Frank Schleck is ready to make a comeback to the professional peloton after an absence of more than one year when he lines up in Trek colours at the Tour Down Under in January. The Luxembourger is ready for a new start and has put his disagreements with Flavio Becca and Johan Bruyneel behind him.

For almost a decade, Frank Schleck was one of the best grand tour riders and Ardennes specialists with podium places in the Tour de France and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and wins in the Amstel Gold Race and on the Alpe d'Huez on his palmares. After an 18-month absence from the sport, the Luxembourger will, however, start almost from scratch when he lines up for the Trek team at his first race of the 2014 season, the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia.

Schleck tested positive for Xipamide at the 2012 Tour de France and was forced to leave the race in disgrace. He fought hard to avoid a suspension but was finally handed a one-year sanction by the Luxembourgish anti-doping authorities even though it was admitted that the presence of the substance had not had any performance-enhancing effect on Shcleck.

Schleck's suspension ended in July and all was set for a quick return to competition with the Radioshack team. After all, the team was initially created as a Luxembourgish project around Schleck and his brother Andy.

However, the wealthy Luxembourger Flavio Becca who had funded the team when it was created under the Leopard Trek banner, was planning to leave the sport. He had lost a case to former manager Johan Bruyneel and was set to pay back a large sum to the Belgian and was keen to reduce his costs as much as possible.

He took the controversial decision to sack Schleck just before the expiration of his ban and so Schleck was unable to ride the Vuelta a Espana as was originally planned. As a consequence, he missed the rest of the season but quickly reached an agreement with the Trek team that will take over Radioshack's license.

Schleck is eager to stress that he has no problems with Becca.

"Eight days before the end of my suspension, my contract was terminated," he told Cyclingnews. "I was training for the Vuelta [a Espana], and I was ready and fit. That surprise came and really hit me.

"I’m trying to focus on the future now, and I’ve turned that page. The rest will be done by other people like my lawyers who will take care of that.

"I was ready to do the Vuelta. I was riding the recon and had seen most of the mountain stages. I was sharp, maybe 61 kilos, but please respect that I’m turning that page and other people are taking care of that.

"We don’t have a problem with Mr. Becca. Everything is fine. We might disagree on the termination of the contract as I told you, but let's turn that page and focus on the future."

Schleck also had a controversial relationship with Bruyneel when the Belgian was manager of the team. In an attempt to bring Andy to the top step of the Tour podium, he decided to split the brothers who raced very little together in 2012. At the same time, he decided not to bring Kim Andersen who has a close relationship with the Schlecks, to the Tour.

At the time, the media wrote a lot about the strained relationship and Bruyneel has admitted that he is partly to blame. However, Schleck is keen to stress that the brothers obeyed all orders.

"Compared to what everyone thinks, I don’t have a problem with Johan Bruyneel," he said. "Neither does Andy and neither does the team. He was the boss and we accepted what he said. He was the manager and if he decided to split us up, we had to follow him and do what he said. He had other views and we accepted them."

In 2014, the Schlecks will again follow an almost identical program which will be geared towards success in the Ardennes classics and the Tour de France.