Schleck: Chapeau for Landis

By Brecht Decaluwé in Morzine

As teammate of CSC's Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck has a close view on how this Tour de France is unfolding. Schleck managed to lead out Sastre for a solo which gained Sastre valuable time on his rivals. Only one rider was able to gain time on Sastre, and that was Floyd Landis.

"They didn't let him go, but he was just so strong in the beginning," said Schleck. "We didn't think that he could make it too the end. But he made it to the end, so he's a f***ing strong rider. Chapeau for Landis!"

Carlos Sastre has an advantage of eighteen seconds on Landis, but there's an ITT coming up which is a discipline that suits the American more. Sastre must feel the pressure is mounting now. "Of course, but we wont put any pressure on Carlos as we know he's going to do his best. We don't expect anything more from him."

Finally, we asked Fränk Schleck what he thought about the strange things that happened during the last week in this Tour de France: "It was just amazing!"