Andy is five years younger, but doesn’t seem to see himself without his older sibling
Andy Schleck is five years younger than his brother Fränk, but sees himself retiring together with his older sibling. Fränk started his career three years before Andy, possibly yielding him the longer career.
Andy would not mind this scenario. “I think we will stop together,” he told NU Sports. “That would be great. And it is possible – Fränk started three years earlier,” Schleck said after the recent Amstel Curaçao Race, which Fränk won.
So far both Schlecks have been only on one team, the team of Bjarne Riis. It was sponsored by CSC when Fränk joined in 2003 and Andy in 2005, but later became Team Saxo Bank. In 2011, the duo joins the Luxembourg Cycling Project, something they are really excited about. “It is a dream come true,” Andy says.
Leaving the familiarity of their long time team was difficult. “It was not easy to tell Bjarne we are leaving. He understood, he is a professional,” Andy says. “We hope for a good-bye dinner. We are not leaving in anger.”
Despite his slightly shorter career, Andy has a small edge on his brother in importance of results. Especially the Tour de France is a good race for Andy, who won the white jersey for the best young rider three times (2008 – 2010). He finished second in the overall classification this July after an exciting battle, winning two stages. The second win was on the infamous Tourmalet, the first ever mountain to be added to the Tour de France 100 years ago.
Andy shot onto the scene in 2007, when he earned second place overall in the Giro d’Italia, 1’55 behind Danilo Di Luca. The younger Schleck was 21 at the time and naturally also won the white jersey in the young rider classification.
His biggest one-day victory was Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2009, when he rode away for a solo win, with Fränk celebrating in the peloton as he realized that his younger brother would stay away.
Fränk himself has also won a big Classic, the Amstel Gold Race in 2006. In his three Tour de France appearances he finished fifth, sixth and tenth. Most recently he won the other Amstel race – the Amstel Curaçao.