Awww, poor Andy, he must be feeling so low.. news today that he's had to pull out of the last-but-one stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.
As always, it's too early to know exactly what the reason was: the report, above, seems to indicate that it wasn't a physical problem, for which we are eternally grateful.
However, Andy's own team spokesman said:
"...we believe the problem is more than physical"
and the report goes on to talk about psychological problems.
In the same report it mentions casually that:
"... team director Dirk Demol said that Schleck had a lot of fear while riding in the peloton and needed to get his courage back"
As usual, this may have lost something in the translation, but it does sound somewhat harsh, don't you think?
I am hoping that this is not going to be another session of Schleck-bashing from his own team, and I really do feel that RadioShack have been extremely unsupportive, especially those who talk to the press.
On the one hand, of course I don't want them to lie and say that he has a stomach upset: but on the other hand, I do feel that publicising any sort of confidence issue is only going to make it worse. Now everyone will know that he has "a lot of fear" when in the peloton, and I can imagine some other riders taking advantage of that information.
It doesn't help that we haven't seen any photos of a happy Andy lately - other than the new website kit team photos, that is: perhaps it is time they dug out Roland Miny and sent him round to Andy's flat to get some new photos of Andy relaxing with TinkerJil, playing with Leea, laughing and joking with his brother, etc, to show the cycling world that he is not to be written off.
I even saw one report -I didn't bother to read it, as it was obviously highly speculative - that was suggesting that 2010 was Andy's peak, and it was all over now. Huh! I think not! *waves Schlecklander flag indignantly*
Once again, poor Andy, I feel so sorry for him *reaches out a very long arm all the way to Lux and pets Andy* having to go through all this, with everyone looking. Let's hope for better news, soon, eh?
I think the worst part of it all is that so many people somehow feel entitled to express their opinions on Andy (read: bash him) without any limits or boundaries...
ReplyDeleteThe interview with Dirk Demol was actually a nice read. He said that he'd been in the same situation with Gert Steegmans a couple of years earlier, and that it took him a long time too to gain his confidence back. He added: "He feels insecure and he has to conquer his fears. We are going to help him with that and we will keep supporting him 100%. He will be allright."
Here it is (in Dutch): http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/DMF20130308_00497890
I hope Andy will come to the Amstel. Then I'll be cheering on top of my lungs for him! :)
Inge
Inge me too!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBarbara.
And just Andy's luck to run into a French Parliamentarian in Munich who simply had to post a comment about a very sad moment in time. :( My heart goes out to the lad. Hoping that most cycling fans will take the high road on this one. - Kat
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's not true. I hope so.
DeleteLook-a-likes are all around and to me it seems not to be so practical to first travel to Munich and then wait for a plane, instead of driving directly from Munich to Lux in about 4 to 5 hours or flying straight from Italy to Lux.
Barbara.