Andy Schleck?

[spalco]

I know, look what I wrote between the brackets.

But the OP brought this thread back up only a couple days ago in regards to this Tour.

 

[Stravoski]

So is this performance from Andy Schleck in the Critérium du Dauphiné the real Andy Schleck without PEDS ?

 

[red_flanders]

Just curious... If indeed someone did have knee problems that required treatment - how would they deal with that in a way that wouldn't be interpreted the "clinic way"?

Good question. If I had a sports injury bad enough to make me choose inpatient treatment at a clinic, I seriously doubt it would only affect my training for 3 days, or a week. I actually can't imagine what kind of knee injury would require inpatient treatment short of surgery, can you?

It's not that he sought treatment for a knee injury. It's that the story around it makes no sense with how one might actually deal with a knee injury and using 3 days off as an excuse for being "behind" on form is pretty silly. The whole dialog around it strains credulity (to put it mildly).

 

[Big Doopie]

So is this performance from Andy Schleck in the Critérium du Dauphiné the real Andy Schleck without PEDS ?

and that's the million dollar question...

 

[JPM London]

Good question. If I had a sports injury bad enough to make me choose inpatient treatment at a clinic, I seriously doubt it would only affect my training for 3 days, or a week. I actually can't imagine what kind of knee injury would require inpatient treatment short of surgery, can you?

It's not that he sought treatment for a knee injury. It's that the story around it makes no sense with how one might actually deal with a knee injury and using 3 days off as an excuse for being "behind" on form is pretty silly. The whole dialog around it strains credulity (to put it mildly).

I follow you there completely, but on the other hand athletes - not just cycling ones - are medically/physiologically monitored on a whole different level than compared to us regular folks. Also apart from any sinister "preparation" they might or might not do. I'd guess they'd do a "complete medical" for a lot the rest of us would just wait for to get out of the system on its own...

 

[red_flanders]

I follow you there completely, but on the other hand athletes - not just cycling ones - are medically/physiologically monitored on a whole different level than compared to us regular folks. Also apart from any sinister "preparation" they might or might not do. I'd guess they'd do a "complete medical" for a lot the rest of us would just wait for to get out of the system on its own...

Agreed, and I'd certainly allow for the remote possibility that these comments are on the level. However...

...if I were having knee problems bad enough to sideline me completely for 3 days, my training would have been impacted by this issue for a long time before actually seeking treatment. If he'd have said, "I've been having knee issues all spring, and in (insert week/month or whatever) I sought treatment and they solved it with X". Not...

...I'm behind because I holed up in a clinic for 3 days last month for (undisclosed, undescribed) knee problems.

Maybe I'm not seeing the whole interview (where are the follow up questions?) or maybe I'm reading a translation/excerpt that is not explaining the whole issue.

But the reality is that Andy Schleck throws so many "doper" flags for me that anything like this he says which is in any way suspicious that he fuels the fire.

So to answer the original question, there are plenty of riders who I'd be more inclined to believe if they had a more credible story than the particular nonsense AS delivered. But when AS says what he said, the way he said it, when he said it that I think it's laughable.

 

[Escarabajo]

Just curious... If indeed someone did have knee problems that required treatment - how would they deal with that in a way that wouldn't be interpreted the "clinic way"?

Quietly.

............

 

[Escarabajo]

It seems to me that Andy was better last year in the run-up to the Tour. In the Tour of Suisse he was better, but I guess that was a week later.

Anyway, Andy's behavior has always hit one of my red flags criteria points for finding a doper. It is just not natural honestly. Always peaking at the Tour de France. Even Armstrong was not that bad in the preparation.

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

Is it possible that some sort of feud or bad relationship between Bruyneel and Andy is preventing Andy from being able to do his normal dope routine buildup? Do they know that the pressure is on in a new and scarier way and we might see a drug free Andy blow our minds with an even worse performance than the Dauphine?

 

[Big Doopie]

always thought schlecklet performed like a doper.

and on top of that it's all the hog knows. the hog only knows how to win through doping.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Just curious... If indeed someone did have knee problems that required treatment - how would they deal with that in a way that wouldn't be interpreted the "clinic way"?

IF indeed someone had such a problem, I'd wager their chief director (in this case, Andersen) would not go on record saying it was no big deal.

IF they did indeed have such a problem.

 

[veganrob]

There better be a drug tester with Andy every minute of every day from now till the end of TdF.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

11:55 - Andy Schleck pulls out

Andy Schleck has quit the Dauphiné at km 64.

http://www.letour.fr/2012/CDD/LIVE/us/600/depeches.html

weirder and weirder

 

[wattage]

Yes, and he will destroy everyone at climbs at TdF in a month. Nothing suspicious about that at all. Cycling is so much cleaner than 10 years ago.

 

[veganrob]

There better be a drug tester with Andy every minute of every day from now till the end of TdF.

Edit: They should check for his heart also.

 

[doperhopper]

headlines - "Andy Schleck: You can do a lot in three weeks"
clinic forum - "seems legit"

Maybe just lost a lot of blood during his TT crash, has to be refilled.

 

[doperhopper]

and that's the million dollar question...

That's Andy's highly sophisticated secret war on doping with a little subliminal message to cycling fans: Want this on Tour? So STFU!

 

[iZnoGouD]

headlines - "Andy Schleck: You can do a lot in three weeks"
clinic forum - "seems legit"

Maybe just lost a lot of blood during his TT crash, has to be refilled.

shut up ***

 

[Escarabajo]

I think Andy's Tour hopes are gone. Regardless of the doping program you need better trainning than that.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I think Andy's Tour hopes are gone. Regardless of the doping program you need better trainning than that.

Completely agree.
Andy gets a lot of flack for only concentrating on one event - which is untrue. He has always been competitive during the Ardennes week, taper back a bit and then train specifically for the Tour. Suisse or DL were the test events to see if anything needed to be worked on.

This year he was already behind for Ardennes week. He still had time to rectify it but it appears there is a power struggle behind the scenes (& I would feel sympathy for JB in that).
Now it's too late to rectify for overall - but if he survives the Alps I would expect him to do ok in the Pyrenees, perhaps even a stage win, but it will be because he will already have lost too much time and will not be considered a threat and allowed some freedom, nothing to do with PEDs.

 

[Escarabajo]

There you have it, he is not going to ride the Tour de France. So as expected was really not related to doping. It was just too much, honestly.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-reported-to-be-out-of-tour-de-france

 

[The Hitch]

Completely agree.
Andy gets a lot of flack for only concentrating on one event - which is untrue. He has always been competitive during the Ardennes week, taper back a bit and then train specifically for the Tour. Suisse or DL were the test events to see if anything needed to be worked on.

This year he was already behind for Ardennes week. He still had time to rectify it but it appears there is a power struggle behind the scenes (& I would feel sympathy for JB in that).
Now it's too late to rectify for overall - but if he survives the Alps I would expect him to do ok in the Pyrenees, perhaps even a stage win, but it will be because he will already have lost too much time and will not be considered a threat and allowed some freedom, nothing to do with PEDs.

He was not behind for ardennes weeke he said pre season that he felt he had gone too hard in recent years in his pre tour schedule especially the ardennes and would therefore not do so this year.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

He was not behind for ardennes weeke he said pre season that he felt he had gone too hard in recent years in his pre tour schedule especially the ardennes and would therefore not do so this year.

I know he said that early in the year, that he believed he did too much - but the Ardennes was still a big objective that he did not meet:

“If you have a rough start of the season, you had to adapt to it and change the program a little bit. I am not worried,” Schleck told VeloNews. “I am focused on the big part of the season and I am on schedule. I will be ready for the Ardennes.”

And then Bruyneel said after the Ardennes:

... Next we looked to the Ardennes Classics and we hoped to see improvement here. But all of it was far from what we expected. [At Liege-Bastogne-Liege] we had no one in the top 20 and we can’t be happy with that.”

 

[Boeing]

The Hog's people have probably taken so much blood out of Andy that the poor dude has problems standing up without fainting. We should give him props for being able to finish stages within the time cut.

props to you for being so cute and condescending at the same time. its so hot btw

other tha that I agree. he looks like he has aged 10 years this season alone

 

[BroDeal]

props to you for being so cute and condescending at the same time. its so hot btw

other tha that I agree. he looks like he has aged 10 years this season alone

Props to you for always making it about the poster.

Other than that I agree with your agreement.