Andy Schleck Discussion thread.

[Contadoraus Schlecks]

What has airstream done? I see that he is banned again

 

[hrotha]

After such a long time without riding a GT and having only recently regained the ability to finsih races at all, it was obvious to pretty much everybody that Andy should have done the Vuelta as the best possible build up for next season. That Andy himself can't see this and instead prefers to take it easy and aim for the WC this year tells me he's still as daft as ever.

 

[Beech Mtn]

The only kick in the genitals is that the team won't ride the other Italian classics to prepare for Lombardia. Boy, do I hope that Beccas turns his back on cycling forever.

This.

And further hope that Becca and Oleg Tinkov become embroiled in some sort of complicated business dispute, and spend all their time suing each other, so that neither bothers with cycling again.

As for Andy, it will be interesting to see how he and Frank go next season. Frank could've really used riding a few races this fall for the race KMs.

 

[Afrank]

What has airstream done? I see that he is banned again

Banned for trolling, in one of the vuelta race threads iirc.

 

[patrick767]

Andy who?

It kind of amazes me how far off the map he's dropped. It's well over a year since his injury and he's still nowhere near back to form. Will he ever be? Was the sacrum fracture and knee damage much worse than they thought? A sacral fracture can be anything from mild, just requiring rest to recover, to really, really bad... requiring surgery and long term rehabilitation with complications. I never heard how severe Andy's condition was or wasn't.

 

[Netserk]

Just think about what happened to Beloki. He also never returned to the level he had before.

 

[patrick767]

Just think about what happened to Beloki. He also never returned to the level he had before.

True, though Beloki suffered a horrendous crash with a broken elbow, wrist, and femur in two places. Schleck's injuries did not appear to be as serious. One has to assume he's had ongoing complications given his lack of form. Either that or he doesn't give a crap. Some people think it's the latter, but I find that hard to believe.

 

[Christian]

He had options, thats what the newspapers wrote.

The only teams that were named in the media were Astana and Argos and besides the fact that neither could have signed him due to MPCC rules, both said the rumours were bullsh*t

Andy talked about this wc for a long time. He would have liked to participate. Fränk had the chance to find some rythm again, he said he didn't liked the conditions of Beccas offer. Me as a cycling fan had wished a rider would be eager to race again. That's what i find disappointing.

You only know half of the truth I think. Becca is sueing Fränk because he makes him responsible for the exit of the sponsor Enovos. Then he kicked him out. Then he offered to take him back for no money, while still sueing him. You can be as eager to race as you want, I think in this situation any normal person would have said "f*k you Becca".

Also I do not recall Andy talking about this WC at all. What was he saying about it? Can you provide a link please? The most recent statement he made about a race was that he wanted to get a good result at Lombardia

After such a long time without riding a GT and having only recently regained the ability to finsih races at all, it was obvious to pretty much everybody that Andy should have done the Vuelta as the best possible build up for next season. That Andy himself can't see this and instead prefers to take it easy and aim for the WC this year tells me he's still as daft as ever.

Wrong. Andy was completely exhausted after the Tour because he has been racing and training with no break since January. There is no point in dragging yourself from MTF to MTF in 40C heat when you are fatigued to begin with. So he took a break and went to Colorado instead, a tough week-long race at high altitude. This was exactly the right thing to do IMO, even though the contrary, as you claim, "was obvious to pretty much everybody".

Also keep in mind that at the point where he decided not to ride the Vuelta, he didn't know that Becca would pull another Becca and that his racing schedule would be seriously limited as a consecuence.

The last part of your post I don't understand - do you mean the WC next year?

 

[Christian]

What has airstream done? I see that he is banned again

Banned for trolling, in one of the vuelta race threads iirc.

For an undetermined amount of time apparantly... there is no specification in the banned members thread and my inquiries in the Moderators thread remained without a response. Another example of moderator arbitrariness....

 

[Netserk]

The only teams that were named in the media were Astana and Argos and besides the fact that neither could have signed him due to MPCC rules, both said the rumours were bullsh*t

So post 4815 was sarcastic? Lol, I didn't catch that

 

[Christian]

So post 4815 was sarcastic? Lol, I didn't catch that

Yes 'twas sarcasm indeed - Astana and Argos are the only ones that I can honestly remember and both of those rumours had very little credibility and were denied almost immediately. There may have been another that I didn't hear about but it would surprise me

 

[ferryman]

So nobody really knows what Andy's schedule is for the rest of the season? All in all I don't think it's been a disaster this year after all his problems. As an optimistic fan of his, I just hope he can keep focussed over the winter and turn up next season fully fit mentally and physically. If so, he should be in his prime over the next couple of years. He is an easy target for many, but for me he has been sorely missed

 

[Netserk]

So nobody really knows what Andy's schedule is for the rest of the season? All in all I don't think it's been a disaster this year after all his problems. As an optimistic fan of his, I just hope he can keep focussed over the winter and turn up next season fully fit mentally and physically. If so, he should be in his prime over the next couple of years. He is an easy target for many, but for me he has been sorely missed

I think Radioshack only rides WT races the rest of the year, so his options are quite limited. I guess he'll ride the two Canadian races and Lombardia and perhaps (although I doubt it) Beijing.

 

[Christian]

So nobody really knows what Andy's schedule is for the rest of the season? All in all I don't think it's been a disaster this year after all his problems. As an optimistic fan of his, I just hope he can keep focussed over the winter and turn up next season fully fit mentally and physically. If so, he should be in his prime over the next couple of years. He is an easy target for many, but for me he has been sorely missed

Since Radioshack will only ride WT races and Andy has stated that he will end his season in Lombardia there are not many races left.

In fact, IINM only Québec and Montréal are WT between now and Lombardia. Otherwise I think he might have done the Tour of Britain, I think RSLT was scheduled to race there but I could be wrong

 

[hrotha]

Wrong. Andy was completely exhausted after the Tour because he has been racing and training with no break since January. There is no point in dragging yourself from MTF to MTF in 40C heat when you are fatigued to begin with. So he took a break and went to Colorado instead, a tough week-long race at high altitude. This was exactly the right thing to do IMO, even though the contrary, as you claim, "was obvious to pretty much everybody".

The point would be to build up a solid base for next year. It doesn't matter if he ended every stage in the grupetto at this point.

The last part of your post I don't understand - do you mean the WC next year?

No, I mean this year - well, WC or whatever late-season races he has in mind. My whole point is that he should focus on building up for 2014 and forget about 2013, and after 2 years of barely racing he's only going to achieve that through racing a lot.

 

[ferryman]

For an undetermined amount of time apparantly... there is no specification in the banned members thread and my inquiries in the Moderators thread remained without a response. Another example of moderator arbitrariness....

He/She got a month.

 

[Netserk]

He/She got a month.

Actually he didn't. He is banned for an undefined time.

 

[Christian]

The point would be to build up a solid base for next year. It doesn't matter if he ended every stage in the grupetto at this point.

Honestly I don't think taking a break and doing Colorado, Plouay and maybe Britain (I don't know if he was planning on riding there though) is so terrible though. That way he gets (would have gotten) a similar amount of racing days at high altitude and hard races. As I said I don't know if he was planning on racing Tour of Britain but it would have been a good idea I think.

In any case I think it is futile to speculate which would have been better, in the end neither of us can prove our claims and it's not an exact science I believe, so you cannot say exactly the effects which doing race x will have in 5 months.

 

[alspacka]

Can somebody please explain to me why everybody seems to hold Andy in such contempt? He's an aggressive rider, has contributed some amazing rides. Always seemed like a nice lad to me. He's not had the best luck with injuries (and a lack of sportsmanship), and I for one hope he's back to his best next year.

 

[McLovin]

Can somebody please explain to me why everybody seems to hold Andy in such contempt? He's an aggressive rider, has contributed some amazing rides. Always seemed like a nice lad to me. He's not had the best luck with injuries (and a lack of sportsmanship), and I for one hope he's back to his best next year.

I think it all started (on this forum) with his "finishing a stage after a downhill" remark. Maybe I am wrong. It's silly anyway.

 

[Angliru]

Can somebody please explain to me why everybody seems to hold Andy in such contempt? He's an aggressive rider, has contributed some amazing rides. Always seemed like a nice lad to me. He's not had the best luck with injuries (and a lack of sportsmanship), and I for one hope he's back to his best next year.

If you read through the Andy thread you will see that many have softened their stance on Andy, and have been rooting for him to make a successful and complete return to form. He has been missed for what he brought in the mountains of the Tour.

 

[Netserk]

If you read through the Andy thread you will see that many have softened their stance on Andy, and have been rooting for him to make a successful and complete return to form. He has been missed for what he brought in the mountains of the Tour.

Not everybody

 

[hrotha]

Honestly I don't think taking a break and doing Colorado, Plouay and maybe Britain (I don't know if he was planning on riding there though) is so terrible though. That way he gets (would have gotten) a similar amount of racing days at high altitude and hard races. As I said I don't know if he was planning on racing Tour of Britain but it would have been a good idea I think.

In any case I think it is futile to speculate which would have been better, in the end neither of us can prove our claims and it's not an exact science I believe, so you cannot say exactly the effects which doing race x will have in 5 months.

It's not just the race days, it's racing a GT, with three weeks of nonstop racing, forcing your body to adapt and recover, etc etc. There's a reason why JV, for example, feels it's important for everybody who matters in his team to ride at least one GT per year.

 

[Christian]

It's not just the race days, it's racing a GT, with three weeks of nonstop racing, forcing your body to adapt and recover, etc etc. There's a reason why JV, for example, feels it's important for everybody who matters in his team to ride at least one GT per year.

I think that's not only Vaughters but in most teams. I agree with what you say, I only suggest that it is also possible to overdo it, which might have been the case for Andy

 

[Christian]

Can somebody please explain to me why everybody seems to hold Andy in such contempt? He's an aggressive rider, has contributed some amazing rides. Always seemed like a nice lad to me. He's not had the best luck with injuries (and a lack of sportsmanship), and I for one hope he's back to his best next year.

In the very beginning of the forum, he used to be very popular (2009-2010). Then there was a combination of factors I think. Lack of wins, unfortunate statements in interviews, need for a new subject for hatred after the retirement of Lance Armstrong, anti-Leopard campaign by a former user, Bruyneel...

Some of it was just jokes though, to parodize the hatred at its height on the forum