Danish talent opts for proximity to his friend over sunny Italy
Danish rider, Jakob Fuglsang, will likely be the right hand man for both Frank and Andy Schleck as the Luxembourg duo set out to finally take outright victory at the Tour de France in July. It’s no secret either that Fuglsang is very close with the Schlecks, Andy in particular. Unfortunately, the three-time Tour of Denmark winner, Fuglsang, has lived in Italy of late, while this year’s Tour de France runner-up, perhaps eventual winner, has chosen to remain in Luxembourg.
The distance between friends is set to to narrow considerably soon though – to a floor apart in the same apartment building.
“I’m moving into the same apartment block as Andy Schleck. It will be the opportunity to live just underneath him,” said Fuglsang to feltet.dk.
Fuglsang isn’t ready to completely write off his Italian life just yet though. He’s leaving the door open for the moment, but is expecting positive things from his move north.
“We’ll try it and see how it goes, but I think it will be really good. So far, I have not completely separated myself of the opportunity in Italy.”
Criticism leveled at the eight riders that left the Saxo Bank squad at the end of the season has sometimes seemed fair, the heart of Bjarne Riis’s team exited at year’s end, but taken in context like this, where a rider is ready to leave the warmth and sun of Italy for Luxembourg to be closer to his friend, it seems understandable that he might be interested in racing on the same team. Fuglsang has little patience for the controversy that has quietly followed the Leopard Trek team in its building months, contending strongly that nothing untoward happened in the lead up to the creation of the team.
“I think it has been blown completely out of proportion in Denmark that some riders and people have left Team Saxo Bank. I cannot see who was stabbed in the back,” said the future Tour de France overall threat to BT. “When Mr. and Mrs. Denmark say that we did harm, because we switched teams, let’s just say that those words are from people who have never been in a situation like that before. It may be that people do not know all the details.”
** Correction: It looks like Fuglsang has been living in Luxembourg for some time now, as Luxembourg’s Tageblatt reported that Fuglsang had already moved in to Andy Schleck’s apartment building back on January 7th.