Luxembourger not keen on riding a third grand tour in 2012
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After struggling at the start of the final climb, Frank Schleck rallied to finish 12th (Image credit: Sirotti)
A perturbed Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) after being invovled in a large crash at 25km to go in stage 6.(Image credit: AFP)
Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) in Liege for the start of stage 1 at the Tour de France.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Frank Schleck (RadioShack - Nissan)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Frank Schleck (RadioShack - Nissan) climbs(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Frank Schleck (RadioShack - Nissan)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Win or lose the RadioShack-Nissan bus is always one of the most popular at the Tour de France. Both the media and fans are drawn towards it in the hope of interesting quotes, sound bites, and in the case of the fans, bidons and photos.
And at the Tour there are normally two Schleck's in the race giving a journalist a fighting chance of picking up audio from either Fränk or Andy during the media scrum. But at this year's Tour, with the younger brother out injured, Fränk Schleck has become the sole representative of the family clan. His Tour has been mediocre by his recent standards and lying 12th on GC, almost ten minutes down on Bradley Wiggins, the former podium rider has provided a cameo performance for RadioShack.
Stage 11 to La Toussuire was the first time Schleck appeared in contention in the mountains but with a less than ideal preparation and a route designed to expose his time trial weaknesses he has been on the back foot.
"The biggest different is that this Tour is for time trials, it's not for climbers. Of course I do miss Andy especially in the mornings when you have some little doubts and before the race you're always doubting and a little and scared and you have days don't want to do it," he says.
In this exclusive video for Cyclingnews, Fränk Schleck talks about his Tour so far; how it's not designed for climbers, how he'll not ride this year's Vuelta despite its mountainous profile and how he misses his brother in this year's Tour.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
