Andy Schleck Cycles opens promising ‘bikes for everybody’ – even for lazy people

Andy Schleck has opened his bike shop in Itzig in Luxembourg. It’s been in the pipeline for a while, but presumably not too many months were spent deciding on a name – it’s called Andy Schleck Cycles.

Schleck announced his retirement from professional cycling in 2014 at the age of 29, blaming a knee injury he picked up in a crash on stage three of that year’s Tour de France. While he no longer cycles competitively, he did say that he would be riding to the new shop each day.

Schleck told chronicle.lu that he’d had a few sleepless nights leading up to the opening and that it had been “nine months of bloody hard work.”

The shop, which stretches over three floors, will sell ‘bikes for everybody’ – including e-bikes “for the more lazy people.”

Speaking to lameuse.be, Schleck said there were bikes to suit all budgets. "The first racing bike is 560 euros. Conversely, I also have the bike that Frank, my brother, rides currently. Its price? 13,000 euros."

There’s also a snack bar and workshop on site – although Schleck himself says he won’t be repairing any bikes. “I didn’t learn that, so that I leave to the mechanics.”

He will however be in the shop daily, working full time. “This is my second little baby and I will work here every day.”

Rather more unusually, the shop features a ‘hall of fame’ which isn’t so much a hall as a tall glass case extending through multiple floors. In pride of place is the bike on which he won stage 18 of the 2011 Tour de France after attacking 60km from the finish at the Col du Galibier . A yellow jersey and an unwashed Olympic jersey from the Beijing Games are also present, as is the bike on which he won Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

There’s also one of Lance Armstrong’s helmets. “That’s more of a joke,” said Schleck.