Frank Schleck is currently in United States of America in order to compete in the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. The Trek Factory Racing leader hopes to improve his physical condition to be in good shape at the Vuelta a Espana later this month.

“I had to renounce on being a part of the Tour de France this year because of my injury I had. I ripped up the interior tendon in my knee and I hoped to be back quicker, but in Tour de Suisse I realized it’s not going to get any better. So together with the team we decided not to do the Tour”, Schleck explained during the pre-race press conference according to Cyclingnews.

He suffered from his right knee because of a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April. He pulled out of the Tour de Suisse ahead of the closing time trial, and then an MRI showed inflammation to the medial collateral ligament had not yet healed.

“Of course when we made the decision it was a hard decision for me not being able to do the Tour. Then I sat down with my Dad, with Kim Anderson and the team and we talked about what’s next. I wanted to do the Vuelta, and I decided to sacrifice spending time with the family and going first to a training camp in the Alps for five days, then five days back to sea level, and then heading out to Park City.”

The last month, he prepared the Vuelta with a strong training at altitude. “It was amazing nice and really, really beautiful and we had some good training at altitude to get ready for the preparation for the Vuelta,” he said. “So the main goal is preparation for the Vuelta, but I think it will suit nicely in the training.”