Fränk Schleck

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**Fränk Schleck**
Personal information

Full name	Fränk Schleck
Date of birth	April 15, 1980 (1980-04-15) (age 28)
Country	Luxembourg
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	67 kg (150 lb/10.6 st)
Team information
Current team	Team CSC
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber/Classics Rider
Amateur team(s)
2000 2001 2002 2002	ACC Contern De Nardi Festina (stagiaire) Chateauroux Team CSC (stagiaire)
Professional team(s)
2003–	Team CSC
Major wins
Amstel Gold Race (2006) Tour de France, 1 stage (at Alpe d'Huez) Tour de Suisse, 1 stage
Infobox last updated on:
January 15, 2007

Fränk Schleck (born 15 April 1980) is a professional road bicycle racer from Luxembourg currently riding for Team CSC. Before the 2005 season, Fränk Schleck got the company of his younger brother Andy Schleck on Team CSC, and they split the 2005 national championships between them, Fränk winning the road race, and Andy taking the time trial. Their father Johnny Schleck was also a road bicycle racer, professional between 1965 and 1974. Fränk's greatest achievements to date include winning a tough mountain stage in the Tour de France which finished on the renowned Alpe d'Huez, as well as the 2006 edition of the Amstel Gold Race classic.

1 Biography
- 1.1 2007
2 Major results
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

After riding for the Luxembourg military sports programme, he moved to Italy in order to ride for the De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa team. In 2001, he tried out as a stagiaire rider for the professional Festina team, but as the team folded after the season, Schleck was left with no contract. Unable to find a professional team, Schleck contacted Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis through their common youth coach Marcel Gilles of the ACC Contern amateur team.^[1] Schleck rode the 2002 season as a stagiaire on Team CSC. He signed a pro contract in 2003, as team manager Bjarne Riis had a vacant spot following a failed attempt to sign the former Tour de France winner, German high profile Jan Ullrich (as well as Ullrich's select helping riders).^[2]

Fränk Schleck's big breakthrough came during the closing of the 2005 season, with three podium placements in the last month of the competitive cycling year. He finished all three races behind the illustrious names of Paolo Bettini (2004 Olympic Road Race winner) and Gilberto Simoni (two times Giro d'Italia winner), losing Züri-Metzgete to Bettini, Giro dell'Emilia to Simoni, and finally ending up third behind both riders in Giro di Lombardia. Combined with good results earlier that year, Schleck ended the 2005 season ranked 13th on the 2005 ProTour riders list. At the end of the season, Fränk Schleck extended his contract with Bjarne Riis and Team CSC until the year 2008, being only one of three riders in the team with a three-year contract, at that time.

The 2006 season commenced with additional secondary results, as he finished fifth overall in Paris-Nice. After a crash in the April race Vuelta al País Vasco, he suffered a severe concussion.^[3] He made his comeback in the Amstel Gold Race later that month. Sitting with the favourites with ten kilometres to go, Schleck broke away from the group to ride alone up the steep Cauberg hill in Valkenburg for a solo finish while team mate Karsten Kroon disrupted the chase of the other favourites. Three days later he continued his outstanding performance, finishing 4th in La Flèche Wallonne after a vigorous ride up the Muur de Huy where the equally aged Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde proved unbeatable. Schleck run of good form continued only days later with the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race, where he was among the front for much of the latter half of the race, and finished among the first bunch of riders to cross the finish line, eventually settling for 7th place. In the Tour de France, he also won stage 15 from Gap to Alpe D'Huez, where he broke away from Damiano Cunego 1.5 km from the finish to record one of his most famous victories.

He is particularly known for the way he keeps his knees in while pedalling. He also rides a very high cadence, like Lance Armstrong, when climbing. Furthermore, he rides, especially during climbing, with his jersey open to keep him cool.

[edit] 2007

Schleck had a solid start to the season, taking 9th Overall in Paris-Nice in preparation for the spring classics. In the Amstel Gold race, he was unable to retain his title following a crash with 47km to go. He recovered well though and finished 10th. His recovery continued at the Fleche Wallone where he finished 7th, but the day before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, it was announced that he had a fractured vertebra. He rode the race despite the injury and launched the decisive attack a few kilometres from the finish with Danilo di Luca. Di Luca attacked from Schleck with 1km to go and Schleck faded to 3rd.

In preparation for Le Tour, Schleck won Stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse, taking the yellow jersey. He eventually finished 7th Overall. He could only manage 17th Overall at Le Tour but later in the season was part of the successful attack in the World Championships, and finished 4th. He had a strong build up to the season's final ProTour race, the Giro di Lombardia, with victory in the Giro dell'Emilia but was unlucky to crash in Lombardia, ruining his victory hopes.