With Andy it's always someone else's fault.

At the 2007 Giro it was Di Luca's team's fault for being stronger in the TTT. The fact that Di Luca beat him up every single climb is apparently irrelevant.

At the 2008 Tour it was Sastre's fault for attacking at Alpe d'Huez. Apparently the fact that that was exactly the team's plan pre-stage is irrelevant, as is the fact that Sastre specifically did not attack on the Bonette climb when Frank asked him not to.

At the 2009 Tour it was the motorbikes' fault for supposedly pacing Contador up the climbs in Andorra, Verbier and the time trial. Apparently that's the only reason that Andy lost any time.

At the 2010 Tour it was Contador's fault for attacking while Andy's chain had dropped. Apparently the fact that Andy then lost considerably more time on the descent is irrelevant. Andy also doesn't see a problem with crying foul at the loss of these seconds despite it being pretty much the exact same way that he won nearly two minutes on everyone else on the cobbles stage by attacking when everyone else was caught behind a crash, and despite the peloton giving him a break and slowing down to let him back on when he was 8 minutes down and out on the Spa stage. The time he lost in the prologue also doesn't exist, because as Andy put it, the time he lost with the dropped chain "was the only time I ever lost to Contador"

At the 2010 Vuelta it was Bjarne Riis's fault for "being unreasonable" and kicking him out of the race just because he was out drinking until 3 am and came back to the hotel loud and intoxicated. Apparently that's perfectly acceptable behaviour for a professional in the middle of one of the biggest races of the season.

At the 2011 Tour it was the route's fault because apparently bike racers aren't supposed to need any bike handling skills and descents apparently aren't supposed to affect races.


For the last 3 years it's been the other contenders' fault for not attacking because apparently the Schlecks have been the only ones who have attacked at the Tour in this period of time, and they didn't make any tactical mistakes at all.


(For those in disbelief, yes, the Schleck brothers really have claimed every single one of these mind-meltingly ridiculous things)


According to Andy, the fact that he's a one dimensional rider who has only one single skill (climbing) and is average to bad at time trialling, flat riding, navigating the cobbles, tactical intelligence, managing a breakaway, sprinting or any other skill a bike rider should have, is irrelevant. According to Andy, it's definitely not his fault that he's a professional stage racer who's never won a single one of the over 50 stage races in his career despite riding quite literally the 4 Tour de France routes in history best suited to his single skill and despite spending the entire season lounging around making no efforts at races to save himself solely for the Tour while his opponents are going all out and tiring themselves to win both major and minor races all season.

It's not Andy's fault that he can't time trial, because he insists he's been working extremely hard at it damn it.....despite the fact that his own coach Bobby Julich was exhasperated on TV saying that he hasn't been able to get Andy to train on the time trial bike at all.

Nope, none of this is Andy's fault. It's everyone else's fault.




It's also clearly not Andy's fault that so many people with steady jobs are now out on their asses. Most of the staff (mechanics, soigneurs, choaches, etc) at Saxo Bank didn't want to leave for Team Leopard, until he and Frank personally promised them that if they left they would not only get great raises, but the team would exist "for a minimum of 4 years", so they shouldn't be afraid of leaving a secure job at Saxo Bank.
After 9 months, Leopard merged with Radioshack and all those staff were very suddenly unemployed at a late stage in the season when most teams already have all job positions filled for the next year.

Nice going Andy.

Now, if anyone reading this thinks that Andy really believed the team would last for 4 years, I have ocean front land in Switzerland for them to buy for a great price. Andy knew very well because the guy financing the team, Flavio Becca, had made it very clear that he would only fund the team for one season and no longer. It needs to be noted that Andy is a notorious liar. In late 2009 he was already plotting to set the team up with Becca, Cancellara and his brother Frank, as proven by the promotional material they made to attract potential sponsors, that later surfaced, however 6 months later when Riis confronted him asking him if there was any truth to the rumour that they were leaving to set up their own team, Andy strongly denied it.

What a great guy.



After all this, add in the fact that Andy is constantly demeaning other riders, criticizing and personally insulting them (my favourite being insulting one of the most beloved riders in the peloton for having "something wrong in the head" apropos of absolutely nothing), constantly criticizing any technical section of a course just because he doesn't have bike handling skills, and disrespecting the majority of races and cycling's history, and is it any wonder that he's widely hated in the fanbase and inside the peloton?