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Will Andy Schleck ever be any good again?
It now been a long time since we saw Andy up front on the climbs. Obviously he had a crash in 2012 and broke his sacrum, but he seems to have never been the same again. I have no idea how this would affect a rider. 2013 was full of abandons and he dropped out of the tour again this year. Have we seen the best of him already? The last couple of years are exactly when we should have been seeing him at his prime. It literally takes a one in a billion athlete to win the Tour and he has just gone back into the pack, he could ride anyone on this board into the floor, but it takes a bit more to win at the top level.
I remember his epic solo mountain break away in 2011, when Evans (finally) realised he had to hunt him down and it turned into a dramatic painful two man mountain time trial [Evans always made most things look painful.] I hope that is not the last best thing we will see from Andy.
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8 comments
This will no doubt shock the die hard Sky fans but he could be resurrected here. They have the training, the finance and the right behind the scenes staff to help him get back to where he was.
At the moment if something doesn't happen quickly he will quit altogether.
Interesting idea if there was space for him beside Froome/Porte and others. But he would have to leave behind Frank and 100% certain nothing historical* comes up.
*This word is now a bit tainted by that other business. It does put cheating in sport into perspective.
If he gets a new team next season, which i would be surprised at. with decent coaching and psychologist he might get back to a good level but not to the standard he was. Could see him at Net App next year.
Andy reminds me of Tom Danielson. Incredible talent, but something missing from the package.
The problem for Andy is that he needs to rediscover form very soon- with potentially more teams folding and losing their sponsors there could be a pool of very available and capable talent again this year (maybe even more so than last season) and Trek management aren't going to keep his place ringfenced forever.
Possibly...
Just look at Laurent Fignon, three years an enfant terrible, he has expected to be the new Bernard Hainault, then for 3 years from 85 nothing. But starting with a Milan-San Remo in 88 he had an excellent two years (another M-SR, a Giro, 2nd in the 89 Tour), so it can happen.
I think he needs motivation and the right coach and team. It takes an enormous effort to do the training required to compete at the top. The Bruyneel phase he went through seems to have left him demoralised. Frank seems to have some form at this Tour, and maybe that will encourage him.
In a word, NO, I think he still has the ability, it is the mentality that has gone