Mittwoch, 8. Oktober 2008

Andy Schleck. Or, roughly translated, cycling caviar.

The title is not by me. I found it here and what shall I say? It's the truth so again: Andy Schleck. Or, roughly translated, cycling caviar.


Ten reasons why you must love

Andy Schleck


On June, 10th 1985 a little boy named Andy was born in the city of Luxembourg to proud parents Gaby and Johny Schleck. Just 21 years later this little boy rushed into the world of cycling like a comet.



1) First of all you have to love him because of his smile. The younger Schleck brother has one of the cutest smile on this earth. Together with his lovely face it really make it hard to dislike him. To be true there is no chance to dislike him. When he is sad you just want to hug him and also when he is happy ;)


2) His enormous talent he showed since his first appearance at the international cycling stage. At his first grand tour he finished second just 1:55 minutes behind the winner Di Luca and won the white jersey for the best young rider at 2007 Giro d’Italia. Because of that success there was no chance for a CSC Saxo Bank-Team for the Tour de France 2008 without Andy.

At this years TdF he was definitely one of the best riders. If he wouldn’t had his bad day in Hautacam he would have finished much higher than 12th in the general classement and not only won the white jersey. During the hardest stage to Alpe d’Huez he showed us his gorgeous smile and just stayed together in one group with the favorites because it was CSC’s tactics. So without any doubt you can say that he is the future of cycling.


3) Andy stands for a new clean generation of cyclists. His cycling-experienced family would never allow him to take drugs and his older brother is taking care of him. His father is a former pro-cyclist and who should be a better adviser than a former professional rider. And when Andy says he didn’t take drugs you have to believe him because his eyes can’t lie.


4) His loyality. At this years TdF he put aside his own claims to help his older brother getting the yellow jersey and his teammate Carlos Sastre winning the tour. Andy knows that his time will come and that he can take the things easy.


5) The love for his brother. Andy names Fränk as his hero, model and idol. Fränk says that they are more than just brothers. They are also best friends and that they are riding together in one team makes it much, much easier. When they are at the same race they share a room and Andy says that it makes him feel comfortable during a course when his brother is by his side.

During his brothers hardest time he stands by Fränks side and accompanied him to Switzerland and Danmark. During the Tour de France he helped his brother to get the yellow jersey and stayed with him on the way to Alpe d’Huez even if his potential at this stage was much higher.

Maybe it it bot true but after Fränks crash during the Tour de Swiss I read that when Andy saw his brothers bike lie down on the street he couldn’t go on. Cancellara had to push him ownwards.


6) Fränk has nothing to do with the fact that they ride in the same team. In 2004 Bjarne Riis saw a young Luxemburgian at a race where also the Danish young national team participated. He was surprised to hear that his name is Schleck. Then he asked Fränk if he has a brother who is also a cyclist and he confirmed that he has a younger one who still goes to school. Later this year he became stagiaire for CSC.


7) Andy knows that cycling (how beautiful this sport is) is not all on this earth. He first wanted to finish school because there is also a life after this sport. Additionally he and his brother support young Luxemburgian riders on their way to the top.


8) When a journalist asked him after the last stage of TdF in Paris if he would celebrate with beer or champagne he answered “champagne is for girls”. This is so true ;) A real man drinks no champagne. Even if I also prefer beer, I would agree with him and you have to drink beer out of a bottle.


9) The fact that he is unexperienced makes him even more likeable. The stage to Hautacam must have been the hell for him but that he didn’t give up and fighted was so great. Imagine what all could have happend if he hadn’t that day. Maybe –with a little help from his brother and the other teammates- he could have finished on the podium.


10) The last one is his taste for fashion and furnishing. I saw some private photos of him and I have to see that I really like his clothes. He has a lot of shirts from Dolce & Gabbana and they just look nice. And I’m sure that yellow, pink and gold will suit him very well ;) I saw a picture of his room and I like the red walls and the piece of furniture ;)



My original plan was to find ten reason why you have to love Andy and I’m sure that there are much more reasons. I can’t write them all down but there is an 11th reason I want to tell you and probably nobody knows it.

I love to hear interviews of Andy in German. Of course he can speak German because it is one of the official languages in Luxembourg. And the reason why I love to hear him is that he as such an indescribable cute French-sounding accent which makes me smile everytime.



Btw I hate German TV stations. Because Schumacher is tested positive they are thinking about not to show the Tour (and every other race) next year. They say the sport didn't take his chance! Sounds like it would be better if there aren't any positive tests so maybe they should stop testing cyclists, then German TV would show the races.

Luckily there is Eurosport... And the commentators there are much funnier ;)

9 Kommentare:

An unlikely survivor hat gesagt…

I love that quote! Definitely my top of the the top 10 things to love about the 2008 TdF.

How come I have to type in all those funny letters to leave a comment? Do you guys have to do that on my blog? I'll have to disable it. It's annoying. I never get them right the first time- I must not be human.

Anonym hat gesagt…

Lol I love that quote too; it's definitely true!
I agree, he has the cutest smile!

Maggie- I can never get them right either! :D

Anke hat gesagt…

I like this article very mutch... Did you see 'Andy Schleck: Habe nichts zu verbergen' on ZDF? I like this vid so much..

www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/content/Andy_Schleck_Habe_nichts_zu_verbergen/547476

Sasha hat gesagt…

I knew it but I can watch it again and again ;) The accent is just soooo unbelievable cute... Natürlisch... And I don't know why but Andys accent is cuter than Fränks. Unfortunately all the vids from eurosport are removed from their homepage but there were a lot cute German interview of both Schlecks ;)

Sasha hat gesagt…

Btw for everyone he wants to watch the interview and doesn't understand German.

www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/content/Andy_Schleck_Habe_nichts_zu_verbergen/547476
And then click "Zur ZDFmediathek", then opens a pop-up with the interview.

It's after the stage when the french police search the car of his father. Andy says that they don't conceal anything...

innaj87 hat gesagt…

I can't get the link to work:(.. I also just read that eurosport it considered taking cycling of their schedule...that would just be a tragedy...

Anonym hat gesagt…

Does he has a girlfriend?

Anonym hat gesagt…

I dont need reasons to tell me to love the guy, I love Andy Schleck and hec is much more than handsome caviar but its some good reasons hehe :-)

Anonym hat gesagt…

I'm definitely your opinion! You found some very nice reasons I didn't even think about.

But my PC can't play "Andy Schleck habe nichts zu verbergen". Is this video anywhere else? I didn't find it on youtube, too. But I'd love to watch it. Can you help me?