Yes,Frank Schleck decided to abandon the Tour of Pays Basque because of yesterday's crash.
Here's an article from Le Quotidien : http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/10350.html about his crash and here's a little translation of it:
There were about 12 kms to go.Nervousness had taken over the riders while they were making their way towards Amurrio.The curves on the little road forced the riders to be extremely careful.The Schleck brothers were in the first part of the group,hands on their bike's brakes.
All of a sudden,a Française des Jeux rider entered Frank Schleck's path and the handlebars of the bikes hurt each other.Therefore,the Luxembourger couldn't avoid crashing and he ended up in a deep ditch.The only witness of the crash was Andy Schleck (...).
Franky ended up with an injured finger and a huge cut on his neck,which needed some stitches. "I'm disgusted and I don't even know if I'll be able to start today's stage",he said while his younger brother was talking about the "stupidity" of the rider who caused the crash (...).
Luckily,in the last years Frank's crashes have usually been followed by great moments of happiness.In Vuelta al Paìs Vasco 2006 he crashed in the 3rd stage of the race,just like this time. He lost conciousness and he had to leave the race.After ten days, he won Amstel Gold Race. In 2008, a few days after his crash in Tour of Switzerland, he wore the maillot jaune at the Tour. And last year, a week after his dreadful crash at Amstel Gold Race, his brother Andy won Liége (...).
Kim Andersen yesterday evening said: "This is unbelievable.Everything went very well, much better than we expected, over the last days. Frank was great, just like Andy. He really showed some good things but now he has crashed.That's annoying".
Of course I can't do anything but agree with Kim Andersen.It's annoying to see a rider crashing right when his main goals of the season are approaching (and this worths also for Chris Sorensen).Anyway,Denis Bastien is right: after a bad crash,Frank usually gets very good results (the 2007 crash in Tour of Lombardy is the only exception to this rule that I can remember right now).Hopefully,this "tradition" will be respected also this time.
Here's an article from Le Quotidien : http://lequotidien.editpress.lu/les-sports/10350.html about his crash and here's a little translation of it:
There were about 12 kms to go.Nervousness had taken over the riders while they were making their way towards Amurrio.The curves on the little road forced the riders to be extremely careful.The Schleck brothers were in the first part of the group,hands on their bike's brakes.
All of a sudden,a Française des Jeux rider entered Frank Schleck's path and the handlebars of the bikes hurt each other.Therefore,the Luxembourger couldn't avoid crashing and he ended up in a deep ditch.The only witness of the crash was Andy Schleck (...).
Franky ended up with an injured finger and a huge cut on his neck,which needed some stitches. "I'm disgusted and I don't even know if I'll be able to start today's stage",he said while his younger brother was talking about the "stupidity" of the rider who caused the crash (...).
Luckily,in the last years Frank's crashes have usually been followed by great moments of happiness.In Vuelta al Paìs Vasco 2006 he crashed in the 3rd stage of the race,just like this time. He lost conciousness and he had to leave the race.After ten days, he won Amstel Gold Race. In 2008, a few days after his crash in Tour of Switzerland, he wore the maillot jaune at the Tour. And last year, a week after his dreadful crash at Amstel Gold Race, his brother Andy won Liége (...).
Kim Andersen yesterday evening said: "This is unbelievable.Everything went very well, much better than we expected, over the last days. Frank was great, just like Andy. He really showed some good things but now he has crashed.That's annoying".
Of course I can't do anything but agree with Kim Andersen.It's annoying to see a rider crashing right when his main goals of the season are approaching (and this worths also for Chris Sorensen).Anyway,Denis Bastien is right: after a bad crash,Frank usually gets very good results (the 2007 crash in Tour of Lombardy is the only exception to this rule that I can remember right now).Hopefully,this "tradition" will be respected also this time.
Talking about Andy,on http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20100408/192791/es/Arrate-es-una-buena-subida-para-mi-e-intentare-ganar-no-he-venido-solo-prepararme there's an interview with him. Here's a little translation of it (sorry but I don't have time to translate the whole article):
Andy Schleck will be Saxo Bank's captain after that his brother Frank left the race after a crash. Both the Schleck brothers love racing Vuelta al Pais Vasco and Andy says he's a big lover of this race and that he's also fallen in love with Donostia,where he even spent a holiday and that he considers "the most beautiful European city".
How's your form,Andy?
I was ill during Milan-Sanremo and therefore I couldn't finish Volta a Catalunya.Anyway after retiring from that race I've trained well and now I hope that taking part in this race will help me on my way to the Ardenne's classics.
Do you consider this race just a preparation for the Classics or will you try to win it?
If you take part in a race and you get the chance of winning a stage or of getting a good result in the GC,I think you have to try to achieve a good result.Vuelta al Pais Vasco is a very important race and, if we can, we'll try to win it .Everything is possible in this race.On Monday we saw who the strongest riders are and I think we can win a stage.
(...)
Do you think you can win the GC of this race?
There's a TT on the last day and therefore for us it will be hard to win the race,but luckily Orio's TT is a hard one and therefore I should get a good result there.
What are your hopes for the Ardenne's classics?
This year they'll be more important for Frank than for me,because I've been ill over the last weeks and therefore I couldn't train as I wanted. Anyway I feel fine and so I think I'll have a good condition for those races.I think I'll feel as good as last year,although we have to remember that our biggest goal of the season is the Tour.If we can win a Classic we'll be happy,but they aren't our main goal of the season.
I've been told that you like Basque Country and Donostia...
I really like this country and this race,even if it is always very hard and it's always rainy.There are 2 races that we always take part in every year, and they are Vuelta al Pais Vasco and Tour of Switzerland. As well as the race ,I really like the city of Donostia. I've been there a lot of times, even when I was on holiday, and I really like it. It's the most beautiful city of Europe.
Hoping that Andy will get a good result in today's stage,that Frank will recover fast and that his "crash tradition" (he crashes and then he gets a good result) will be respected also this time,here I close this post.Heal fast Frank!
Andy Schleck will be Saxo Bank's captain after that his brother Frank left the race after a crash. Both the Schleck brothers love racing Vuelta al Pais Vasco and Andy says he's a big lover of this race and that he's also fallen in love with Donostia,where he even spent a holiday and that he considers "the most beautiful European city".
How's your form,Andy?
I was ill during Milan-Sanremo and therefore I couldn't finish Volta a Catalunya.Anyway after retiring from that race I've trained well and now I hope that taking part in this race will help me on my way to the Ardenne's classics.
Do you consider this race just a preparation for the Classics or will you try to win it?
If you take part in a race and you get the chance of winning a stage or of getting a good result in the GC,I think you have to try to achieve a good result.Vuelta al Pais Vasco is a very important race and, if we can, we'll try to win it .Everything is possible in this race.On Monday we saw who the strongest riders are and I think we can win a stage.
(...)
Do you think you can win the GC of this race?
There's a TT on the last day and therefore for us it will be hard to win the race,but luckily Orio's TT is a hard one and therefore I should get a good result there.
What are your hopes for the Ardenne's classics?
This year they'll be more important for Frank than for me,because I've been ill over the last weeks and therefore I couldn't train as I wanted. Anyway I feel fine and so I think I'll have a good condition for those races.I think I'll feel as good as last year,although we have to remember that our biggest goal of the season is the Tour.If we can win a Classic we'll be happy,but they aren't our main goal of the season.
I've been told that you like Basque Country and Donostia...
I really like this country and this race,even if it is always very hard and it's always rainy.There are 2 races that we always take part in every year, and they are Vuelta al Pais Vasco and Tour of Switzerland. As well as the race ,I really like the city of Donostia. I've been there a lot of times, even when I was on holiday, and I really like it. It's the most beautiful city of Europe.
Hoping that Andy will get a good result in today's stage,that Frank will recover fast and that his "crash tradition" (he crashes and then he gets a good result) will be respected also this time,here I close this post.Heal fast Frank!
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