Schleck sees Evans as Tour role model

Schleck at 26 knows he has time on his side with regard to his Tour ambitions with Evans winning his maiden title at 34.

The duo entered last year’s race with the label of two-time runner-up and Schleck hopes he can win in a similar fashion to the Australian if not this year then certainly in the future.

“If I saw Cadel the years before he always had a day where he cracked, where he was weak,” Schleck told reporters on a boat stage transfer at the Tour of Oman yesterday.

“He didn’t have that last year because he was really confident, he was riding really calm, he didn’t stress even when I was out there with four-and-a-half minutes (lead). He took the race in his hands.

“I was two times second before last year, he was two times second, so I didn’t really learn anything from him but I observed him. I have a lot of respect for the way he rode, the way he had confidence in his team and I think that’s the right way to win the Tour.”

Schleck is set to embark on a lighter race program than previous years in the lead-up to the Tour, a strategy that served Evans so well last season.

The Luxembourger is continuing his season in Oman this week with the newly amalgamated RadioShack Nissan Trek outfit that’ll see him this year work with team manager Johan Bruyneel – the man who helped guide Lance Armstrong to so much success.

Schleck has confirmed he will start Paris-Nice and the Critérium International adding he will stay in Europe this season and not race at the Tour of California.

The remainder of his program will be decided, based on form and training, closer to the time with decisions between Circuit de la Sarthe and the Tour of the Basque Country then later Criterium du Dauphine or the Tour de Suisse to be made.

“I was focusing on the classics maybe too much and I’m going to change it this year so maybe I’m better in the Tour, especially in the start of the Tour,” he said.

“If you look in the past Lance Armstrong won the Tour seven times, you never saw him in any other race other than in the Tour.

“I could be a rider who’d be good all year around and maybe win a stage here, win a stage there but maybe I could never peak to be really good in the big races. I choose to do it different, to train and use the races to get ready for the big races. For me, that’s the right way.

“My dream is to win the Tour and somehow I get more and more the feeling that I’m not going to finish my career without winning the Tour.

“Maybe it’s a little obsession but on the other hand I won’t be unhappy after if I never win the Tour, I will still maybe one day have a family and be a happy man afterwards. “In a sporting way, of course, it’s an obsession because I’m getting more and more focused on the Tour. The whole season is getting more and more about the Tour.”

The absence of Alberto Contador at this year’s race won’t make Schleck’s fight for a “maiden” yellow jersey any easier, the 26 year old said.

The Spaniard was this month handed a two-year sanction for doping and stripped of his 2010 Tour title that Schleck stands to inherit although he has not yet officially.

“Maybe I stand in the books that I won that Tour but if I win the Tour this year that will still be my first victory, for me,” Schleck said.

“If he’s disqualified from the race, I was second so I’d be the winner of 2010. It won’t be a victory for me but I’ll take the title.”

Contador’s suspension is backdated and he can return to competition on 6 August but will miss the July spectacle he has dominated in recent years.

“I won’t say it makes it easier for me to win the Tour without him because now there’s a lot more riders who have a chance to make the podium or maybe do a top five,” Schleck said.

“You also have to consider he always had a strong team around him and if he were there it would also be up to his team to take charge in the race; now it’s a different situation so we’ve got to see how the race develops.”

Schleck believes he has a genuine shot at the yellow jersey based on the Tour parcours this year and despite the fact it features three time-trials, which are not considered to be his strength.

“Many say it’s not the Tour for me but I don’t agree at all,” Schleck said.

“I believe the Tour is a lot harder than last year. The only thing which is different than last year is we maybe have less mountain top finishes, but last year when we had a mountain top finish it was never really those stages that made a difference.

“There was one day that made a big difference in GC that was the stage of Galibier, which was a mountain top finish but I didn’t make a difference in Galibier I made a difference in the second last climb,” he continued of the stage he won to move from fourth to second in the general classification.

“This year we have 25 categorised mountains, last year we only had 23. There’s one long time-trial, which is flat but there’s one long time-trial, which is also really hilly and is good for me. I’m happy with the course, it could be better but I’m happy with it.”

Twitter: @SophieSmith86

Sophie Smith is in Oman as a guest of the Amaury Sport Organisation