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Andy Schleck to start off at Tour of Oman
RadioShack-Nissan rider targets February return
Andy Schleck, runner-up at the last three stagings of the Tour de France, has revealed that he is to start off his 2012 campaign at the Tour of Oman. The race runs from 14-19 February and Schleck feels that it is the ideal starting point for a season where his main target will once again be the Tour de France.
"It's the perfect race, with ideal terrain and weather conditions," the 26-year-old from Luxembourg said on Friday at the launch his newly-merged team RadioShack-Nissan.
It is thought that Schleck will then join his brother Franck at Paris-Nice before focussing on the major Classic races later in the spring, though team boss Johan Bruyneel declared that Schleck's full early season schedule hasn't been completely finalised yet.
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Andy Schleck
2nd GC, Tour de France 2009, 2010, 2011
Best Young Rider, Tour de France, 2008, 2009, 2010
1st Tour de France Stages: 8 & 17, 2010; 18, 2011
2nd Giro d’Italia 2007
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2009
2nd Flèche Wallonne 2009
3rdLiège–Bastogne–Liège, 2011Looking ahead to 2012
The big question about Andy Schleck in 2012 will be how his move to a team run by Johan Bruyneel will affect his racing. Schleck has lacked the competitive edge that Bruyneel is famous for – Schleck’s statement that he’d rather end up in second place on the Tour de France podium with his brother Fränk in third than win the race certainly doesn’t fit the Bruyneel philosophy! But Bruyneel’s attention to detail should aid Andy through this year’s Tour – and with 96km of individual time trialling, notoriously Schleck’s weak spot, he’ll need all the help he can get, if he wants to take that elusive win.
Away from the Tour, look for Andy in the Ardennes Classics, and then aiming to become the World Champion, on the hilly Valkenburg course.