Schleck brothers pass first Mountain stage of 2011 Tour de France
Leopard Trek team passed the first Pyrenean stage, 12th stage 12 of 2011 Tour de France, with both the Schleck brothers, on July 14. Frank Schleck came in at the third spot as his final attack towards the end of the stage baffled many of his contenders.
His lead over Evans and Basso was also impressive. His brother Andy however, finished with Basso and Evans as he said, “It was a good day for us. I could see they were looking at us and then Frank and me kept on attacking left and right. He went away and
got some time and for first mountain stage we are pretty happy.”
Both Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck will still have Alberto Contador at the back of their minds even though he is not performing up to his reputation. One of the most courageous performances of this tour has been from Thomas Voeckler, who has still retained
his yellow jersey. Basso, Evans and Cunego have also emerged as this year’s potential candidates for the podium.
Brian Nygaard, General Manager of Leopard Trek, greeted and congratulated his young climber as he commented, “I was nervous coming into the stage because it’s the first big test, but we did well.”
Nygaard, just like Schleck, expressed the same concern that the tour is still not over and it will be too early to say anything at this point. Evans, he said, is performing terrific and has not committed any mistakes so far. He also said that Frank’s attack
surprised everyone including him too.
Leopard Trek team had a strong line-up as they entered this year’s Tour de France. With Andy Schleck leading their team followed by Fabian Cancellara, Jakob Fuglsang and his older brother, Frank Schleck.
Samuel Sanchez of France claimed his first Tour de France victory with the first high mountain summit finish in the 12th stage. Robert Laiseka was the last rider to win for Euskaltel-Euskadi in those mountains 10 years ago.
Sanchez took the stage victory away from Vanendert and Schleck, when he gathered all his energies and increased his speed just before 250 metres to go. Vanendert took the second and Schleck was in the third spot with a difference of 10 seconds.
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