Schleck inches closer to fulfilling Tour revenge

Le Monetier-Les-Bains France — Andy Schleck’s daring attack on the Col d’Izoard yesterday has brought the young Luxembourg cycling phenomenon to within 15 seconds of finally sating his hunger for revenge in the Tour de France.

The 26-year-old rider stunned rivals and fans alike, attacking solo with 54 kilometers (34 miles) left in the stage, catching breakaway riders up the mountain and eventually leaving them all in his dust.

But those who know Schleck well would not have been surprised. Schleck is a plain-talking two-time Tour runner up who is refeshingly candid in a world of professional cycling rife with gamesmanship and bragadocio. Last year, after losing the Tour by only 39 seconds to Spain’s Alberto Contador, Schleck famously declared “My stomach is full of anger, and I want to take my revenge.”

Schleck last wore the yellow jersey in stage 15 of last year’s Tour. That day Schleck mounted an attack against Contador on a Pyrenean climb. Suddenly, Schleck’s chain came undone, and he pedaled in vain. Contador sped ahead, and by the stage finish, had taken yellow and 39 seconds on Schleck — his margin of overall victory.

This time fortune was on Schleck’s side, and his all-out attack went unanswered by Contador, who said after the race that a knee injury suffered earlier in the Tour had acted up and prevented him from following Schleck’s move.

Schleck was runner-up to Contador in both the 2009 and 2010 Tours. He’s also won the white jersey for best young rider a record-tying three times.

Now he sits in second place, 15 seconds behind Frenchman Thomas Voeckler. Andy’s older brother and teammate Frank is in third, 1 minute and 8 seconds behind Voeckler. Contador now says his Tour hopes are over, but Australian former world champion Cadel Evans remains a serious threat just four seconds behind Frank Schleck.

Evans is also considered a much better time trialist than either of the Schleck brothers, setting up a possible final showdown at Saturday’s 42 kilometer (26 mile) individual time trial in Grenoble.

Schleck said he’d gone all out on the climb up the 8,700-foot-high Galibier pass, the highest stage finish in Tour de France history. “By the end, I couldn’t do any more. I crossed the line and I’d gone all out for every second.

I haven’t hurt like this in a long time,” Schleck said. AP