There is a very particular memory of a devastating success at the back of his mind while Andy Schleck is preparing himself to line up at the last of the Ardennes classics, Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday. The 28-year old Luxembourger, however, is an entirely different rider than the one who conquered la Doyenne five years ago and a repeat of the achievement from 2009 season seems very unlikely.

The younger of the Schleck brother took an emphatic victory at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2009 season, but most recently steals the spotlight only while struggling at the very back of the peloton almost every time when the group hits some moderately demanding climb.

Despite struggling to remind at least a shadow of his former self, more particularly the three time Tour de France podium finisher, Andy refuses to give up on his dreams about returning to the top and competing with the strongest riders again, unready to hang up the wheels just yet.

In order to stay in the professional peloton, the 28-year old Luxembourger will need to find his legs rather quickly, as his current contract with Trek Factory Racing expires with the end of 2014 and arguably brilliant results obtained four years ago won’t make it up for very unimpressive showings throughout last two seasons.

Aware of a huge pressure on results, the younger Schleck brother admitted that he is yet to discuss his future with the Trek Factory Racing team bosses, but he insists not to be ready to call it a career and give up on his dreams to taste the glory at least one more time.

“It is too early to begin discussions. If I won Amstel, perhaps we would be discussing today. I want to stay in the team. I'm not thinking about stopping at the end of this season, but if that were the case, I would look at what I did and I would be proud.

"Today, I still miss things [...] I'm missing some sensations in races. Something to give meaning to all the work I do in training.”

The former Tour de France champion not only hasn’t won the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday, but crashed out of the Dutch classic. Despite countless setbacks including a knee injury, Andy still believes in his chances to eventually reinvent the magic formula and obtain a good result in one of his favourite races, the final Ardennes classic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

“I do not want to stay in the pack and be 20th without having done anything,” Schleck told L’Équipe. “This is my favourite race. In my head I already have a lot of images. Fränk and I are going to attack in anticipation of the action from the favourites. Fränk is very strong. Me, I want to go well. I am going to go well. I hope that my knee will hold.”

Even though the words said by the 28-year old Luxembourger do sound like a miserable attempt to enchant the reality, Schleck insists to be aware of an enormous amount of difficulties he has to face in order to return to his former glories and certainly leaves an impression that at least a huge motivation is still there.

“I want to succeed again. I won a Tour de France on paper and I have won stages. I was Andy Schleck, I was someone, I want to become that again,” he explains.

“I do everything to succeed, I train a lot and I’m leaner. I cannot do more than my best. I don’t know if I will get back on the podium at the Tour. If I fail, I won’t become depressed. I am happy that I have done everything to get there.”

Andy’s older brother, Frank, served a one-year ban for testing positie for diueretic Xipamide last season, but despite being ready for huge sacrifices in order to return to his best, the 28-year old insists he has neer has any interest in using forbidden substances or methods.

“I gave a lot to the Tour and I have never hurt the bike. I’ve never done crap, unlike others,” Schleck said.

“Guys like (Riccardo) Riccò and (Danilo) Di Luca did stupid things and they may encounter problems later, because they only have the bike in their lives.”