Luxembourg, Tour de France and Schleck and Schleck.

Luxembourg, Tour de France and Schleck and Schleck.

There are many reasons for this feature about the Tour de France to appear in this blog.

There is first of all the best performance of Luxembourg participants in the Tour in more than fifty years by Andy Schleck, finishing second and his brother Frank Schleck finishing fifth in the overall race. Never since Charly Gaul won the Tour in 1958 has there been such a successful Luxembourg presence.

Egide Thein, Cyclo Cross Millebaach, Luxembourg, ca 1963.

There is also a bit of personal nostalgia, as a long time ago I was among the handful of aspiring champions in my small hometown of Beckerich, Luxembourg, dreaming about winning the Tour de France one day. My comrades in pedals were Johny Wiltzius, Marcel Holtgen and Gusty Petry. We joined the Union Cycliste de Dippach as Cadets and Juniors. It was a prestigious club to which belonged Charly Gaul and a certain Johny Schleck, Frank’s and Andy’s father. So far, I haven’t won the Tour de France yet. But Lance Armstrong is not foolish enough to count me out yet.

Emile Lamberty, Pierre Meyer, Marcel Holtgen and Egide Thein of Union Cycliste Dippach, Luxembourg ca. 1963.

And finally, there is the unavoidable link between banking and Luxembourg. The Schleck brothers ran for team Saxobank, a sexy bank in Denmark. This makes our two brothers, Banker’s Schlecks. They traveled 3,500 km over the Tour, and that makes them Traveler’s Schlecks. Over time Frank became Andy’s water bearer: he was the Bearer’s Schleck, whereas Andy saw his second place guaranteed. Yes, you got it. Andy was the Guaranteed Schleck. As the best young rider, he earned the white Jersey, which made him the Blank Schleck.

It is really a marvelous story for the Schleck Book.

I watched the Tour daily and with great pleasure, on a US channel, “Versus”, with outstanding professional comments, and on French TV5 America, great pictures and endless meaningless verbiage. It took an interview with French President Sarkozy on TV5 to get some excellent comments about the great event and indeed about the riders. The news even trickled down to my local newspaper, the “Naples Daily News”, which showed pictures of Frank and Andy. Of course there was one with Andy showing his now legendary tongue. Did you know that if kids do that, they are told in Luxembourgish that they let the “Schleck” out?

Congratulations to Frank and Andy! This was hard work, good tactics and good emotions. Thanks for a very good job. How come you are not at UC Dippach?

Egide Thein

PS. I hear that Lance Armstrong, for his next year’s team, wants to sign the Schlecks?