Frank Schleck: Rider Profile

FRANK SCHLECK: RIDER PROFILE

Date of birth: 15/04/1980

From: Luxembourg

Team: Trek Factory Racing

Previous teams: RadioShack-Leopard (2011-13), CSC/Saxo Bank (2003-2010)

Frank Schleck career profile

Frank Schleck, the lanky Luxembourg rider, is part of a real cycling family with his father Johnny a former professional in the sixties and his bother Andy also a talented professional.

Despite going on to be an overall contender in the Tour de France and hilly classics winner, Schleck struggled to turn professional due to a lack of international amateur success. He was a stagiaire with Festina in 2002 but the team folded at the end of the year. He rode as an Elite in 2003 only gained a place as a stagiaire with CSC thanks to coach Marcel Gilles.

Schleck didn't win a race in 2004 but impressed with second in the Championships of Zurich and third in the Tour of Lombardy. In 2006 he won the Amstel Gold Race with a lone attack ten kilometres from the finish but missed out on victory in other big races. He finished third in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2008 but was again let down by his poor sprinting.

He has had similar mixed success in major stage races. He won at Alpe d'Huez in the 2006 Tour de France and finished tenth overall but has since failed impress as an overall contender.

He finished 17th in the 2007 Tour de France after a bad day in the mountains. He started the 2008 Tour as joint leader with Carlos Sastre. He wore the leader's yellow jersey for two days but was clearly fading and then lost it to Sastre on L'Alpe d'Huez, when the Spaniard was sent on the attack. He lost further time in the final time trial, slipping to sixth overall at 4-28.

The day before the time trial the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed that Schleck had been a client of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes who master mined the Operacion Puerto doping system. Schleck denied any wrong doing but when the newspaper claimed Schleck had paid Fuentes £7,000 he was embarrassingly suspended by CSC.

An investigation by the Luxembourg anti-doping agency cleared Schleck of any wrong doing in December but he struggled to justify why he had paid Fuentes so much for what he claimed was just simple coaching advice.

Schleck was one of a number of riders to jump ship from Saxo Bank to Leopard-Trek for 2011, where he won the Criterium International. The squad then joined forces with RadioShack to form RadioShack-Nissan for 2012.

Schleck failed a test for banned diuretic xipamide during the 2012 Tour de France and was handed a one-year ban by the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency in January 2013. The ban was back-dated to the date of the positive test - July 14 2012.

Frank Schleck results

2014

Luxembourg road race national champion

2011

Criterium International; Stage one

Criterium International; overall

Luxembourg road race national champion

2010

Tour de Luxembourg; stage two

Tour de Suisse; overall

Luxembourg road race national champion

2009

Tour de France; stage 17

Tour of Luxembourg; stage three

Tour de Luxembourg; overall

Tour of California; stage eight

2008

Luxembourg road race national champion

2007

Tour of Switzerland; stage four

Giro dell'Emilia

2006

Amstel Gold Race

Tour de France; stage 15

2005

Luxembourg national road race champion

Frank Schleck photos

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