Interview with the Schlecks:

After 10 days spent at sea,here I am again.The Tour has started and there are lots of articles,interviews,videos and so on around about los Schlecks.For example,here's an article of Eurosport that I've translated in English (the article was in Italian).Me thinks it's pretty funny...Hope you like it.

Tour de France 2009 - I fratelli Schleck all'assalto del Tour
The Schlecks are two particular brothers.Frank (29 year-old) and Andy (24) have run together during all their lives and when one of them wins,the other brother is always very proud and happy.They're both great riders,even if perhaps Andy's slightly stronger than Frank.

Eurosport met the 2 Luxembourgian riders on the eve of this year's Tour,during which they're going to shine.It's Frank,the older brother,that talks about how things in the family are."We really do have a special relationship,we always manage to understand what the other is thinking. And we motivate each other in this way.When Andy wins,I'm much more motivated than when I win.For example it was an unbelievable joy when Andy won the Liege.Even because before of that victory people used to say: 'That is Andy Schleck,the brother of Frank'.Now things have changed.And people say the opposite".

Smiles,pats on the shoulders and costant serenity.That's how the Schleck brothers are.The two riders also lead a very normal life,just like two normal brothers."It's better if we don't start to talk about our anecdotes",says Andy."When we were children,we used to hit each other very often.I used to lose every time we fighted because I was younger and weaker than Frank.Now I may have a chance in a fight against Frank,but unfortunately we don't hit each other anymore".

Rivalry is now on another battle ground."We still fight",says Frank "but not during the races,because we're on the same team.We fight when the races are over.It's always a battle between us when there isn't any race going on,especially when we play with our Playstation. That's when you can see our rivalry".

They suddenly become more serious when we start to talk about the Tour de France.Especially when you start to talk about last year's edition.Frank last year wore the yellow jersey until the Alpe d'Huez,but don't dare telling him that he let it to Sastre."I don't like it when I hear people say that I let Carlos get the yellow jersey",he says."We wanted one rider of our team to win the Tour,this was the most important thing for us.Carlos demonstrated that he's a great rider.At the end it was the best tactic,because he was the strongest and in fact he finally won the race".
Last year Andy was the best young rider of the race."At the Tour,one of us will remain disappointed",he says."But we both can win the race.The ideal thing would be the following: one of us wins this year's race,the other one wins the next year one.Btw,whatever will happen in the race,it won't be a problem.Because for our family,the relationship between us is much more important than cycling.The yellow jersey is a goal,not something we are obsessed by or we argue for".