Andy Schleck Discussion thread.

[Echoes]

How surprising that he's remembered for his results at the Tour of France...


He's won Liège-Bastogne, the Arrow (I consider him as the winner), been 4th in Lombardy, 8th at the Montepaschi after animating the race, etc.

But the day CN posters get interested in the classics, the Sun will rise in the West, I guess... Poor forum!

 

[theyoungest]

How surprising that he's remembered for his results at the Tour of France...


He's won Liège-Bastogne, the Arrow (I consider him as the winner), been 4th in Lombardy, 8th at the Montepaschi after animating the race, etc.

But the day CN posters get interested in the classics, the Sun will rise in the West, I guess... Poor forum!

Poor Belgians, always wanting to rate the classics above the Tour... if only the rest of the world agreed.

 

[masking_agent]

I don’t know exactly where it began, but I think Andy lost his motivation to stay as a professional cyclist years ago. He became an “also ran” and seemed content to stay just there and didn’t want to put in the extra time and effort to stay on the top. I don’t buy the “knee” story fully, as if you really wanted to come back to the sport, you are a professional sportsman making good money, you could find the best doctors available and surround yourself with a team of physicians and physical therapists and get back into the sport. He chose the easy route out

 

[SeriousSam]

You have to admire the rare talent of Andy Schleck. Won the Tour and a monument, who else has done that in the modern era? And which Tour winner can count a stage victory as epic as Galibier 2011 among his palmares?

A promising career cut short by his crash and his brother's suspension.

 

[vcampbell]

You have to admire the rare talent of Andy Schleck. Won the Tour and a monument, who else has done that in the modern era? And which Tour winner can count a stage victory as epic as Galibier 2011 among his palmares?

A promising career cut short by his crash and his brother's suspension.

Won what?

10chars

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Can't believe it.

Feels like he has only had a couple of seasons.

Just don't think his heart is in it anymore.

 

[Echoes]

Poor Belgians, always wanting to rate the classics above the Tour... if only the rest of the world agreed.

I don't give a crap about the rest of the world. The riders agree that Paris-Roubaix is above the Tour of France, dude. So I draw the conclusion...

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Andy who? Oh that Andy. One of the biggest wastes of natural talent I ever saw. Great genes but a weak, childish mind that always limited him. His greatest hour was on the Galibier. That ride I'll always remember! Wow, what might have been.

Hopefully he finds a new career that he loves and can succeed in.

Great post . . .

 

[No_Balls]

How surprising that he's remembered for his results at the Tour of France...


He's won Liège-Bastogne, the Arrow (I consider him as the winner), been 4th in Lombardy, 8th at the Montepaschi after animating the race, etc.

But the day CN posters get interested in the classics, the Sun will rise in the West, I guess... Poor forum!

Yeah. Multiple podium and stage victories in a GT got nothing on a 4th and 8th.

And lets be frank here. Your fascination in classics is just an excuse to dislike certain riders.

 

[maltiv]

You have to admire the rare talent of Andy Schleck. Won the Tour and a monument, who else has done that in the modern era? And which Tour winner can count a stage victory as epic as Galibier 2011 among his palmares?

A promising career cut short by his crash and his brother's suspension.

If you count Andy as the winner of the 2010 Tour, you might as well count Nibali as the winner of the 2012 LBL (conceptually).

 

[RownhamHill]

I don't give a crap about the rest of the world. The riders agree that Paris-Roubaix is above the Tour of France, dude. So I draw the conclusion...

. . . that Liege-Bastogne-Liege must be too.

 

[RownhamHill]

If you count Andy as the winner of the 2010 Tour, you might as well count Nibali as the winner of the 2012 LBL (conceptually).

Except the bit about the winner not getting disqualified from that race of course. By that logic if you count Andy the winner of the 2010 Tour, you might as well give him 2009 and make Evans the 2007 winner.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Can't say I will miss Andy, besides we still have the bigger of the Schlecks talents on the road...

 

[Walkman]

I don’t know exactly where it began, but I think Andy lost his motivation to stay as a professional cyclist years ago. He became an “also ran” and seemed content to stay just there and didn’t want to put in the extra time and effort to stay on the top. I don’t buy the “knee” story fully, as if you really wanted to come back to the sport, you are a professional sportsman making good money, you could find the best doctors available and surround yourself with a team of physicians and physical therapists and get back into the sport. He chose the easy route out

Do you know what function cartilage has? Andy says he has "almost no cartilage eft in his knee" and you are giving him a hard time because he choose to retire? :/

 

[Walkman]

I wasn't a fan, but it is sad to see him not retire on his own terms and that he was never able to achieve the greatness that was clearly inside of him. I hope he's at peace with his decision....

Indeed, really sad to see him forced out of the sport he obviously loves. I really do feel for him. Injuries sucks.

 

[Miburo]

You have to admire the rare talent of Andy Schleck. Won the Tour and a monument, who else has done that in the modern era? And which Tour winner can count a stage victory as epic as Galibier 2011 among his palmares?

A promising career cut short by his crash and his brother's suspension.

Wrong. The only reason why it was cut short was cause of his lack of determination. He didn't have the will to go through everything.

Such a rider, i can't respect to the fullest.

 

[SeriousSam]

Yes I suppose you can call it a lack of determination or courage. Not willing to do what was necessary to remain at the top.

Andy appears to have changed his stance regarding 2010, he now fully embraces his status as a Tour De France Winner!

Winning the Tour on the green table was good memory because I won that Tour, I deserved it

 

[86TDFWinner]

You have to admire the rare talent of Andy Schleck. Won the Tour and a monument,

Wasn't this because it was handed to him AFTER Contador was stripped of it?

Andy appears to have changed his stance regarding 2010, he now fully embraces his status as a Tour De France Winner!

A title he didn't earn.

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

AC was relegated to last place and the greatest rival of his career Andy won. Deal with it.

 

[No_Balls]

Andy appears to have changed his stance regarding 2010, he now fully embraces his status as a Tour De France Winner!

Perhaps that is part of the problem. Getting this lifelong dream handed over from the chair was perhaps the only way Andy saw it possible for him to win Tour de France and once that happened, he didnt have the hunger to carry it on. Its perhaps not a coincidence his career was turning downhill almost from scratch after this debacle.

I think it is his early response who is the most intresting though. He didnt immediately recognise himself as the winner. This attitude might change after a time once it matures in his mind and being adviced.

 

[kurtinsc]

If Oscar Pereiro won the tour... then so did Andy.

If not... then you could call them vacant I suppose like they did with Lance's. But Contador certainly didn't win it.

 

[patrick767]

Do you know what function cartilage has? Andy says he has "almost no cartilage eft in his knee" and you are giving him a hard time because he choose to retire? :/

This. Who are we to assume that AS is full of it and his real problem is a lack of motivation? We don't know all the details of his medical condition in recent years. Some people's bodies simply do not handle wear and tear, not to mention injuries, that go along with being a world class athlete as well as others.

There are times when AS has appeared lacking in motivation, but he may very well be telling the truth about the condition of his body, too. As far as I know we don't have evidence to say otherwise.

 

[hfer07]

When I'm looking back at Andy's career, I'm still troubled by how "poor" his palmares is, based on his "talent", since he was touted as the next best rider to Contador- and yet a LBL with his TDF stage wins are only the few glimpses of true glory that we can highlight from him-regardless how his so called "tour Victory" is seen...
I quite understand his frustration, but as it has been endlessly mentioned here-Andy has always been too fragile for Cycling in all aspects-specially the mental part-which is to me the main driver of his early retirement.

 

[masking_agent]

Do you know what function cartilage has? Andy says he has "almost no cartilage eft in his knee" and you are giving him a hard time because he choose to retire? :/

If you really wanted to regain top form wouldn't you surround himself with knee specialists ? I didn't read anything about him seeing different knee specialists etc etc.. If you really wanted to regain top form as a cyclist, you'd go to the ends of the earth , (ie even seek NFL doctors who specialize in knees, Meniscal transplantation etc. ) to seek out the best doctors. Did he ? I don't think so and is just not motivated anymore.

 

[Walkman]

If you really wanted to regain top form wouldn't you surround himself with knee specialists ? I didn't read anything about him seeing different knee specialists etc etc.. If you really wanted to regain top form as a cyclist, you'd go to the ends of the earth , (ie even seek NFL doctors who specialize in knees, Meniscal transplantation etc. ) to seek out the best doctors. Did he ? I don't think so and is just not motivated anymore.

I think I have the same issue as Andy, and there is only one thing to do except rehabilitation (unless he has already don it) and either way, I don't think any specialist can fix it so that he can be on a bike 6h/day. Maybe stem cells could fix it, but it needs more research from what I understand (compliments of George W Bush).

And for those who wonder, Andy has "almost no cartilage left under the kneecap" and since there is no blood flow through the cartilage, it does not have a regenerative capacity. This means that is won't heal by itself.