Luxembourg – The Schleck brothers have been advised by their father to quit cycling, due to the physical problems which ruined Andy's season and the high costs of a doping case for older sibling Frank, French media reported on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Andy, crowned 2010 Tour de France winner after Spaniard Alberto Contador was stripped of his victory for doping, missed this year's race and the London Olympics because of a broken pelvis the Luxembourger suffered in June.
He had been short of form all season prior to picking up the injury in the Criterium du Dauphine.
His 32-year-old brother Frank failed a drugs test for a banned diuretic during the Tour de France in July and is awaiting for the Luxembourg anti-doping agency to decide on his case, which was heard last week.
"I advised them to quit cycling," their father Johnny Schleck told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
"Frank is depressed. He spent a lot of money on medical analysis and lawyers fees trying to prove his innocence. This is not a life."
Frank Schleck, who finished third in the 2011 Tour de France, faces a ban of up to two years if found guilty of doping. – Reuters