Andy Schleck will lead RadioShack-Leopard at the upcoming Tour de France, the team announced Wednesday. Since crashing at the Crit茅rium du Dauphin茅 and fracturing his pelvis last year, Schleck has struggled, dropping out of several races and failing to notch a victory.
Schleck has faced a perfect storm of setbacks since crashing last year. As recently as April, Schleck had announced that he would not be the team’s leader at the Tour. But a 40th-place finish at the Tour de Suisse鈥攁 modest performance given his prior results鈥攈as apparently convinced team bosses that he’s prepared to accept team leadership.
鈥淥f course we don鈥檛 put pressure on our champion. After the last twelve months it would be unrealistic to expect a podium place,鈥 . 鈥淥n the other hand, the lack of stress and pressure can be a positive stimulus to a brilliant performance.鈥
In 2010, Schleck finished second at the Tour before being declared the victor after Alberto Contador was stripped of his victory. He missed the 2012 edition of the race because of his injury.
RadioShack-Leopard will likely cease to exist in its current form in 2014 as Trek assumes sponsorship of the squad. While team leaders have expressed interest in keeping Andy on the team, brother Frank may be cut. In the past, Andy has stated that he’ll never race on a different team than his brother.