Should Bradley Wiggins win the 2012 Tour de France, his achievement will not be diminished by the absence of the two-time runner up and nominal 2010 champion, Andy Schleck, who has been ruled out by injury.
A magnanimous Schleck said the Englishman’s attempt to win cycling’s biggest race, and that of his brother, Fränk, should be judged on his achievement and not the start list.
“I don’t know if I would have stood in yellow in Paris but that was the goal,” Schleck told a news conference where he announced that a fractured pelvis would rule him out of the Tour.
“But whether it’s Wiggins or my brother Fränk or anyone else who wins, I won’t stand there saying, ‘you’re lucky I wasn’t there.’”
The Luxembourger, set to have led RadioShack-Nissan-Trek in cycling’s biggest race, fractured his pelvis in a crash during last week’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
His announcement comes less than two weeks after he accepted the yellow jersey of 2010 champion following the disqualification of Alberto Contador.
Schleck told a news conference his “world had fallen apart” when doctors gave him the results of an MRI scan taken on Monday.
“I won’t win the 2012 Tour de France; I won’t even be in it,” he said.
The injury occurred on stage four, during the time trial from Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse, when Schleck crashed, fracturing his sacral bone.
He raced in pain the following day, but withdrew on Saturday’s penultimate stage from Saint-Alban-Leysse to Morzine.
Two days later, still in pain, Schleck was given and X-Ray and MRI scan. His recovery is expected to take between four and six weeks.
Schleck remained defiant in the face of adversity and vowed to return a better rider.
“What doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger. I believe I’ll come back stronger. I believe I haven’t spoken my last word.”
“I’m out but I can’t drown in self-pity. I have to look forward,” he said.
He will now target the Olympic Games road race in London on Saturday July 28 and the Vuelta a Espana, the race at which Contador will return from suspension.
Schleck said: “I’m more motivated than ever before, as people, and journalists in particular, forget very fast.”
He also identified the last of the season’s ‘Monument’ Classics, the Tour of Lombardy, on a revised list of goals for the season. His greatest achievement in a one day race to date has been victory in the 2009 Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
