Andy Schleck Retires: for real.

Ah dear, the end of an era.

Earlier today, at a conference in Luxembourg, Our Andy confirmed that he is retiring from pro-cycling.

*sheds a tear*

Never mind, it was wonderful while it lasted! Who will ever forget the whole Stomach of Anger thing? Or the singing cat? And at least Andy has Tinkerjil and son Teo, he has a whole new life to ease into: no more being away for 250 days of the year, no more training, training, training: no more having people knocking on the door at 7am asking him to pee into a cup: no more nasty, nasty internet people making hurtful remarks.

Good luck, Andy! Have a great life:  and if I ever get to Luxembourg, I might still come and knock on your door to say hello. I might even sing you my version of the Singing Cat song, and I bet you won't be able to make out a single word of it.

Goodbye, Schlecklanders: in particular, farewell to all the early girlies from several year ago - Leelu, Nim, Fede, PeeDee, Gnasher, and everyone else who was sent to the Naughty Corner: farewell to the Howald Tunnel, farewell tuftage, farewell to amusing and entirely made-up conversations between Andy and Jakob, farewell to my silly race reviews, even farewell to the wonderful Loupe episodes: I've just gone back and re-read them, and they still make me laugh. ("A bird sang, and everyone listened"!)

And a final word to any fairly recent Andy fans - please feel free to go back to the beginning of this blog, there are some great early pictures of him!

Hmm, do I wave goodbye, or do I salute as the SS Schleckland sinks?

*waves goodbye*