Andy Schleck won the Luxembourg male Athlete of the Year award for the third consecutive year
Luxembourg’s professional cyclist, Andy Schleck, was named the male Athlete of the Year for his country. Andy truly deserved the award, considering his performance throughout the year, especially the second overall finish at the Tour de France, 2011.
Andy has won the award previously in 2009 and 2010, which makes it his third successive win.
2011 marked the ninth consecutive year for the recognition of brilliance in Athletics, as Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen claimed the honour in the previous years.
Frank won the award in 2006 whereas Kim secured the best Luxembourg cyclist award for a total number of five times, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.
Andy was looking good at the Tour de France 2011 and gave a tough time to the final General Classifications winner, Cadel Evans.
He finished second with 1 minute and 34 seconds behind Cadel, while the elder Schleck finished a further minute behind Andy.
The 26-year-old made his first appearance at the Tour de France 2008 and impressed everyone with his 12th overall finish. He also secured the young rider’s classification with the stage 1 victory at the event.
Riding into his second Grand Tour on the French soil, Andy finished minutes behind Alberto Contador and secured the second position at the Tour de France, 2009. He was again nominated as the best young rider of the race.
The Luxembourg rider won the stage 8 and stage 17 at the Tour de France 2010 but missed the yellow jersey in the final stage. He finished second as Contador won the tour for the second consecutive time.
Andy believes that time trialling is his weak area and is already trying to overcome his shortcoming.
He said, “I know I'm lacking in the race against the clock. I have to gain power and strength and I have already started working on it”.
He added, “Not to mention my position on the bike that is not necessarily the best. The aim is to do weight training and spend time in the wind tunnel. I cannot lose the Tour again because of a time trial”.
Frank Schleck received a total number of 280 votes as Andy took the lead with 111 votes over his elder brother and won the best athlete award for his country. Tennis player Mandy Minella won the female Athlete of the Year award for the 2011 season.
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