Andy Schleck to kick-off the 2013 season at the Santos Tour Down Under 2013
Andy Schleck was a pre-race favourite for the most prestigious cycling race of the 2012 season, The Tour de France after he finished second during the previous version, but the things did not went as expected for the young cyclist.
However, he is now hopeful to start the 2013 season right from the UCI Inaugural event, the Santos Tour Down Under, after a long vacation.
The Luxembourg had a knee surgery early on the 2012 season which prevented him from performing to his abilities and also restricted him from even appearing at the Tour de France 2012.
He is considered as one of the best stage race cyclist and has an extraordinary record in the French Grand Tour.
Schleck has only marked four Tour de France appearances and managed to claim a podium spot on three out of four occasions.
He finished 12th during his first Tour de France appearance in 2008, second at the Tour de France 2009 and 2011 and was promoted to the first overall position after Alberto Contador’s disqualification from the Tour de France 2010.
Schleck’s exclusion from the French Grand Tour opened the doors for his brother Frank to lead Team RadioShack-Nissan and it was the first time in five years that the two brothers were not riding the Tour side by side.
Andy attended the 2013 Tour de France presentation ceremony in Paris without his brother Frank who is waiting for his results after being tested positive at the French race.
The 27-year-old however, was unaffected by the snub and admired the Tour de France 2013 route, "I “believe it's a hard parcours,”
he noted.
“The first days in Corsica I know a bit and while they maybe look flat, they're not”.
“Maybe the first day is for sprinters but the second day is hard. After that it's the Pyrenees, which maybe aren't not too hard but I see the Alps, I see the Ventoux, as key stages”.
“I can't complain about the parcours and it's a nice route for climbers".
"As I said before I have to heal 100 percent and train, not too much because that is the mistake I made before and that's why I'm still suffering".
Andy could not bag even a single victory in the 2012 season, participating in only 28 races and his best result throughout the year is a 22nd overall finish at the Circuit de la Sarthe and could only finish two out of six stage races he participated
his year.
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