Having worked with Andy Schleck for several seasons but then being separated from him by Johan Bruyneel, who intended managing the Luxembourg rider in the 2012 Tour de France, Kim Andersen will once again be the main director for Andy Schleck in 2013.
The Dane has guided the stage race specialist since his days with the CSC/Saxo Bank team and has a close relationship with him. Both he and Schleck protested last year when Bruyneel insisted that he would take over the reins, but the switch never happened as Schleck crashed heavily in the Critérium du Dauphiné and missed the Tour.
Bruyneel himself was also absent, the Belgian missing the race due to the furore which cropped up over USADA’s investigation into doping on the US Postal Service team.
He ultimately lost his place with RadioShack Nissan, and will face an arbitration hearing in the New Year.
As for Schleck, he is back training hard and will get his 2013 season underway in the Santos Tour Down Under in January. That will represent the earliest-ever season start for him and shows he is serious about trying to be in the best shape possible by the time the Tour de France starts.
Andersen will be there beside him in July and will also guide him for much of the season.
“It is my job to get Andy to ride strongly again. It will be like old times,” he told Sporten.dk. “I am going to be in the races that Andy will ride, and I shall try to get him up to speed so he’ll race as he did in the past.”
He added that he will be with the rider both when he trains and when he races, thus collaborating closely with him.
Schleck prefers to work closely with a few people, also relying a lot on his brother Frank. However the latter is facing an uncertain future due to his positive test for the diuretic Xipamide in the Tour de France. He had a disciplinary hearing in October and is awaiting the outcome of that.
The former Tour podium finisher has not competed since last year’s Tour and is hoping to either escape sanction altogether or to have a short ban and be able to return for the 2013 race.
He is due to be informed of the outcome in two days time. December 19th was set as the date by the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency, who will decide whether or not Andy Schleck will have his brother by his side in the coming season or if Andersen will instead be working with him alone.
Meanwhile the latter has come under fire from Hans Falk, director of the Norwegian cycling federation, who has blasted Andersen for having multiple positive tests during his career.
He failed tests multiple times during his career – seven between 1985 and 1992, according to Dopeology.org - but was able to keep racing due to inexplicable laxity on the part of the authorities.
Under current rules, he would almost certainly have incurred a lifetime ban.