Andy Schleck, still a grand tour contendor?

Lightning

Unfortunately, I think he's done. I don't agree when you say he didn't have the motivation when racing, as he always attacked and tried to win even when it was pretty much done (e.g. vs Contador @ TDFs) instead of settling for second or whatever. Even his last great ride was a crazy attack that brought him back into contention. However, I do agree that he always lacked motivation when training though. It always seemed to me like Frank was the one with the motivation, but Andy was the one with the huge potential.

I think he was one of the best climbers during his prime and still had a lot of room for improvement, but he eventually cracked mentally. If he didn't and started working on his TTing, I think he would currently be on par with the best, winning GT GCs.

shipley

squired wrote:

Andy seems to be finished.

Yes he is, and should not be taking up a WT place.

Time for the new young guys in the sport.

jimmythecuckoo

The other factor is that he will know deep down now that he cannot win.

If he comes back and starts romping up the Cols with the big wigs, the cynics will be all over him.

rick_chasey

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

The other factor is that he will know deep down now that he cannot win.

If he comes back and starts romping up the Cols with the big wigs, the cynics will be all over him.

This is a very Anglo-centric view.

Outside of English speaking countries (and France, for different reasons) the doping issue is less problematic for fans and the press.

Fans who have not had to get their info from foreign sources would do well to remember that the Anglo press coverage is very different to other more traditional cycling nations.

There's also a fairly consistent split in attitude between 'Protestant' and 'catholic / other' cultures, which splits on similar lines as above.

jimmythecuckoo

True, but I can only give that view until I win the lottery and buy a Chateaux in Brittany

mike6

Rick Chasey wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

The other factor is that he will know deep down now that he cannot win.

If he comes back and starts romping up the Cols with the big wigs, the cynics will be all over him.

This is a very Anglo-centric view.

Outside of English speaking countries (and France, for different reasons) the doping issue is less problematic for fans and the press.
Fans who have not had to get their info from foreign sources would do well to remember that the Anglo press coverage is very different to other more traditional cycling nations.

There's also a fairly consistent split in attitude between 'Protestant' and 'catholic / other' cultures, which splits on similar lines as above.

What, you mean the more "Traditional" cycling countries dont care how there riders win, as long as they win?

dennisn

davidof wrote:

http://youtu.be/QxEgmenKkNk

What am I missing here? Who goes fishing in cycling gear? For carp no less? :?

ugo.santalucia

mike6 wrote:

What, you mean the more "Traditional" cycling countries dont care how there riders win, as long as they win?

When Pantani was caught, 100% of the people in Italy thought it was a conspiracy... he was too strong and they wanted to get rid of him.
On the other hand, nobody in Italy ever believed Armstrong's fairy tail and nobody liked him well before the scandal

So it's a difficult one... let's say they are more cynical about sport

SCR Pedro

I reckon he could still have a good classics career. The real answer is that none of us know. We'll have to wait and see. But I love a comeback story, so will be cheering him on.

Bo Duke

Doper or non-doper the fact remains he is not performing and his team need success. For the last 2 seasons he's been a wasted seat. And a very costly one.

So if there's a team out there for broken riders who are willing to undertake a social experiment whether these guys can come back then fine (you can add Wiggo in there) but a modern team needs to invest in top talent to produce results.

ugo.santalucia

Interesting article on Andy in this month's PRO Cycling... we forgot to mention about all the injuries as well

philbar72

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Interesting article on Andy in this month's PRO Cycling... we forgot to mention about all the injuries as well

It all went drasticaly wrong for him just before the 2012 tour. He has never fully recovered as far as i can see.

thomthom

He was awful before his injury in Dauphine

B3rnieMac

He was on Wouter's team as well, maybe once he had a serious crash of his own, WW's death had been playing on his mind any time we went downhill.

Serious Cat

Andy is a yesterday man and imo if he gets a team place it should be as a domestique and certainly not as a GC rider.

mike6

He must eventualy find it difficult to negotiate another contract, what would be his barganing position be?

A domestique, possibly, but would he be prepared to do that, Its hard work for little reward.

ugo.santalucia

mike6 wrote:

He must eventualy find it difficult to negotiate another contract, what would be his barganing position be?

A domestique, possibly, but would he be prepared to do that, Its hard work for little reward.

If he's desperate enough, he might take a contract for 100 K or so, which is the salary of a good domestique... for 100K is probably still worth a punt for a team that doesn't have a GC man and can even do without one. As a DS I would negotiate a contract based on results... 100 K salary... another 100 K if he wins a stage and so on

shipley

20k basic based on this years performance and 100k if he manages to make any kind of contribution to a team and that's being generous given the amount of young talent around and the restricted amount of teams.

Maybe he should step down a couple of levels to prove he still has it.

danlikesbikes

Has he lost his confidence due to lack of form and accidents/injury or lack of juice guess we will never know (unless he comes out further down the line).

If you believe he was clean (when doing well previously) & at team wanted to take him on & he could sting some results together & work on his descending & TT'ing & he really wanted it then maybe but a hell of a lot of if's required perhaps too many.

*perhaps is an understatement btw

joelsim

He wasn't clean obviously.

rick_chasey

Love how you lot are deciding amongst yourselves how much or not he should be paid .

shipley

If you read into this.....he's out.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/guercil ... ory-racing

takethehighroad

Reading the article in procycling, I was intrigued, so I checked CQ Ranking.

Throughout his entire career (not including TTTs, but including Luxembourg TT champs), Andy has won a total of 10 races.

10! And his last win was on the Galibier in the 2011 Tour

If he's not a GT contender, then there's not a lot of value elsewhere

dish_dash

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Throughout his entire career (not including TTTs, but including Luxembourg TT champs), Andy has won a total of 10 races.

That's astonishing! Am amazed actually that Tinkov hasn't signed him up as yet another super domestique

RichN95.

In his entire career, Carlos Sastre only won seven races (excluding two mountains jerseys and two TTTs)

Yellow Peril

I've always found the Schlecks fairly underwhelming. Even reading this thread took some effort. Time for Andy to do a job of work for someone else or hang his cleats up

Bo Duke

There are some cracking unrecognized riders out there doing twice the job Andy does. Sorry mate but it's over.