Schleck at Sky

Jez mon

Meh, the cut off point for where people stop caring about GT placings is totally arbitrary surely...

What coming in the places from around 10th to 30th shows is that you either made up a load of time in a successful break away one day, or you finished most stages in a fairly solid position, including the mountain stages, and are therefore, probably a fairly handy rider. To come in 20th, in what is the most competitive grand tour might not be a massive brag, but it's probably more than a fair few in the peleton could manage, unless they got in a break on a transition day.

dish_dash

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/06/andy- ... big-issue/

Feels he lost too much fitness after the crash, the pelvis still hurts after long rides, and he's riding as a domestique for the Tour.

mrushton

Prob. getting a lot of money still so Trek prob. think that giving him a chance even in a support role will decide his future for them. Doubt anyone on this thread expects to see much action from either of them given their last 3(?) years

tailwindhome

Shipley wrote:

So he's on the TdF team....."to support Frank" :roll:


What a waste of a place.

I don't get this.

outcastjack

I still have a soft spot for him but even with all the scepticism around last years Vuelta I never understood why Trek held on to Andy when they didn't bother to keep Horner.

Back to OP, I do feel he would really benefit from extended time with Steve Peters, other than that I expect the work load expected at Sky would have driven him even lower.

shipley

Well that went as expected.

Time to retire now, there's a good chap.

SCR Pedro

So negative. He's not finished yet. He might not get back to grand tour levels, but I reckon he can make it back to the top of week long tours and hilly classics, maybe in a year or two. He has sh!t luck.

takethehighroad

I think this one will finish him off. Just don't think he's cut out for it anymore

TMR

He is finished - it's foolish to suggest otherwise. His heart isn't in it. His head isn't in it. He can't race clean.

mrushton

Too many people on the market. Trek had Bakelants last year who got a yellow jersey was prob. on a low salary compared to AS and the value of Voight and Cancellara to Trek means they get paid well. When was his last result - 20th a year ago? Prob. get 10 hungry riders for the same money

jimmythecuckoo

TMR wrote:

He is finished - it's foolish to suggest otherwise. His heart isn't in it. His head isn't in it. He can't race clean.

Cannot argue with that.

At least Frank has shown brief moments of promise this year.

tailwindhome

VeloNews ‏@velonews · 7h
Andy Schleck's knee: partially ruptured collateral and cruciate ligaments, and torn meniscus due to crash in London. Rehab may be lengthy.

smithy21

Retirement may be lengthy more like?

takethehighroad

ACL and MCL injuries take months to return in football and American Football, and then some time when back to get up to speed.

Not sure how it changes for cycling but I'd be surprised to see him ride again this year. As I said above, I wouldn't be surprised to see him retire

dolan_driver

It would be sad if this is the end for Andy. He is arguably the biggest natural talent of the last six or seven years. It seems his motivation is gone and the mental scars from his big crash and run-ins with Riis and Bruyneel have chipped away at his desire to go deep in training and racing. Maybe he is just an ordinary guy underneath it all and has just had enough. Hopefully he can regroup and have a big and successful second part to his career.

DD.

dinyull

Without trying to turn this into a doping thread, he would go against everything about their zero tolerance policy? His association with Bruyneel, Riis and of course Frank would put them off before you even ask if his drop in form is down to the injury or not.