Luxembourgish former road bicycle racer
Andy Raymond Schleck
(
pronounced
[??ndi
????mont
??læk]
; born 10 June 1985) is a
Luxembourgish
former professional
road bicycle racer
. He won the
2010 Tour de France
, being awarded it retroactively in February 2012 after
Alberto Contador
's hearing at the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
.
[2]
He has also been the runner-up at the Tour twice; in
2009
and
2011
. He is the younger brother of
Frank Schleck
, also a professional rider between 2003 and 2016. Their father
Johny Schleck
rode the
Tour de France
and
Vuelta a Espana
between 1965 and 1974.
Early years and family
[
edit
]
Andy Schleck was born in
Luxembourg City
, Luxembourg, and is the youngest of Gaby and Johny Schleck's three sons. His older brother
Frank Schleck
was also a cyclist on Trek Factory Racing, and his oldest brother Steve Schleck is a politician in Luxembourg. Andy's father,
Johny Schleck
, is a former professional cyclist and rode the
Tour de France
at the service of 1968 winner
Jan Janssen
and 1973 winner
Luis Ocana
, and also managed to finish in the top 20 twice: 19th in
1970
and 20th in
1967
. He won a stage in the
1970 Vuelta a Espana
and the Luxembourg National Championships. Johny's father, Gustav Schleck, also contested events in the 1930s.
[3]
Career
[
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]
Amateur career
[
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]
Andy Schleck joined the VC Roubaix cycling club in 2004, and caught the attention of
Cyrille Guimard
, a sports director who became famous as the
directeur sportif
for several
Tour de France
winners, including
Bernard Hinault
,
Laurent Fignon
,
Lucien Van Impe
and American
Greg LeMond
. Guimard described Schleck as one of the biggest talents he had seen and compared him to Laurent Fignon.
[3]
[4]
Still an amateur, Schleck won the 2004
Fleche du Sud
stage race at 18. As the Danish national team were in the race, word spread to the
Danish
Team CSC
manager
Bjarne Riis
. Riis asked Frank, already on Team CSC, about his brother, and Andy started as a
stagiaire
for Team CSC on 1 September 2004.
[5]
Team CSC (2005?2010)
[
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]
2005?2008
[
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]
Schleck secured a professional contract with
Team CSC
in 2005, and made his debut in a ProTour race at age 19, in the
2005 Volta a Catalunya
.
Schleck at the
2008 Tour de France
He and Frank shared the 2005 National Championships, Frank taking the
road race
and Andy the
individual time trial
. In 2006, Schleck crashed in the
GP Cholet
and took an eight-week break before returning for the
Volta a Catalunya
in May. In July, a few days after his brother won the
Alpe d'Huez
stage of the
Tour de France
, Andy won the major mountain stage in the
Sachsen Tour
, followed by the final stage, finishing 23rd overall.
In 2007, he won the
young rider classification in the Giro d'Italia
and was second in the general classification behind
Danilo Di Luca
. He finished fourth at the
Giro di Lombardia
after helping his brother Frank, who crashed with six kilometres to go.
[6]
In 2008, Schleck finished 4th in the
Liege?Bastogne?Liege
. His success continued in the
Tour de France
, in which he finished 12th overall, winning the
young rider classification
ahead of
Roman Kreuziger
and helping CSC win the team classification and
Carlos Sastre
the
maillot jaune
.
2009
[
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]
In 2009 he achieved the biggest victory of his career at that point, when a strong April culminated with an impressive victory in
Liege?Bastogne?Liege
, as he became the first winner of the race from Luxembourg since Marcel Ernzer in 1954.
[7]
A few days before he had finished runner-up in
La Fleche Wallonne
.
Schleck wearing the
white jersey
at the
2009 Tour de France
; he leads
Lance Armstrong
and
Alberto Contador
during the climb of
Mont Ventoux
.
In the
Tour de France
, he finished the race in second place, behind
Alberto Contador
and ahead of
Bradley Wiggins
, along with finishing Stage 17 in 3rd place behind his brother Frank Schleck, who won the stage, and Contador. He again won the
young rider classification
in the process.
2010
[
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]
Schleck at the
2010 Tour de France
; he is wearing the white jersey of the
young rider classification
leader.
In the
Tour de France
, he was much closer to the victory ? against Alberto Contador again ? but took what was at the time second place (by 39 seconds) and won the
young rider classification
for the third time in a row. Schleck was involved in a controversial incident on the
Port de Bales
during stage 15 while wearing the
maillot jaune
and attempting to extend his lead. He was riding with incredibly good form and with 24 km to go Schleck attacked at the front of the group of favorites dropping some riders but the main favorites contained this initial attack. With 22 km to go he attacked again and initially there was no response from his rivals but almost immediately his chain fell off.
[8]
His main rival for the Tour, Alberto Contador, did not stop even though he likely knew that Schleck had a mechanical issue and had not
cracked
.
Samuel Sanchez
and
Denis Menchov
attacked as well leaving Schleck behind as Contador took the lead from Schleck. Some sections of the media saw Contador's behaviour as unsporting and felt he should have allowed Schleck to regain the lost time. However, some sections of the media and members of the peloton did not have a problem with Contador's attack. The incident also produced the iconic quote "If you draw your sword and you drop it, you die", from Ryder Hesjedal.
[9]
Schleck lost 39 seconds on that stage in the mountains, the same number of seconds by which he eventually lost the Tour de France. Schleck was only the second man to ever win the white jersey for best young rider 3 times; the first was
Jan Ullrich
who won between 1996 and 1998. He also won two mountain stages, and rode in the
yellow jersey
for six days.
In February 2012 after Contador's CAS hearing Schleck was retroactively awarded the 2010 Title.
[10]
Leopard Trek (2011?2014)
[
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]
On 29 July 2010, Schleck and his brother
Frank
announced their departure from
Team Saxo Bank
at the end of 2010. They formed a brand-new Luxembourg-based team with former Saxo Bank director
Kim Andersen
.
[11]
Alberto Contador
was hired to replace Andy Schleck as part of a two-year contract signed with Team Saxo Bank.
[12]
[13]
[14]
In October 2010, the management of the new Luxembourg team revealed the team's website, labeled Leopard True Racing, leading to speculation that the team would race under that name.
[15]
[16]
The team's name, was later announced by
Jakob Fuglsang
as
Leopard Trek
.
[17]
2011
[
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]
Schleck at the
2011 Tour de France
In April 2011, Schleck finished third in
Liege?Bastogne?Liege
. He then won the mountains classification of the
Tour de Suisse
. In the
Tour de France
, Schleck had a slow start but came to the mountains 5th overall. Through the Pyrenees Andy moved up to 4th overall. After losing almost 2 minutes on Stage 16, he finally won the mountainous 18th stage of the race on the
Col du Galibier
with a long solo breakaway ride. The day after, he finished 9th overall in the 19th stage of
Alpe d'Huez
to take the yellow jersey from
Thomas Voeckler
, but he was overtaken by
Cadel Evans
in the penultimate stage of the tour, an individual time trial, placing Schleck in second place going into the final stage in Paris once again. His brother, Frank, also made the podium making them the first siblings ever to both make the podium in Tour history.
2012
[
edit
]
For the 2012 season, Leopard Trek merged with
Team RadioShack
to create
RadioShack?Nissan
, with
Johan Bruyneel
becoming team manager. In May, Schleck was awarded the overall classification win at the
2010 Tour de France
after original winner
Alberto Contador
lost his legal battle relating to a doping offence. The ceremony was held in his home country of Luxembourg.
[2]
At the
Criterium du Dauphine
prologue, Schleck criticized Bruyneel for having spoken critically to the media of both Schleck brothers, saying that those matters should be dealt with internally, not in the media.
[18]
In the race itself, Schleck had to abandon after losing a significant amount of time on the general classification and crashing heavily on the fourth stage
individual time trial
, worsening a knee injury and suffering a fracture of the sacrum.
[19]
He stated that he still had ample time to prepare adequately for the coming
Tour de France
, as it occurred often in recent years that he did not perform well in the races leading to the Tour.
[20]
On 13 June Schleck announced that he would not start in the Tour de France because of the injuries sustained at the Criterium du Dauphine.
[21]
In October he attempted a comeback in the
Tour of Beijing
.
[22]
2013
[
edit
]
Schleck competed in the
Tour Down Under
, but had to withdraw on the final stage due to mechanical issues. He was nearly 40 minutes behind the leader in the general classification, and as such, would have finished last.
[23]
Finishing 91st at the
Gran Premio Citta di Camaiore
in February,
[24]
Schleck completed his first UCI-categorised race since the
2012 Liege?Bastogne?Liege
, a little less than a year later.
[25]
Schleck, however, withdrew again at
Tirreno?Adriatico
, the
Tour Mediterraneen
, and the
Tour of Oman
,
[26]
but managed to finish 57th at the
Criterium International
.
[27]
Following the Criterium International, Schleck was again unable to finish at the
Amstel Gold Race
,
[28]
although he later finished 86th at
La Fleche Wallonne
,
[29]
41st at
Liege?Bastogne?Liege
,
[30]
and 25th at the
Tour of California
.
[31]
Schleck then rode the
Tour de Suisse
in preparation for the
Tour de France
.
[32]
While only finishing 40th in Switzerland,
[33]
Schleck rode a season best of 20th at the Tour de France.
[34]
Retirement
[
edit
]
Schleck abandoned the
2014 Tour de France
, suffering with injuries sustained as a result of a crash during stage three.
[35]
In October 2014, Schleck announced his retirement, citing a knee injury.
[36]
In March 2015 Schleck announced plans to open a bike shop and cafe in
Itzig
, Luxembourg.
[37]
The shop opened in February 2016, and also includes a small museum with souvenirs from Schleck's racing career.
[38]
Equipment
[
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]
Schleck used 172.5mm
crank arms
on his bike, which were considered small for a man of his height.
[39]
Career achievements
[
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]
Major results
[
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]
Yellow Jersey signed by Andy Schleck (2011)
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
[
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]
Monuments results timeline
[
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]
Legend
?
|
Did not compete
|
DNF
|
Did not finish
|
Notes
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Andy Schleck profile"
. Archived from
the original
on December 27, 2013
. Retrieved
December 26,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Shane Stokes (May 29, 2012).
"Andy Schleck awarded yellow jersey for 2010 Tour de France9"
.
Velo Nation
. Velo Nation LLC
. Retrieved
December 24,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Giro d'Italia: The rise of another Schleck"
. cyclingnews.com. June 4, 2007
. Retrieved
February 4,
2009
.
- ^
"Schleck Brothers Confirmed For Tour Of Ireland"
. Irishcycling.com. August 17, 2007. Archived from
the original
on July 13, 2011
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
.
- ^
Andy Schleck: Not Unlike his Brother Frank, 19 May 2006
Archived
October 16, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"www.cyclingnews.com presents the 101st Giro di Lombardia"
. Autobus.cyclingnews.com. October 20, 2007
. Retrieved
February 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Schleck impresses with Liege win"
. BBC News. April 26, 2009.
Archived
from the original on April 27, 2009
. Retrieved
April 27,
2009
.
- ^
"Contador in yellow as Schleck suffers untimely mechanical at the Tour. France's Voeckler wins the stage"
.
velonews.com
. July 19, 2010.
Archived
from the original on July 24, 2010
. Retrieved
July 28,
2010
.
- ^
Rogers, Neal (July 20, 2010).
"Opinion: It's wrong to vilify Alberto Contador"
.
VeloNews
. Retrieved
February 28,
2017
.
- ^
"CAS Sanction Contador With Two Year Ban In Clenbuterol Case"
. Cyclingnews.com. February 6, 2012
. Retrieved
February 23,
2012
.
- ^
Devaney, Jason (August 31, 2011).
"Cycling Road Schleck's confirm departure from Saxo Bank"
. Universal Sports. Archived from
the original
on March 4, 2012
. Retrieved
February 23,
2012
.
- ^
"Contador signs for Saxo Bank team"
. BBC News. August 3, 2010.
- ^
Richard Moore (August 3, 2010).
"Alberto Contador to leave Astana and replace Andy Schleck at Saxo Bank | Sport"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
February 23,
2012
.
- ^
Greg Johnson (September 30, 2010).
"Alberto Contador Suspended Over Traces of Clenbuterol From Tour de France Test"
. Cyclingnews.com.
Archived
from the original on February 27, 2011
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
.
- ^
"Could the Luxembourg team of Schleck brothers be named Leopard True Racing?"
. Velonation.com
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
.
- ^
"leopard.lu"
. leopard.lu
. Retrieved
February 23,
2012
.
- ^
Daniel Benson (December 13, 2010).
"Luxembourg Team To Be Called Team Leopard"
.
Cyclingnews.com
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck has a dig at Bruyneel at Dauphine prologue"
.
Cycling News
. June 3, 2012
. Retrieved
June 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck abandons Criterium du Dauphine"
.
Cycling News
. June 9, 2012
. Retrieved
June 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck: You can do a lot in three weeks"
.
Cycling News
. June 10, 2012
. Retrieved
June 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Andy Scheck with sacral fracture out for Tour de France"
.
radioshacknissantrek.com
. June 13, 2012. Archived from
the original
on August 14, 2012
. Retrieved
June 13,
2012
.
- ^
"Despite quitting Tour of Beijing and losing team boss, Andy Schleck happy to be racing"
.
Velonews
. October 13, 2012
. Retrieved
April 2,
2013
.
- ^
Kogoy, Peter (January 28, 2013).
"Andy Schleck snubs post-race presentation"
.
The Australian
.
News Limited
. Retrieved
January 29,
2013
.
- ^
RadioShack-Leopard-Trek (February 28, 2013).
"Gran Premio Citta di Camaiore at RadioShack-Leopard-Trek"
. Retrieved
April 8,
2013
.
- ^
Shane Stokes (February 28, 2013).
"Schleck 'heading in right direction' as rider completes first full UCI race since last April"
.
VeloNation
. Retrieved
March 14,
2013
.
- ^
Manny D'Enef (April 1, 2013).
"Desperate for race miles, Schleck to start Paris?Roubaix"
.
VeloNews
. Retrieved
April 1,
2013
.
- ^
"Criterium International ? 2013"
. Letour.fr. December 1, 1994. Archived from
the original
on March 28, 2013
. Retrieved
April 2,
2013
.
- ^
"2013 Amstel Gold Race results"
. Archived from
the original
on April 17, 2013
. Retrieved
April 14,
2013
.
- ^
"La Fleche Wallonne 2014"
.
La Fleche Wallonne 2014
. Archived from
the original
on April 20, 2013
. Retrieved
December 16,
2015
.
- ^
"Liege - Bastogne - Liege 2015: Results | Cyclingnews.com"
.
Cyclingnews.com
. Archived from
the original
on January 10, 2012
. Retrieved
2015-12-16
.
- ^
"Results: 2013 Amgen Tour of California, stage 8 - Page 2 of 6 - VeloNews.com"
.
VeloNews.com
. Retrieved
December 16,
2015
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck happy with form at Tour de Suisse | Cyclingnews.com"
.
Cyclingnews.com
. June 13, 2013
. Retrieved
December 16,
2015
.
- ^
"Tour de Suisse 2013: Stage 9 Results | Cyclingnews.com"
.
Cyclingnews.com
. June 16, 2013
. Retrieved
December 16,
2015
.
- ^
"Classifications stage 21 ? Versailles > Paris Champs-Elysees"
.
Tour de France 2013
. Archived from
the original
on July 19, 2015
. Retrieved
December 16,
2015
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck abandons Tour de France"
. July 8, 2014
. Retrieved
July 24,
2015
.
- ^
Nigel Wynn (October 9, 2014).
"Andy Schleck retires from professional cycling"
.
Cycling Weekly
.
IPC Media
Sports & Leisure network
. Retrieved
October 9,
2014
.
- ^
"News shorts: Andy Schleck to open bike shop"
.
cyclingnews.com
. March 3, 2015
. Retrieved
March 4,
2015
.
- ^
"Andy Schleck's bike shop finally opens and he'll be working there full time"
.
Cycling Weekly
. February 9, 2016
. Retrieved
February 23,
2016
.
- ^
"An SRM Power Meter Is Mounted Up With Dura-Ace 7900 Chainrings. Surprisingly Given Andy Schleck's (LEOPARD TREK) Height, The Crankarms Measure Just 172.5mm In Length. Photos"
. Cyclingnews.com. January 12, 2011
. Retrieved
January 26,
2011
.
External links
[
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]
Sporting positions
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1903?1919
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1920?1939
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1940?1959
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1960?1979
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1980?1998
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1999?2019
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2020?present
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1880?1899
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1900?1919
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1920?1939
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1940?1959
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1960?1979
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1980?1999
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2000?2019
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2020?2039
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