MEMORY WARS

Ten years on from his retrospective Tour victory, Andy Schleck speaks with Procycling about his battle with Alberto Contador, and life since retirement

It’s already a long time ago, but it feels like yesterday for me. It was a different, tense part of my life. I made my name at the Tour, not just 2010, but that’s why I’m still really involved in cycling. Those years gave me expertise and knowhow, that’s why I’m here today. I organise the Tour of Luxembourg, I work with Skoda at the Tour, I still travel a lot, and 2009, 2010 are why I’m still involved. It was a big step, which changed a lot of my life.

It’s different, if I think back to 2010, the memory is not me in the yellow jersey, the memory is me winning a couple of stages, fighting [Alberto] Contador in the race. The victory came later, but on the other hand, things for me are clear. In the beginning it was difficult for me to accept the victory, which seemed a little bit stupid - the verdict had been made. For today, I consider myself a real Tour de France winner, even if there are some hypocrites out there who think differently. Alberto and me, we were the best of our generation, he won Tours and I won a Tour.

It was a really epic stage [17 from Pau to Col du Tourmalet, which Schleck won]. It was the real last hard stage of the Tour. Not because I won, but because of the circumstances, this stage will still be in people’s heads. It all came down to a showdown between Alberto and me.

When I stopped, I was just the guy who retired, but now people look up to me, I’m the guy who won. There’s this reconnecting. Now people in Luxembourg really know that it was special, so they identify with 2010 and those years.

If Contador hadn’t been there I would have won, I believe, more Tours and more stages, but the story wouldn’t have been the same. Everyone remembers the Contador/Schleck fight, they don’t necessarily remember who won the stage or the race. That’s what sport is about, the battle, and it goes both ways. We talked about it last year, and he realised that it’s right what I was saying. He would have won more without me, and I would have won more without him, but people would not remember those epic years, so I’m grateful he was there.