Andy is the "underdog"?????????? He was one of the favorites for the Tour last year. Honestly, considering that Contador was coming off of the most challenging Giro in years, had crashed multiple times once the Tour started losing valuable time, with many of the gc contenders having crashed out and parcours very much to his liking, the Tour was his for the taking.
Essentially Andy is his worst enemy when it comes to public personna and many of his ridiculous statements to the press. A rider that is constantly talked up as one of the elite in the sport, gracing countless covers of magazines, the subject of endless video interviews and articles, it is because of all the attention he receives that there is a certain balance of criticism especially when one looks at his results over the course of relatively short career. Last year for instance, for all the attention he received he generated all of one win. I won't talk about his overall record in stage races of which he's supposed to be one of the best. I won't even argue that he isn't because he is, he just rarely shows it except, in the often repeated, month of July.
So I'd say the criticism he receives, at least here is just there to balance out the glowing adulation that the cycling media throws upon him. I'd like to believe we're providing a public service and at the same time doing Andy a favor by attempting to keep him grounded, hungry and not too full of himself.
Based on his statements to the media we're probably not trying hard enough.