Two strong guys: Fränk poses with the stature of John Grün which stands near his home.
Lovely relic: The little French-Luxemburgish costumhouse is a true eyecatcher
Andy, set your sights on ...
... and shot ...
... won??
Hopefully! Because I just can hope that this ... erm ... let's call it yeti-wig ... was the award for the best shooter. I personally prefer yellow and/or white jerseys.
Why isn't Fränkie wearing a uniform like Andy??
Especially for Rina (and all other Andy-addicts).
Goodbye! Hope for more pics in the future ;)
At last a bit Schleck art. Janni already said everything what should be said. I'm totally going with her that Fränkie should stick to drawing bicycles and I'm sure that Martine also agrees with us because she really looks sceptical ;) So that's it for the moment, maybe more later...
Typically Fränkie ;)
I know, it's not a good pic, on which you can see much but that's Fränk and his girlfriend. So they're back together again, maybe they've never been off??
Self catched?? ;)
The phenomenon
He came, he saw and almost conquered the Giro d’Italia. Andy Schleck just needed about three weeks to rise from a nobody to a superstar.
The first one who called Andy was Jean Asselborn. The Foreign Minister didn’t let anything stop himself from congratulating the 21 year old on last Saturday afternoon. He congratulated the young Luxembourgian on his sixth place at the final time trial and the second place in the overall classement of the Giro d’Italia, the second most important race after the Tour de France.
The next one was Andy’s masseur. He had to leave for family reasons at short notice. After that Andy called his older brother Fränk by himself. I did that every day. At this moment there were just some minutes bygone since he had finished the 43 kilometers from Bardolino to Verona. With no help. Alone, just against the clock. Alone in the pouring rain.
Now he enjoys to stand in the focus of attention and being celebrated, here in front of the arena of Verona.
In advance the expert weren’t sure if Baby-Schleck, how the pink-coloured Gazzetta dello Sport called him, won’t come unstuck during this stage. But also at the day before the last day of the race the boy from Mondorf showed himself from his best side. He took away 29 seconds from the winner of the Giro Danilo di Luca.
“I still can’t believe it.”, says Andy later. “I came in sixth place. About two years ago I would have lost up to one minute or more to di Luca on 10 kilometers.” Time changed.
From now on they will call the name Andy Schleck in the same breath like greats such as Danilo di Luca, Gilberto Simoni or Damiano Cunego. The official ceremony of the winners is followed by uncountable questions by journalists. All want to have an interview with the phenomenon, like they call him. Also in front of the microphones and cameras the young profi appears serene.
His answers are short and objective. But he smiles more the one time. A nice and warm smile, a bit roguish. And he is flirting with a famous young female reporter of the Italian television. When the whole media business was over, Andy went to the fans who stayed there the whole time.
They call is name. He is shaking hands, writing autographs, carrying a young child so that his father can take some pictures. The Italian public adore him. The tifosi are completely over the moon so they found a new fanclub. Andy Schleck is a touchable star with no star-like behaviour. He understood that the contact with fans is one of the most important things in the world of sport.
Two hour laters in the hotel Antico Termine near Lugagnano, the whole strain falls apart from Andy. He had a shower and now wears jeans. He goes to the mechanics, who are currently preparing the cycles for the last stage. “I learned to share my success. Maybe I rode during the last three weeks in the spotlight, but without my team, I’m a nobody. I try to give them something back.”, he says serene and takes a sip of beer.
Then starts to tell. Tell about the ravenous attacks he has nearly every night, so he always has something eatable next to his bed. About the two kilos he lost during the last weeks although he ate as much as he could.
About the psychological warfare of di Luca especially during the mountains, when he looked into his eyes to see how much power was left. “Some time I realized that he can keep up with him. And I did it.” Since this moment his self-confidence grew up. Since that moment the third place at the frightening climb to Monte Zoncolan was possible and of course the second place overall.
He never forgets to mention Charly Gaul. “I know that he was the last Luxembourgian to stand on the podium at such an important race. And I also know that it was 47 years ago.” This is what make himself proud. To follow those footsteps and writing history with it. Like his brother did one year ago when he won the Amstel Gold Race and the important stage to Alpe d’Huez and amazed the cyclingworld.
From time to time the conversation is interrupted by the manager of the hotel to congratulate Andy, by the employees, who ask him for a autograph and pictures. At the end Andy look forward on the next day. The final stage to Mailand, where nobody won’t attack the leader because of an unwritten law.
And of course to the Tour de France. If Andy could decide it would ride the most important race next year.
Around 6 p.m. the next day, Andy crosses the finish line at the Corso Venezia. A group of a hundred Luxembourgian, just came here because Andy finished in second place, want to celebrate him. They all wear pink shirts “Bravo, Andy”. Some have tears in their eyes. They all are proud, touched, pleased. Happy that a Luxembourgian is again on the top of this sport. The sport which brought the greatest success to the little nation.
But one thing is for sure: It’s not the last time that a Schleck – Andy or Fränk – makes headlines. After the younger of them got from a nobody to a star over night, their father Johny says that “everything is now possible”.
Maybe Andy will win the Tour some day. Maybe today is just the beginning of a glorious career like Eddie Merckx had. He won the Giro and the Tour five times. The future will show. But first Andy has to realize what he achieved during the last days. Until now he didn’t had the time for it.
Translation of the article 'Das Phänomen' by Laurent Graaff (Revue)
Roller coaster ride of a summiteer
Weakened Fränk Schleck set off for riding his first Tour de France. Now he comes home with the certainty that he will become a great one of his sport.
It’s July, the 18th. It’s the evening after Fränk Schleck glorious performance during the stage from Gap to Alpe d’Huez. Jens Voigt lie down on a bench to let himself massage. He’s watching the summary of the stage on Eurosport. He sees Schleck celebrating. “This is the future of cycling.”, he says quiet. Voigt is the one, who is known as the breakaway king and one of the most important helpers.
You can see how Schleck closes his jersey shortly before he crosses the finish line to celebrate and enjoy this historical moment. He shouts for joy. Fourty years the grand duchy had waited for that moment. Almost exact on the same day – Edi Schütz won on July, 10th 1966 at Chamonix – a Luxembourgian is winning a stage of the Grande Boucle.
Schleck is the 13th rider in a row Luxemburgish winners, who won altogether 64. Two years ago Kim Kirchen almost won a stage. But Thor Hushovd didn’t know any pity and ruined all hopes.
At that time there also shouted someone. But that were oaths and curses. “Fränk rode a great Tour. He won the hardest stage and finished a unique 11th place overall”, balances Bjarne Riis. It’s been five days since Schleck conquered the 1.850m high summit and ride off Italy’s cycling hope number one Damiano Cunego and let him almost standing there about two kilometres before the finish.
Today it’s Sunday. Shortly after 6 p.m. the breath of a Danish man smells like champagne. In the bus of the team CSC, which is parked on the Place de la Concorde, there is a lot of celebration. Schleck and his teammates freshen themselves up for the lap of honour on the Champs d’Élysée.
When someone asks him what he expects of Schleck in the future you can see a little smile around his lips. “A lot.”, is the answer. “He still has some weaknesses but we will work on them. Hard training. That he has talent he already showed the world.” Finally it isn’t natural that someone finishes in 11th place at his first Tour de France.
The adventure of the 26 year old cyclist didn’t have an auspicious start. Some weeks before the National Championships – the last test one week before the TdF – Schleck crashes during his training. He broke his nose, lost some teeth. The lips had to have stitches. Furthermore he had some injuries at his chin and neck.
The nation stopped breathing, but the all-clear came fast. Schleck will start in Straßbourg. In the capital of the Alsace the sport fade into the background. Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, two of the supposed protagonists of the doping scandal, were suspended. CSC lost its leader.
What Fränk Schleck thought during that moments maybe will stay a secret forever. Original he had planed two help Basso to win the Tour. Without own demands. But things never turn out the way you think they will. And that is good because this conditions hold incredible chances: In absence of the leader of the time, he can ride in the spotlight.
But until that moment Schleck made acquaintance with the asphalt again. During the fifth stage from Beauvais to Caen got involved in a crash and lost two minutes and seven seconds. How you can accept when you seem to be dogged by bad luck? “The Tour...”, answers Schleck. “is like a roller coaster. Ups and downs are normal. Especially emotional. You have to believe in yourself. If that doesn’t help, there are your teammates who build you up. And your family and friends who give you morality. Without them that wouldn’t have been possible.”, added the man from Mondorf.
The performance of Schleck went upwards, when the Tour went uphill. Since the stage to Bourdeaux his position in the overall classement got better. From the 10th stage on, he retried the field from the back. On the stage from Tarbes to Val d’Aran about 206,5km, when he finished 8th, he came from 65th to 20th place in the overall.
It never had been a secret that Schleck is a good climber but that he could stay in touch with the favourites believed just the greatest optimists. He also showed the potential to win the Tour during the next years and follow in the footsteps of Charly Gaul, the man they called the Angel of the Mountains, who now can rest in peace.
Whether Ullrich, Armstrong, Pantani or Riis: All the winners of the Tour of the last decade were divinely gifted climbers. Just the ones who have extraordinary qualities in the mountains, have the chance to win the Tour. Floyd Landis, the winner of this year’s TdF, isn’t a, exception.
But also the 30 year old guy from California experienced ups and downs. After his bad day on stage 16th, when he lost the yellow jersey to Pereiro, some people had written him off. But we all know that persons who are declared dead live longer (don’t know if that’s the right translation but that is a German proverb, so difficult to translate. Just means that people who showed a bad performance and you think that they give up, will show a much stronger performance than everybody else.). The domination of US-American cyclists continued in the year after Lance Armstrong.
From the european point of view this is extremly unpleasant, comments Marcel Gilles, the Luxemburgian pope of cycling and expert of TV-cannel RTL. How does he judge the performance of Fränk Schleck, on whose career he had much influence? Because it owes also to Gilles good contacts that Schleck signed for CSC three years ago.
“I believed Fränk is capable of winning a stage. But that he chosed the most important stage is incredibly great for Luxembourg.” Long since cycling is the number one sport in Luxembourg, says Gilles. But we have to wait how that will develop.
He adds, that it’s a shame that the Gala Tour de France had to be abolished due to financial reasons, because now the Luxembourgian cyclists are better than a lot of years before. And what message Fränk Schleck has? “My name now is written down in one of the 21 hairpin bends up to Alpe d’Huez. That’s for the eternity. But next year I will come back and see.”
Anyhow that sounds like a threat but maybe it is just a recommendation to Maggy Nagel, the mayor of Bad Mondorf, to include money for a memorial for the brothers Schleck in the next year’s budget. Because what these two guys showed during the last days – Andy won two stages at the Tour of Saxony – just sounds like the beginning of a story full of success.
Too much others in it...
There are rumours that there should some people out there who love to see these guys smile so I just want to cheer you up.
Why the hell I can't find just one pic of Andy at the presentation of the course?? Everytime I search I just get pictures of Prudhomme and Prince Albert... So I decided to post another pic:
His dad, former girlfriend, dog, mum and little brother ;)
The people who win a a classical race are part of the cycling history, forever. But the career of Fränk Schleck also shows how brutal this sport can be and how difficult the way to the top is.
There is a big crush in front of the bus of the Danish CSC-team.Three television crews with their cameras are waiting for the cyclists. The boss Bjarne Riis is giving interviews indefatigable. In about 30 minutes the race Fléche Wallone will start – the second classical race of this year. Today it’s Wednesday, 19th of april. Three days since Fränk Schleck won the Amstel Gold Race and wrote Luxembourgian sportshistory.
Today the will ride from Charleroi to Huy. The man from Mondorf is one of the last, who gets out of the bus. In the next second a lot of journalists and fans are around the cyclist. The 26 year old appears relaxed and tells that now he is happy because he doesn’t have to hunt for an important victory anymore. “In the future I will take everything as it comes. I won’t worry.”
The pressure of success is away. A fan shows him a picture. It shows Fränk in his red-blue-white jersey, how he celebrated his victory at the Cauberg. He never had to give so much interviews and write so much autographs like in the last few days.
A short time ago he was just one of the pack. Although he made headlines at 2006 Paris-Nice, came in second at Züri-Metzgete, in third at the Giro di Lombardia and fourth at the Tour de Suisse. In the world of cycling there is only one star – the winner, the second is the first loser. Who - excluded a few hardcore fans – knows the second or third of the Tour de France when Armstrong won this tour. “I enjoy the situation. A great feeling, especially because I didn’t know it before.”
Though the spokesman of CSC tried to coordinate everything, the hours after his victory were very demanding. He hadn’t time to enjoy everything what happend in his life yet, also it changed it completely. Yesterday he gave interviews to seven TV or radio stations. Today he came in fourth place and realized how fast everything changes. “That’s just crazy, how fast everything goes away. In one moment they lavish every kind of care and attention on you and in the next you become nearly anonymous.” For him this is an interesting experience.
Schlecks career started at the ACC Contern. But what means started? Actual Fränk just continued what his older brother Steve began – cycling. And Steve just continued what his father began.
Johny Schleck rode the Tour de France eight times and reached the finish on the Champs d’Élysée seven times. The talent for Johny got right into his cradle, because his father and his uncle were also cyclists. The family Schleck is definetlely what we call a dynasty of cyclists. Moreover there is Andy, Fränks younger brother and also a rider of the team CSC.
At the age of eleven Fränk won his first race near Saarbrücken (a German town near the border to Luxembourg). Followed by riding for the teams SAF Cessingen and LC Tétingen. Later he became espoir at the Italian team De Nardi. There was no reason why he shouldn’t become a professional cyclist because this team is known as a good springboard into the world of cycling.
“If I hadn’t have a contract until my 23rd birthday, I would have stopped cycling and started to study. Also it wouldn’t have been easy for me.” Probably forestry because Fränk is a person in tune with the nature. Fishing, hunting, climbing – these are his hobbies. In his private life he is a home-loving guy.
“The family is the most important thing for him. They provide him with security, especially when there are bad times in his career.”, tells his girlfriend Martine. Since 1999, with a short break, she and Fränk are a couple. Shortly before christmas they moved together in an own house with a big garden.
In the career of Fränk Schleck there are a lot of ups and downs. After riding for De Nardi he got a contract from Festina but short time after there weren’t a team Festina anymore and Fränk had no contract. That was in 2002. “That was one of the hardest times of my life because most of the teams already finished their planning for the new season and didn’t want new riders. I often doubt whether I’m a good cyclist but I never gave up.”
Then he found shelter in Châteauroux. But in France they fail to recognize his talent and said that there are a million of cyclists like him. Then Bjarne Riis saw him and gave him unique chance. Today Fränk is the new star of cycling in Luxembourg. It’s not hard to imagine how satisfied he must have felt when the french manager pat him on the shoulder after his victory and wave with the money. But for Schleck there is no chance to change the team. “I ride for the best time in the world and want to achieve much more with this team.”
Later Riis honoured him “Fränk has the potential to come under the top 10 at the Tour de France.” This increased the expectations of the “Munnerefer Stuff” even higher. (Munneref is the Luxemburgian name of Mondorf and Munnerefer Stuff is a pub there.) Here are the meetings of the Fanclub of Fränk Schleck, which already has about 700 members.
Some of them regard him as a future winner of the Tour de France. They go into a state of euphoria which doesn’t know any limits.
Last weekend Fränk rode the last of the three classical races of the spring and came in seventh. His next race will be the Tour de Luxembourg at home. There he wants to achieve something great. Then he will go to Switzerland and later to France for the Tour.
But one thing is already certain: After the Grande Boucle took place in Luxembourg, Mondorf will be like a ghost town. The fanclub of Fränk organize a journey to the Alpes to support Fränk, when he helps his teammate Ivan Basso to follow in Armstrong’s footsteps. “My task will be helping Ivan. If I would win a stage, it would be great – if not, it would also be great.”
This is Fränk. He is so selfless that he first thinks of the others. A typical altruist. “It’s the way my parents bring me up.”, Fränk simply says. Educated to respect hierarchy. Even if he is on the way to confuse the hierarchy of the team CSC.
Until now this philosophy helps him to get by easily. So there are no reasons why he should change it.
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