Second at the Giro when he was only 21 years old, Andy Schleck was a very promising rider. But last month, he announced that his career was over. He did not realize the dream to wear the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysées, in Paris. He was named winner of the 2010 Tour de France on green belt after Alberto Contador’s positive test for clenbuterol.

Interviewed by CyclingTips, he is speaking about his new life: “At the beginning, of course, it was really hard to accept the situation, that was I was going to stop as a professional cyclist. That I have to go in another direction. But I can see things both sides. I am only turning 30 so I can still do a lot with my life. I always said that cycling is my passion, that it’s my hobby and my job. But it is not my life."

“Now I have got a beautiful son named Theo and I have a lovely girlfriend. One day I am going to marry her, she will be my wife. I am very happy at the moment. I just have relax a little bit and see what the future brings.”

During this interview, he says he does not want to turn the page of cycling, the sport he loves. “I have ideas in my head that I don’t want to comment on just now because it is so early. But what I can tell you is I will stay involved with cycling. I love it too much to just let it go. I should be able to say more at the beginning of 2015.”

He told about his good performance and his palmares: “I did ten years professional on a very high level. I achieved a lot. Some victories I had will still be in the books in 100 years,” he said. “The one of the Galiber, the Tourmalet, Morzine-Avoriaz. Also, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. I was not winning it just from a sprint, I won by attacking from far away. Nobody could believe that I could achieve it, but I believed it. “It was something great. That is something that sticks in people’s hearts.”

“For me, I am proud of the results I did, but I am more proud of the fair play. I always played in game of cycling towards my other competitors,” he explained.

“I don’t include doping in there because I was always clean during my whole career. But just when someone crashed….when he was in the GC [a general classification rival – ed.], I said to the peloton, ‘wait until he is back and see how he is.’ I never wanted to gain time on someone by a crash or a puncture or incident. There were many times when that was the case and I was always the first one to say, ‘come on, let’s wait for Alberto."

We also remembered the "chaingate" during the 2010 Tour de France. Alberto Contador attacked him while the latter had a mechanical problem. “He didn’t wait, but that is his personality,” he said, bringing up that stage.

“I think the victory on the Galibier is a beautiful memory,” he said, referring to his victory on stage 18. “Then the podium with Frank and me, being second and third in Paris. That is something that was never done before and I believe it will take a long, long, long time until perhaps some other family will achieve the same thing.

“That was fantastic – we were both on the podium in Paris and millions of people around were cheering at us. Cadel was on the top but the people were cheering, it was fantastic.”