Fränk Schleck

Career

After riding for the Luxembourg military sports programme, he moved to Italy to ride for De Nardi–Pasta Montegrappa. In 2001, he tried out as a stagiaire for Festina, but when the team folded after the season, Schleck was left with no contract. He contacted Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis through their common youth coach Marcel Gilles of the ACC Contern amateur team. Schleck rode 2002 as a stagiaire on Team CSC and signed to a pro contract by Riis in 2003.

2005

At the start of 2005, Schleck was joined by his younger brother Andy on Team CSC, and they split the 2005 national championships between them, with Fränk winning the road race and Andy winning the time trial. Schleck's breakthrough came in 2005, with three podium places in the last month of the season. He finished all three races behind Paolo Bettini (2004 Olympic Road Race winner) and Gilberto Simoni (two times Giro d'Italia winner), losing Züri-Metzgete to Bettini, the Giro dell'Emilia to Simoni, and finishing third behind both in the Giro di Lombardia. Schleck ended 2005 ranked 13th on the 2005 ProTour riders list. He extended his contract with Riis and Team CSC until 2008, one of three riders in the team with a three-year contract.

2006

The 2006 season started with a fifth-place finish in Paris–Nice. After a crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, he suffered a concussion. He made his comeback in the Amstel Gold Race that month. Sitting with the favorites with ten kilometers to go, Schleck broke away alone up the Cauberg in Valkenburg for a solo finish while team mate Karsten Kroon disrupted the chase. Three days later he finished 4th in La Flèche Wallonne after a vigorous ride up the Mur de Huy where Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde proved unbeatable. Schleck's form continued days later with the Liège–Bastogne–Liège race, where he rode at the front for much of the latter half and finished 7th. In the Tour de France, he won stage 15 from Gap to Alpe d'Huez, where he broke away from Damiano Cunego 1.5 km from the finish.

2007

The 2007 season started with a 9th-place finish in Paris–Nice. In the Amstel Gold Race, he crashed with 47 km to go, eventually finishing 10th. His recovery continued at La Flèche Wallonne where he finished 7th, but the day before Liège–Bastogne–Liège, it was announced that he had a fractured vertebra. He rode despite the injury and launched the decisive attack a few kilometers from the finish with Danilo Di Luca. Di Luca attacked with one kilometer to go and Schleck faded to 3rd. Schleck won the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse, taking the yellow jersey; he eventually finished 7th. He could only manage 17th at the Tour de France but was part of the successful attack in the world championship, finishing fourth.

2008

In the Amstel Gold Race Schleck finished 2nd, behind Damiano Cunego of Italy. In Liège–Bastogne–Liège Fränk and his talented younger brother Andy Schleck put on a show. Only two riders were able to follow the two brothers when they attacked on the final hills of the day: Alejandro Valverde and Davide Rebellin. Andy had to let the other three riders go and finished 4th; in the final sprint Fränk came 3rd. In the Tour de Suisse Schleck crashed during a dangerous descent and fell into a ravine. Miraculously, he was mostly uninjured. A week later, Schleck became national champion of Luxembourg for the second time in his career.

In the Tour de France he came 3rd in the first mountain stage. This took him to 2nd place in the overall classification, only one second behind the yellow jersey. Eight days later Schleck took the maillot jaune and the lead in the Tour after claiming the single second he needed to pass Cadel Evans. He later lost the yellow jersey on Stage 17 to his own teammate, Carlos Sastre. At the end of the Tour he finished in 6th position overall.

2009

The 2009 cycling season started with the Tour of California, where Schleck managed to win stage eight. In March, Schleck placed second overall in Paris–Nice. On 19 April, while attempting to repeat his winning 2006 Amstel Gold Race effort, Schleck crashed badly together with Matthew Lloyd. He was taken to hospital with a concussion, but was released the same evening. Schleck made a rapid recovery, winning his home race, the Tour de Luxembourg, in June. No Luxembourger rider had won the competition since 1983.

On 22 July he won the 17th stage of the Tour de France, reaching the finish line in the company of overall leader Alberto Contador and his own brother, Andy Schleck. He later finished 5th that year.

2010

In 2010, Schleck won Stage 3 in the Tour de Suisse and then he put in a surprise in the final time trial. He ended up winning the race. While riding in Stage 3 of the Tour de France, Schleck suffered a triple fracture of his clavicle, which was sustained on a cobble-stoned section of the stage, and was forced to retire from the race. He later then rode the Vuelta a España where he finished 5th.

On 29 July 2010, Schleck and his brother Andy announced their departure from Team Saxo Bank at the end of 2010. They planned on forming a brand-new Luxembourg-based team, with former Team Saxo Bank director Kim Andersen. In October 2010, one of the managers of the Luxembourg cycling project revealed the team website, which was labeled Leopard True Racing, leading to speculation that the team might race under this name.

2011

By the 2011 season, Frank's new team was confirmed as Leopard Trek and Schleck won the Critérium International, along with a podium finish at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and he also defended his Luxembourg National Road Race title. At the Tour of France, on stage 12, Schleck attacked towards the end of the final climb finishing 3rd on Luz Ardiden. Schleck ended up 2nd overall after the Pyrenees with his brother Andy sitting in 4th. Schleck then finished 2nd on the Col du Galibier behind his brother Andy. However both lost time in the final time trial to Cadel Evans who later won the Tour that year. He finished the race third along with his brother's second, marked the first time in Tour history that siblings had shared the podium. Schleck and his brother remained with RadioShack–Nissan for the 2012 season.

2012–2013

Schleck started his season slowly as a member of the RadioShack–Nissan team. He decided to ride the Giro d'Italia but withdrew on stage 15. Schleck then showed his form when he finished third in the Tour de Luxembourg and then finished second in the Tour de Suisse. He was then selected to ride the Tour de France. On the 6th stage of the race, Schleck crashed with about 25 km left, and lost just over 2 minutes, seriously hurting his chances of possibly winning the race.

Schleck left the Tour de France after the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) revealed he had tested positive for the banned substance diuretic xipamide.

On 4 July 2013 RadioShack–Leopard announced that they would not be renewing Schleck's contract, leaving him without a team. After Trek Bicycles purchased the World Tour licence of the RadioShack–Leopard squad later in the month, it was announced that Schleck would be signed by the team for the 2014 season.

2008

On 25 July 2008, one day prior to a decisive penultimate stage of the 2008 Tour de France, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung alleged a contact between Schleck and the infamous Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in December 2005. Authorities stated that no evidence had been obtained that would support such a claim. The allegations in connection with Schleck followed a series of strong performances of the rider who wore the yellow jersey over several days and whose father's car had been the subject of a detailed search by French customs authorities during the Tour.

Prior to the 2008 UCI Road World Championships in Varese, Italy, on 26 September 2008, the newspaper published another article on the connections between Schleck and Fuentes after claiming to have seen evidence on a bank transfer of €7000 from Schleck to a Swiss bank account linked to Fuentes. The existence of the evidence was revealed by German police and subsequently confirmed by Luxembourg prosecutors.

Following Schleck's public admittance of such payment on 3 October 2008, Bjarne Riis and CSC–Saxo Bank decided to temporarily suspend Schleck from any further races until the outcome of the doping allegations towards Schleck would be fully clarified. Schleck was cleared from all allegations by the doping authorities of Luxembourg at the beginning of December.

2012

On 17 July 2012, Schleck was removed from the 2012 Tour de France by his team RadioShack–Nissan during the second rest day after his A-sample returned traces of Xipamide. Schleck's B-sample confirmed the positive result. Following the positive B-Sample the RadioShack–Nissan team suspended him.

In January 2013, it was announced that Schleck was handed a ban of one year by the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency, who specified that Schleck "had not ingested the substance intentionally" and as a result the standard two-year suspension was reduced to twelve months. The ban became effective from the point of the original positive, 14 July 2012.

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

WD = withdrew