'Dale Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 I think it was a bit of a head-space issue as well.... and it wasn't for lack of opportunity that he faltered.No doubtTo be a PRO cyclist must be such a tough jobAdd some adversity, and it's one helluva steep climb (pun intended)
ScottCM Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 Joe V reflects on Andy Schleck's retirement:"Hi, I’m Joe V. The V is for Vadeboncoeur, but no one ever really calls me that (except my business card). That card also calls me the Global Director of Product Development, Marketing and Creative Design for Trek Bicycle. Yep, I am sometimes not really sure what all that means either. I do know that I dig bikes, oatmeal, motorcycles, burritos, the weird things I see along the way, my family and my job. I get to travel the world helping make great bikes, so it’s a pretty great gig." We are all going to miss Andy SchleckI was running through an airport, trying to catch my flight, when my phone dinged at me. A Whatsap message from Andy - Give me a call if you can. I replied, that I was getting on a flight, could I call him later. He replied immediately. I was kinda hopeful about the conversation, but it was a bit foreboding. It turned out that foreboding was accurate. "I think it is time to hang it up." I was shocked as I really did not see it coming. I thought maybe I was going to hear the knee was coming around. I thought we were going to have a conversation about how he could work himself back into form in a year, etc... It took me a long time to digest the facts of the conversation; the knee was just not going to come around.We are all going to miss Andy. Andy was the promise that was always there, just below the surface. Andy was the most gifted professional cyclist ever, but Andy just never could put it all together. He has the most amazing motor - maybe the biggest ever - with a perpetual young boy POV on the world. He was always the kid that could just do it and could always make things happen when he wanted to. He did not understand the world of preparation and the world of science. He was all "ride and then do it." Andy's will was enough, when combined with his absolute raw gift for cycling, to make him one of the best there ever was. When Andy was the young newcomer, the press loved him. He was the future. He was young and good looking and funny and spoke many languages and he had a brother that was his partner in cycling. Life was good. Andy represented everything that was great about cycling. He represented what could have been. He represented the pure joy around cycling and winning that we all felt robbed of through the 90s and early 2000s.And for many years the results came. He impressed at so many races, and won early in his career. It just seemed so natural that he would go all the way to the top. He was a champion already when he started.Then later when the promise was a bit dusty and his focus appeared to be elsewhere, he somehow lost the following and admiration of the press. The press was hard on him. I suspect they were hard on him because, like all of us, they wanted him to grab the brass ring to somehow miraculously take that next small step and realize the destiny that we all thought was his. The fans never left Andy, though. As fans we all wanted him to get it all sorted and win. We wanted the tall boyish kid to climb up on that top step. We wanted to see him smile there and we wanted him to be dismayed at what all the fuss was. We wanted him to get the glory that chaingate and clenbuterol had robbed him of. We wanted him to learn to suffer against the clock, just enough to not let Cadel Evans beat him. We knew it was just there below the surface, and we thought if we just willed it to happen he would eventually find that next gear.I first met Andy in 2009. There was talk of a Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project and it was my job to keep tabs on that for Trek. Slowly during 2010 it looked like it would become a reality. As the Luxembourg effort came together, and we put a deal together to be the technical provider for the team, I had more opportunities to spend time with Andy and Frank. On our first outing to put them all on bikes, we met at a small hunting lodge in Luxembourg. The Schlecks were still under contract elsewhere, so we could not ride publicly. But we did a small private ride together with a few more that would become the core of the team. Andy was a complete class act during that event. He was polite and curious about the bike as he compared it to his current bike. After the ride, he was the last to leave as he wanted to get to know the guys from Trek. We told stories about racing and stories about our lives. The stories stretched out to dinner and we became quick friends. Andy and Frank. They were mostly inseparable.Over the years, that friendship has built and it has been shared through some interesting times. I am a lot older than Andy, but I could never have the experience that he has had with being so close to the top of a sport. He has seen tremendous success and shown tremendous promise, and he has suffered some of the most amazing streaks of bad luck and bad consequence that we have ever seen. I am proud to have been there with him through those times. I am proud of the friendship that we have built. We have been through some great times together and some tough times. But through all of those times, we have remained friends. For that I am grateful.The world of cycling is going to miss Andy Schleck. The Contadors and Valverdes and Froomes of the world are just not the same and cannot inspire the same way. The world of cycling may be just now realizing that. Those of us close to Andy know that deep inside. Those of us that know Andy, and many of his fans, were already missing him from the moment he called us to say he had reached the end. I know I will miss his humor on the bus. I will miss him giving it to me about the lack of hair on my head. I will miss looking forward to our time together at a race. I know I will not miss how bad I have felt for him when things have not gone well for him. But, I know that cycling is better because Andy was there. We will miss you Andy.
ScottCM Posted November 5, 2014 Posted November 5, 2014 Fränk Schleck has admitted that his brother Andy still needs time to come to terms with his retirement from cycling but added that the former Tour de France winner hopes to remain in the sport.Andy Schleck was forced to call time on his career due a knee injury, and announced the news at a press conference convened in his home country of Luxembourg, in October. The news ended months of speculation after Schleck damaged the cartilage in his right knee in a crash at the Tour de France. Despite an extended rehabilitation period, medical advice forced the rider into a rather premature retirement at the age of 29.The two brothers recently returned from a holiday in Mallorca where they, and their respective families, were able to privately come to terms with the development."When Andy first retired I didn't want to come out and say that much because I felt like I would just be repeating things," his brother Fränk told Cyclingnews."Obviously I knew that the news was coming. For about two or three weeks he'd already decided and we talked through everything. We understood that there was no way back and that, because of the damage to his knee, it was all over. It was a very hard moment but everyone has to slow down at some point. The wheels stop for every rider. You can't ride forever and for Andy that moment is now. If he could change it he would have but that's how it is."The brothers - who have been virtually inseparable during their racing careers – used their trip to Spain as a chance to digest Andy's retirement, and Fränk admitted that there have been tough moments in the weeks since the formal announcement."There's been some time to understand the news and I've personally come to accept it but it was like a punch in the stomach when he first told me. Since then, I have to say thank you to everyone who has reached out to us, and especially to Andy, because a lot of fans, riders, and our friends have said a lot of nice things. They've reminded us that the memories we shared and created on the road, they will last forever."Despite the well-wishers and the nostalgic trips down memory lane, the emotional wounds are still visible. Andy Schleck was understandably upset during his press conference, regularly having to compose himself as he answered questions from the media surrounding several injuries he picked up in the latter stages of his career and his legacy. In Mallorca the brothers' conversation would automatically turn to cycling but Fränk would shift the topic depending on his brother's response."I'd be lying if I said that everything for him has been good. He's had a hard time and at moments he has been miserable. Maybe what people didn't see is that he tried everything to come back. He was out in Mallorca for three weeks before the decision was taken, and he was there with a medical team and was riding to try and come back. Everyday he tried."So he's been down and he's needed this recent break in order to try and get over these feelings. Still, even today when we were together, when we start talking about cycling it's tough. We automatically start talking about it because it's our passion, it's our life, and you can see straight away that it's a tough thing to talk about. He is coming to terms with the situation and he is coming around to the fact that one chapter has closed but that another can begin. He's looking forward to that future."Fränk trained sporadically in Mallorca but in the coming week he will head to Trek Factory Racing's winter training camp, and within a few months he will be back in full race mode. At that point he believes his brother may face another difficult patch but he is adamant that he can overcome it."There are moments when he's okay but I think the second wave will come. I'll start going to training camps and then the races, and I think it's going to hit him again. It's not going to be easy but there has to be acceptance. That's how it is and we just have to rally around him.""It's like when we were back in races. We can read each other really well so I can tell from just one look if he wants to talk about cycling or not. Sometimes it was good to talk about the sport but there were other moments when it was just better to talk about family or fishing, anything but cycling."At the end of his press conference Andy spoke about a possible return to cycling in a non-competitive role."I'd love for him to stay in cycling but it's too early to talk about that. He still has to fight the emotions he's going through before anything can be decided. He wants to stay in the sport and we're going to see him around, he just needs more time."
gummibear Posted September 4, 2015 Posted September 4, 2015 Andy is opening a new bike store and museum here. Andy Schleck Cycles
CAAD4 Posted September 5, 2015 Posted September 5, 2015 Wow looks like. Pity about the empty trophy cabinet...
Patchelicious Posted September 5, 2015 Posted September 5, 2015 That poster is bigger than his career.....WHahahahahaa
UpShift_Cycles Posted September 5, 2015 Posted September 5, 2015 Andy is opening a new bike store and museum here. Andy Schleck Cyclesjust for the record...where is here? Me thinking Lux?
Shebeen Posted September 6, 2015 Posted September 6, 2015 Didn't he actually win the tour retrospective once clen took out berto? Seen guys who sell sweepstake tickets to pensioners getting more respect!
CAAD4 Posted September 6, 2015 Posted September 6, 2015 That's like pipping your club mates for the win to coffee at the red robot, isn't it?
Chro Mo Posted September 6, 2015 Posted September 6, 2015 Hardly bad palmares - better than most riders can ever hope to achieve. I wish he had won more, but have a look below - he does deserve respect for his achievements. Far better than most riders.... Just sayin'..... Palmarès[edit]2004 1st Under-23 National Road Race Championships 1st Under-23 National Time Trial Championships 1st Overall Flèche du Sud 2005 1st National Time Trial Championships 2006 1st Mountains classification Tour of Britain Sachsen Tour 1st Stages 3 & 5 2007 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Young rider classi 4th Giro di Lombardia 8th Overall Tour de Romandie 2008 4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 4th Olympics Men's Road Race 6th Overall Tour de Suisse 12th Overall Tour de France 1st Young rider classification 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour de Pologne 2009 1st National Road Race Championships 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège 1st Stage 2 Tour de Luxembourg 2nd Overall Tour de France 1st Young rider classification 2nd La Flèche Wallonne 8th Monte Paschi Eroica 10th Amstel Gold Race 2010 1st National Time Trial Championships 1st Overall Tour de France 1st Young rider classificatin 1st Stages 8 & 17 6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 9th La Flèche Wallonne 2011 1st Mountains classification Tour de Suisse 1st RaboRonde Heerlen 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 8th Tour of California 2nd Overall Tour de France Combativity Award Stage 18 1st Stage 18
'Dale Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Didn't he actually win the tour retrospective once clen took out berto? Seen guys who sell sweepstake tickets to pensioners getting more respect! Yeah, had the whole maillot jane presentation thingie He is the official winner Sramgate led to Clengate led to yellow
Chro Mo Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441470860.727129.jpgAi...that Pipedream is the Biz!!
gummibear Posted September 13, 2015 Posted September 13, 2015 My kids bumped into their favourite cyclist today.
gummibear Posted February 5, 2016 Posted February 5, 2016 Andy Schleck Cycles opened today and pretty cool to see all his old race bikes from when he was a kid.
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