Last Updated on April 29, 2023
Heading in to this season, many expected to finally see Andy Schleck return to the form that won him the Tour de France in 2010. So far, though, those high expectations have not been met. Schleck so far has failed to finish the Amstel Gold Race and the Ardennes Classics, and missed out entirely on the Tour of Romandie due to a knee injury.
It seems now that Schleck may be running out of chances to prove he is still the athlete who once dazzled spectators as he battled his way up the Col du Tourmalet. In an interview with Velochrono, Trek Team Racing manager Luca Guercilena indicated that Schleck would still need to earn a spot on Trek’s Tour de France squad by performing well in the ongoing Tour de Suisse.
Guercilena says that “[Schleck] still has the Tour of Switzerland where he can show he is competitive. That’s a real test.”
If Guercilena is serious about Schleck needing to prove his worth before France, the manager will certainly be looking for strong results from Schleck in the last two stages of Switzerland. These two long stages feature summit finishes which will show if Schleck still has what it takes to compete in the mountains.
So far, though, Andy’s performance has been less than convincing. He hasn’t seen the top ten of any stage so far. With Andy’s struggles and Frank’s concussion suffered just days ago during a dangerously foggy and wet descent in Switzerland, it appears that this might become the first Tour de France since 2006 to feature neither of the Luxembourgian brothers.
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