There is no real news to report or comment on today: but I am feeling happy, happy, happy, as I have finally taken my exam. Yes, folks, the stressful bit is over. The studying part was great, I really enjoyed that, but I have hated doing the revision, and preparing for the exam. However, it's all behind me now, and I can relax.
This means that I can now blog without guilt!!
In celebration, I spent some time going through the photos that Barbara kindly pointed out to us: in case you didn't see the link in her comment (*pats Barbara on the back*) it's here: Julien Garroy photographer. Get a cup of tea before you start, as there are hundreds of them! (cries of "Lovely!" from the fangirls.)
As always, some of them caught my eye, so I repeat a few of them below, in no particular order, just for the fun of it.
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| "We Are 'Bourg" |
Not even Mr Bruyneel (allegedly) poisoning one of them.
But the question remains, who is Two of Two? Or are they actually One and Two of Three? Do we count Steve in this?
(Note, for non-Star-Trek fans, this is a reference to the Borg, an alien race consisting of.. oh, look it up for yourself!)
Not least because TinkerJil appears to be wearing a Luxembourg garter.
Well, look, she does!
I am guessing that this is an early photo of her with the family, as she is unceremoniously shoved on the outside of the row. Not between Andy and Mamma Schleck, as you would expect her to be, and as Martine is invariably shown.
I wonder who contrived the seating arrangement? Mamma Schleck? Maybe it's those shoes? Not the style, very nice, but the colour... my dear, turquoise, with a white dress? It would possibly work if she were wearing a red hat (Lux colours, you know) but that does not appear to be the case.
To be fair, I have to say that I am not at all sure what colour shoes I would wear with a white frock, having never had such a thing: I mean, white stilettos - no. Far too "Essex Girl". Black shoes? Hmm, that's probably what I would go for: that, or tan/beige. Anything but turquoise. If I wore a bright colour in the shoes, it would have to match an accessory - handbag, belt, scarf, or something. Red would work, apart from looking a little trampy... it's not an easy question, is it? Poor TinkerJil, did the best she could, and here we are, criticising her from three hundred and eighty miles away.
("Fringe! Fringe!")
Right, moving on, here's a classic "OMG, what were you thinking?" moment. What was she thinking? (Not Gabi, the woman with the large frontage next to her) "Here are my breasts" would appear to be the theme of the day.
But as we know, it didn't work, Andy doesn't go for much, much older women ("Drat!") even if they do have massive racks. Although, actually, we know that he and Jakob do sometimes get distracted...
So, what message is Andy receiving? "Excuse me, Mr Schleck, sir, there's a bunch of young women outside who say that Auntie Coug said it was all right for them to grab you after the presentation..."
This next one pleases me immensely, as I have often asked the question - has Andy ever ridden on the track? I had assumed not, in fact I rather thought they didn't even have a velodrome in Luxembourg, since the last one fell apart from disuse in 1952.
A little research indicates that there have been plans for the last 10 years to build a new velodrome, but they haven't come to anything yet. Earlier this year, January in fact, there were plans drawn up to build one actually in Mondorf, which makes a lot of sense - but the plans seem to have stalled, and I guess the problems that Andy and Frankie are having are not helping.
So here is Andy following the Derney bike, and I am manfully going to resist commenting on his position. All I will say is that Team Sky have a really solid track background... and it shows.
Ah, but this one is nice, isn't it? Ah, happy days.
Well, that's all for now, I leave you with the thought of all the Leopard riders getting out the scissors and chopping off the yellow Livestrong band from their jersey's left sleeve.....
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The picture on the track is taken in the velodrome in Ghent, where the FSCL had a training camp last December.
ReplyDeleteVery nice photos!
ReplyDeleteWhat's FSCL? Fédération Sportive Cycliste du Luxembourg or something like that?
Good remark on Jil's shoes. The girl proved to be brave. She seems to have a tattoo on her foot, does anybody know if it's related to Andy? Maybe he has a tattoo, too (ahahah) on a hidden part of his body :)
Andy was definitely cuter back in Saxo times. The power of a sincere smile!
Kisses, Alice
Coug,
ReplyDeleteHope you don't have big problems with the weather. Heard and saw it is really terrible in the UK.
Barbara
Thanks, Anon, for confirming that was Ghent track.
ReplyDeleteAlice, I don't think it's a tattoo, just a shadow... but how would I know? I do have an opinion on girls who have tattoo-ed feet, likewise on girls who have tattoos across the back of their waists ("Tramp Stamps" as they are known in the UK) but I also acknowledge that times change, and tattoos are much more openly displayed by women now, than they used to be.
Certainly a couple of years ago Andy did not have a tattoo, he said so in the Saxobank interview: but of course he might by now have Tinkerjil's name and big love heart tattoo-ed (I'm really not sure how to spell that!) somewhere on his body. I do hope not! Err, not because I don't want him to settle down with TinkerJil and have "heaps of kids", but because I think tattooing someone's name on your body is a) tacky, and b) tempting fate: what if you then break up with them?
A girl I knew tattoo-ed her boyfriend's name on her wrist, being at the time certain that it was "luuurve" but of course a year later it all went wrong, and she spent a lot of money and pain getting the tattoo removed, which did not work properly, and she now has a really nasty-looking mess, very visible, on her wrist. "True Love" is ok,I suppose, or "Tour of California 2012" or some commemorative date, but not the other person's name. But that's just my opinion.
You are so right, Andy was much cuter then. *sigh*. But of course we were all a couple of years younger then.... and for Andy, they have been a couple of very hard years, with a lot of lessons being learned along the way.
Things may yet improve. After all, Mr Bruyneel is out of the picture at the moment, and likely to be tied up in his own legal battles for some while, and may yet be sacked unceremoniously, so RadioShack and our boys might have a better year next year. If Andy gets off to a good start in the Tour Down Under, wins some races, starts to enjoy it again: if Frankie is cleared of taking diuretics, or at least gets a reasonable resolution (I'm hoping for a 6-month ban, backdated. Don't fight it, Frankie!): if Jakob settles in well as Astana - then everyone might be a bit happier.
Fingers crossed!
Coug
Oh, and Barbara, thank you for concern: yes, the weather is truly terrible in the UK at the moment but luckily I am not in one of the areas affected by flooding. I had a new roof put on my house just two years ago, so I think I will be ok, and my trees in the back garden have managed not to fall over so far, which is a good sign. As I write, the sun is actually shining!! Probably not for long, but it's good to see it, even if only briefly.
I forgot! How old is Mama Schleck? I think women should not show their legs like that at such age but she still looks nice... I know she was Miss Lux many years ago (in the 1960s I guess) but it's hard to keep a good shape after giving birth to three (handsome) children! (Well, it's ALWAYS hard to keep a good shape...)
ReplyDeleteOk, I've been talking about anything but cycling and this should be a blog about cycling! Looking forward to seeing a race soon, better if our boys are there... Unfortunately we'll have to wait until January when I have my exams at university... It won't be good to get up at 2 a.m. to watch Tour Down Under, will it?
Gaby was Miss Luxembourg at the Miss International contest in 1970, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_International_1970 and http://www.pageantopolis.com/international/Int_1970.htm (including two pictures). So she is probably around 60 years old now.
DeleteAbout Jakob settling in Astana: here is a worrying article about a little problem which came up there: fuglsangs-hair-is-still-undecided-on-the-tour-de-france
ReplyDeleteJust joking, it's completely amusing, read it ;)
Argh! I really hope they issue a decision, and that they don't drag this out into next year: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/frank-schleck-doping-hearing-set-for-december-19
ReplyDeleteBris. Gal
P.S. Those aqua shoes are terrible! Patent all black would have been much classier, in my opinion. But it is nice to see some Andy pics!
Finally THE movie.
ReplyDeleteGirls, enjoy, cry, laugh and suffer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yscI_gCOaM4
Barbara
Thanks Barbara! It was so great to finally watch this. There were so many great moments, though I think the most touching was seeing Frank come up to Andy after the final TT. And I love that the dedicated the movie to Wouter - very sweet.
DeleteBris. Gal