Professional Cycling For the Fans - Andy Schleck out of 2012 TdF

http://www.wort.lu/de/view/bestaetigung-andy-schleck-nicht-bei-der-tour-de-france-4fd85104e4b00e2180fdedcb

Not happening this year. In my heart I really wanted to see him ride well - even if he didn't win but made the podium it would prove me and many others wrong about his heart, his competitive spirit.

But no one fakes a broken bone - even when it is in your arse - and I trust the fact he isn't riding hurts him far more than the physical pain.

Best of luck Andy and here's to a speedy recovery. Maybe this turns out for the best - he rides to health and wins the Vuelta. Maybe take some pressure off him in the next TdF.

So in his place maybe Horner does get to ride...

More here, in English: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-reported-to-be-out-of-tour-de-france

They also said Chris Horner's back was keeping him from the Tour de France and he said his back was fine. Something is not right in the Radioshack camp.

Ah well. So much for RSN at the Tour this year.



They also said Chris Horner's back was keeping him from the Tour de France and he said his back was fine. Something is not right in the Radioshack camp.
Horner's back trouble acted up during the ToC, and it threw his training off for a full week. He's also 41. So, Brunyeel decided to bench him.

Schleck crashed last week, didn't think it was serious, and found out yesterday that he broke something vital in the crash (maybe his sacrum, maybe a vertebra). So he's benched.

Not really seeing a connection.

Teo boss got a broken back aswell and was racing after a week and boss generates maybe 3 times more power than this guy. Lucky for him, public opinion doesnt have a single video of the accident. Have seen and had nasty accidents and only a few guys with their back messed up. Probably JB mixed up the names and he meant AS with a back problem instead of CH??

The other thing is that the kid has been sucking the whole season, personally they found a way to pull him out after he figured it out he was not going to be able to catch up in 3 weeks for what he did not do in the whole season and they came up with the back stuff, we will never know.

Either way it doesnt suck because now in the vuelta we will see contador, schlep and LA all together again. Contador will get unleashed and the Texan will do something for sure, then count all the spanish climbers and maybe the canadian?? Vuelta is going to be epic, dont like contador but he will crush them just to prove a point.

He didn't have much of a chance to win, anyway. He's better off riding the Vuelta and hoping that Contador is rusty from his time off.

and LA all together again.

'taint April no more.

He didn't have much of a chance to win, anyway. He's better off riding the Vuelta and hoping that Contador is rusty from his time off.

You got that right, nobody is going to stop Bradley Wiggins this year!

Evans and the canadian comes to mind right now.

Schleck is a big disappointment to be honest. He saw those massive time trials, and decided they were not too his style and lacked motivation to train properly this year. After a wreck in the Dauphine he got his excuse to back out of the TdF (he rode multiple days after that crash, if the injury was that serious, that would not have been possible, and he sucked worse the days leading up to the TT). Now he has his chance to go 1v1 with Contador again in the Vuelta. Surprise, surprise.

Ah well. So much for RSN at the Tour this year.

This...talk about a team in disarray. So much promise when they merged, so much fail in the execution.

Teo boss got a broken back aswell and was racing after a week...
Bos didn't know he had fractured a vertebra, so he kept racing in the Giro for 2 weeks. I'm fairly confident that if he knew that was the issue, he would've stopped or the team would have pulled him.

Are you genuinely suggesting that a pro cyclist who knows they have a fractured vertebra ought to keep racing? Seriously?



Lucky for him, public opinion doesnt have a single video of the accident.....
Yes, I'm sure he just pretended to fall over like a soccer player. It's all a devious plan, hatched long before the tour, to engineer a withdrawal. :rolleyes:



The other thing is that the kid has been sucking the whole season, personally they found a way to pull him out after he figured it out....
Yes, I'm sure Brunyeel decided to fabricate a fracture to pull a marquee name out of the biggest event on the calendar. Or maybe he wants Jens to go for GC. :D



Contador will get unleashed and the Texan will do something for sure, then count all the spanish climbers and maybe the canadian?? Vuelta is going to be epic, dont like contador but he will crush them just to prove a point.
I agree it's going to be a better Vuelta than usual. But....

Armstrong is only riding the Vuelta to tune up for the Ironman. I'm sure he'll try to take a stage, but he's not in contention.

Hesjedal is leading Garmin for the Tour de France. He's not going to do jack at the Vuelta.

Contador is a wild card. He could be riled up, but he also hasn't been competing this year. He could also have a fresher team than anyone else.

And of course, AS's performance will depend on his recovery, training and team.

Ah well. So much for RSN at the Tour this year.



Horner's back trouble acted up during the ToC, and it threw his training off for a full week. He's also 41. So, Brunyeel decided to bench him.



That's not the reason he was not selected. http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/bruyneel-clarifies-radioshack-stance-on-horner-decision_223554

"The Belgian director said he spelled out very clearly to everyone on the team at the beginning of the season that in order to be selected for the Tour, riders had to participate in either the Critérium du Dauphiné, which ended Sunday, or the Tour de Suisse.
Bruyneel said he wanted riders in those races in order to hone their form ahead of the Tour as well as to demonstrate they were up to the task of carrying the team colors for three weeks in the season’s most important race. The only exception was for riders who participated in the Giro d’Italia."

I agree it's going to be a better Vuelta than usual. But....

Armstrong is only riding the Vuelta to tune up for the Ironman. I'm sure he'll try to take a stage, but he's not in contention.

Hesjedal is leading Garmin for the Tour de France. He's not going to do jack at the Vuelta.

Contador is a wild card. He could be riled up, but he also hasn't been competing this year. He could also have a fresher team than anyone else.

And of course, AS's performance will depend on his recovery, training and team.

Having done several Ironman distance tri's, this seems like quite an odd way to prepare. Cycling for 3 weeks, no swimming (probably not too much of an issue), but no running for 3 weeks? Bone density alone can drop dramatically with 3 weeks of no running. Priscilla Welch (who won the NY marathon at over 40 years of age) had an injury & trained in the pool for several weeks. When she came back to running on the roads she immediately developed a stress fracture as a result of loss of bone density. Something is up with this. He doesn't need to improve his cycling. He needs to improve his running to win the Ironman.

This...talk about a team in disarray. So much promise when they merged, so much fail in the execution.

Loaded teams tend to have problems.

Look at the 1986 La vie Claire team. Arguably the best team ever in the TDF.

But at least they got the results and didn't splinter until later.

Having done several Ironman distance tri's, this seems like quite an odd way to prepare. Cycling for 3 weeks, no swimming (probably not too much of an issue), but no running for 3 weeks? Bone density alone can drop dramatically with 3 weeks of no running.
In the 70.3, he picked up 10 minutes on his rivals in the bike portion -- and that was a 56 mile leg. As a triathlete, how good is it to pick up 15-20 minutes in the bike portion? :D

And I'm not aware of any scientific evidence that would indicate you'd lose so much bone density in 3 weeks of cycling that you'd guarantee foot fractures. If that was the case, pro cyclists would spend half the year in casts.

That's not the reason he was not selected....
Y'know, at this point I don't know if we'd get a straight answer on this.

Sounds to me like RSN has a communication breakdown. There's an awful lot of communicating via the press, rather than actually talking to each other.

Still, I think we can safely say that Horner's situation is not connected to Schleck's back problems.

I cannot seriously believe the amount of people that are still believing Lance is doing the Vuelta. Le sigh...

I cannot seriously believe the amount of people that are still believing Lance is doing the Vuelta. Le sigh...

I hear Eddy is coming out of retirement to ride the Vuelta this year and is going to target the KOM jersey. He wants a full set from all 3 tours.

Either way it doesnt suck because now in the vuelta we will see contador, schlep and LA all together again. Contador will get unleashed and the Texan will do something for sure, then count all the spanish climbers and maybe the canadian?? Vuelta is going to be epic, dont like contador but he will crush them just to prove a point.


'taint April no more.







I agree it's going to be a better Vuelta than usual. But....

Armstrong is only riding the Vuelta to tune up for the Ironman. I'm sure he'll try to take a stage, but he's not in contention.

Hesjedal is leading Garmin for the Tour de France. He's not going to do jack at the Vuelta.

Contador is a wild card. He could be riled up, but he also hasn't been competing this year. He could also have a fresher team than anyone else.

And of course, AS's performance will depend on his recovery, training and team.


I cannot seriously believe the amount of people that are still believing Lance is doing the Vuelta. Le sigh...

:lol:

The April Fool's Joke that keeps on giving.

I cannot seriously believe the amount of people that are still believing Lance is doing the Vuelta. Le sigh...

agreed . send them to the bridge sale .

Yeah, yeah. Mea culpa.

Bad news. But then, his form didn't seem to be where it needed for him to perform well

so does this mean frank can come out and play now or can he only come out to play with his little brother?

Big chance he won't play at all even with his friend FC.