Frank Schleck to miss the services of his brother Andy at the Tour de France

Frank Schleck to miss the services of his brother Andy at the Tour de France

Frank Schleck will definitely miss the services of his younger brother Andy at the 2012 version of the Tour de France.

The duo has not missed the past five versions of the race but Andy’s exclusions since the Tour de Suisse crash have now made the things very complicated for Team RadioShack-Nissan.

Andy is undoubtedly one of the best stage race cyclists and is very much capable of finding podium at any format of the game.

The cyclist has managed to find podium during the three recent editions of the race. He finished second in 2009 and grabbed his first overall victory at the Tour in 2010.

Andy rode brilliantly at the Tour de France 2011 but could not match the likes of Cadel Evans.

He had to settle for the second overall spot with his brother Frank securing the third overall position.

Frank will definitely miss his brother’s presence at the race, “This shows once again that we do not always master the situation,” he told Sporza.be.

“Of course I would rather have Andy at my side, but this belongs to the rider’s life”.

“His forfeit is disappointing for him, for me, for the whole team. But at the same time we must not speak of a disappointment”.

“What his absence will mean for me? I haven’t had time to think about that”.

“I’ve heard from Andy a few times, but we didn’t talk about my Tour”.

It will be Frank’s seventh appearance at the Tour and his previous three best records includes the fifth place finishes in 2009 and 2010 along with a third overall spot during the most recent edition of the contest.

The 32-year-old is having a disappointing season and has not bagged a single victory in the first half of the year.

He finished third during the stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia and also claimed the third overall spot at the Tour de Luxembourg 2012.

Frank is currently searching his form at the Tour De Suisse and the cyclist is looking good to grab an overall victory at the race.

He is holding the fifth overall spot after the stage 7 classifications with a total deficit of 1 minute and 4 seconds behind the race leader.

Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa is leading the category with Roman Kreuziger, Robert Gesink and Alejandro Valverde sitting at the top four positions respectively.