The Giro comes back in the land of the river Piave, and a river of people escorts the cyclists along the road

Alpe del Nevegal (Belluno) – Tuesday, the 24th of May 2011; 16th stage of the Giro 2011

Today isn't a day like any other. The Giro arrives close to home, but this day isn't special just because of it. It is special also because today the Giro arrives in the lands of the river Piave (holy river of Italy) and because it's the 24th of May. Time doesn't wash away history. The signs remain, and our land is full of them.
For the city of Belluno, it is as if today was Sunday. Or perhaps even better.

I arrive in the city by car, I find a parking lot and I get ready. The bike is OK; rucksack, helmet, a sky without clouds and a lot of sun. The perfect day. I start riding but I avoid the first part of the Giro parcours thanks to a secondary road.

As soon as I start the Nevegal climb, I see just cyclists and dozens of people who are climbing by foot. Around us, just silence. The bikes don't produce noise. When you ride near to a forest, you can hear its voice. That's why woods and mountains are friends to the cyclists.

The road goes slightly uphill and when I reach Castion, the only village between Belluno and Nevegal, I see the true spectacle of the Tour of Italy: the Italy of the Giro. Every house is pink. Colourful balloons, tapes that start from the balconies and arrive on the roads, hundreds of pink ribbons on the gates of the houses and on the smallest trees, lots of Italian flags, people from the village who salute the cyclists even if they're not taking part in any race. Every road, every gate is controlled by an Alpino (translator's note - Alpini are elite mountain warfare soldiers of the Italian Army).

The tough part of the climb starts after the village. I come across Davide Cassani, who stands still at the side of the road, together with his bike. 'Hey Davide' - I tell him - 'the top of the climb is that way, uphill...'. Cassani watches me and laughs, I keep on climbing. With the fatigue comes the heat. As I ride, the Giro cyclists who are getting ready for the time trial ride past me. Michele Scarponi is wearing long trousers. Watching him makes the sun become even hotter. Nibali arrives a few minutes later. My cyclometer never goes beyond the speed of 10 kmph sign and the Giro riders are going twice faster than me.

I reach an old cyclist and I ride past him. I tell him something to encourage him. 'I'm 72 year-old', he answers me. Will I still be a cyclist at that age?

On the road there are many '108' and they're all beautiful. Beautiful and sad.

I ride until I reach the '4 km to go' cartel. Near the road, in the shadow of the understory, a 3 meters tall crucifix. It's the right place.

In the following hours, thousands of people climb the road. In the afternoon the sun burns. The time trial starts. The first cyclist to arrive is overwhelmed by applauses. Lots of applauses for the Italian riders, many whistles for Danilo Di Luca. He played with people's passion and he deserves them. For Nibali and Scarponi the applauses are many and endless. Then something changes in the air.

A thunder makes us hear its voice. The Dolomites become dark. People remain silent, waiting for something. From a curve, two motorbikes belonging to the Police arrive, stop for a few seconds and start off again. We hear another thunder, but the sound isn't coming from the sky. This time it comes from the people on the road under ours. A pink motorbike appears from a curve. From the chaos around it, one could say that an Italian cyclist is approaching, but he would be wrong. Contador dances on his bike as he rides and, while you see him arriving, he's already gone.

After Alberto disappears, the sky gets dark and threatening. Some raindrops make people run. I go down the road slowly because I don't want to run anyone over. The people who go downhill by foot are thousands. Some people salute us from the houses in Castion. 'Unbelievable', you may think, but when you remember that this is a province full of Alpini, things don't look that strange anymore.

I manage to get back to my car. The sky is dark, not like it was in the morning, but the soul is still pink.

Ciao Giro.

-Written by Manuel

Wouter Weylandt, 27th of September 1984 - 9th of May 2011:

May you rest in peace, Wouter, and stay close to those who need you - now more than ever. You'll live forever in our thoughts.

The girls at 'Bananas about Bikes' (Cristin, Fede, Leela, Mar, Marleen, Marleen, Susanne and Tien) offer their most sincere condolences to the Weylandt family and to all those who knew this wonderful boy.
We would like to create a little tribute post dedicated to Wouter. If you have pictures or stories regarding him, please send them to bananasaboutbikes@gmail.com .
If you want to help Wouter's family, you can make a donation. All the information you need are on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/leopard-trek-create-donation-account-to-help-weylandts-family .

Rest in pace, Wouter: we will never forget you.

Amstel Gold Race, Sunday the 17th of April 2011

Amstel Gold Race 2011

Today Bananas About Bikes has another report from a recent race. This time our report comes from Kimberley. Kimberley went to this year's Amstel Gold Race. Kimberley is a 20 year old Dutch Girl. She loves cycling and her favourite riders are Andy Schleck, Jakob Fuglsang and Niki Terpstra.

For the third year in a row I went to the Amstel Gold Race.. After a long trip by train, sitting next to men who were drinking beer at 10 o’clock in the morning, I finally arrived in Valkenburg together with Marleen.

Then the hardest part of the day came: finding the right place at the Cauberg.
Can you see the finish line? Check
No Gilbert fans / Belgium fans around ? Check
No Gilbert fans around who are smoking joints? Check
No Schleck fans with flags which prevent your view around? Check
Pff, we found the right place.

Pretty quick the riders arrived for the first time. After last year’s disaster of Daags na de Tour (criterium) when the riders came by for like 40 times and I didn’t manage to take a single picture of Jakob, this time I was determined to take a picture of him. First time, no luck, well no luck, I did take a picture of Jens, Andy and Frank.

After the first round, it takes about three hours before the riders arrive again.
So what do you do in the meanwhile?
Well sitting, waiting and wishing for a victory for Team Leopard, or a Dutchie.

You can hear the noise of the crowd and you know it is time for the second round. There is still a small group in front, which you know won’t make it in the end. Poor guys.
Still no luck with taking a picture of Jakob, don’t know what’s wrong with me. Best picture so far is a picture of Andy, Frank, Fabian and Jens together. Now all what’s left was waiting for the finish.


You can now see the race on a big screen. And what do you see first? Exactly Frank sitting on the ground, again he falls in the Amstel, not too bad this time, thank God.
Next up OMG! OMG! Andy attacks. I’ve got a select group of riders which I really like, will I see someone of this group winning the Amstel? That would be amazing, so far I have only see Ivanov and Gilbert winning AGR.

In the meantime some stupid boys came standing behind us, saying things like: Hopefully Andy falls of his bike etc. Not particularly Schleck fans, probably jealous anyway.

The riders finally arrive at the Cauberg for the final. Lots of confusion, silly me I was still thinking that Andy was in front or at least able to win at the Cauberg. Big disappointment when the first rider I saw was Gilbert, but what a cute little baby boy he has!

He is not my favourite rider (although his victory was quite impressive), but still at that moment I was the happiest girl in the world, why? I finally have my picture of Jakob!
Not the best picture I ever made (Kolobnev is in the way), but that doesn’t matter.

See you next year Amstel!

Fabian Cancellara and Maxime Monfort near the finish.

Amstel Gold Race 2010, Sunday the 18th of April 2010

Amstel Gold Race 2010

Last year I went to the Amstel Gold Race for the first time. I went to the Amstel Gold Race 2010 with my friend Kimberley and one of her friends. After a long trip by train we finally arrived in Valkenburg. We decided we wanted to stand on the top of the Cauberg, so we walked from the train station to the Cauberg. After that walk I was so glad that I didn't have to ride my bike up to the top of the Cauberg, because it was hard walk up to the top. When we made it to the top we were really happy because we thought we had a great spot. We were standing on the right side of the road, 100 metres away from the finish line, so we could see the riders come up the Cauberg and we could see them finish. But boy did things change during the day...

When we found our spot we sat down because it would be some time before the riders would pass us for the first time. We talked a bit and had fun while waiting for the riders to make their first pass. We could hear the riders coming because the people at the bottom of the Cauberg started cheering and clapping for the riders. When we heard that, we got up and grabbed our cameras. We were ready to take our pictures. I was determined to get a picture of Andy but I didn't have much luck in the first round. Although I did get some pictures of other riders and the peloton. I also got a picture from one of the Saxo riders (André Steensen)


After the first round we sat down again because it would be some time before the riders pass for the second time. In the meantime, we checked our cameras to see if we got the riders we wanted. I only got one picture of a rider of my favourite team, team Saxo Bank. So I wasn't satisfied with my results. I had to do better the next round.
So we waited until the next time the riders would pass us. In the meantime, a small group of guys came and they took their spot next to us. There is nothing wrong with other people standing next to us but unfortunately they started smoking a joint... And I can tell you that it doesn't smell nice, but we decided to stay on our spot because we could see everything from where we were standing. We hoped they would leave at some point. People at the bottom of the Cauberg started cheering and clapping again so we grabbed our cameras again. I was more lucky this time. I got a picture of Vincenzo Nibali, one of the riders I like.


After the riders passed us for the second time we started to check our cameras again. I didn't get any good picture because a guy with a very big flag came to stand right next to me. He was a member of the Phillipe Gilbert fanclub. They have these very big black and yellow flags that totally take your view away. So every picture I took in the second round had big pieces of the Gilbert flag on it. No luck this time. I only had one chance left. The finish.
The last time the riders passed us they would ride really fast because they would be sprinting for the finish line. But I had to try because I didn't get my picture of Andy Schleck yet. I didn't have any luck the first two times but the last time I had a lot of luck with my pictures. I had some awesome pictures. I missed the winner Gilbert because he was too fast for my camera, but I didn't mind. He deserved to win because he was really strong. So congrats to him! but I was really happy because I had my picture of Andy Schleck. He almost rode in to the barriers where I was standing. Luckily he didn't crash. It did gave me the opportunity to get my picture without standing in the way for the riders, like many photographers do.

The picture of Andy Schleck wasn't the only picture I got. I also got a picture of Alexandre Kolobnev, Robert Gesink and a teammate of Gilbert celebrating.




So in the end I was pretty happy with the pictures I got. I got one of the pictures I wanted (the one of Andy Schleck) and I did get some other awesome pictures. We did agree that next year it would be wise to avoid the Gilbert fanclub and other fanclubs with their big flags and people who smoke (joints). Since they either block our view or they give us a headache with the smell. Despite all these things we had an awesome time and we got some great pictures. So see you next year Amstel Gold Race, because we will be back!

Written by Marleen

Scheldeprijs, Wednesday, 6th of April 2011

Today, Bananas About Bikes will actually report a more recent race. Our fellow bloggers on Tumblr, Ilona and Tet, went to this year's Scheldeprijs.

Ilona (ilona89.tumblr.com) is a 21 year old Dutch girl. She grew up with cycling since her dad is a fan of cycling too. When she was 6 years old, she visited her first Tour de France. Now her favourite riders are Linus Gerdemann and Tom Stamsnijder, both very cute boys.

Tet, (leopardfever.tumblr.com) is an 18 year old student from the Netherlands. She's addicted to twitter and all sorts of sports, especially cycling. Her favourite riders are Stefan Denifl, Giacomo Nizzolo, Jakob Fuglsang, Davide Viganò and just any other Leopard Trek rider. Their full report and more photos can be found on their blogs. This is a shorter version of the whole story. Mar has narrowed the post, trying to get the highlights for you.

On Tuesday the 5th April, Tet had to leave the far north of the Netherlands in order to be able to leave early enough the next morning. Ilona lives in the southern part of the Netherlands so the girls decided to have a little Pre-Scheldeprijs sleepover. It was the best way to start their adventure.

The next day, both girls had to wake up at 5:30am. This made them regret their long conversations during the night before. Why were they doing this again? Ah well, that's easy. Ilona wanted to see Fabian Cancellara and Tom Stamsnijder. Tet is Giacomo Nizzolo's biggest fan, so she couldn't wait to finally see him. The two girls dressed up in their Leopard outfits and ran to the bus-stop. Breakfast and make up could also be done later, in the train. The train left at 6.53am which caused some confusion among the not very awake girls.

"Ilona: Why is there standing 653?

Tet: Eh, you mean... 6:53 it’s the time...

Ilona: Oh! Hey, yeah I was thinking about prices from the stockmarket or something, how should I know?"

After a not very smooth train ride, which is almost normal in the Netherlands, our girls arrived in Antwerp, Belgium. They asked for a map at the local Tourist Information and went for a walk through Antwerp. Their walk ended at the place where the buses should arrive. Of course, Ilona and Tet were way too early. That made it easier to find a great spot. They settled themselves on a short pillar/bridge thing which was higher so they had a perfect overview of the area.

Slowly the team buses started to enter Antwerp. All our Leopard Trek fangirls wanted to see was the Leopard bus. They had to be patient. First, the Saur Sojasun bus came by and the riders in the front seat couldn't stop looking at the girls and almost broke their neck by twisting to stare at them. The same thing happened when Cofidis passed. Tet and Ilona were popular! When Quick Step came, Tet had a moment with Tom Boonen. She was hanging around the pillar to check what bus it was and he sat in the front of the bus and he looked straight at her. She just stared back, not able to respond to what was happening.

All of a sudden Ilona looked at the right and screamed LEOPARD! So the girls followed the bus and tried to catch a glimpse of the boys. They managed to find a way to look at Fabian. He was just relaxing when he found out two girls were staring at him. He smiled politely, but then closed the curtain with a very evil smile. After a long time of waiting, the first person to leave the bus was Wouter Weylandt. He was immediately attacked by all the Belgians, but Ilona managed to get an autograph and Tet even got a picture with him.

Not much later, Joost Posthuma left the bus. When walking to his bike, he stumbled and almost crashed in front of our Leopard fangirls. That was a good opportunity to ask him for a picture. Joost was friendly enough to smile for the camera, but it was impossible to get Ilona's smile and Joost's smile in one picture. Joost is a very tall guy, while Ilona is short. While Tet was struggling with the camera, Joost offered to bend a little so they would fit in one frame. Feeling a bit ashamed but very happy, Ilona got her picture with Joost that way. Right after that, Giacomo Nizzolo left the bus. For Tet, this was the highlight of the day. Giacomo might be a little unknown for some people, Tet is his biggest fan! He was happy to be asked for a picture. He even put his arm around Tet, which almost caused a heart attack.

Not long after that, the race was about to start and everyone left. When Tet and Ilona walked past the deserted buses, they even found some riders who were too late for the official start. Apparently that didn't bother those boys because they even had time for another picture! The girls found Michael Morkov and Jonas Aaen at the SaxoBank Sungard bus. After taking the picture, the boys couldn't stay for a little chat. They needed to catch the peloton. The girls walked to the start-line, where they saw a little traffic jam of team cars. Some riders, who also didn't start in time, were standing in the traffic jam like they were one of the team cars. Another great opportunity to ask for a photo for Ilona and Tet was with Matthew Hayman and Kurt Asle Arvesen. Then the team cars started to leave and the race had definitely left Antwerp. The girls sat down on a terrace to calm down from their exciting morning. Yes, they had a wonderful day.

Stage 16 of the Tour de France 2009

In the summer of 2009 my friend and I went to Italy on holiday. During our holiday we would visit two stages of the Tour de France. We were staying at a fellow cycling fan's place. On the 21st of July we had to get up really early to leave from her place, because we wanted to be on time in the Alps for the first stage (first for us, but 16th for the riders, from Martigny to Bourg-St-Maurice). We went to a little town called Pré St. Didier. We watched the first part of the race on TV in this little bar, where we had lunch. After lunch we were ready to go to our spot near the course. We went halfway up the mountain from were we could see the Mont Blanc, and the riders coming up our mountain. My friend and I were really surprised how fast the riders actually go even in the mountains (it was the first race we have ever watched live). So we both missed the opportunity to take a picture of the attackers. We felt a little stupid, as you can imagine, but we had more luck with the peloton.
We could see the team Astana was leading the peloton, which was divided in different groups. In the first picture you can see the chasing-group (actually the remaining part of the peloton). The first rider, from Astana, threw an empty bottle away. I had to jump away to make sure the bottle didn't hit me in the head... It was just crazy to see two men almost fight over a bottle .
A few minutes later the first group behind the peloton arrived at the place we were standing. Filippo Pozzato, Alessandro Ballan and Damiano Cunego were leading the group behind the peloton. Because we were standing on a curve of a mountain road, we could see the riders for a while longer then we would have had on a straight road. I managed to take a decent picture of Denis Menchov.
After the last group passed us, we started walking down the mountain to get back to the little bar from the beginning and watch the rest of the stage. When we reached a curve below the one we were watching the race from, a French police officer stopped us. He told us that we had to wait because there was still one rider who had to pass our spot. We were a bit scared by the police officer, who was really mean and angry, so we immediately stopped and waited in order to avoid getting in trouble. It turned out that Kenny van Hummel was the last rider from that stage (and almost every mountain stage of that Tour until he crashed and had to abandon the race). After he passed, we moved on and got back to the little bar. We watched the last part of the stage and we saw Jens Voigt's terrible fall. It was very surreal to see him falling like that and being so badly hurt when he just passed us a few minutes ago. After the riders had finished the stage, we left the bar and got in the car to get back to our hostel. We had to get there early so we could start getting ready for the next day, when we would see the start of the Stage 17 of the 2009 Tour de France.

To be continued.....


Written by Marleen

Tour de France 2009, Departure of the 14th stage:

Tour de France 2009

Departure of the stage 14: Colmar-Besançon

Saturday July 18^th 2009

Saturday morning, it’s 8 o’clock and I’m in my bed. Oh no!!! My mother wakes me up… I’m so tired and I just want to sleep. But I remember why she is waking me up: today we go to Colmar to see the departure of the 14^th stage of the Tour de France.

Ok, I hurry up. I wear a t-shirt, jeans and Converse - simple and comfortable.

In the car, on the radio they speak about the last stage and about this mad person who shoots a gun at the riders. At that moment, I think that there are people who are really, really stupid.

I arrive in Colmar at 9.30am. I’m so excited; it’s been a long time since I’ve last seen a race.

Too bad, it’s raining. Then I walk to a hotel. Unfortunately, no teams are there, just journalists.

I’m on the starting line. I had forgotten that the Tour de France was so big.Whoa!

I find a place with no people around so that I can see the riders when they sign in. Behind me is the “Village Départ” and in front of me there are the team cars.

Let’s go! The first rider to arrive is Mikhail Ignatiev.

For now, the atmosphere is still calm. I can see Laurent Jalabert; Christian Prudhomme; Raymond Poulidor; Bernard Thevenet; and the Minister of Culture, Frédéric Mitterand.

There are more and more riders coming. My mother is asking “Who’s this one? You like him?” every two minutes. But the ones that I really like aren’t there yet.

Amongst the riders that I see there are Thor Hushovd, Fabian Wegmann and Daniele Bennati. Many French riders are passing: Lefèvre, Dessel, Lequatre, Bonnet, Haddou and Brice Feillu.Suddenly, we hear a lot of noise. "Oh!" ;Riders from Saxo Bank: Fabian Cancellara, Nicki Sorensen and Jens Voigt. Just after, Andy Schleck. And it’s not finished yet: there is a big ovation in the stands. I’m wondering for whom. Of course… Lance Armstrong. I thought that he was not so popular in France but no, people love him. He has a bodyguard. This guy has class. Really. A few minutes after him, Alberto Contador arrives. But now, it’s another atmosphere. People hiss him. I don’t understand why, even if you don’t like him (which is not my case), a little bit of respect is not that difficult…The riders that I wanted to see are gone. There is the yellow jersey Rinaldo Nocentini who arrives and… his wife who runs after him.

Twelve o’clock - the riders depart. There are some of them who are late, like Mark Cavendish. And it’s over; everybody is gone.

I hope that the Tour de France returns close to my home soon…

-Written by Delphine (delphsworld.tumblr.com)

Delphine is a supporter who lives in France, near the border with Switzerland and Germany. She has been a cycling fan since the last victory of Lance Armstrong in 2005. After that, she started watching the races on TV and if one comes near her home, she goes. Her favourite riders are Jakob Fuglsang, Fabian Cancellara and the Schleck brothers. Besides cycling, Delphine likes shopping and fashion.