Papa Schleck tells Andy "Give it up, boy!"

What's all that about?
Apparently Johny Schleck has been talking to a French publication about the state of cycling these days.
As an aside, am I the only one who thinks of Johny Schleck as Joe-nee? Here in the UK, the name is John with one "n", and the casual version is Johnny with two "n"s. Pronounced Jonn-ee. But with only one "n" it just doesn't look right, and I think of him as Joe-nee, as in Joni Mitchell. ("Big yellow taxi")Is that just me?

Anyway, leaving aside the pronunciation of his name, he has suddenly told the press that he thinks Andy and Frankie should give up cycling.

This seems a bit of an odd thing to say, just at this time: clearly he is bothered by the doping scandal, well, aren't we all, and clearly he is concerned about Frankie and his personal doping scandal. He tells the paper that Frankie is "depressed", and has spent a lot of money on fighting the accusations.

But he was a pro cyclist at a time when doping was accepted. I seem to remember, when I first started following Andy Schleck, reading interviews where he said that he was determined from the beginning that his boys would be "clean" riders, and I have often read references to them being part of the "new generation" of clean riders. It was one of the things that made me want to follow the Schlecks: the idea that their parents were also from the sporting world, as they were both professional athletes - they would know all about the pressures, and would ensure that Andy and Frankie were aware of the pitfalls of doping,and were never pressured to become part of it.

So why would he decide that they should throw away everything they have worked for, all their lives, just now?

It seems a bit odd.

OK, Frankie is going through a terrible experience right now, and Andy has certainly had a horrible, horrible year, but that is only one year: they will get through it, things will get better.  Frankie is probably approaching his peak cycling years now, and Andy is just getting better every year (said she, loyally, ignoring the total lack of results from 2012).

Elle made a good point in the comments on the last post, in that our boys have indeed pissed off some big names in cycling, not least being Mr Bruyneel and his entourage. "The Schlecks are not easy to work with" he said earlier this year, ha! ha! "Not easy to bully", perhaps?

But this is not a reason for giving up - not now, not when it is all at the tipping point (I think) and is going to get better. No, stop laughing, or making cynical noises, I really feel that this scandal is going to be the one that fixes cycling: sometimes you have to shake something to its core in order to shake some sense into it.

The next couple of years are going to be a bit lean on the sponsor side, I suspect, and it is entirely possible that the ProTeam league might go down to maybe 10-15 teams for a while, but I don't think this signals the end of cycling, do you?

Especially as Mr Bruyneel is going to be, er, very busy for the forthcoming months: hopefully far too busy to be interfering with Andy and Frankie. I know it's rude of me, bearing in mind that I've never met the guy, but I have formed an opinion about him, and I would be very happy to see him thrown out of cycling: or at the very least, sidelined for the duration of a long-drawn-out investigation ("Ha! See how you like it, matey!) that keeps him away until certain contracts expire, and certain riders are free once more.

So come on Andy, just this once, don't listen to your Papa.

Besides, what would they do?

If he doesn't want to ride, then presumably he wouldn't want them to be any part of it: so would we end up with Frankie working in the casino in Mondorf? Andy commuting to an office job in Lux city? What a terrible thought!