Andy Schleck: I have to win the Tour 2012!
What is your solution for the ITT?
I'm working on it, I already started. You know, before the start of the ITT in Grenoble, I really thought I could win it because I was almost one minute ahead. But Cadel was stronger, one has to admit it, it's as simple as that. I know that I lack in the ITT. I have to gain in power and strength and I have already started working on that. Without forgetting my positioning, which is not necessarily the best. That means working out and testing in the wind canal, I'm right in the middle of that. Yes, I must not and I cannot lose the Tour because of an ITT anymore.
Does that mean that Andy Schleck will win the Tour 2012?
That is indeed what I want to achieve. I must and I will win the Tour. It's good to be second thrice. But at one point, I have to stop goofing around. I have to stop missing what must happen to me because I can win this Tour de France. Especially next year, I'll have an even stronger team to make it.
So this team next year, is it a good thing or not?
It's even the best thing that could happen to this team. It was difficult to continue without a real sponsor, even though there was Trek and private money. There could have been a risk of the rider's salaries not being paid, even though we were all paid. This decision of the merger, we, the riders, heard about it like everyone else after the Tour, and more or less through the media. Honestly, we can only congratulate ourselves that sponsors are interested in us. At Team LEOPARD TREK we were 24 riders, with 4 riders being at the end of their contract. Johan Bruyneel arrives with 10 riders. In the end, we are 30 good riders.
The fact that it is Bruyneel, Armstrong's man with everything that entails, who is your manager - are you not afraid that ...?
Yes, I know what you want to say. One cannot stop the people from talking. Lance Armstrong won the Tour seven times and he would have done it with or without Johan Bruyneel. I know the slanderers and the critics but I already knew that when I was on Bjarne Riis' team. So what is going to change? Me, I know who I am and I know what I'm doing. I am not going to change my way to do things because of this manager or that directeur sportif. Next year, we will have without a doubt the strongest team in the peloton that can aim to get results at the Classics with Cancellara, Fuglsang and others and, with us, at the Grand Tours. So yes, we really won't have the right to fail, I'm telling you!
Next year, will we find Andy on the first spot of the podium before his brother Frank?
That would be ideal. But I think that Frank can just as well win the Tour as myself. This year, we started out with two leaders and in the end the team rode for me because I was placed better. Next year, we will also be the two leaders, Frank and I. But the competition will be fierce. Because I think that Cadel Evans can win a second Tour. Contador will be there because he won't make the mistake to do the Giro and the Tour. And one shouldn't forget riders such as Van den Broeck, Gesink or others. Next year, the peloton will be composed of big and strong teams such as GreenEDGE, Sky, BMC, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and others. So yes, we will have to fight. But my only objective really stays the Tour de France 2012 which I must and I will win. And the other races of the season will solely be there to reassure me. In any case we'll see each other at the presentation and discuss the profile!
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