Frankie Andreu
U.S. Postal Service cycling team |
Francisco "Frankie" Andreu (born September 26, 1966) is an American former professional
Cycling career
Andreu was born in
Andreu moved from track cycling to road cycling after signing to the 7-Eleven Pro Cycling Team in 1989 when he finished his first professional stage race, the Giro d'Italia. His highest finish in the Tour de France was second during the 18th stage of the 1993 race where he was teammates with a young Lance Armstrong on the Motorola Pro cycling team. Andreu finished fourth in the road race during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.[4]
He is best remembered by the professional cycling community for his role as a super domestique.[5]
Performance-enhancing drug use
In a September 2006 interview given to
Andreu gave more details in his September 2012 USADA affidavit declaring he used EPO in 1998 as he traveled preparing for the 1999 Tour. Andreu declared he knowingly received EPO injections in 1999 after races by the USPS Team doctor, Luis Garcia del Moral. His wife, Betsy, became suspicious when she watched her husband pull Armstrong through the
Andreu continued to ride strongly for the USPS Team in 2000 and to serve as the team's Assistant Director in 2001 and 2002.[8]
Armstrong testimony
In 2005, Andreu and his wife Betsy testified that Lance Armstrong told cancer doctors in their presence in 1996 he had doped with EPO (
In a January 2013 interview,
Post-racing career
Andreu has served as a bicycle race commentator for
In 2007, Andreu became the director of Rock Racing, but resigned in January 2008 stating differences "with business strategies and the direction the team is headed".[18] When Andreu started out with Rock Racing, he described in a Cycling News interview how attitudes in cycling had changed, and that it was no longer acceptable to use drugs.[19] A year later, it was clear that there were differences between him and the owner of Rock & Republic jeans, Michael Ball. Andreu was unhappy that his role as a director was being undermined; in some instances, he was not consulted before riders were signed. Many of the riders, including Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero, Óscar Sevilla and Mario Cipollini, were involved in or linked to drug investigations in cycling. This raised eyebrows, especially when aligned with Ball's "win or you're fired" mentality.[20]
"Rider choices, sponsor choices, the way they were handling the prospective sponsors... they are an aggressive team and everything they do is aggressive. The cycling community is small and to me it is important to keep friends and not win at all costs."
Andreu was working with the American women's cycling team, Proman, in 2008. The team hoped to draw attention to women's cycle racing with Andreu's leadership.[21]
In 2010, Andreu took the position of directeur sportif for the Kenda Pro Cycling team,[22] a UCI Continental team sponsored by 5-hour Energy.[23]
Andreu was also identified as the only American that Lance Armstrong would allow to interview him in Alex Gibney's documentary The Armstrong Lie.[citation needed]
Major results
- 1986
- 1st Team pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships
- 1991
- 8th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 8th Paris–Tours
- 1992
- 7th Tour du Haut Var
- 1993
- 7th Omloop Het Volk
- 1994
- 1st Stage 7 Tour de Pologne
- 4th Wincanton Classic
- 9th Paris–Roubaix
- 1996
- 4th Road race, Olympic Games
- 1997
- 1st Stage 6 Mi-Août en Bretagne
- 1998
- 1st Lancaster Classic
- 1st Stage 5 Tour du Luxembourg
- 2000
- 8th Overall Paris–Nice
See also
- List of doping cases in cycling
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
- ^ a b "Résumé". frankieandreu.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Frankie Andreu". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- ^ Brent Schrotenboer (October 11, 2012). "USADA releases massive evidence vs. Lance Armstrong". USAToday. Gannett 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ "Men's Olympic Road Race". cyclingnews.com. July 1996.
- TheGuardian.com. October 11, 2012.
- ^ Macur, Juliet (September 12, 2006). "2 Ex-Teammates of Cycling Star Admit Drug Use". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ "Former US Postal riders admit EPO use". Cyclingnews.com. September 12, 2006.
- ^ Andreu, Frankie (September 18, 2012). "2 Andreu, Frankie Affidavit to USADA" (PDF). usada.org/. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ^ VeloNews | Papers charge Armstrong admitted doping | The Journal of Competitive Cycling
- ^ VeloNews | Armstrong issues statement | The Journal of Competitive Cycling Archived 2006-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Matthew Beaudin (October 25, 2012). "Vindicated: Betsy and Frankie Andreu talk Armstrong". Velo News. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ "Lance Armstrong's doping admission: Questions Oprah should have asked". Yahoo! Sports. January 14, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ "USADA's Armstrong probe produces 200 pages, 26 witnesses". CBC. The Associated Press. October 11, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
- ^ "UCI strips Armstrong of Tour de France titles". ESPN UK. ESPN EMEA Ltd. October 22, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
- ^ "Reasoned Decision" (PDF). USADA. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ "Lance Armstrong angers accuser Betsy Andreu, who believes cyclist's interview with Oprah Winfrey comes up short". Daily News. New York.
- ^ Gibson, Owen (January 18, 2013). "Lance Armstrong drugs confession leaves Andreu and O'Reilly sceptical". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Charles Pelkey (January 3, 2008). "Andreu leaves Rock Racing".
- ^ "An interview with Frankie Andreu: The future is bright". cyclingnews.com. September 1, 2007.
- ^ Mark Zalewski (January 6, 2008). "Rifts in Rock Racing over controversial big-name signings". cyclingnews.com.
- ^ "First Edition Cycling News: Andreu, BMC to support women's Proman squad for Philly". cyclingnews.com. June 5, 2008.
- ^ "Frankie Andreu to direct Team Kenda Pro Cycling". velonews.com. October 16, 2009.
- ^ 5-hour Energy presented by Kenda Racing Team
External links
- Official website
- Frankie Andreu at Cycling Archives
- Frankie Andreu at CyclingBase.com
- Frankie Andreu at IMDb
- Frankie Andreu's 1989 Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven TEAM bike