Shame that he didn’t get to enjoy a long healthy career. But he accomplished quite a lot in his career. The retroactive TdF overall win and LBL being his two biggest victories. The crash he had in 2012 really took it out of him and now the most recent one at this year’s TdF was too much to overcome. He provided much entertainment especially with his stage win on the Galabier in 2011, which was in fact and will remain his last victory.
Shame that he didn’t get to enjoy a long healthy career. But he accomplished quite a lot in his career. The retroactive TdF overall win and LBL being his two biggest victories. The crash he had in 2012 really took it out of him and now the most recent one at this year’s TdF was too much to overcome. He provided much entertainment especially with his stage win on the Galabier in 2011, which was in fact and will remain his last victory.
Wishing him all the best!
I will give him this…that win on Galibier was pretty awesome. Like Jack, I am a bit jaded, but in the end, I just watch this stuff for entertainment and if the UCI can’t sort out the show in their coloseum, I am not going to spend my time second guessing the gladiators who do whatever they have to do to survive and not get eaten by the lions. As I said on other threads, the hate for the riders is misplaced. We need to hate the UCI for putting on a rigged show that is not that far off from WWF. Andy did whatever he did to survive in the ring and gave us some good entertainment. In the end the guy is human.
I don’t disagree, dev. My issue with Andy was the seeming lack of work ethic. Mat Steinmetz mentioned his struggles to get Andy to ride in a good position, or hell, even ride his TT bike at all.
The funny thing was that Andy used to be pretty damn tough…his attacks against AC in the 2010 Tour were brutal and relentless. But somewhere along the way, he went soft and seemed to lose the will to get the most out of himself.
Over on the old Velonews forum (and now Velonation forum) one of the members nicknamed him La Guimauve (French for marshmallow).
Farewell, La Guimauve!!
(The burnt and skewered image seems especially appropriate today.
Shame that he didn’t get to enjoy a long healthy career. But he accomplished quite a lot in his career. The retroactive TdF overall win and LBL being his two biggest victories. The crash he had in 2012 really took it out of him and now the most recent one at this year’s TdF was too much to overcome. He provided much entertainment especially with his stage win on the Galabier in 2011, which was in fact and will remain his last victory.
Wishing him all the best!
All I can think about is we can no longer use the term “there go the chemical brothers on the attack!”
When you are fit enough, you can look very mentally tough.
When really you are just so fit it isn’t a big deal to you.
Same way in reverse. A lot of the cyclists that get criticized for wheel sucking, being passive, they just don’t have huge aerobic engines, they gotta wait.
I remember watching the TdF and thinking, “Looks like the next 8 tours will either be won by Schleck or Contador.” They were both so dominant, but neither has won since then.
I remember watching the TdF and thinking, “Looks like the next 8 tours will either be won by Schleck or Contador.” They were both so dominant, but neither has won since then.
Contador is still a dominant racer. You just have to watch other races outside the TdF.
For me, Andy’s best win was at Liege Bastogne Liege in 2009. He made that race look easy.
When you are fit enough, you can look very mentally tough.
When really you are just so fit it isn’t a big deal to you.
Same way in reverse. A lot of the cyclists that get criticized for wheel sucking, being passive, they just don’t have huge aerobic engines, they gotta wait.
And a lot of cyclists don’t have some weird co-dependency on their brother…still many others go out and work hard to make improve their weaknesses instead of ignoring them.
Think a lot of that had to do with who was handling him. Cyrille Guimard (I think) was the one who said back in 2010ish that he was being handled to take second place. He was not being groomed or taught to be a winner…mentally. He needed someone like Riis.
I remember watching the TdF and thinking, “Looks like the next 8 tours will either be won by Schleck or Contador.” They were both so dominant, but neither has won since then.
Contador is still a dominant racer. You just have to watch other races outside the TdF.
For me, Andy’s best win was at Liege Bastogne Liege in 2009. He made that race look easy.
I mean specifically the TdF. I think that he may very well win again, but Andy and him were just so dominant and young that it looked inevitable that they would be on top for a very long time.