With a 11 minutes and 51 seconds time loss to the Tour de France leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Frank Schleck saw all his hopes for a decent result in the general classification vanish in opening ten days of competition, but expects to eventually find his legs in the coming days, and certainly to animate one of the mountain stages.

“I had a plan in my head to target a top 10, but I just didn’t have the right feeling. I felt that I hasn’t had my best legs. It’s too bad that I still back a bit of pace, although I also have a feeling that I’m going to get it very soon,” Frank Schleck told Cyclismactu.

“It has been very tough and the rain certainly didn’t help. There were no easy stages. But hey, I was still happy to be there! Frankly, I could do better. I think I will do better in the next few days.”