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The Tour de France did not begin under good conditions for Frank Schleck. A training crash a few days before the start had left him with a broken nose and painful cuts with the face. Then his team was implicated in
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Pictures:
cyclingnews.com /
team-csc.com
bettiniphoto.net
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the scandal around the Spanish doctor Eufemanio Fuentes with the exclusion of the presumed team captain Ivan Basso. Frank Schleck thus wasn't at his best at the beginning of the
Grande Boucle in Strasbourg. But after a modest prologue and after meeting
his fans when the Tour passed in the city of Esch-on-Alzette, good memories came to his mind at the arrival of the 3rd stage on top of Cauberg, precisely where he had gained the Amstel Gold Race a few months before. Frank often appeared in the first part of the peloton while it crossed the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg over all its length and finished the stage in 45th position, only 5 seconds behind the winner Matthias Kessler. Two days later, the CSC-rider was implicated in a crash near the arrival in Caen which made him lose 2 minutes on the favourites. At the time-trial in Rennes, things didn't work out too well for Frank Schleck who started maybe too slowly (91st at the first intermediate check) and he lost more than 5 minutes on the GC contenders. So he found himself at the foot of the mountains 8 minutes back, a deficit which annihilated any of his possible chances in the general classification, but on the other side should allow him to profit from a certain offensive freedom within the peloton. Whereas the favourites neutralized themselves during the first stage of the Pyrenees won by Cyril Dessel, a former winner of the Grand-prix Ostfenster in Berbourg, the stage towards Pla-de-Beret was much more open due to the action of Rabobank. Frank Schleck was at the height and, while riding at the service of Carlos Sastre, he was dropped by the favourites only on the very last climb towards the finish and took a beautiful eighth place at the top, only one minute and a half behind the stronges riders led along by a very motivated Menchov. The thirteenth stage towards Montélimar, a real transition stage on paper, marked a turn in the Turn of France. Five riders succeeded in joining the finish with half an hour of advance on the main group and, whereas Oscar Perreiro made his entry in the restricted circle of the overall favourites by taking the yellow jersey, Jens Voigt won the stage on behalf of CSC and thereby released the team from the bad luck they had since the beginning of the Tour. In fact, Frank Schleck attacked as of the following day towards Gap where he took off in the col de Sentinel, with 8 km to go. The attempt failed, but the fact was there: Frank had recovered very well from his first two weeks within the Tour and he was in very great shape before approaching the Alps.
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Photos: team-csc.com / cyclingnews.com
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He decided to try something in the first Alpine stage, the one that every rider dreams of,
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Photos:
grahamwatson.com/
cyclingtime.com
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the one of l'Alpe d'Huez. CSC had perfectly prepared the offensive and well before the first slopes of Izoard, the team had built up a break of 25 riders with Schleck, Voigt and Zabriskie. Voigt and Zabriskie, the great rouleurs, gave everything to bring Frank Schleck in best possible position at the foot of the Alpe and it worked out brilliantly since the break approached the first of the 21 laces with still 3 minutes of advance. There were big names, Hincapie, Merckx, Garzelli, De la Fuente, Wegmann, Cunego, Chavanel or Mazzoleni, but the first acceleration of Chavanel exploded the group. Then, Damiano Cunego took over and there was only one man able to follow him: Frank Schleck. Impressing of ease, the Luxembourger made the biggest part of the work in the lead, then, with two kilometers to go, on the steepest part of the climb, attacked frankly. The former winner of the Giro d'Italia couldn't follow the CSC riders any more who flew away towards victory and, 40 years after Edy Schütz, became a new national hero in Luxembourg. The following day, Frank was again at the top and it was him who was hardened the race for his team-mate Sastre in the col de Croix de Fer. On the last climb of the day towards Toussouire, the Luxembourger had to pay for his efforts and was dropped after an attack of Menchov. He finished the stage at his rhythm
Picture: acc contern
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in 18th position and thus, was always in sight of a Top Ten place in the general classification where he was 13th at 14 minutes of Perreiro, who had taken
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Photos:
cyclingtime.com
team-csc.com
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again the yellow jersey from Floyd Landis. The following day, Schleck was useful again for Carlos Sastre. Behind the American Floyd Landis who made his comeback among the favourites with an extraordinary ride, he attacked strongly at the beginning of the col de la Colombière with the Spaniard in his wheel. Nobody managed to follow the duo from CSC and a few kilometers later, Sastre took of in his conquest of the yellow jersey which he was going to miss only for twelve seconds at the end of the
stage. After having launched his team-mate, Frank fell back into the first chasing group and he finished the stage in an excellent sixth place in a group with Klöden and Perreiro, who was still in yellow. The last, all-deciding time-trial in Monceau-les-Mines was going to seal the overall victory of Landis, while Frank Schleck took the 31st place of the stage. He lost an unequal duell against three-times world champion of the discipline Michael Rogers for the place of 10th in the final overall classification. The Tour de France 2006 finished as it had started, by a stage victory of Thor Hushovd, but unfortunately also by doping rumours, this time around the person of the final overall winner Floyd Landis. But on the Champs-Elysées, Frank Schleck could enjoy the end of his fantastic first Tour de France rounded off with an 11th place overall.
During the summertime, far away from the spotlights of the Tour de France, the other Schleck also made some headlines. At the
Sachsen-Tour, Andy has won two stages as well as a complete collection of additional classifications. After having been already in the first group on the opening day, the CSC-rider attacked at kilometer 8 on the third stage and succeeded in forming a
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Pictures: radsportphoto.net /
velo-photos.net
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break with 6 other riders. On the final kilometers, only Rutkewicz and Schleck remained in the lead and the Luxembourger managed to drop the Pole with an acceleration in the last hectometers to take the win with a few seconds of advance. Two days later, Andy was once again at the head of the race with Rutkewicz, after an attack on one of the first climbs, but this time, there was also Linus Gerdemann.
 
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The T-Mobile rider attacked several times in the final and only Andy Schleck managed to follow him. Like an old fox and by taking some risks, the young Luxembourger succeeded in coming around the German in the last meters to celebrate his second professional road-race victory. In addition to his two stage victories, Andy also brought home from Saxony the jerseys of best climber and most complete rider!! Kim Kirchen also took part in the Sachsen-Tour but was hardly at ease there with only one convincing result, a 31st place in the time-trial, a discipline in which he seems to have made nice progress in 2006. Later on, the T-Mobile rider has found a more suitable race for him at the
Hamburg cyclassics, in which he always has made a good impression. The Luxemburgish champ showed himself several times on attack with the likes of Bettini and Gilbert, but the peloton regrouped each time and the massive sprint was won by Oscar Freire, whereas Kirchen finished in 33rd position in the same time as the winner. Whereas Frank Schleck enjoyed the after-Tour period and his increased notoriety with some criteriums, Kim Kirchen and Andy remained in Germany for the
Deutschland-Tour. The first key-stage took place on the second day on the hilly roads of the Harz region. It is a very important race for the German team of Kirchen, T-Mobile, and with his team-mates, the Luxembourger had to do hard work towards the end of the stage behind a superb trio: Voigt, Rebellin and Kaschechkin. But the three riders resisted and Voigt won the stage, whereas Kirchen took the 5th place, beaten only by Zabel in the sprint of the peloton. Andy Schleck was not far behind in twentieth position. But after that, Kim was not able to confirm his result and he passed the remainder of the race relatively anonymous in the pack, whereas the performances of Andy did nothing but improve. In the fourth stage which ended in an uphill massive sprint, Schleck junior
  
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Pictures: fotocommunity.de / team-csc.com
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mixed up with the sprinters to take a nice eleventh place at the finish behind Australian Grame Brown. In the mountain stages, team CSC had decided to harden the race for an in-form Jens Voigt and it was Andy Schleck who exploded the peloton on the final climb towards Seefeld during the fifth stage. Until three kilometers from the finish, the Luxembourger made the tempo with Cuesta in a leading group of fifteen riders, then he had to ease up and cut the finishing line in 8th position, 36 seconds only behind the winner Leipheimer. Jens Voigt thanked his team-mates for their work by taking the yellow leader jersey of the race. A jersey which had to be defended on the following day in the difficult stage towards St.Anton and CSC made this in brilliant manner, in spite of the attacks of Astana. Cuesta and Schleck remained with Voigt until three kilometers to the finish and the German completed the work with a superb stage victory, on the big ring and on the home-ground of the true climbers. Andy Schleck finished the stage in 21st position and thus remained well placed in the general classification in 12th position. The following day, the CSC-rider lost some positions in the time-trial, but he could be satisfied with his performance, a 16th place overall and the active part which he played in the final overall victory for the team. Frank Schleck reappeared in the international circuit
at the Clasica San Sebastian and he immediately showed that he had lost nothing of his form out of the Tour de France. In the climb of Jaizkibel, he was among the strongest and together with his brother Andy, he succeeded in integrating a royal leading group of about thirty riders. In spite of the attempts of Sastre, Menchov and Mayo, then of Vinokourov with Andy Schleck in his wheel, the race finished
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with a sprint and the favourites Valverde and Garzelli were surprised by a young rider of Bouyges Telecom, Xavier Florencio. The Schleck brothers took 21st and 23rd places, in same time as the winner. In the
Gran Premio Industria & Artigianato in Italy, Andy Schleck went to the attack with his team-mate Piil, taking a good 10th place in this difficult race. The day before at the
Grand-prix Nobili, Frank had finished in 13th position at 5 seconds only of the winner, before playing bad luck at the
Grand-prix de Plouay, where he was involved in a crash with one lap to go, at a key-moment of the race and while being in very good position. Before the Grand-prix de Plouay where he did not finish, Kim Kirchen had participated in the
Eneco-Tour, successor of the Tour of Holland which he had won in 2002. It was mainly sprinter business, namely of Tom Boonen who dominated with three stage victories. After again very honourable performances in the time-trials (46th and 44th), Kim Kirchen approached the last decisive stage two minutes late on the leader Geroge Hincapie. On the roads of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the selection took place naturally and forty riders arrived together in Ans, with Kim Kirchen in this leading group. The Luxembourger finished in 20th position of the stage marked by a crash and a final victory given to Schumacher only after deliberation, which was worth the 30th place in the general classification to him.
The end of the season approached and each of the three riders had a stage race on his program at the beginning of September, Kim in Poland, Andy in England and Frank in Germany. At the
Tour of Britain, CSC had lined up an inexperienced team and the first of the young guns to be in the spotlights was the Dane Martin Pedersen who took the leader-jersey as of the first day.
In the third, very animated stage that was marked by crosswinds, Andy Schleck was very strong and it was him who operated the selection in the first climb already. At the finish, the Luxembourger came in at the 6th position, 39 seconds late of Filippo Pozzato, taking the best climber's jersey because it was him who towed the peloton in the majority of the climbs of the day. Team CSC was thus in possession of two leader's jerseys, the yellow one of the overall classification and the polka-dotted one of the mountain classification and they got busy to defend the shirts until the end. Andy Schleck, who finally finished in 8th position overall, thus could climb onto the final podium close to Buckingham Palace, at the sides of Pedersen and of the world champion Tom Boonen who won the last stage. Kim Kirchen lined up at the
Tour de Pologne, the race which he had won last year. Like in 2005, the race started with a sprinter festival and Van Heeswijk, Bennati or Guidi fought for stage victories and the yellow jersey during the first days. The mountain stages took all place around the city of
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Photos: bikefoto.pl / magazynrowerovy
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Karapcz and its impressive steep climb to pass 14 times all in all. This recalled good memories to Kim Kirchen who had won in exactly this place 12 months before and who was very motivated. But unfortunately, the T-Mobile rider was trapped like many others in the 6th stage where 40 contestants, among them Steffen Wesemann, took off and were never caught again. The Luxembourger was not allowed to ride behind his team-mate and found himself stuck in the peloton, losing nearly 20 minutes on Stefan Schumacher who dominated things with a stage victory and the leader jersey as reward. Schumacher was still the strongest on the following day when Kim Kirchen passed very close to the stage victory. He had integrated an early break at km 20 which had never more than one minute of advantage but however resisted until the foot of the last climb in Kapracz. There, it was Kirchen who attacked and took around 20 seconds of advantage. But the peloton approached more and more and finally overtook Kim with a few hectometers to go, led by Schumacher. As for Frank Schleck, he particularly aimed at the world championships at the end of the
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Photos: 3-laender-tour.com/
cyclingnews.com / radsport.ch
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month and he lined up at the
Drei-Länder-Tour, fromerly called Hessen-Tour, as preparation. Already at the first stage, on a selective profile, he was in the spotlights by passing alone in the lead at the top of the two most difficult climbs of the day, but he was to be joined in the descent by two men, Patrick Sinkewitz and Sebastian Lang. Sinkewitz succeeded in taking the stage victory with an attack in the last kilometer, whereas Schleck seized the second place and the best climber's jersey. The race was decided in a time-trial of 19 km around Griesheim and the German National Champion Lang imposed himself with authority. Schleck finished 7th in the test and thus retrogressed to the 3rd position overall, a place which will remain his until the end. During the last stage, he took the red shirt of best climber for good by crossing the summit of the first climb of the day in first position. At the
World road championships, with the stupid rules of the UCI still being in place, Luxembourg was once more allowed to line up only one rider, Frank Schleck of course. Unfortunately, the number 1 in Luxemburgish cycling had digestive troubles on the day before the race and after a visit at the hospital in the middle of the night, he did not show up at the start under the best conditions. After having hidden discretely all day in the peloton, Schleck emerged in the last lap and crossed the last climb among the best, a few seconds behind Boogerd, Vinokourov, Kroon or Bettini. The small Italian was clearly the strongest on the climbs and also was the best in the final sprint to take the rainbow jersey, whereas Schleck finished 29th. October is one of the favourite months for Frank with his preferred classics, the Giro di Lombardia. He therefore had a complete program, to start with the
Zurich championships ridden once again under the rain. Basque rider Samuel Sanchez, very regular in the Pro-Turn races, showed out to be strongest and broke away irresistibly on the last ascent of the Pfannenstiel. For team CSC, it was Fabian Cancellara who animated the race and the Swiss rider was for a long time close to the victory, granting Frank Schleck into a passive role. The latter finished the race in the first bigger group in 24th position. After Switzerland, the Luxembourger headed to Italy for a
  
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Pictures: radsport.ch / bettiniphoto.net
cylingnews.com / cyclingtime.com
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trilogy of one day races during which he was very offensive. It started with the
Giro dell'Emilia, a very selective race where Frank attacked at the climb of Monzuno, the first of the difficulties. He broke away together with 6 other riders and then dropped them one by one on the difficult final circuit around San Luca. But the other favourites were not far away and the CSC-rider was caught again with 20 kilometers to go and finally finished 17th on top of the terrible climb of San Luca, 1'18 "behind Davide Rebellin. In the Gran Premio Beghelli the next day, Schleck didn't attack at the beginning, but at the end, less than four kilometers from the finish. But he could get only a very small gap and finally, Sergio Marinangeli won the massive sprint. The Luxembourger didn't finish the Tour of Piedmont in order to prepare the
Giro di Lombardia, where he was among the favourites beside Paolo Bettini. The world champion didn't deceive his fans with an attack in the Madonna di Ghisallo, with fifty kilometers to go. In his wheel, Rebellin, Boogerd, Di Luca and Schleck were strong, but they were joined by another group a little further. In the climb of Civiglio, Bettini then took off for good, only Wegmann was able to stay with him for a few kilometers. Frank Schleck wasn't able to follow the powerfull attack of the rainbow and had to resign himself to join the finish in the first chasing group, taking the 7th place at the end, 46 seconds late. With this new extraordinary performance, the CSC-rider definitively sealed the third place in the UCI Pro-Tour rankings in a season which will remain in the memory of the Luxembourg public as HIS year.
Looking back at 2006 (part I)
Looking back at 2006 (part III)
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