Stresses need to prevent Belgian from using his explosive strength
Many will regard his brother Andy as a more likely contender, due to the fact that he took the race in 2009, but Franck Schleck’s palmares and strong 2011 form show that he too is a possible winner of today’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
He’s won the Amstel Gold race in the past and, with a victory in the Criterium International under his belt this season, is in good form heading into the race.
Like many of the contenders, Schleck has identified Philippe Gilbert as the man to watch. In the past week the Belgian has won Brabantse Pijl, the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne, and is in the form of his life. Schleck recognises the difference between those courses and that of today’s race, though, and believes that this could tip things in Leopard Trek’s direction.
“The longer climbs are better for us,” he told VeloNation in a video interview. “I am not saying that he is big, but he is heavier than we are, so I hope he leaves more energy on the road than we do on the longer climbs before we come to the final. Maybe he will leave too much energy on the road, as he has to push more watts and kilojoules. I think it is in our favour.”
Unlike Gilbert, both Schleck brothers are Grand Tour contenders, and so they are at ease on the long ascents. Gilbert is more of an explosive rider, so at some point on certain courses, things will tip in favour of the brothers. Today will tell if the ascents in La Doyenne are quite long enough for this to take place.
What’s certain is that Leopard Trek will go all out to win. It is a new team, and one which promised much with its lineup, but it is yet to win a Classic. The team said at Friday’s press conference that it was determined to battle hard in today’s race, and Schleck said that they won’t leave it up to Gilbert’s team to control things.
“We also want to win the race. We took the responsibility in the last two races, as did Gilbert’s team, of course. We are very, very strong together, I still believe we are the strongest team. We have to take our opportunity, take the risks and take the responsibility. We have to say that Gilbert won the last two races on the sprint, on his punch, so we have to make it so that he cannot use his punch in the final.”
Click below to see the full interview with one of today’s big contenders.