He’s the youngest of the Schleck brothers.If Frank is precise and stubborn (obstinate),Andy is forgetful and full of talent.He surprised everyone at 2007 Giro d’Italia,where he arrived 2nd in the GC at just 21 year-old.The memory of the Zoncolan.The feeling of being in front of a predestined.His simple life in Luxembourg.The bicycle.The rest.The hunting and the fishing.Frank’s advice.The trainings with his father.The journalists.The tour.And the desidery of coming back to the Giro soon...
PLATIA DE PALMA:A surprised and curious look on a face without beard.Big teeth and a very simpatic smile.Eyes that laugh beneath the hat,wore because of the strong wind.Long and flexible legs.
When the mechanic calls him in order to explain him what’s wrong with his Srm,Andy Schleck tells him to wait a moment and then,with a glove hanging from his mouth and kept between his teeth,he comes up to the expert Alejandro Torralbo.Although Andy keeps on assenting,it looks as if the young luxembourgian isn’t paying any attention to the mechanic and it also seems that he’s making fun of Alejandro.After a while the mechanic realises what’s going on and gives a little push to Andy.The boy comes back swinging and smiling and receives a cospitorial and reprochal look from his brother Frank.Then Andy takes the glove out of his mouth and starts to talk,telling us that he’ll be able to do our interview later.In fact Bjarne Riis has arrived in the meanwhile and today’s training session is about to start.
The first meeting with Andy Schleck transmits you the freshness of this young boy,but at the same time (especially after having seen his performances at the Giro) it suggests that behind that forgetful and candid smile there may be a person that knows what he wants and has a great talent.
That day,on the Zoncolan,everybody realised it.Until that stage,Andy’s performances had seemed to be just simple exploits,but that day the young boy from Luxembourg really managed to scare Di Luca. Andy arrived almost to the finish line with the best climbers.He climbed with the hands at the center of his handlebar and he never stood up on his pedals.He had the company of tired climbers and strong attackers,and his white jersey shined inside the dark wood.At a certain point,somebody even noticed a smile on his tired face.In some moments,he gave the impression of being able to drop the climbers that were with him but then,when Simoni and Piepoli attacked,he let them go and kept on climbing with his pace.The entourage of the pink jersey really started to worry at that point,because the TT of Verona was risking to become a very big joke for Di Luca.But then,on the decisive day,Andy showed the right limit of his 21 year-old and went slower than everybody expected him to do.Btw,he went enough fast to keep Mazzoleni (ndr;yup!) behind him in the GC and to close his first Grand Tour at the second plce of the GC.A lot better than Riccò and Nibali,even if he’s younger than them.
“I had a great respect for the Zoncolan”,he tells us,thinking back to those days “because I didn’t think that that climb was suitable to me.While I was climbing I watched Piepoli and Simoni,and I thought that they weight ten kilos less than me.I was wondering when they would have dropped me,but I was always behind them and I was feeling good there.Di Luca was behind me,but that was normal because he’d gone very strong since the beginning of the Giro.Cunego was behind me too,just like Mazzoleni.I was there,trying to hold on,keeping my eyes on Simoni’s wheel,when they attacked and I didn’t manage to follow them.And while I was trying to keep on climbing with my own pace (regularly),I remembered what my ds Gallopin told me the year before.Maybe that’s why some people have seen me laughing...”
It was winter,just like now.Basso wasn’t there anymore,since he had become the Discovery Channel’s leader for the Giro and for the Tour.People at Csc had to decide a Grand Tour in which the young Schleck could debut,and Riis said that Andy would have ridden the Giro.
“But the funny thing”,says Andy,”is that they had more trust than I did.I didn’t think I could go so well.Inside my mind I thought I could arrive in the Top 20,but I was afraid to say it.And then,one day,Gallopin came up to me and told me that he thought I would have been able to end up in the Top 5.I remember that I watched him for a while and then I told him that he was crazy.But he said that again and he started to explain why he was convincted of that.Riis was there too and after having listened to Gallopin,he said he would have been happy even with a place in the Top 10.I watched him and I told him:’you’re crazy as well’”.
Surprise disform his face just like in a cartoon when he talks about the surprising days in the Giro.When his brother Frank walks near to us and,joking,asks us if he’s brother’s behaving well,Andy gives him a push on the thigh,says“At the end you’ll be proud of me!” and then watches his brother going away towards the stairs that lead people to the rooms at the first floor.
“Luckily”,smiles Andy following his brother with his eyes,”Frank is always here to stand me...Last year,after Lombardia,we were invited to a criterium in Belgium.I prepared my suitcase and my bicycle and I started to travel by car.When Frank called me to ask me at what time I would have arrived,I told him that there was a little problem.He got worried. “Nothing of serious has happened”,I answered him, ”The problem is that I’ve already done 100 kms and I’ve forgot my bike at home...”.
“Having Frank by my side”,he smiles,”is a big relieve.We motivate each other and we train together.If he realises I’m down,Frank comes up to me and gives me a kick in the bottom.But things between us haven’t always been like that.When I was 16,we didn’t stay together a lot.5 years of difference are a lot,at that age.He had his friends,I had mine.And then I couldn’t go cycling with him,because he did distances that were too long for me.My father used to tell me to pay attention,not to exaggerate,but all these words didn’t work with me.I used to try to do more and more,and Frank probably got surprised already at that time,because he realised that I was trying to stay with him (ndr;on trainings) as long as I could.Then,when I was 18,things began to change.I started to tell my friends that I couldn’t go out with them anymore and suddenly my life became school,training and bed.Now Frank and I are good friends.Nobody believes it,but I’m happier when he wins than when I win.When he won Amstel (in 2006),I was at home in front of the tv and I started to cry.He was happy to hear that,but then he started to make joke of me because he wanted to behave as a boaster.But last year,on the Zoncolan day,he broke into tears too and so he stopped being so witty...We used to live together,but now his home is 500 m far from my parents’ one and I bought a flat in that zone too,even if it isn’t ready yet...” 
Smiling again,just like every rider does when he talks about his home,he explains us that his days in Luxembourg are really simple. “I wake up between 8 and 9 o’clock,I have a good breakfast and then I go out training straight-away.For me it’s important to take off my pijama and wear my training clothes immediately.If I have to do something before of training,keeping on get dressed and taking my clothes off makes me lose patience and inspiration.I usually train until 4 pm,and sometimes I train behind my dad’s motorbike during the last hour of training. Then I come back home,eat something and I go to drink a coffee with my friends.
Other times I go hunting.I’ve got 2 dogs,I call my dad and we go walking in the woods.I’m not one of those guys who go to bed immediately after training but,if the training has been hard and walking is not very good,I go fising on the Mosella river.Our house is in Mondorf les Bains,ten kms far from the city,so it is very easy to find a little peace.
Other times,instead,I sit in front of my computer and I write.Last year I had a column on a local newspaper.They asked me articles in French about everything that regards cycling,but not about races.They asked me what I put into my suitcase.What we talk about on the team bus.What I think during the massages...It was interesting for me and a lot of people have told me that they had a lot of fun reading my articles.I really like telling things.After the races,I’m not that kind of rider that immediatly runs into the team bus.I’m not afraid of press,because it’s a part of the game.I know that the journalists are the only way through which I can communicate with my supporters.”
Satt without shoes and with crossed legs on an armchair of the hall,Andy keeps on talking and massages his legs. He won’t be at the Giro this year,and he nearly apologises for that.His chiefs have chosen the Tour for him,so that he can gain more experience and arrive at the Olympics with a good form.Some time ago,Andy said he would have liked to come back at the Giro,and Csc’s reply was very firm:every change would have been decided by Big Chief Bjarne Riis,not by other people.
“If I come to the Giro”,Andy says,”it must be for winning it.And this means that I’ll have to give my best every day.I can’t come there and lose minutes.That’s why for the moment we talk about the Tour.Frank has told me it isn’t so hard as the Giro,but it is surely more stressing because of the media and because of the way of racing.I’ll have two captains:Sastre and my brother.But,as always,it will be the first climb to make us decide.We’ll see who will be the best up there and then we’ll decide what to do.The Giro gave me confidence.I’ve run it without making mistakes.In the third week I was still one of the strongest.Why should I be afraid of the Tour then?” He says everything without stopping and doesn't manage to hide the ambition’s flash that,for a moment,has appeared in his eyes.He realises it and he immediately goes back to his candid look.
“I’ve watched the parcours,and I’m happy because there isn’t the prologue,that I hate.The true climbs come in the second part of the race and this will allow me to arrive there in a very good condition.The last TT is hard,not for specialists.I’m curious...”
He doesn’t say anything more.He’s not as exuberant as Riccò,but he doesn’t hide himself.He stands up,says he’s very hungry and adds that sooner or later he’ll be back at the Giro and that what we saw last year was just the beginning.He’s 22 year-old,but Guimard,that followed him when he was a little boy,says he’s as strong as Lemond,Fignon and Hinault.Andy plays down the compliment,but doesn’t put the big goblet away from him.In fact,the difference between who behaves naturally and who plays a role is naturalness. 
FACT OF THE DAY: Today I brought my sister's bicycle to the mechanic for the third time in 10 days,and there I met Eddy Mazzoleni,third in 2007 Giro d'Italia.If I lived in Lux,maybe I would be able to meet some other people...
(Un)Important thing:today I had to bring my sister's bike to the mechanic.While I was going there I saw a man whose hair looked like Cancellara's one and while I was coming back I saw a Liquigas bus driving on the road towards Bg.I haven't imagined it,because also my sister (she was with me) saw it.I have to investigate....What can a Liquigas bus do in a place like this? No asnwer...
During the last part of the stage (before my video recorder's refuse to keep on recording) I was finally able to see Andy for some minutes.The chronists said: "Here's Andy Schleck,one of the strongest rider of the group.I'm sure this year will be a nice one for him.I really admire him and it's always a very nice thing to see him"...Of course I agree.Who (apart from my sister) doesn't like Andy? Btw,the youngest of the two brothers took his gloves off (in a funny way,I must say) and then gave his best (together with other riders of different teams) in pulling in front of the group in order to catch the men in the breakaway.The brave 4 guys were finally caught and the sprinters prepared for the sprint.Sprint that was won by Thor Hushovd.Here's part of the stage classification:
J: Kim Kirchen and Columbia Team will run the TOC too.Will Kirchen go well in this race?
