Knee injury sidelines Schleck from the Tour de France and Luxembourg Nationals
Fränk Schleck will not participate in this year’s Tour de France in July or the Luxembourg road championships this Sunday, as originally planned, because of a chronic injury in his right knee, Trek Factory Racing announced on Tuesday.
Schleck first injured his right knee in a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April. He next raced at the Tour of Norway in May followed by the one-day GP du canton d’Argovie in June, but then pulled out of the Tour de Suisse ahead of the closing time trial in Bern on Sunday.
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An MRI taken in Basel on Monday revealed inflammation to the medial collateral ligament along with a bone injury that has not healed yet.
“This is a big disappointment for me, of course, but it had been in the air for a while now,” said the Luxembourg road race champion. “The pain never really lessened and the only way to let it heal would have been to take complete rest. It was a catch-22: if I wanted to make the Tour team, I had to rest. I needed to take a break in the preparation to let the knee heal. But if I wanted to be fit for the Tour, I needed to train hard.
“The knee wasn’t getting any better during the Tour de Suisse, despite daily treatments and all of us hoping for a miracle. We took the decision together and I think it’s correct. I can’t push it for 21 days straight and hope to make it to Paris. What I need is rest.”
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