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.
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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
Click on the thumbnails of Frank Schleck below to open a larger image in a new window.
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