A newby to cycling fan-girlishness, Leela saw the light in July 2010 whilst watching the Tour de France. Andy's talk of angry stomachs unleashed some hidden cycling passion she never knew she had and she's never looked back!
In 2011, Leela will be at:
· Tour de France, Stage 2
· Tour de France, Stage 19
· Tour de France, Stage 20
· Tour de France, Stage 21
· BeNeLux post-Tour criteriums
· Post Danmark Rundt
Leela's favourite rider is Jakob Fuglsang and she ♥'s Leopard Trek.
Leela also has an intense appreciation for Dominic Klemme's banana-eating skills.
Other notable faves include Matti, G and the Schlecks.
Leela continues to deny any interest in Mark Cavendish whatsoever.
Unfortunately the only language Leela is proficient in is English. However, she does know the months of the year and can count to 8 in French; can tell you she eats McDonalds in Japanese and is busy learning how to converse about pancakes in Danish, for when she meets Mr Fuglsang.
SUSANNE
19-year old Dane Susanne has long since been taught the joy of watching the Tour de France by her brother but didn't have her breakthrough season until 2010. During the 2010 Tour a certain Schleck stole her heart and now she never misses a chance to watch the beautiful sport, proudly wearing her Stomach of Anger tee.
Susanne's favourite rider is Andy Schleck although other riders such as Jakob Fuglsang and Big Brother Schleck also get a fair amount of special attention.
Languages spoken by Susanne include Danish, English and French. She can also order ice cream in Italian and count to three in Japanese.
FEDE
An Italian student of 18, Fede lost every chance of saving herself from the cycling-fever in May 2007, after watching a mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia. Since then, she's always been very keen on this wonderful sport and she's been dreaming of working as a journalist for a cycling magazine.
In 2011, Fede will be at:
· Giro d'Italia, Stage 18
· Giro d'Italia, Stage 19
· Giro d'Italia, Stage 21
· Tour of Lombardy
Fede's favourite riders are the Schleck brothers and Chris Anker Sørensen.
Being a student in a language high school, Fede can speak English, German, Spanish and Italian.
Fede also has a personal cycling blog, http://fede-myblog92.blogspot.com/ .
MAR
Mar, or Marieke if you know how to pronounce it, is a Dutch girl who got schlecked during the Tour de France of 2008. She started watching cycling during the Tour of 2007, but that first experience was ruined by a bold Chicken. The next year, she gave it another try, and once she saw Andy, there was no way back. In 2009, Mar started to watch more than just the Tour, and she visited the Vuelta at Assen. At that point her interest for riders expanded. And then there was Jakob Fuglsang. Mar got fugled. From that moment, she preferred whichever team Jakob raced for.
Other riders who get special attention are Linus Gerdemann, Stefan Denifl, Davide Viganò, Giacomo Nizzolo, Niki Terpstra and many others!
Mar speaks Dutch and English. She's also able to translate German.
CRISTIN
Cristin, 20-year-old American living in Switzerland, first saw a Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2009 with her then-boyfriend and had immediately found it stupid. A bunch of skinny guys riding too small bikes in ridiculous outfits. By the time Andy Schleck had crossed the finish line, she was hooked. More so after seeing the brothers embrace and celebrate together. Soon enough she also discovered how many charming teammates the brothers had and her interest grew. And grew and grew, until reaching the point of no return.
Cristin will be having a baby in April 2011 and doesn't think she'll be able to attend any live races during said year.
MARLEEN
Marleen is a 21-year-old Dutch girl who started following cycling thanks to her older brother. Her brother was in control of the remote-control of the TV so she was forced to watch the Tour de France 13 years ago. Since that moment she grew to like/love cycling, and now she is the only one in her family.
In 2011 Marleen will be at the Amstel Gold Race.
Marleen's favourite riders are Andy Schleck and Jakob Fuglsang. She also has a a fair amount of interest for the following riders: Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Chris Anker Sørensen, Niki Terpstra, Jonas Aaen and Vincenzo Nibali and all the riders from her favourite team Leopard-Trek.
Marleen speaks Dutch and English and can read/listen to French and German.
MARLEEN
22-year-old Marleen also comes from The Netherlands. Her love for cycling runs in the family; her second cousin used to be a pro and her uncles used to race as well. On Sundays it was normal to watch sports with the family, including cycling. Marleen still has a poster with the schedule of the Tour de France of 1999 on which she wrote all the names of the stage winners, although she cannot remember that she did that. Ever since she can remember, Team Rabobank has been her favourite team. In 2002 she became a fan of Alexandre Vinokourov and from then on her love for cycling became bigger and bigger.
Since 2005 Marleen visits live races all across The Netherlands and this year she’s already been to the Ster van Zwolle. She doesn’t know for sure which other races she’ll be going to this year, but the Dutch Championship is already on her list.
Marleen has a lot of favourite riders, like for example Robert Gesink and Karsten Kroon. She supports all the riders from her favourite teams; Team Rabobank, Vacansoleil-DCM and the BMC Racing Team. Marleen also supports riders from other teams, such as Denis Menchov, Ted King and Juan Antonio Flecha.
Marleen can speak Dutch, English, Swedish, German, a bit of French and Romanian and she can read/listen to Norwegian and Danish.
Marleen also has a cycling blog with her sister: http://rideonblog.wordpress.com/
TIEN
Her real name is Albertine, but most of the time this 21-year-old girl is called Tien. Being Marleen’s sister she more or less has the same reason for developing a love for cycling. In 2002 Tien became a fan of Mayo and in 2004 she started cheering for Thomas Voeckler. Since 2005 though, her favourite rider is Pieter Weening. She also supports the other riders from Team Rabobank, which is her favourite team. She also used to like Team Milram, but unfortunately they had to disappear from the cycling world.
Other favourite riders are Linus Gerdemann, Michael Matthews, Tony Martin, Alexandr Pliuschin and Thor Hushovd.
Tien visits the same cycling races as her sister. She speaks Dutch, English and German and can understand quite a bit of French.
Tien also writes for the blog that she shares with her sister: http://rideonblog.wordpress.com/
