Andy Schleck disappointed by his 2012 performance
One of the finest climbers at professional cycling, Andy Schleck has shared his discontent with Team RadioShack-Nissan’s below standard performance in the starting months of the season.
Andy had a perfect past season and was a top favourite at the Tour de France 2011.
The cyclist rode brilliantly during the French stage race and came very close to climb the top podium position.
However, Cadel Evans of Team BMC restricted the Luxembourg cyclist and registered his first overall victory at the French Grand Tour.
Schleck also won the Combativity award on the 18th stage of the race and held the yellow jersey on stage 19.
Evans crossed the finish line in a cumulative time of 86 hours, 12 minutes and 22 seconds to climb the top podium position after the final general classifications.
Andy fell 1 minute and 34 seconds short at the second spot while his brother Frank Schleck finished almost a further minute and a half behind to occupy the third spot.
Contrary to his previous form, the Andy has struggled in the current season.
He is still searching for his first victory of the 2012 season and has been a total disappointment for the Team Manager Johan Bruyneel.
The main reason for Johan’s distress is the fact that none of the other cyclists in his side have really performed anywhere near to their calibre.
The only successful rider so far in the side was Fabian Cancellara who suffered a fracture to his collarbone at the Tour of Flanders.
“This is absolutely not the result we expected from the team”, he cited.
“If we consider that is the end of the first part of the season, here at the end of the Classics, we are far from”.
Andy agrees to his Team Manager, "It's still not a good year for us, It was certainly not as we expected. We often experienced crashes or bad weather but we cannot always find excuses”.
“We are responsible for bad results. We must learn to cope with difficult circumstances. These are the same for everyone", he concluded.
The 26-year-old can definitely lift the team spirits by registering an overall victory at the 2012 version of the French Grand Tour which is also his biggest goal of the season.
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