Will Andy do the Tour this year?

What a good question.

He said, in Velonews yesterday that he was not likely to be on top form by July:

“I cannot dream about winning the Tour this year,”  he said.

When they asked if he thought that he could not win the race, he said:

“I don’t go as the leader of the race, no. I haven’t been there last year,”

Of course, there is always that famous "lost in translation" problem: to us, in English, that second quote implies that he is going to the Tour. But it might have been meant "If I were to go, it would not be as the leader".

There is a case to be made for his team management, who should not "waste" a place (sorry Andy, you know I don't mean it like that) on a rider who is not 100%: but as I said in my last post,  he's such a high-profile rider that I rather think the organisers would want him competing, even if he were not quite fit.

Personally - bearing in mind that I'm not a DS nor a sports psychologist and therefore don't know what I'm talking about - I would have thought it would be a huge pressure on Andy, to send him to the Tour in the knowledge that he's not fully fit (we are, of course, assuming that he won't make a miraculous return to form: which might yet happen!) and with everyone and his dog watching him closely. And no Frankie for support.

Actually, I say "and no Frankie" as though that were essential, but of course when Frankie crashed out with a broken collarbone, Andy not only continued without him, but finished on the podium, so that does rather prove that Andy is perfectly capable of racing without Frankie.

But of course that was in the Leopard year, when he had the full support of the team, the management, the other riders, etc: things are a little different these days, even without Mr Bruyneel looming over him in the background.

Regardless of the support issue, we all know that it's the biggest, longest, hardest stage race in cycling, and if a rider is not fully fit, he could easily fail to finish: and we can all imagine what that would do to anyone's confidence, let alone Andy's.

So personally, on balance, I'd rather see Andy give the Tour a miss this year, win the Giro, and start afresh (preferably in a new team, ha! ha!) next year.

But that's just my opinion.

What do you think?