in Herning. The TT was very technical in its first part, whereas the second sector of the route perfectly suited powerful time trialists.

The first rider to leave the ramp was Jackson Rodriguez, the first GT contender was Roman Kreuziger, who scored a good time. As the time and the riders rode by, we had two entertaining scenes. First, a Diquigiovanni rider launched a Giro d'Italia spot by saying: 'Follow the Giro every day. It is the most exciting cycling race in the most beautiful country of the world'. A very nice advertisement, that's for sure, but which left me (and many others) with a question: which is the most beautiful country of the world, Denmark or Italy? The mistery is still unsolved.

Second epic moment du jour, Cunego's interview right before his time trial. A RAI journalist asked a pretty shocked Damiano: 'You're a very good time trialist, do you think you can score a good result here?' Of course poor Cunego immediately felt the urge to make things clear: 'Oh my God, I'm not a good time trialist!' A few seconds later, to make things even more clearer, the Lampre rider adds: 'There is no dualism between Scarponi and me. You journalists are creating this fight, which doesn't exist at all, just like you did with Simoni and me back in 2004'. Amazing, isn't it? The Giro hasn't started yet, and Cunego has already had harsh words for the journalists. You've gotta love working with cyclists! Btw, in spite of this pre-start tragicomic interview, Cunego managed to score a decent time.

At about 6 pm, one thing became sure: Ramunas Navardauskas, Garmin rider who scored the best time of the race about 2 hours earlier, scored a very good result. We had the direct proof of it when Lancaster and Pinotti, who both went full gas, couldn't do better than the Garmin athlete.

At 6.30, however, the other favourites du jour reached the starting ramp and life for Navardauskas' time became harder.

Saxo Bank's Manuele Boaro, at his first GT, scored a great time and managed to break the spell that seemed to have been cast on Navardauskas' result. Unfortunately, the joy of Saxo Bank supporters didn't last long: a great Geraint Thomas, in fact, overtook the Italian shortly after.

At about 7 pm, one of the last riders began his race against time: Taylor Phinney, whose father won a Tour de France stage back in the 1980s and whose mother won the cycling road race at the 1984 Olympics. On the previous day a journalist had told Taylor: 'Your father won a stage at TdF, your mother was Olympic champion. Your family just lacks a victory at the Giro'. In spite of this and in spite of the pressure of being the favourite of the day, Taylor rode a very good time trial, never looked anxious and managed to score the best time of the day.

In the meanwhile, Frank Schleck scored a, ehm, decent time, just like Basso. However, since 'criticising the TT abilities of los Schlecks' is a national hobby here in Italy (a hobby I quite like too, actually), chronists started criticising the Luxembourgian rider. Luckily they were distracted by the fact that Larsson, Kwiatowski and Barta couldn't beat Phinney's time and, later, they were shocked by Scarponi's time, the worst one amongst the GC contenders. Actually, the chronists were so shocked that they stopped complaining about Frank Schleck's poor time trial abilities in order to start discussing Scarponi's form ahead of the Giro. At the same time, however, they also started praising the little Wonderkid of the day, Taylor Phinney, who yesterday got the pink, the white and the red jerseys of the race. Chapeau Taylor!

This morning the stage started at about 12.30 am. Three brave riders (Kaisen, Rubiano and Balloni) went on a breakaway as journalists and the rest of the cycling family were busy wishing 'happy birthday' to Roman Kreuziger and Francisco Ventoso.

The three breakawayers were caught with 39 kms to go, after a huge work by Ian Stannard. At that point, Danish rider Lars Bak escaped from the peloton and launched himself in a solo action which ended with about 17 kms to go. Nine kilometers later, the fact that I mentioned above took place: Phinney crashed, had a mechanical and lost some time. In spite of this, the boy looked very calm and relaxed, as if his pink jersey wasn't in danger. 'When you know you're strong, you don't show your nervousness', Italian chronist Davide Cassani said. After the finish-line, Taylor said that, although he looked very calm, 'I was actually very nervous inside and I was afraid I was going to lose the pink jersey'. Luckily, thanks to the help of his teammates (Tschopp, Ballan and D. Wyss: Phinney thanked them on tv as soon as he crossed the finish-line), the young American could keep the pink jersey. All's well that ends well, isn't it?

A few kms later, however, another drama moment took place. Today's stage had a hard right curve in the last 500 meters and that's where Theo Bos crashed together with poor Kristoff and Guardini. None of them was injured, but it was surely very frightening to see them crashing at such a high speed.

In spite of the crash, the other sprinters obviously kept on racing. Rabobank riders (Brown and Renshaw) tried to do their best after losing their captain, whereas Hushovd and Demare seemed unable to keep the pace of the fastest riders. Cavendish started his sprint with about 200 meters to go and he outsprinted Goss and the surprising Soupe. 4th was Farrar, 5th was Ferrari.

After the stage Cavendish dedicated the victory to his daughter Delilah and made one thing clear: 'I didn't tell journalists that I'm going to win 6 stages in this Giro, I simply told them that I want to win as many stages as possible!', he said, 'Cunego style'. Mark received the red jersey of the race, whereas Phinney kept the pink and the white ones. As he walked on the podium, his very proud mother looked simply delighted on the 'Processo alla tappa' stage and that was a very cute thing to see.

So, at the end of the first two Giro stages the balance is the following: a super happy Phinney wears the pink and the white jerseys and has won a stage, just like Cavendish. As for the GC contenders, so far Kreuziger is the best amongst them.

Tomorrow there's another flat stage, the third one of this Giro. I think none of you, dear readers, needs me to remind you what happened in the third stage of last year Giro, on that cursed descent called 'Passo del Bocco'. Hopefully, tomorrow's stage will be as beautiful as the 3rd stage of the 2010 Giro d'Italia: a long, exciting stage abroad, between the wind and sea of the Netherlands; a difficult finale, with a hard left curve; and a wonderful, handsome winner with a contagious laugh and a great enthusiasm. That amazing rider was Wouter Weylandt, the n. 108 of this Giro. Yes, because, although we can't see him, the Belgian boy with the lovely smile is still part of the Corsa Rosa, and will always be part of this competition and of the cycling family. A year has come and gone, but the cycling family hasn't forgotten you: WW Special, we miss you.

 

Giro preview: funny facts

Ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of the year again - that time of the year when the Giro finally starts and miss Fede follows the suggestion that 'Queen' included in their song 'Bicycle Race'. Yes, I mean exactly that suggestion, the one that goes 'bicycle races are coming your way, so forget all your duties oh yeah!' - the very same suggestion that will probably cause me to fail my Linguistics exam on the 16th of May. Still, the important thing is that the 2012 Giro is about to start. Finally, after months of random talks, it's time to let the legs do the talking. Still, before the beginning of the true race, let's enjoy this little post full of facts related to the Giro riders, divided by team. Have fun!

Lampre: the two main riders on the team are Cunego and Scarponi. According to some rumours, Stortoni (Lampre rider who's not riding the Giro) told a newspaper that Scarponi isn't actually that happy about Cunego's presence in the Corsa Rosa, which has been Michele's main target since last year.

Talking about Cunego, he said that he announced his decision to ride the Giro at the very last moment, because he wanted to keep it hidden as long as possible. One of Damiano's teammates is Spezialetti, who this year is taking part in the 14th Giro of his career. He first raced the Giro in 1997 and he was on Cunego' side when Damiano won the pink jersey in 2004.

Back to Scarponi, yesterday he received the trophy and the pink jersey of the 2011 edition of the race. After receiving them, he said: 'Alright, I have the trophy and the pink jersey, now I can go home'. Still talking about Scarponi, there's an important news about him: in August he'll become father of two boy twins. And, of course, he'd love to give them a great present by dedicating them the victory of this Giro.

AG2R: although underestimated, Gadret is one of the best climbers out there. Look out for this Frenchman who adores Italy, has an Italian wife and was a big supporter of Pantani!

ANDRONI: Rujano is ready to get on the podium of this race. Felline, on the other hand, is looking for a great international victory. This boy is very promising and very young and in the sprints he'll have to fight against champions like Cavendish, Hushovd and Farrar. Good luck Fabio!

ASTANA: As well as thinking about getting married, Roman Kreuziger is also thinking about winning the Giro. He's 26 year-old and, as he reminded some journalists, 'he still has plenty of time to improve'. The Czech will actually celebrate his birthday on Sunday, right during the Giro, and therefore he won't be able to fight for the white jersey classification. When a journalist told him about this, Roman went: 'Well, I'm getting old!' Instead, when a RAI chronist told him that he was considered one of the main contenders for the final victory, Roman pulled a perplexed face and went: 'I've heard those rumours, but...' and stopped the sentence there.

One of Roman's key teammates will be Gasparotto, who is very good at understanding how the race will unfold. As for the team's ds, Martinelli, Kreuziger has stated that he's always very nervous at the start of a GT, but then 'he calms down once the race begins'.

The final Astana line-up includes also Russian talent Egor Silin, Zeits, Kangert and Ponzi, who is a very strong Italian rider.

BMC: Ballan is a debutant in the Giro, Pinotti instead is a veteran of the pink race. Oh, and talking about Marco: on his flight from Orio al Serio (Bergamo) to Denmark, he read a book in English about phisiology. Amazing.
As for the other guys on the team, this afternoon Phinney showed everyone his skills in speaking the dialect spoken in Veneto. In fact, when asked, he said something about the fact that he would have liked to eat a pizza, but that he couldn't because he was racing the Giro. Still talking about Taylor, he's worked hard in order to win tomorrow's prologue - just think that yesterday he trained on the TT parcours at 7 pm, because tomorrow he'll be at the start-line at that hour. Oh, and when you see Taylor racing, check out his 'football style' shoes - they're faboulous!

COLNAGO: Pozzovivo would like to get a good result in the mountains. Apropos: Domenico is the only rider in this all-Italian team that won't be able to fight for the white jersey - aka, 8 riders out of 9 in this team are under 26. Amazing, isn't it?

FDJ: This team features Demare, the sprinter I'll be supporting in the next 3 weeks. The U23 World Champion was born in August 1991 and is therefore the youngest rider of the entire ProTour. Allez Arnaud!

GARMIN: Stetina had a collision with a car this afternoon, but luckily he wasn't injured by it. The accident took place on the TT parcours, which Garmin tried when the roads were still open to the traffic. The ds got very angry about it and said that Peter is still in a state of shock. Let's hope he'll recover soon from this frightening experience!

LIQUIGAS: Basso filmed the prologue with a videocamera placed on his handlebar, so that he'll be able to re-watch it this evening. He's ready to win his 3rd Giro and, for those who love numbers, here's a fact: the 2 Giros already won by Ivan both began outside Italy - and this Giro starts from Denmark. Funny, isn't it?
As for other Basso-related facts, Ivan went to the hairdresser right before leaving for Denmark, because even before winning those other 2 Giri he had had his hair cut just before the start of the race.
On to another Liquigas rider, Sabatini became father for the first time yesteday. Congratulations to Fabio and to his whole family!

MOVISTAR: Can I just say that I don't like Visconti's new haircut?

RADIOSHACK: On today's Gazzetta there was a huge article about Frank Schleck. In it the Luxembourgian said that, when Bruyneel called him to tell him about his partecipation in the Giro, he was at the park with his daughter. After Liége Frankie took 7 days off, but he thinks this could be an advantage for the 3rd week of race rather than a disadvantage. Moreover, for those who like coincidences, let's not forget that in 2008 Contador was on holiday in Cadiz when he received the order of going to the Giro, whereas in 2010 Nibali was on holiday in Sicily when he received that same order - and, in spite of this, Conti managed to win the 2008 Giro, whereas Vincenzo was 3rd and won the Monte Grappa stage in 2010.
Talking about the first part of his career, Frank said that he used to live in Veneto, in a flat in a village near Conegliano which had a kitchen, a bathroom and some bedrooms. He shared that flat ('in front of a church and next to the bank', he recalled) with other cyclists, but didn't really like that experience. 'I could say just 'ciao' and 'pizza' and I missed my family, so I stayed there for just 3/4 months. I came back the following year and things went much better on that second occasion. Still, my first period in Italy taught me how to be a man: I learned how to understand other people, I learned a new language, I learned how to take care of myself. In our flat we cooked, we went buying food, we did the houseworks'. Eventually, when a journalist told Frank that 'this Giro has very few TT kms and many climbs', Schleck replied by saying: 'Then I'll win it'. Let's hope so!

SKY: This Giro didn't start well for team Sky. Swift in fact crashed yesterday and broke his shoulder. Also Flecha was involved in the crash, but he luckily didn't break anything. Cavendish, however, looks very motivated: he's stated he'd like to win every sprint in this Giro and he's also said that, since the birth of his daughter, he tries to optimise the time he spends away from his family. Talking about the Giro, Mark also said that 'the Tour de France is job, the Giro is passion'.
Still talking about Cav, it must be said that his Italian has improved a lot lately - and this leads us to the 'riders and languages' topic: this afternoon Frank Schleck surprised everyone with a very good Italian, just like J. Rodriguez. As for Phinney and Kreuziger, their Italian is extremely good, but that's not a surprise :)

So, after briefly mentioning these funny facts about some of the Giro riders, let's nowmake some random predictions. As for tomorrow's prologue, I think the winner could be a rider chosen between Phinney, Bobridge, Boaro, Bos, Larsson, Christensen, Pinotti, Thomas, Hushovd, Farrar (now that I've said this, get ready to celebrate the victory of the only time trialist I didn't mention in this list ;)
Tomorow's prologue is very complicated, since it features 9 kms and 17 curves - let's hope Frank Schleck and Basso won't crash!
As for the Giro itself, I launch myself in a random podium prediction - and that prediction is: Basso, Scarponi, Rodriguez. Other podium-like riders are Kreuziger, Nieve, Gadret and, of course, Schleck.

So, that's all for now. Good night and happy Giro everyone - and good luck to the riders!

Frank Schleck's coming to the Giro/ Giro start list

Dear readers, the reason why I'm writing this post is that Frank Schleck has finally decided to take part in the Giro d'Italia. The news really came as a surprise to me, especially because:

 1) Jakob Fuglsang was expected to be Radioshack's leader in the Italian team
2) Bruyneel often denied that one of the Schleck brothers was coming to the Giro
3) Andy once said that racing the Giro would be a step back in his career, and I'm afraid that Frank probably agrees with him
4) one of the Schleck brothers racing a GT without his brother? Nah, you must be kidding me.

So, let's go in order and analyse the reasons,the contradictions and the hopes between Frank's presence in the Giro.

First of all, the Jakob Fuglsang's thing: the Danish rider had been focusing on the Italian race (which this year starts with a prologue in Denmark) since last winter and Basso has recently said that he really feared the Radioshack rider. And now, all of a sudden poor Fuglsang was replaced by Frank Schleck in the Radioshack line-up for the Giro. What happened? Well, let's take a step back. During Tour de Catalunya (March) poor Fuglsang broke the scaphoid bone in his hand - and this isn't actually the best thing that can happen to a rider who's preparing a Grand Tour. This week, instead, he had a tough time at Tour of Romandie. Jakob in fact ended the prologue of the race in 74th, with a 18" delay from the winner, Geraint Thomas. Said prologue was just 3.3 kms long, but we should consider that many time trialists who have the same characteristics of Jakob ended the race in the top 25.

Things didn't go any better in the first stage of the race, when Jakob reached the finish-line 5 minutes after stage winner Bradley Wiggins. The following day instead Fuglsang got a 7 minutes delay from the stage winner, Hivert. As for the 3rd stage, poor Jakob didn't even turn up at the start.

According to Radioshack, those bad results were due to an inflammation in Jakob's knee, which could have been caused by an equipment change (more precisely, Fuglsang has recently adopted a new pair of shoes) or by an overload of races. Radioshack doctor, interviewed by Daily Peloton, said something pretty wise about the injury of the Danish rider: "With a quick and intensive therapy, Jakob could possibly be able to start at the Giro, (...) but a good result would be out of the question. And if he had to drop out of the race after ten stages, what would have we accomplished?"

Of course, after Jakob's knee problems, Team Radioshack needed another rider who could lead the team in the Italian race. After all, one shouldn't forget that the team's owner, Flavio Becca, has Italian origins, and of course he would really love to see some of his riders doing well in his homecountry race. As a consequence of this, Bruyneel's choice fell on Frank Schleck, third at last year Tour.

People started rumouring about los Schlecks presence in the Giro already last winter, when the Tour de France route was announced. Many (me included) said that the brothers this year should have taken part in the Italian race, since the French one features 100 kms against the clock. Bruyneel at first seemed inclined to send Frank Schleck to the Giro and Andy to the Tour, but a few weeks ago he put an end to all discussions by saying that none of the brothers was coming to the Italian race. Said statement by the team ds followed a horrifying statement by the Schleck the Younger, who said that 'racing the Giro for me would be a stepback in my career'. Moreover, the brothers often stated that they give their best only when they're racing together. Therefore, the Italian supporters had already abandoned their hopes of seeing one of the Schleck racing in Italy in May. Luckily 'hopes dies last', and this year we'll finally be able to see one of the Luxembourgian brothers pedalling on the Italian roads. This obviously leads us to two problems:

1) will Frank be able to race well without his brother?

2) will he be able to go for a good result in the GC?

So, let's go in order. Imo, the answer to the first question is a loud 'YES'. I'm not a big supporter of 'the Schleck brothers should always race together!!!' theory, and I'm actually very happy to see that Bruyneel has managed to divide the brothers: one to the Giro, the other one to the Tour. Of course I think that Frank will take part in the Tour too, but he'll probably be just an helper for his younger brother. Imo, this is the perfect situiation. During last year Tour in fact I often had the feeling that Andy wasn't going full gas because he was always waiting for his brother - and, believe me, that was a very hateful sensation. This year instead Frank will probably be pretty tired after the Giro, so that at the Tour he'll be his brother's helper. As a consequence, Frank will be the key helper that Andy has always needed and, on the other hand, Andy will be able to attack 'a bloc' without feeling the urge of turning his head every 2 seconds to check whether Frank is on his wheel or not. Of course I'm still skeptical about Andy's chances of winning this year Tour, but now things look less dark than they did until this morning.

As far as the second question is concerned, instead, I truly believe that Frank will be able to achieve some good results during the Corsa Rosa. During AGR in fact the 32 year-old rider seemed to have a pretty good form, which can only improve in the upcoming weeks. Considering that this year the Giro riders will face the most difficult stages of the competition in the third week of race, in fact, Frank will have about two weeks time to improve his form ahead of the serious mountain stages - and, imo, this can only do him good.

As for the race parcours, this year the Giro has just a few uphill finish and many kms against the clock. Still, we must consider that Frank's adversaries for the GC (Scarponi, Basso, Gadret, Rujano, Pozzovivo, Nieve, Henao, Pardilla) aren't great time trialists. Actually, amongst the GC contenders the best time trialists seem to be Marco Pinotti and Roman Kreuziger. Still, will they be able to stand the penultimate stage, during which the riders will face Mortirolo and Stelvio one after the other? I don't think so.

As a consequence, I think that Frank has great chances of ending up in the top 5. Of course, given the absence of Menchov, me will support the Luxembourgian rider in a very fangirlistic way during the next three weeks - allez Frankie!

GIRO D'ITALIA START LIST:

After dedicating half of this post to Frank Schleck, let's now talk about the other GC contenders and let's take a look at all the teams that are taking part in the Corsa Rosa.

AG2R: Belletti, Berard, Bonnafond, Dupont, Gadret, Gastauer, Gazvoda, Montaguti, Perget. This team has the only French rider who prefers the Giro to his homecountry race: John Gadret. The light climber was 4th (3rd if you consider Contador's ban) in last year Giro and this year he's ready to create problems to the other riders again. As for Gadret's teammates, Hubert Dupont is a very good climber ('and a very good-looking boy', adds Fangirl). As far as the flat stages are concerned, the team's sprinter is the Italian Manuel Belletti, who won the Cesenatico stage of Giro 2010. Other riders on the team are the all-rounders Montaguti and Perget, the young Bonnafond, Gastauer and Berard (they were all born in 1987) and the 31 year-old Gregor Gazvoda, who is a GT debutant.

Androni Giocattoli: De Marchi, Felline, Ferrari, Ochoa, Rubiano, Rujano, Sella, Serpa, Jackson Rodriguez. The Italian team has some very good riders too. Rujano (winner of the Großglockner stage in last year Giro) is a pure climber who could end up on the podium. Sella and Serpa are very good climbers too, Rodriguez, Ochoa and Rubiano are excellent all-rounders, De Marchi is an interesting young rider. Ferrari and Felline are good sprinters from which many supporters expect a lot.

Astana: Dyachenko, Kiserlovski, Kreuziger, Petrov, Tiralongo. Astana hasn't communicated his official line-up yet. According to some sources, the missing spots in the team could be taken by 4 men chosen between Gasparotto, Guarnieri, Gavazzi, Ponzi, Kessiakoff and Seeldrayers. As for the riders who are sure to take part in the Italian race, Kreuziger is probably the best time trialist amongst the GC contenders. Nevertheless, in the last few years he's often had problems with getting regular results during GTs and this could be a problem for him. However, we should consider that this year the Czech rider completely focused on the Giro and, given that the parcours suits him more than ever, he could be a serious contender for the podium. Kiserlovski is another excellent rider who could even get a top 5 placement. Tiralongo is one of the best helpers of the peloton, whereas Dyachenko and Petrov (winner of L'Aquila stage a few years ago) are good all-rounders who could be dangerous in the breakaways.

BMC: Ballan, Frank, Hushovd, Phinney, Pinotti, Santambrogio, Santaromita, Tschopp, Wyss. Ballan finally has his debut in the homecountry GT: it was high time! He is a dangerous all-rounder, just like Tschopp. Pinotti is the team leader for the GC, Phinney is an excellent time trialist, Santambrogio is a good climber, just like Frank and Santaromita. Hushovd will go for the sprints and, if he has the chance, he may shows us a 'numero' like the ones he did in France last July. Oh, and remember that this team has a great line-up also for the  Verona TTT!

Colnago: Battaglin, Brambilla, Modolo, Pirazzi, Pozzovivo. The riders who could complete the team line up are Savini, Pagani, Lombardi and Locatelli. Colnago, as usual, has a very young team (the oldest rider, Pozzovivo, is 29). Nevertheless, the line-up is formed by very strong riders who can do well on different terrains. The above-mentioned Pozzovivo is a great climber, although in th last few years he's been haunted by bad luck. Pirazzi is a rider everyone adores for his brave style of racing, Modolo is an excellent sprinter who's recently got a victory in Tour of Turkey. Brambilla is a good climber, Battaglin is a very strong neo-pro.

Euskaltel: Cabedo, Cazaux, Nieve, Izagirre, Minguez, Oroz, Saez, Txurruka, Velasco. The team captain is Nieve, winner of the Gardeccia stage at Giro 2011. This year the Basque rider will go for another stage victory and for a top 10 in the GC. Txurruka, Velasco, Oroz are very experienced helpers, Cabedo, Izagirre, Minguez, Cazaux and Saez are good all-rounders.

Farnese Vini: Pozzato, De Negri, Failli, Favilli, Gatto, Guardini, Hulsmans, Mazzanti, Rabottini. This team hasn't got a GC contender, but it has many riders who know how to win GT stages. Pozzato is a very strong Classic rider and hopefully he'll be able to race without arguing with other riders during the key moments of the stages. Failli, Rabottini and De Negri will go for the breakaways, Hulsmans and Mazzanti are good climbers. Guardini is considered 'the Italian answer to Cavendish', Favilli and Gatto are both in a very good form and they're both decent, fast climbers.

FDJ: Bonnet, Casar, Delage, Démare, Mourey, Rasch, Rollin, Soupe, Veikkanen. The French team can count on the fast Arnaud Démare, which will have all my support during the sprints.  His lead-out train will probably be formed by Bonnet and Rollin. Casar could go for the GC, whereas Mourey, Rasch, Soupe, Veikkanen and Delage will try entering important breakaways.

olDekker, Farrar, Hesjedal, Rasmussen, Rosseler, Vandevelde. The American team has a very good line-up. Hesjedal will go for the GC and, imo, he could arrive in the top 10. Vandevelde is a very good climber too, just like Dekker. Farrar is one of the strongest sprinters of the field and will be helped by Rosseler. The team has some very good time trialists, so look out for them it the TTT.

Garmin: Beppu, Bobridge, Goss, Impey, Keukeleire, Lancaster, Christian Meier, Tuft, Vaitkus. This team hjyuis very good, especially when it comes to time-trialling. Bobridge could win the prologue, Goss and Impey are good sprinters. Lancaster and Beppu are fast too, whereas Keukeleire is young and talented. Tuft is an excellent time trialist, Meier and Vaitkus are good all-rounders.

Katusha: Joaquim Rodriguez, Horrach, Kristoff, Kuschynski, Losada, Moreno, Brutt, Smukulis, Vicioso. The Russian team has a very good line-up too. Rodriguez could end up in the top 5, Moreno is a great climber, Vicioso won the sadly famous Rapallo stage of last year Giro. Losada and Horrach are good helpers, Brutt and Kuschynski love breakaways. Kristoff and Smukulis are good all rounders.

Lampre: Cunego, Scarponi, Ulissi, Spezialetti, Pietropolli, Malori, Niemiec, Righi, Bono. The team leader is Scarponi, who could go for the final victory. Cunego will be a protected rider too, Niemiec will be a key helper in the climbs. Spezialetti, Righi and Bono are fast, just like Pietropolli. Malori is an excellent time trialist, Ulissi is one of the most talented guys in the peloton.

Liquigas: Basso, Agnoli, Bodnar, Capecchi, Caruso, Longo Borghini, Sabatini, Salerno, Szmyd. Ivan Basso will try winning another Giro, although his form doesn't look exceptional. The team has excellent helpers like Szmyd and Salerno (excellent climbers), Bodnar, Agnoli and Longo Borghini (very good all-rounders). Sabatini is fast, Caruso is a good climber, Capecchi won the San Pellegrino stage of 2011 Giro.

Lotto: Bak, Bille, Bulgac, De Clerq, De Greef, Hansen, Kaisen, Meermsman, Dennis Vanendert. Bille, Bulgac and D. Vanendert are young rider, de Clerq won the Montevergine stage at last year Giro. Hansen is fast, Meermsna is dangerous in the breakaways, Kaisen and Bak are good all-rounders. De Greef will go for a top 2.

Movistar: Amador, Bruseghin, Intxausti, Pardilla, Samoilau, Ventoso, Visconti. Very good line-up for the Spanish team. Bruseghin is a good GC rider, Pardilla is an excellent climber. Samoilau is a good GC rider too, Amador is a good climber, Ventoso is fast. Intxausti is a good all-rounder, Visconti will go for stage victories.

Omega: Chicchi, Cataldo, bandiera, Golas, Kwiatowski, Maes, Pauwels, Martin Velits, Vermote. Cataldo is a good GC rider who could make it to the top 10. Chicchi is a good sprinter, Velits a good time trialist. Pauwels, Maes, Golas, Kwiatowski and Vermote are good all-rounders, bandiera is pretty fast.

Rabobank: Renshaw, Bos, Brown, Clement, Garate, Leezer, niermann, Slagter, van Emden. Bos and Renshaw are excellent sprinters who'll be supported by Graeme Brown. Clement and Van Emden are good time trialists, Garate will go for a stage victory. Slagter is a talented rider, Niermann and Leezer are experienced all-rounders.

Radioshack: Frank Schleck, Bennati, Hermans, Kloden, Nizzolo, Rohregger, Oliveira, Zaugg. Radioshack definitely has a good team. Schleck could go for the podium, Oliveira, Hermans and Kloden will help the team in the TTT. Nizzolo and Bennati are both very fast, even if Daniele has been haunted by bad luck in the last few years. Zaugg and Rohregger are very good climbers. ps: the team still has to name 2 riders.

Sky: Cavendish, Eisel, Henao, Thomas, Uran, Flecha, Kennaugh, Swift, Stannard. Sky has a very good team. World Champion Cavendish will be helped by Eisel, Swift, Kennaugh and Stannard during the sprints, whereas Thomas is an excellent time trialist and an excellent all-rounder. Henao is a great climber, just like Uran. Flecha is a very strong and experienced rider who could for a stage victory. Look out for this team in the prologue!

NetApp: Barta, Brandle, Benedetti, Dietziker, Hollenstein, Huzarski, Schorn, Saubert. Huzarski is a good climber, just like Hollenstein. Barta is a good time trialist, Brandle is very young and talented. The other rider are good all-rounders who'll try entering good breakaways.

Saxo Bank: JJ Haedo, Boaro, Jorgensen, Christensen, LS Haedo, Lund, Roberts, Tanner, Tosatto. Haedo is a good sprinter and he'll be able to count on his brother. Boaro is a good time trialist, Lund and Christensen are good all-rounders. Tanner is a promising rider, Roberts is pretty fast, just like Jorgensen. Tosatto has had a wonderful spring and he'll go for a stage win.

Vacansoleil: Carrara, De Gendt, Denifl, R. Feillu, Keizer, Lagutin, Larsson, Marczynski, Selvaggi. This team has a lot of men who could for stage wins. Carrara is a good climber, just like Denifl. De Gendt is a very strong all-rounder, just like Lagutin. Selvaggi, Keizer and Marzcynski will go for a stage win, Feillu is a good sprinter. Larsson could win a time trial and do well in the GC.

So, this is the Giro line-up for the moment. Bruyneel has just said that, in his opinion, the strongest GC riders are Kreuziger, Scarponi and Basso. I agree with him and I think that Frank Schleck seriously has a chance of winning this year race. Allez Frank!

The Classics from my point of view - a long post full of random observations:

I know, I know. I haven't written anything on this blog for the last 3 weeks, but now inspiration has finally visited me again (Liège - Bastogne - Liége, thank you very much for that).

The classic season is over and I've got thousands of things to talk about. Therefore, let's start immediately.

TOUR OF FLANDERS:

Tour of Flanders was won by an amazing Tom Boonen, who broke clear from the peloton together with Pozzato and Ballan. During the North Classics this latter rider showed that he's finally back at a top level again and I was very happy for this. As for Pozzato, Pippo is a very strong rider, but unfortunately I have the feeling he doesn't always manage to connect his brain and his legs in a very successful way. As a consequence, although I must admit I was very impressed by his quick recovery (I mean, he broke his collarbone just two months ago, but he managed to get excellent results in the Classics anyway), I have the feeling that, perhaps, Pippo could have achieved even better results both in Flanders and in Roubaix, if only had he used his brain more carefully.

Talking about Flanders, the decisive move was made by Ballan with about 20 kms to go. This year the parcours of the race didn't include the Kapelmuur (personally, I didn't like this choice at all) and so the Italian decided to attack on Oude Kwaremont. Ballan was immediately followed by his countryfellow Pozzato and by Tom 'Tornando' Boonen.
On the last climb du jour, the Paterberg (will I ever learn to spell it correctly without looking it up somewhere?), for a moment it looked as if the two Italians were going to drop Tornado Tom. This caused Eurosport's Italian chronist to start rejoicing like mad. More precisely, that man started screaming 'And we make it! And we make it! We've dropped Boonen, we've dropped Boonen! with a very hateful voice, which caused my father and I to get very annoyed, especially because the chronist's words didn't actually correspond to what our eyes were seeing. In fact Boonen never looked worried by presence of the two Italians, which in the last kms of the race never managed to create him problems.

In the last 2 kms of race, Ballan tried to attack and drop the Belgian champion. Pozzato, instead, thought he could beat Tommeke in a sprint and didn't even bother trying a little attack. Of course this was a great advantage for Tom, which won the final sprint without problems. Second in the race was Pozzato, third was Ballan. 4th was Van Avermaet, 5th an amazing Sagan. A surprising Voeckler instead was 8th.

Still talking about Flanders, there are a few important things I'd like to point out. Firstly, I'd like to mention Taylor Phinney's presence in the morning breakaway. The BMC rider is considered one of the strongest young guns of the peloton (if you speak Italian, check out http://thecyclingoflife.wordpress.com/ to read some interesting facts about him) and I really appreciated seeing him on the move. Secondly, I was very impressed by Peter Sagan's strength in the finale of the race. After losing contact because of Vanmarcke's crash, in fact, the Slovakian rider needed just a very little time to close the gap between himself and the riders ahead him. Seriously, that boy has a wonderful engine. Moreover, he is very intelligent. And classy. And... Well, alright, I'll admit it: I've crushed on him. Is there any other Sagan' supporter out there? :P

Last but not least, I'd like to talk a bit about Fabian Cancellara's crash. Imo, in fact, the image of Fabian lying on the asphalt in the feed zone will be stuck in the supporters' minds for a very long time. I'm not a big Cancellara lover (he's a great rider, but I simply don't like him as much as I like Sagan or Rolland or Voeckler or Menchov or many other riders), but watching the Swiss champion in that condition really hurt me. After all,over the last few years we supporters have got used to considering Cancellara like a true superhero: he won Roubaix with a suicide attack with 50 kms to go, he never had problems with doping or things like that, he won stages at the Tour, he was third in a World Championship, he won Eroica although he was mourning the loss of his uncle. That crash reminded us of Fabian's vulnerability and was a very sad sight. Especially because Cancellara, one of the best bike riders of the peloton, crashed because of another rider's lack of attention, and not because of a mistake of his.

Watching one of the favourites being taken out of the race because of a crash was really sad for us supporters, but many riders were probably sorry for Cancellara's crash too. In fact not only Fabian has many friends inside the peloton, but right after Boonen's victory, many journalists started wondering whether the Belgian would have won if Cancellara had raced. In my opinion, Tommeke answered that question seven days later, on the prestigious Roubaix stage.

PARIS-ROUBAIX:

Paris-Roubaix is a race for heroes. 260 kms between dust, cobblestones and supporters, 260 kms of pain, fatigue and cycling history. Some take part in this race because they want a victory, but most of the riders just hope they can survive the evilness of the French cobblestones. Some riders adore this race, some hate it. Still, everyone is fascinated by this competition which requires braveness, strength and good luck from tose who'd like to win it.

At the start line of the this year Paris-Roubaix there was also Frederic Guesdon, at the last race of his career. The Frenchman, who broke his femur in January and won Roubaix in 1997, ended the race in 88th and said adieu to professional cycling as soon as he reached the Paris velodrome.

Unfortunately for me, at the start line there wasn't Peter Sagan, one of the cyclists that I like the most.

The key moment of this year Roubaix starred the exceptional Nicki Terpstra, Tom Boonen, Alessandro Ballan and Filippo Pozzato. With about 58 kms to go, Boonen attacked and was followed by Ballan and Pozzato. Soon Tommeke was joined by his teammate Terpstra, which started pulling at the front of the little group of riders. Then, all of a sudden, something absurd, comical and shocking happened: Pozzato and Ballan started arguing, and they just let the QuickStep couple ride away. Perhaps the Italians thought that Tommeke couldn't win with an attack at that point of the race ('After all, Boonen isn't Cancellara', they probably thought), but unfortunately this didn't save them from the waterfall of critics that supporters directed towards them after the race. On the following cobblestone sector, in fact, Tom Boonen showed that he was attacking for good and, with 53 kms to go, he said 'see you after the finish-line' to Terpstra and started a lonely ride towards Roubaix velodrome. Soon Boonen's gap on the poursuivants started growing and, by the end of the day, Tommeke had created a 1'39" minute wide ocean between him and his followers. Tom entered the velodrome alone, in triumph, and by doing so he also entered cycling history: immediately after the finish-line in fact Boonen received the 'monsieur Roubaix' title, which so far had been given just to Roger de Vlaeminck, winner of 4 Roubaix. Now Tom has won the same number of Roubaix as 'Roger 'The Gipsy' De Vlaeminck and he still has plenty of time to improve his list of triumphs.

Second in the race was Turgot, third was Ballan. Pozzato crashed with a few kms to go and then retired. As Pippo reached the Farnese Vini bus, Boonen was rejoicing in the velodrome, surrounded by journalists and supporters ready to celebrate the rebirth of a great cyclist who had faced his personal hell just one year earlier.
In a few words, Tom Boonen's 4th Roubaix was a true masterpiece, since the Belgian decided to attack on his own with 53 kms to go, although he was one of the few riders who could afford themselves to wait for the final sprint in the velodrome. Still, Tommeke decided to risk it all and go for the heroical deed. He was brave, ambitious and also a bit crazy, and this paid off in the end. Tornado Tom won his 4th Roubaix 'a la Cancellara', showing that he's a true champion and that he can win Classics even by attacking with 53 kms to go. Chapeau Tom, you were simply amazing.

AMSTEL GOLD RACE:

After the cobblestones and the walls of the North Classics, time arrived to move to the Ardennes for the following races: Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne, Liége - Bastogne - Liége. Many of the faces in the peloton changed, a few remained. And here I must mention Sylvain Chavanel, who took part both in the North and in the Ardennes Classics. Chapeau!

A few days before Amstel, the riders faced Brabantsje Pil, which was won by an amazing Voeckler. This race didn't give supporters many information about the riders' form, so that at the start of Amstel Gold Race none of the riders looked stronger than the others.
Amstel was as nervous as usual. The riders had to pay attention to the narrow streets and during the race many of them also thought about this year World Championships, which is ending atop of Cauberg.
With about 16 kms to go, the situation at the front of the race was still very chaotic. There were still many riders all together and no one seemed stronger than the other ones. With 7 kms to go, a huge surprise: Oscarito Freire, the rider one usually sees when it's too late to take the victory away from him, attacked.
The Spaniard's kamikaze move caused some problems to the other riders and Oscarito led the race until he reached the '500 meters to go' sign. At that point, the generous Katusha rider had to abandon his dreams of victory, whereas the climbers who had remained in the peloton until that moment attacked. Gilbert, probably moved by his pride, launched an attack. The Ardennes are his favourite races, but this year Philippe wasn't as strong as last year. Still, he tried to honour these Classics as well as he could by attacking whenever he had the chance. Unfortunately, after his attack Phil immediately lost speed and was passed by three riders. Those 3 riders there were the young Peter Sagan, last Tour's revelation Jelle Vanendert, together with the Italian Enrico Gasparotto.
Every single Italian supporter in those last 20 meters of race started screaming like mad, hoping for an Italian victory in a Classic - a victory which would have put an end to Italy's long fast in the Classics, which started back in October 2009, when Cunego won the Tour of Lombardy for the third time. Every single Italian supporter screamed, some jumped on their sofa, others simply supported Enrico in silence. And finally, that long-awaited victory arrived.
After the finish-line Gasparotto couldn't believe what he had done, whereas Vanendert outsprinted poor Sagan in the very last few meters of the race. Fourth was Freire, fifth Voeckler, sixth was Gilbert.
On the podium, Gasparotto was simply euphoric, whereas Sagan had the usual, sad expression: the boy is young, he still has plenty of years to prove his strength to everyone. In the meanwhile, in this past few weeks he's added to his young palmares a 4th place in Sanremo, a 2nd place in Gand - Wevelgem, a 5th place in Flanders and a 3rd place in Amstel. Many older riders would be ready to pay a large sum of money in order to get those placements!

FLECHE WALLONE:
Three days later, cycling supporters could enjoy another ride on the Classics merry-go-round. This time the main attraction at the cycling luna-park was the mur de Huy, a short climbs that every year in April leads many riders to hell and just one of them to heaven. 1,3 kms, 9,9 % of average steepness and a curve that make you dizzy just by looking at it from behind a tv screen. That's Huy, baby.
The race slowly went away without many emotions. Then, in the final kilometre, the usual breathtaking battle started. Hesjedal and Nordhaug, the last attackers du jour, soon disappeared in the back rows of the peloton as the grimpeurs started looking for the perfect attack that could lead them to glory. As a few riders was battling for victory, most of the athletes just focused on getting to the finish-line. The mur is a strict judge and you need explosive legs to win on it.
With a few hundreds of meters to go Joaquim Rodriguez, the main favourite of the race, second both in 2010 and 2011, managed to shoot the above-mentioned 'perfect attack'. He challenged the wall and, as the other riders tried to follow him in vain, he grabbed the most prestigious victory of his career. Meanwhile, a super Albasini got the second place, whereas Gilbert was 3rd on the climb that gave him one of his greatest victories last year. 4th was Vanendert, 5th Kiserlovski. Another Classic, another exciting race. And, once in a while, a winner that many expected.
Now, everything was ready for Liége - Bastogne - Liége.

LA DOYENNE:

April. Sun and rain take turns in Liége, cyclists and supporters gather in the Belgian city. Another Liége – Bastogne – Liége, the 98^th in the history of cycling, is about to take off.
La Doyenne is an exciting race, which can give you thrills at any time of the day. And so on Sunday, although midday hadn't arrived yet and although the race still hadn't begun, some important news already reached the supporters: 'Igor Anton, Euskaltel rider, fractures his collarbone in a pre-race crash, therefore he won't take part in the Doyenne' . Crazy, crazy news for everyone; Bad, bad luck for poor Igor.

On Sunday the atmosphere in Liége was different from the one of last year, when everyone was ready to celebrate Philippe Gilbert's 'triplete' in the Ardennes. This year in fact the first two Ardennes Classics didn't crown an absolute king and, as a consequence of this, on Sunday morning the journalists and the supporters gathered in Liége or parked in front of their tv screens did their best to try and understand who could have won the 98th edition of la Doyenne.
Philippe Gilbert, third in Fleche, looked good on mur de Huy, but this year his form never looked as good as it was last April. The Schleck brothers, in spite of all their talks, this year haven't had great results yet. Valverde, after getting wonderful results at Tour Down Under, seems to be suffering the consequences of his two-year ban. Joaquim Rodriguez, winner of la Fleche, needs hard, steep climbs that lead directly to the finish-line to win. And, unfortunately for him, in Liége's finale there are no steep climbs that lead directly to the finish-line. Nibali is strong and is in form, but he has to reach the final km on his own if he wants to win a race like la Doyenne. Gasparotto, winner of AGR, is in a wonderful form, but Liége's finale is very different from Amstel's one. Kiserlovski and Iglinskiy are in good form too, just like Hesjedal and Daniel Martin. Still, are they good enough to win a Liége? Voeckler is an old cunning pirate and is ready to give battle. Still, heart and braveness often aren't enough to win in cycling. Rolland, Voeckler's lieutenant, is strong and young - perhaps even too young to win. So, who amongst them will win this race? This was the question that every cycling lover often asked themselves on Sunday.

As soon as the race started and the peloton left Liége, some brave riders attacked. Amongst them there were the above mentioned Rolland and the Italian Dario Cataldo, which will later be joined by the strong Kiryenka. The trio will remain at the head of the race until the key climb of the race, la Roche aux Fauçons, where in the last three years Andy Schleck, Alexander Vinokourov and Philippe Gilbert built part of their triumphs in the Doyenne.

On the Roche aux Fauçons, the first important events take place: Valverde has a mechanical, just like Voeckler (the unlucky Samuel Sanchez had already punctured on la Redoute); Frank Schleck instead is dropped, whereas his brother never showed up at the front of the race.
 Radioshack blamed their riders' lack of results on the cold weather, many supporters (me included) blamed it on their lack of form. Still, in the last months I've learned to watch races without caring about the results of two certain Luxembourgian brothers, and this lesson really paid off during Sunday's race.

On the second part of the Roche aux Fauçons, the trickiest one, Vincenzo Nibali, the Shark from Messina, attacked. Gilbert, supported by his supporters, followed him, but on the top of the climb Nibali attacked again and started a lonesome ride towards Liége. Just like in last year Lombardy, Vincenzo tried to surprise anyone with a move that raised the enthusiasm of the supporters and the critics of some journalists.
The gap between the Liquigas rider and his poursuivants soon started to increase, increase and increase: at a certain point, Vincenzo even had almost 40" of advantage on the followers. Just like during Amstel, all the Italian tifosi were supporting their countryman on his quest towards success. Nibali was supported by his country, by the Italian who live on Cote Saint Nicolas (also known as 'the climb of the Italians' because many Italian migrants live there), by his ds, by his friends, by his parents and by his girlfriend, who was waiting for him in Liége. Behind him, Mollema and Iglinskiy tried to chase him, then the Dutch gave up and Iglinskiy was joined by Rodriguez in his attempt of catching Nibali. Then, on cote de Saint Nicolas, Maxime dropped the Katusha rider and decided to give it all to reach the Italian.

Nibali was pulling hard, everyone was dreaming about a victory of his. Finally it looked as if, after many good placements in the Classics, the 2010 Vuelta winner was really going to win a important one-day race. Unfortunately, just like in last year Lombardy, things weren't meant to go that way.

Liége - Bastogne - Liége doesn't actually end in the Belgian city, it actually ends in Ans, a little village which is 1800 meters far from the town that gives its name to la Doyenne. And, on his way to Ans, Vincenzo Nibali started feeling the fatigue of the race. Iglinskiy looked closer and closer to the Italian and, with 1300 meters to go, Maxim reached Vincenzo and rode past him, before disappearing on the horizon. A nightmare for Vincenzo, a dream for Maxim. A bad luck spell for the Italian, a desire that comes true for the Astana rider.

Iglinskiy crossed the finish-line in first, and in triumph. He was happy, he kept smiling at everyone, his friends couldn't stop congratulating him. 'Tonight we're going to have a Kazakh party!!', he said shortly after the race, when he still hadn't realised the importance of his victory.

Nibali, instead, after the end of the race was the portait of disappointment. He crossed the finish-line and he looked sad and disappointed, as sad and disappointed as an athlete can be. After the race the Liquigas rider sincerely admitted, that perhaps, 'it would have been better if I had been defeated by someone like Gilbert'.
Not many expected Iglinskiy to win, and this was clearly said by Voeckler in the post-race interview with RAI. During it the Frenchman, who took the 4th place in the race behind an amazing Gasparotto, asked an Italian journalist to congratulate Nibali for his victory. When the surprised journalist told Thomas that Vincenzo hadn't won, the Europcar rider looked pretty shocked and said that yesterday 'the strongest one was Vincenzo'. Honesty is the best policy, isn't it?
After the race Iglinskiy was probably too happy to pay attention to Voeckler's words, but he probably soon realised that many journalists thought that Nibali deserved the victory in la Doyenne more than him. Still, in my opinion Maxim fully deserved this victory, also because in the last few years he's regularly showed some very good things in the Classics. Alright, Nibali rides in a much more spectacular way, but unfortunately you need also legs and luck to win races. And, on Sunday, Nibali probably had less strength than Maxim (who, we must remember it, was also helped by Rodriguez and Mollema on his attempt of chasing the Liquigas rider) and he surely had less luck than the Kazakh.

Talking about Nibali, one thing must be said: whereas nowadays many cyclists tend to focus just on a few races pro year and peak just once or twice pro season, Vincenzo is a true rider, one that always races to win, no matter the importance of the race, the weather or the time of the year. In addition he's generous, he's brave and he attacks whenever he can. And, although this doesn't always pay off, I think most of the supporters really appreciate his riding style. Now I only hope Nibali won't spend too much time thinking about this year Liége and about last year Lombardy. You need luck to win races, and I'm sure that one day Nibali will be lucky enough to triumph in at least one important Classic. Also Evans was considered an eternal second until a few years ago, but now he's won the Worlds, a Fleche and a Tour de France. And, in my opinion, Nibali has everything it takes to step on the highest spot of the podium in each of these races I've mentioned.

As far as the other riders are concerned, I think a special mention should go to the Europcar guys, Voeckler and Rolland. Although Thomas now probably has one friend less in the peloton (I'm talking about Iglinskiy), on Sunday he showed that he can be dangerous even in the hardest races of the year. As for Rolland, he was probably one of the strongest riders (if not THE strongest) on Sunday, but his team sacrificed him for the old captain Voeckler. Still, the boy has a brilliant future ahead.

Gilbert, the local hero, ended the race about 1'30" after Iglinskiy. At the finish-line he almost smiled, as if he wanted to thank his supporters anyway. At least, it must be said that Philippe showed himself at the head of the race on a few occasions, whereas other riders (los Schlecks, Horner, Valverde) were never at the center of the action.
However, criticising people is useless, because that surely won't change the final outcome of the race.
So: another Classics season is over, another Liége winner has been crowned. And, once again, cycling has offered us a unique show. Now, it's time to move on the Giro. Yeah!

ps: in case you're wondering, my offline life is going very well. I'll have 3 exams and a half in the next month, but I'll try my best to find some time to blog about the Giro. Hoping you're all doing fine, I wish you a nice evening. See you soon!

ps2: if you speak Italian, I suggest you taking a look at Claudia's new blog, http://thecyclingoflife.wordpress.com/ . It's definitely worth reading!!!

Tour of Flanders start list:

Alright, my dear readers. After 3 weeks of 'studio matto e disperatissimo', on Tuesday I've finally taken (and passed) my history exam. Therefore, after spending three weeks of my life learning the name of every Pope that walked on this Earth between 1492 and 1796, me finally has some well-deserved free time. As a consequence me has finally been able to reply all the comments that you, faithful readers, have left on this blog in the lat few weeks (I know, it was high time!!) and to create this post about the upcoming Tour of Flanders.
Flanders is probably my second favourite Classics right after Milan-Sanremo and I'm really looking forward to it. This year the riders won't face the famous Kapelmuur (also known as 'Grammont'), but they'll face for three times in a row Oude Kwaremont, Koppenberg and Paterberg. Experts say that the race will be harder than usual this year, but of course most of the supporters don't agree with the exclusion of the Kapelmuur.

Talking about the possible contenders for the victory, here's the start list of the race (source: Cylingnews), to which I added the usual little comments of mine. Enjoy!

SAXO BANK: Tosatto, Jorgensen, Klostergaard, Kroon, Lund, Marycz, Morkov, Roberts. The team of last year winner, without said winner. Nick Nuyens in fact broke his hip during the first stage of Paris-Nice, so that he won't be able to take part in tomorrow's race. Team Saxo Bank has a good team anyway , even if so far none of the riders that form it has ever had a major result in a Classic. Still, Kroon, Tosatto, Kastergaard and Lund (breakawayer at last week's Gand-Wevelgem) are very experienced, whereas Marycz, Jorgensen and Morkov are young and talented guys who could take part in a breakaway.
BMC TEAM: Gilbert, Ballan, Schaer, Hincapie, Hushovd, Van Avermaet, Burghardt, Quinziato. BMC probably has the strongest Cobblestone team in the world. Gilbert doesn't seem in good form, that's true, but this team can still count on Thor Hushovd and Greg Van Avermaet, with Quinziato, Burghardt, Ballan and Hincapie ready to help their captains with their talent and experience. Hushovd will probably race as main captain, whereas Van Avermaet is likely to be the protected rider in the team. Look out for these guys!
OMEGA PHARMA QUICKSTEP: Boonen, Chavanel, Devenyns, Maes, Steegmans, Terpstra, Trentin, Vandenbergh. After winning Gand-Wevelgem, Tom Boonen is very determined to win at least another Classic this month. Tommeke is strong and experienced and he has a very good team too. Moreover, he's showed that he's in a very good form. Devenyns, Steegmans and Vandenbergh are experienced helpers, whereas Chavanel is the team's protected rider. Terpstra is in a very good form too, whereas Trentin is young but talented.
LOTTO BELISOL: Bille, Cordeel, Debusschere, Dehaes, Van Genechten, Dockx, Sieberg, Willems. Lotto's team is a mixture of experience (Willems, Sieberg, Dockx) and young guns (Bille, Debusschere Cordeel) who will probably try entering a breakaway.
SKY PROCYCLING: Boasson Hagen, Eisel, Flecha, Hayman, Hunt, Knees, Stannard, Sutton. Flecha is the team leader, although he's had some physical problems in the last few days. If tomorrow he doesn't feel weel, his role in the team will probably be taken by Boasson Hagen, who was the team leader also at last week Gand-Wevelgem. The rest of the team is formed by very experienced and good helpers, amongst which there is also Eisel, winner of 2009 Gand-Wevelgem.
AG2R LA MONDIALE: Belletti, Elmiger, Goddaert, Gazvoda, Lemarchand, Minard, Mondory, Houanard. Ag2r has a team formed by talented breakawayers like Minard, Mondory, Elmiger and Houanard. Moreover the team has a fast guy like Belletti.
GREENEDGE: Goss, Cooke, Langeveld, Keukeleire, O'Grady, Tuft, Vaitkus, Wilson. This very talented and successful team, after winning Sanremo, is ready to tackle the Cobblestone classics too. The team's line-up is an explosive mixture of experienced champions (O'Grady), strong helpers who can also play their own cards (Cooke and Tuft) and a few young guns who are ready to give their best to win this Classic (Langeveld, Goss, Keukeleire). This team doesn't fear anyone and its riders will probably be up there even in the last part of the race.
ASTANA: Bazayev, Bozic, Gruzdev, Guarnieri, M. and V. Iglinsky, Murayev, Fofonov. The Kazakh team has a good line-up for tomorrow. Guarnieri is a strong sprinter and is also in a very good form, whereas Maxim Iglinskiy is a very good Classic rider and hopefully tomorrow he'll show us something good.
EUSKALTE-EUSKADI: Cazaux, Garcia Ambroa, Bilbao, Minguez Ayala, Perez Lezaun Perez Moreno, Saez, Urtasun Perez. The Basque team is built to get victories on the steep climbs of the Grand Tours, so tomorrow its riders will probably try to enter some morning breakaways while waiting for the Ardennes to arrive.
FDJ: Bonnet, Boucher, Chainel, Geslin, Ladagnous, Guesdon, Delage, Rollin. Dear readers, let's all dedicate a standing ovation to Frederic Guesdon. This 39 year-old rider in fact had a very serious crash at TDU, but he's been able to recover in time for his great farewell to competitive cycling, which is planned for next week Paris-Roubaix. Frederic is a tough rider and I'm sure he'll try getting a good result also tomorrow, even if his form isn't that good. However, one thing is sure: there will be lots of people cheering for this guy tomorrow!
KATUSHA: Porsev, Cabre, Freire, Vantomme, Gusev, Kristoff, Kuchinskiy, Paolini. The Russian team has some good cards to play tomorrow. Gusev is a good cobble-rider, just like Kuchinskiy. Paolini is a very experienced all-rounder, whereas Freire can always be dangerous.
LAMPRE: Righi, Mori, Buts, Cimolai, Graziato, Hondo, Krivstov, Viganò. The Italian team, who's facing a storm of doping accusations right now, doesn't have a precise leader for tomorrow. As a consequence, Davide Viganò may get a chance to try and make his own race. Allez Davide!
MOVISTAR: Amador, Erviti, Herrada Lopez, Konovalovas, Lastras, Gutierrez, Ventoso, Visconti. Movistar has a good team. Visconti in fact is fast and resistant, whereas Lastras is one of the best all-rounders out there. Konovalovas is a strong rider too, just like Ventoso.
LIQUIGAS: Sagan, Bodnar, Da Dalto, Sabatini, King, Koren, Marangoni, Oss. Liquigas has really grown on me this year and tomorrow I'll probably be rooting for Peter Sagan. The boy is resistant, fast, cunny and in a very good form. Although he's unexperienced (after all, he was born just in 1990), I think he definitely has the skills to win tomorrow's race. Together with him tomorrow there will be other good riders like Bodnar, Sabatini, Koren and Oss.
RABOBANK: Boom, Van Emden, Breschel, Leezer, Tankink, Tjallingii, Van Winden, Wijnants. The Dutch team always has a good line-up for the cobble races. Boom is fast and resistant, whereas Breschel is back at top level after a year ruined by crashes and injuries. The Danish is in good form, strong and fast. Let's hope he's also lucky tomorrow!
GARMIN: Farrar, Haussler, Klier, Maaskant, Bauer, Rathe, Vansummeren, Vanmarcke.  Here's another very good line-up. Farrar and Haussler are both fast and resistant, even if the captain of the team tomorrow should be the young Vanmarcke. I've always liked Sep and I'm sure he'll do everything he can to remain with the strongest riders until the end of the race. Also Maaskant and Vansummeren are very strong riders and I'm sure they'll do their best too tomorrow.
RADIOSHACK: Cancellara, Bennati, Gallopin, Irizar, Nizzolo, Popovych, Roulston, Rast. Cancellara is back at super-high level, Bennati is in a wonderful form, Popovch is a great helper. The Swiss rider is probably the main favourite for tomorrow and the other riders will have a tough time trying to keep him in check.
VACANSOLEIL: Devolder, Boeckmans, Larsson, Leukemans, Marcato, Mol, Selvaggi, Westra. Leukemans is a great cobble-rider, Westra is an all-rounder, Marcato is fast and resistant. Add Devolder (winner of 2 Tours of Flanders) and you get a very good team.
TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN: De Vreese, Lietaer, Neirynck, Van Hecke, Vanspeybrouck, Vandousselare, Jacobs, Wallays. Topsport isn't a very famous team, but every year it offers us some interesting riders to watch during the Cobble Classics, so I'm very happy to see they were invited to the race also this year.
LANDBOUWKREDIET: Amorison, Barbe, Juodvalkis, Commeyne, De Waele, Hovelynck, Planckaert, Traksel. Landbouwkrediet is another good team, even if it isn't really famous. In its line-up it has guys like De Waele, Amorison, Planckaert and Traksel, guys who could even make it to the top 15.
ACCENT JOBS - WILLEMS: Hoste, Cappelle, van Groen, Van Melsen, Scheirlincx, Van Dijck, Goris, Van Landschoot. Accent Jobs has two strong riders like Hoste (one of the best - and most unlucky - cobble riders out there) and Scheirlinckx, so look for it!
FARNESE VINI: Hulsmans, Ascani, De Negri, Failli, Gatto, Mazzanti, Pozzato. Gatto is in a very good form, just like Pozzato. If Pippo wins, however, La Gazzetta will keep publishing photos of him for the next two years - and I'm absolutely not ready to stand a sight like that for such a long time.
PROJECT 1T4I: Degenkolb, Curvers, De Backer, Veelers, Klemme, Sinkeldam, Stramsnijder, van Zandbeek. Another team with a very good line-up: Degenkolb is in a very good form, Klemme is a great cobble-rider and Stamsnijder is a good and experienced helper.
EUROPCAR: Voeckler, Chavanel, Gautier, Géne, Jerome, Pichot, Turgot, Veilleux. The key word of this team is 'breakaway' and tomorrow Voeckler, Jerome, Gautier, Pichot and Turgot will surely do their best to show their green jerseys in an important breakaway.
TEAM NETAPP: Bugnies, Hollenstein, Eichler, Jarc, Schillinger, Schulze, Seubert, Schwarzmann. I just know one thing about this team: Hollenstein is a promising, brave rider and I'm sure he'll try doing something tomorrow.

So, this is the start-list for tomorrow. My picks for the podium? Sagan, Boonen and Cancellara. However, keep an eye also on Pozzato, Hushovd, Langeveld, Flecha, Leukemans, Degenkolb and Breschel. That's all for the moment, have a nice Saturday and enjoy Flanders!

Milan-Sanremo review:

Milan-Sanremo is probably my favourite Classic. It starts in the grey Milan, it ends in front of the sea. It is the longest Classic, but the name of the race winner is usually decided by the last 50 meters. It is a race made of allies, plans, strategies. And at the same time it is a race in which allies, plans and strategies count nothing at all.

Mark Cavendish was considered one of the race favourites yesterday morning. The Manx rider had a great team around him and he was ready to get his second victory in Sanremo, 3 years after his first success in La Classicissima. This is an important year for Cannonball: the Olympic Games in London, the world champion jersey, the responsibility and the honour of racing for a British team... He would have liked to shine yesterday afternoon, but his chances of winning Sanremo suddenly crashed against le Manie climb. The whole team Sky tried to help the Manx rider, but Mark couldn't get back on the peloton. And he still hasn't found a reason for his debacle.

Another rider who had big ambitions for yesterday race was Tom Boonen. The Belgian is ready to give his best this year and he's already achieved some victories in the first three months of the season. Unfortunately, yesterday he had a lot of bad luck: in fact a rider crashed in front of him during the crazy Poggio descent and Tommeke could do nothing but brake. Adieu Sanremo, adieu dreams of victories.

Good luck wasn't generous with the Belgians yesterday. Philippe Gilbert crashed on the Cipressa, whereas Greg Van Avermaet hit the ground with about 200 meters to go. The BMC rider had a heavy crash, just like the Italian promise Matteo Trentin. Luckily they didn't break anything during their crash and they'll probably be back on their bikes for GP Harelbeke and for Gand-Wevelgem.

Looking back at yesterday's newspapers, everyone expected a good result also from Fabian Cancellara. In 2008 the Swiss rider won Eroica and then he triumphed in Sanremo and this year he really wanted to repeat that wonderful double win. Still, the strongest riders doesn't always cross the finish-line in first, and that's what happened yesterday to Fabian.

Another rider who had great expectations for yesterday's race was Vincenzo Nibali. The Italian rider is an old-style athlete: he's one of the best riders of the peloton from February to October and he takes part both in Classics and in Grand Tours. He still hasn't decided which Grand Tour to race this year and so far he's living day by day: a victory at Tour of Oman, a victory at Tirreno-Adriatico... Vincenzo has often said that he would love to win Milan-Sanremo, although this race doesn't actually suit him: Nibali in fact is a climber, not a sprinter or a particuarly powerful time trialist. Still, yesterday he was up there, together with his team: Liquigas had an exceptional line-up, with guys like Agnoli, Viviani and Oss ready to help their captains and a talented guy like Sagan ready to ruin the party of the older sprinters. Peter is an exceptional athlete and, in spite of being born in 1990, yesterday he showed that he can keep the pace of the best riders even after 300 kms of race. A thing that not many young riders can actually do.

In front of the great quantity of champions ready to battle on the Milan-Sanremo parcours, journalists and supporters had a lot of fun picking their favourites and imagining how the race would unfold. Still, most people forgot to remember Matthew Goss, the Australian rider who won the Classicissima last year. The GreenEdge rider probably didn't mind about it: not being considered amongst the favourites can be irritating, but it allows riders to stay more relaxed.

Talking about GreenEdge, on Friday evening there was another Australian ready to tackle Milan-Sanremo: the 'climbing sprinter' Simon Gerrans, who had showed a wonderful form already at Tour Down Under. Yesterday morning the national champion was probably ready to help his teammate Goss and he probably didn't imagine that in a few hours time his career would have changed forever.

The race started in a fast way, like always. On le Manie Cavendish got dropped and, in spite of Team Sky's TTT, he didn't manage to close the gap from the peloton and he simply got retired. At the end of le Manie descent, then, a few moments of panic: the Colombian rider Quintero in fact crashed against a wall and everyone (supporters, journalists, colleagues) immediately feared the worst. Luckily the Colombia rider suffered just a broken collarbone as 'souvenir' from his Classicissima.

The race became very hectic, as usual, on the Poggio. Agnoli attacked, followed by Hoogerland (surprising, isn't it?) and Madrazo. As soon as those riders were caught by the peloton pulled by Rabobank, another move was made: this time it was Nibali who attacked, followed by Fabian Cancellara and Simon Gerrans. Two of the men that everyone expected to attack, plus one man who most of the people didn't expect at all. Poggio is not a difficult climb, so Nibali couldn't make the difference. Gerrans, an exceptional all-round rider, immediately jumped on his wheel, just like Cancellara. It was impressive to see the Swiss rider closing the gap from Nibali without problems and it was even more impressive to see him riding down the Poggio descent like a missile.

The downhill road that every year leads the riders from the summit of the Poggio to the center Sanremo always offers us one of the most adrenalinic and poetic moments of the season. After 295 kms of race the riders are tired, yet they are able to face such a narrow downhill without crashing. The supporters watch the riders descending at full speed and they're always fascinated by such a dangerous and thrilling show. They cross their fingers, hope for the best, have a sigh of relief once the fastest riders reach the via Aurelia again. Still, for the unlucky athletes there's no time to relax, there's no time to reflect: the finish-line is just around the corner and they know that after 299 kms of race they have just 1000 meters to paint their masterpiece, to trace the limit between the heaven of victory and the hell of defeat.

Yesterday afternoon, with just 1000 kms to go, Cancellara was pulling hard, like usual. Gerrans helped him for a few seconds, whereas Nibali was waiting for Sagan: Vincenzo's not fast, he knew that there were just 1000 meters to go, he knew that he, Cancellara and Gerrans had just 5" of advantage and he knew that his fast and young teammate was right behind him.

With about 300 meters to go, the young and brave Degenkolb began a desperate sprint in order to close the gap from the leading trio, as Trentin and Van Avermaet heavily crashed on the background of the scene. Fabian Cancellara had 'acid lactic coming out of his ears', but he didn't stop pulling and, in the end, he was oversprinted by the rider that no one expected to see in the final of the Classicissima. The Swiss train was oversprinted by Simon Gerrans, whereas Vincenzo Nibali crossed the finish-line in  3rd. 'It will take a long time for this to sink in', an emotional Gerrans kept on telling the journalists as soon as the race was over. The sprint for the 4h place came and went in the meanwhile: Sagan won it in front of the generous Degenkolb, of the surprising Pozzato, of the good old Freire. The future belongs to that boy, no doubts about that.

Fabian Cancellara wasn't particularly happy at the end of the race: just like in last year Roubaix he was probably the strongest, and just like in last year Roubaix he didn't win. Still, chapeau to Simon Gerrans: he was lucky to find a super Cancellara on his way, but he was also cunning and very cold-minded when it came to sprinting. A rider who wins a 300 kms race is always a champion, no matter if he wasn't included in the 'race favourites' du jour. Simon was cool-minded, managed to close a 20 meters gap from Cancellara during the descent from Poggio (if you're not a great rider, you can't do something like that) and in the end he even helped the Swiss rider in the last km of race. Simon was smart, was brave and, in the end, he was also fast: a wonderful victory for the little Australian, who is one of the few riders in the peloton that have won stages at the Tour, at the Giro and also at la Vuelta.

So, this was the 2012 Classicissima. 300 kms of drama, excitement, hope, fear, joy and disappointment on a road towards the sea. And now, the show moves to the North of Europe. Next week it will be a completely different scenario, with different riders all looking for the same result. Once again, we'll have another great race. The 2012 Classics season has begun, let us enjoy the show.

Random post with random news:

Alright, I know. I haven't written anything on this blog for the last 20 days and I haven't even replied to some comments regarding my last post (don't worry, I'm going to do it tomorrow evening). I'm a bad blogger, I know. I hate not updating my blog, but sometimes I just don't have the time to do it. And, if I don't update it for too much time (one week or more), then the thought of all the things I would have liked to talk about scares me and I decide not to update it for another week. It's a horrible thing, really. A horrible thing which reminds me of something that Cavendish once wrote in his book, 'Boy Racer', while talking about his relationship between food and races. In it Mark wrote: 'When I don't win, I eat because food helps me not getting depressed. But if I eat, I get fatter. And if I get fatter, I win even less and ride even slower. And if I ride even slower, I get more depressed. If I get more depressed, I eat even more. And if I eat even more, I ride even slower'. Luckily it seems that Cav has brilliantly got over this problem, especially if you consider that this year he's already achieved 3 victories in less than 2 months of races. Mark's latest victory dates back to today, 26th February 2012. In fact this afternoon the World Champion exploited the great work of his team and grabbed the victory in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. I surprisingly managed to watch the last 13 kms of said race, which weren't actually very exciting. Cav triumphed in front of Hutarovich and Van Hummel, whereas Greipel was 10th. André always begins his season in a great way at TDU, but unfortunately he seems unable to achieve important victories as soon as the 'true races' begin. Hopefully this afternoon the German just had bad legs!

Talking about KBK, however, I think the way Cavendish won it was simply impressive. No one could keep his wheel and the world champion won in a great way. Chapeau Mark!

Talking about sprinters, during the Tour of Qatar Tom Boonen got some very good results. Yesterday Tommeke was second in Het Nieuwsblad. The winner of the race was outsprinted by the young Sep Vanmarcke and I was very happy for the Garmin's rider, since he's a young and talented boy who definitely deserved some attention. Look out for him during Tour of Flanders!

Still talking about sprinters, Guardini has recently achieved two victories in the Tour de Langwaki. The Italian sprinter has worked hardly on his climbing skills this summer and hopefully this will help him during Milan-Sanremo. After all, la Classicissima is right behind the corner!

Another Italian sprinter who's been doing pretty well in the last weeks is Elia Viviani. The Liquigas rider is definitely growing on me and I'll probably support him if he decides to ride Milan-Sanremo.

Talking about Liquigas, the Italian team has always kept a special eye on the most interesting U23 riders. We had another proof of that during GP Laigueglia, the first important race of the Italian calendar. This race has an interesting parcours (very similar to Milan Sanremo's one) and this year it was won by Moreno Moser, another cyclist belonging to the famous Moser family. Moreno is a neopro and he was simply shocked by his own victory. In the post-race interview he looked pretty nervous and goofy and this made me like him even more. This young rider won the Laigueglia in great way, with a powerful attack launched with  about 2 kms to go, on the last uphill road of the race. No one could follow him and Moreno got his first professional victory in a wonderful way.

Unfortunately me hasn't been able to follow many races in the last few weeks, especially because university has started again and right now I'm a very busy student. Moreover, last week my History teacher kindly told us that for his exam we have to study 3 books (the shortest one is 432 pages long) and that those who want can take half of the exam already on the 20th of March. Aka, in less than a month time. As soon as I heard about that, the part of my brain that I usually call 'Fangirl' went: 'WTF? Is he crazy? There's no way we're taking that exam next month!', but Logic immediately noticed the advantages of taking a part of that exam in March. In fact, for the March exam I'll have to study just 1 of the three books, and then I'll be able to complete the missing part of the exam in the summer. Instead, if I don't take the exam in March, I'll have to study all those 3 books one after the other. Nice, isn't it?

As well as being busy with History (and with Russian, of course), in the last few days me has solemnly promised to take part in more German lessons, given that in the last few months my knowledge of German has been sinking as fast as the Titanic. As a consequence, every week I now spend 3 hours of my time hearing an old woman talking German and asking us to learn words like 'barrister' or 'long-life imprisonment' or 'river dolphin' in German. As you may imagine, this isn't particularly interesting.

PRONOUNCIATION NOTES:

I know, I know. I promised you a pronounciation post 3 months ago and I still haven't created one. I'm a horrible person. Anyway, here I have two little pronounciation notes for you. First:the word 'Astana', at least here in Italy, is usually pronounced as 'Astana', with the stress on the first 'a'. Still, the other day I discovered that said word is supposed to be pronounced as 'Astanà', a thing that quietly shocked me.

On to another pronounciation news, you probably remember Evgenij Petrov, the Russian rider who won L'Aquila stage of the 2009 Giro. His name is usually pronounced as 'Petrof', but after spending 5 months studying Russian I can finally reveal you that said surname is supposed to be pronounced as 'Pitròf'. Nice, isn't it?

Unfortunately, that's the end of my 'pronounciation notes'. Let's now go on with a few random links.

RANDOM LINKS DU JOUR:

- Italian riders Modolo and Coledan were 'shot at' during a training ride, Cyclingnews says. The riders were training in the area around Scomigo di Conegliano when a man on a grey Alfa fired plastic pellets at them. None of the riders got seriously injured, but this episode makes me sick anyway.

- Still talking about sickening things: tomorrow UCI will decide whether they should cancel Saxo Bank's ProTour license or not. This is another consequence of the delays in Contador's case and it really makes me sick. If Contador had been banned earlier, in fact, Riis would have probably employed other strong riders and rght now the Danish team wouldn't find himself in this situation. Still, Saxo Bank should be able to get a wild card for Tour of Flanders and for Vuelta a Espana.

- Sickening news n. 3: after more than 30 years, the Tour of Basque Countries and the Clasica de San Sebastian could be excluded from the World Tour calendar because of the lack of funding. UCI, listen to me: stop sponsoring absurd races like Tour of Beijing and starts giving funds to those races!!!

- On to a happier news now (at least for me): 20 year-old Arnaud Demare won the final stage of Tour of Qatar after outsprinting Galimzyanov and Renshaw. I really like this French rider and I hope he'll do well also in the next races! Allez Arnaud!

- Schleck news: the youngest of the Schleck brother, Andy, told Cyclingnews that this year he'll focus more than ever on the Tour de France. "(in the last few years) I was focusing on the Classics maybe too much, and I've got to change this year so I'm better at the Tour, especially at the start of the Tour", he told the cycling-dedicated website during his first press conference of the year. Of course this news caused many hysterical laughs amongst Fangirls and cycling lovers in general, since no one wants a guy like Schleck to lose his talent while trying to follow Armstrong's footsteps.

- It was a sunny day back in 1997. With 2 kms to the end of Paris-Roubaix, Tchmill was at the head of the race together with Moncassin. Museeuw, Sorensen, Planckaert and other riders were trying to close the 15" gap that divided them from the breakawayers. With 800 meters to go Tchmill and Moncassin were caught by the poursuivants and a sprint started. Everyone expected Museeuw or Planckaert or Sorensen to win, but in the end the one who raised his hands in Roubaix was Frederic Guesdon, a 26 year-old French rider. Now, 14 years later, Guesdon is still a rider, although he's planning to retire during this year P-R. The problem is that the poor rider broke his leg in TDU. Will he able to get back on his bike by the time the North Classics begin? We hope so.

- Talking about another rider that was injured some time ago, Mauricio Soler has finally been able to take a little bike ride around his home, in Colombia. The Movistar rider was involved in a terrible crash 8 months ago and after that he even had problems breathing, talking and swallowing. Now, things seem to go better for him. "Being able to ride a bike again was one of my big goals, alongside seeing my son again," Mauricio told Cyclingnews. "Cycling is something I really love. Mentally I feel better than ever, and I'm improving further day by day." We're with you man!

Ok, that's all for the moment. Now that the season has officially started, I promise I'll try blogging more often. In the meanwhile, I hope you all enjoyed this chaotic post and I thank those of you who still have the patience to follow this blog after all this time. Have a nice week everyone!