EP7: Andy Schleck, The Col Du Galibier And Making Peace With A Belated Tour Victory
In this episode Brad and Graham are joined by Andy Schleck, the man Brad most feared as he rode to Tour de France victory in 2012 and the closest rider he’s seen to Tadej Pogačar.
The Luxembourger was retrospectively handed the 2010 Tour de France title after Alberto Contador, the man who controversially beat him by 39 seconds that year, was found to have taken performance enhancing drugs.
That forms a major part of this fascinating chat, as Schleck admits it took a long time to accept his victory but rues the missed opportunity to celebrate it properly at the time.
But it is Schleck’s extraordinary ascent of one of the Tour’s most agonising climbs, the Col du Galibier, that centres the episode. In 2011, he used the Queen stage of the race, concluding up the Alpine pass, to launch one of the most memorable attacks in Tour history. It was an attempt so silly that even his teammates tried to persuade him to switch to a plan B.
Here he tells Bradley and Graham of his unwavering faith that his idea would work and how, when it did, the whole peloton lauded his effort as he closed in on the yellow jersey which he took the next day after another climb of the Galibier. Yet ultimately he couldn’t hold on, finishing 2nd overall after losing time on the penultimate stage, an individual Time Trial.
Brad also reminisces about his battles with Andy and the pair reveal the one time they both refused to continue riding, climbing together into the warmth of a car instead as snow poured down around them.
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Credits
Presented by Sir Bradley Wiggins and Graham Willgoss
Guest: Andy Schleck
Researcher: Luca Unwin
Production Manager: Ross Aitken
Social Video Producer: Rosie Mansfield
YouTube Editor: Théo Stöcklin
Produced and Edited by: Toby Gilles
Executive Producers: Faye Stewart, Ashley Unwin & Dominic de Terville
Recorded at: Podcast Room, London Bridge
Sir Bradley Wiggins' Café Aficionado is an Atomized Studios production
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