Andy Schleck Discussion thread.

[LaFlorecita]

You cant compare anyone with Alberto its another level of word 'heroic' you know

you are right

 

[Afrank]

As I said galibier was good but I don't think you can say Andy was heroic in the mountains because it was just one stage.

yeah, maybe not overall in the mountains, but definitely heroic on that stage. And heroic in how he pulled himself back into contention.

 

[The Hitch]

Of course you would probably consider Contador heroic no matter what .

But even if I was like most here and despised Schleck I would still find his efforts on Galibier heroic and epic. There's no denying that was an epic ride he did.

I know a number.of posters.on here who argued pretty ferociously that there was nothing special about schleck galibier and that he wasn't even the rider of the day and that losing 2 minutes on the final km was pathetic etc. El p was 1, cineteq another. So the usual suspects.

Personally i found the performance special but his refusal to do anything in the pyranees and then the ridiculous comment that only him and his wheelsucker of the tour brother did anything that race, is a dampener as far as looking at his performance over the whole 3 weeks.

 

[El Pistolero]

I know a number.of posters.on here who argued pretty ferociously that there was nothing special about schleck galibier and that he wasn't even the rider of the day and that losing 2 minutes on the final km was pathetic etc. El p was 1, cineteq another. So the usual suspects.

Personally i found the performance special but his refusal to do anything in the pyranees and then the ridiculous comment that only him and his wheelsucker of the tour brother did anything that race, is a dampener as far as looking at his performance over the whole 3 weeks.

Don't they teach you to check your sources at English universities?

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=768969&postcount=402

 

[The Hitch]

Don't they teach you to check your sources at English universities?

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=768969&postcount=402

I didnt say you never changed your mind in order to troll someone else or critiscise other riders, what i said was that you spent the entire 2011 post season playing down Andys performance.

Heres some sources btw. Relevant primary sources

He wasn't the best in 2011. He could never get a gap on anyone except on one stage where no one bothered to react on his attack.

He made most of his time in the valley between the two mountains. That's why I'm not really counting it.

What he did on Galibier was a tactical win. You can't say that Andy was a better climber than Cadel Evans on that stage. I doubt Andy would have dropped Cadel Evans if they were together at the Galibier

They let him go, that much was obvious. Evans practically took the whole final climb for him self and reduced the gap between them A LOT. Who was the strongest that day? I don't know

He was sucking wheels most of the time until Galibier anyway. 50k time trial? LOL. I still remember the percentages of the time they spent up front. It was something like 35% for Monfort, 24% for Andy and around 20% for Dries Devenys. You can't suck wheels in a time trial

Andy got dropped by Evans, Contador and Samu on a cat2 climb. Best climber my ***. Andy never dropped Cadel Evans on the climbs.

Even fellow Andy Schleck Haterz were trying to calm you down

It just seems quite acceptable and to be expected that his tempo/time advantage would decrease on the final climb to the mtf after the time spent in/on his escape. To say it's an indication of his pursuants (or one in particular, Evans) being a better climber as a result of their decreasing his maximum advantage is really difficult for me to even fathom as a serious argument.

And plenty more of those throughout 2011 -2012

btw, Id like to share this from immediate post stage reaction as i found it funny

Devenys is a crap cyclist. I really hope QS fails and no big name signs for that team. He had no reason to pull what so ever. I wish him and QS all the worst.

But right now, I think Leosmart offered some money to QS. Besides Boonen and Bettini I never liked anyone of that team anyway

 

[El Pistolero]

Yes those are all facts. No one reacted to his initial attack(fact) and he didn't do a 50km solo like someone claimed(fact), he had other people with him(fact). And Devenys should never have worked with Andy because they were on different teams(fact). People shouldn't offer money to get an unfair advantage(fact).

In the valley he mostly followed wheels and probably did the least pulls of the breakaway group with Monfort and Devenys doing the most. (fact)

All those posts say it was a tactical win. He was not the strongest climber that Tour further evidenced by the fact that he never dropped anyone on all the other climbs.

Though I never actually diminish his victory now do I? Tactics is part of the game. And he did most of the Galibier, if not all, by him self.

It's when people say he was the strongest climber in that Tour that I'll say no. He wasn't. Do you think Andy would've dropped Evans that day when they were both together? Very unlikely! Evans had to do most of the Galibier by him self as well, dropping Contador and Sanchez in the process.

I have always thought it was a great tactical victory with lot's of strength involved as well. But was he the strongest that day like many claimed? How can you know for sure? Evans had been climbing very well that Tour and Andy never dropped him in a man to man duel. Evans on the other hand had dropped Andy uphill multiple times that Tour. That suggests he was stronger. And yeah, I hated Devenys' involvement in helping Andy - it was so obvious that he did it for cash. If Andy had gifted him a stage win I'd understand, but he did no such thing. He had nothing to gain from helping Andy except financially. It's sad that rich riders can just buy the help of others while less rich riders have to do it by themselves.

So exactly why are you bringing those posts up without showing the full discussion? That's a very one sighted view. Don't they teach otherwise there?

Am I not allowed to have an opinion? I don't think Andy was the strongest climber of the 2011 Tour. Nor do I automatically think he's the best climber of that stage just because he won. Like I said, most of the time was made in the valley between the mountains. They weren't really chasing that hard at that point because they thought they'd catch him easily. Evans admitted that was a big mistake of him.

Just because I don't think Andy was the strongest climber of the Tour, or automatically the best climber of that particular day, doesn't mean it wasn't an impressive performance. But I guess it's either black or white with you. Sometimes it's gray Hitch. Actually, most of the time it's gray.

If you ask me who the best climber of the Tour was that year then I'll answer with either Evans or Samuel Sanchez(who had one bad day).

But if we follow your one sighted logic I guess that makes Thomas De Gendt the strongest climber of the day when he won on Stelvio! Can't you see the error in your logic? It's painfully obvious. I get that you think Andy was the strongest climber that day. I don't think that. I don't know who was the strongest climber that day. You apparently do. I bet you win a lot of money with such insight... Is it that hard to accept that the strongest rider doesn't always win? That's what makes cycling so unpredictable. Andy was obviously one of the strongest riders that day and for sure... He had the biggest balls that day. But like I said, it doesn't automatically make him the best climber. It just doesn't. Evans was also very strong that day.

So if saying Evans could've followed Andy that day if he reacted to Andy's initial attack is downplaying Andy's victory than yes, I'm guilty!

Perhaps you are overestimating Andy's performance on that day. Ever thought of that? Oh no wait, I forgot you are always right. How silly of me...

It's the same with Contador's stage win on Fuente De. How can you know for sure he was the strongest climber that day and not Valverde? The difference was that Contador had bigger balls than Valverde and that's why he won. He also played it brilliant tactically together with his team. Tiralongo also helped. But unlike with Devenys' I don't think money was involved here. Just Tira repaying Contador for the stage he won in the Giro... You could see that as part of a grander tactic: gifting someone a stage to get their support on a different stage when you might need it. As long as there's no money involved I'm cool with it really.

So basically the 2 stages were very comparable, but you make a fuss about nothing.

Have a good day.

 

[movingtarget]

I know a number.of posters.on here who argued pretty ferociously that there was nothing special about schleck galibier and that he wasn't even the rider of the day and that losing 2 minutes on the final km was pathetic etc. El p was 1, cineteq another. So the usual suspects.

Personally i found the performance special but his refusal to do anything in the pyranees and then the ridiculous comment that only him and his wheelsucker of the tour brother did anything that race, is a dampener as far as looking at his performance over the whole 3 weeks.

Both Evans and Schleck were winners on the Galibier stage and both rides were heroic even though Schleck's was the more daring. By leaving it so late in the race to really attack Evans unfortunately it played into Evans hands. He rode within himself the next day while Schleck looked exhausted after the previous day's efforts, crossing the finishing line on the Alpe, immediately grabbing the fence to steady himself. Evans hates the Alpe climb and never usually does well there as he has admitted before but he looked comfortable with Contador up the road and time to spare. I just think Evans and his team handled the three weeks much better than the Schleck's but without Andy's heroics and Contador's attack the next day it seems Evans would have won the race by four minutes or so if the TT performances were similar to the actual ones, which would have been a lot duller than the great final three days that we witnessed.

 

[ILovecycling]

Its old,but for people who havent seen it before

Andy Schleck - My tour documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLApkiOZ01I

 

[Christian]

After the TDU, Andy will start Tour de la Méditerranée

http://www.varmatin.com/sports/cycl...e-file-du-40e-tour-mediterraneen.1047699.html

This is a great race but if it snows/freezes which it probably will he is screwed

 

[Red Rick]

Don't they teach you to check your sources at English universities?

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showpost.php?p=768969&postcount=402

As good a time as any to make use of this pic i found on facebook by accident.

10 characters

 

[El Pistolero]

Too young to write a post?

I think I already explained my view on Andy's performance that day more than enough. And no, I don't think he was the strongest climber that year.

 

[shades1]

is there any news on how andy is recovering from his injury , would he be back to full training yet ?

personally i have never wanted a rider to comeback to full fitness so much .

last years TDF without schleck and contador was like a new years eve party with nobody having a drink .

 

[El Pistolero]

is there any news on how andy is recovering from his injury , would he be back to full training yet ?

personally i have never wanted a rider to comeback to full fitness so much .

last years TDF without schleck and contador was like a new years eve party with nobody having a drink .

Obviously he's training again, he still did some races at the end of this year remember? You can't do that if you can't even train yet.

He will start at the TDU this year because he has a lot of catching up to do, so better start early. It will probably take a few races before he reaches a decent level though...

 

[Afrank]

is there any news on how andy is recovering from his injury , would he be back to full training yet ?

personally i have never wanted a rider to comeback to full fitness so much .

last years TDF without schleck and contador was like a new years eve party with nobody having a drink .

He raced Beijing and made it through most of the race. So from that I think we can assume he is back to training. He'll also be starting his racing season earlier than usual at the Tour Down Under in order to get back to form as well.

Also agree with the bolded, after this year we need Andy to come back and resume his mountain battles with Contador.

 

[serfla]

Schleck will have a nice rival in the Tour Mediterranéen to measure his level early in the season.

Rolland will begin his 2013 season at Étoile des Bessèges, before tackling the Tour Mediterranéen and Tour de Langkawi. The main objectives of his spring will be Critérium International, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de Romandie.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rolland-chooses-langkawi-over-paris-nice

Cute hilly route for chilly February racing.
http://letourmed.fr/parcours.html

 

[Netserk]

Schleck will have a nice rival in the Tour Mediterranéen to measure his level early in the season.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rolland-chooses-langkawi-over-paris-nice

Cute hilly route for chilly February racing.
http://letourmed.fr/parcours.html

I know they look alike, but the article is about Rolland and not Andy

 

[Christian]

Schleck will have a nice rival in the Tour Mediterranéen to measure his level early in the season.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rolland-chooses-langkawi-over-paris-nice

Cute hilly route for chilly February racing.
http://letourmed.fr/parcours.html

Thanks for sharing! Stage 3 (Marseille - St. Rémy) looks amazing. I have done the ascension to Les Baux by bike and by car, it is one of my favourites. If I was still living there I'd definitely go see it. But, alas

 

[LaFlorecita]

I hope he takes the race seriously.

 

[serfla]

He'll climb Faron with other Mont from the neighborhood in his mind.
It will certainly feel like Ventoux after the winter.

 

[ferryman]

He'll climb Faron with other Mont from the neighborhood in his mind.
It will certainly feel like Ventoux after the winter.

All he has to do is get fit. A fit Andy scares Contador. A fit Andy and Contador blows away Team Sky.

 

[Afrank]

Radioshacks new DS Guercilena makes some good points about Schleck here. Based on this it sounds like he will be a good DS for helping Schleck get back to his best.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-needs-to-enjoy-cycling-again-says-guercilena

 

[movingtarget]

Radioshacks new DS Guercilena makes some good points about Schleck here. Based on this it sounds like he will be a good DS for helping Schleck get back to his best.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-needs-to-enjoy-cycling-again-says-guercilena

Sounds like he has his head screwed on. Should be good for Andy.

 

[airstream]

All he has to do is get fit. A fit Andy scares Contador. A fit Andy and Contador blows away Team Sky.

You say this as though Froome is going to ride the climbs in a defensive manner and poor Team Sky will have to construct a train to tow their hapless captain up to all main climbs. I can imagine many things, but the difference between 3 in the mountains won't be big.

 

[Alphabet]

Contador and Schleck should still be able to drop Froome. He's good, but they're on another level.

 

[cineteq]

Contador and Schleck should still be able to drop Froome. He's good, but they're on another level.

You seem to be stuck on 2010.