With recent reports that Trek Factory Racing are looking to sign a new GC contender, with Bauke Mollema rumoured to be at the top of their wishlist, the future of the Schleck brothers, Andy and Franck, has been thrown into doubt once more.
“We have a contract for this year,” Fränk Schleck said this morning at the Tour de France. “My first thought is about having a good Tour, that’s what I’m focusing on now.
“I live the present. I want to ride for the present, I have a contact today, and that’s what I want to focus on.”
Frank, who is 34 and has just returned from a doping suspension, began the race looking for stage wins, but has found himself in the top 20 on GC after a good ride to Chamrousse yesterday along with teammate Haimar Zubeldia.
29 year old Andy, 2010 Tour winner and ex-White Jersey, who returned last year from a fractured sacrum sustained at the 2012 Dauphine, has had to abandon after another serious crash on stage 4, leaving many to wonder if he can come back at all, let along to the high level expected of him.
“Of course, it’s going to be hard for him. It’s going to be tough,” said Fränk, who talks to his brother daily. “His knee is OK, it’s good, but he has to be patient and see how fast he recovers.”
But there is genuine worry that the two Luxembourgers may be dropped by Trek next year in order to fund a new GC man like Mollema or Dombrowski.
“It’s so difficult now with WorldTour points,” said their dad, Johny Schleck. “It’s not so good. Andy hasn’t raced, Fränk has had one problem after another."
“I don’t think they’ll go to a second division team. If they had to do that, then I think that it’d be better that they stop. It’d be too long a road back to a first division team if they did that.”
Johnny Schleck thinks that both men want to ride at least until the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, with Andy maybe going on even further. Trek may try to keep Frank, who has performed reasonably well this year considering he has just returned to racing. Yet this may be an issue as both men have said that they will not race on separate teams.
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