Andy Schleck confirmed his exit from the Tour de France 2012
Andy Schleck of Team RadioShack-Nissan confirmed his exclusion from the Tour de France 2012 because of a crash that he sustained during the Criterium du Dauphine 2012.
The Luxembourg professional cyclist is having a dry season and has not picked up any victories in the season yet.
The cyclist rode brilliantly in the past season and filled his bag with numerous victories including a second place finish at the Tour de France 2012.
Schleck secured the first overall spot during the 2010 edition of the race along with a second place finish during the 2009 edition of the French Grand Tour.
Andy briefed, “Yesterday, when I came out of the MRI scan and they told me the news, my world fell apart, I won't win the 2012 Tour de France, I won't even be in it”.
He started riding professionally with Team CSC in 2005 and spent a period of six years with the side before accepting an offer from Team Leopard Trek in 2011.
Team Leopard Trek announced it’s merged with Team RadioShack for the 2012 season and Schleck continued with the side.
He holds as many as seven Grand Tour appearances to his credit including gone Giro d’Italia, four Tour de France and two Vuelta a Espana participations under his belt.
Team RadioShack-Nissan was relying on Andy as their main man for the French race and his exclusion will definitely hurt the Team Manager Johan Bruyneel.
Despite being one of the most highly paid sides in the peloton, the Luxembourg based side has failed to justify its performance.
Andy is now eying the 2012 London Olympics as the next big goal of his 2012 season and also showed interest towards riding the Vuelta a Espana 2012.
He briefed, “As a pro, you have to deal with critics. If you can’t, you won’t survive in this business long, I don’t care”.
“I don’t know if I would have stood in yellow in Paris but that was the goal”.
“But whether it’s Wiggins or my brother Fränk or anyone else who wins, I won’t stand there saying, ‘you’re lucky I wasn’t there,” he concluded.
Andy’s elder brother, Frank Schleck is a good option to lead the team at the Tour de France scheduled from July 2 to 24, 2012.
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