"My goal before I was a pro was to become a pro." "When you turn pro you want to win a race." "And now the goal is to win the Tour de France." "We're aiming very high." "I know that if I come second in the Tour this year," "I will have lost the tour." "They have similar capabilities and strengths even if Andy appears a bit more likely to win the Tour." "This doesn't mean Frank won't win it at some point." "Frank proved he is a good climber at "Alpe d'Huez"." "The Tour is the greatest, most important race." "We got into cycling because of the Tour." "We got into cycling because of my dad." "He kept talking about the Tour." "Physically, Johny Schleck was an earlier version of Andy they were almost identical in strength." "Except that Johny stuck to the rules of that time." "He remained a mere team mate to his leaders." "He never went above his rank within the team, as opposed to Andy, who is already a leader at a young age, and is considered a huge talent." "I wanted the boys to do sports as they grew up." "We rode our bikes a lot;" "There were bikes all over the place." "I was always buying bike clothes." "And so they became bike riders." "They had lots of fun with this." "They did try other sports but those were not challenging enough." "I am Andy Schleck, this is my first year in the youth team." "I'm almost 13 now." "My name is Frank, I'm 18," "I study at the LTAM secondary school." "I 'm part of the junior racing team." "When I was 18, Andy was 13." "We couldn't practice together yet." "He couldn't follow." "In a race we sometimes ride for 40km but the pros do 180km." "I think that's still a big step for me." "When I started cycling, my friends and I raced up the hill." "I was Indurain and my friend was Rominger." "That's how it started." "You don't yet think it possible." "But you do start dreaming." "It was Frank who encouraged me to become a pro." "He was my biggest influence." "As he turned pro," "I hoped to follow in his footsteps one day." "As I became older we started to practice together." "It was definitely him." "It is difficult to say who harms or who benefits the other." "Despite the 5 years age difference, they are surprisingly almost like twins." "They're also both in the same league, which is a blessing as well as a curse." "One of them might have become a specialist on cobblestones and the other in the grand tours." "But no!" "A team built around two brothers that embodies the whole country means a lot to Luxembourg." "They became ambassadors of Luxembourg." "Who represented Luxembourg in the history of the TDF?" "That legacy rests on one man's shoulders, Charly Gaul." "The angel of the mountains, winner of the TDF." "An outstanding climber, maybe the best in history, together with Marco Pantani." "This team represents the spirit of a country that has often sought fame through individuals and now seeks to create a group." "The idea was to create a team to support us 100 percent in the TDF." "We searched for riders whose personality would fit into the team, and turn it into a family." "Frank, I have blood in my mouth." "I gave my best." "It tastes of blood in my mouth." "That's normal." "I've got an engine inside." "The goal is not just to cycle but to get to know each other." "That happened during this week in all kinds of situations." "Outdoors in the snow, during meetings or over a beer." "How we achieved it wasn't important." "The main thing is that we did." "Andy, you lost the chain last year." "If you hadn't lost that, maybe you would have won the tour by one second." "Same at Tour of Switzerland." "One week of hard racing - 4 seconds!" "Every race is very, very close." "So think about it." "Every second, for you guys, counts." "Don't lose- Especially the first week." "Don't lose a stupid 5 seconds for things that may not be necessary." "Last year I fell and broke my shoulder." "I was out of the race." "I - no we, went into the TDF to win." "I was in great shape." "And I had a very good chance to win." "That was a pretty hard blow." "Last year when Contador attacked after my chain popped," "I had revenge on my mind." "Every great champion is something of a thug." "Deep down in their souls, TDF winners are sometimes thugs." "They violate the codes of good behavior and friendship with other riders." "In the heat of the race they forget everything and only think about one thing:" "Win the TDF!" "What did you learn from your last Tour de France?" "Maybe attack a bit earlier in the mountains where you have to make a difference?" "Of course I can't wait until the final time trial." "You never know in advance." "Every day there can be opportunities." "It may happen tomorrow, with side-wind on a flat stage but it might not be until we reach the mountains." "I know that if I want to win" "I have to take the initiative." "I want to win and Alberto wants to defend his title." "So they go up against two adversaries," "Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans." "We know Alberto Contador - a superb climber, triple TDF winner, good at winning time trials." "This makes him a very accomplished rider." "Cadel Evans is always around." "I don't think he's as brilliant as Alberto Contador." "But at the same time he has kind of a "diesel" quality." "That makes him difficult to drop or break away from." "Cadel Evans is always there." "I am not scared." "You shouldn't be scared of another rider but respect them." "If you are scared you lose the Tour before it starts." "We'll keep an eye on him, but we are not scared." "We're not here to finish 2nd and 3rd." "Our goal is to have one of us on top of the podium." "So we need to take risks." "We will not be first and second." "That's too difficult." "We're not in a junior league." "This is the Champions League." "There are plenty of other riders who dream of winning the Tour." "The moment will come when we have to make a decision." "Whether Frank or myself needs to sacrifice himself for the other, we shall see." "Time trials!" "There is nothing more thrilling than speeding along at over 55 km/h." "It pushes you forward and gives you a very satisfying feeling." "You must constantly remind yourself to concentrate on the pain." "Make yourself small and try to feel that pain." "Beautiful!" "Go Fabian, come on!" "Go, go, go!" "Come on, for the last 2km!" "If you're being encouraged:" "You are good, you're making good time." "Go, go, do it for yourself, for your family." "If it's a familiar voice, it is important." "Come on, boys!" "You have to sprint!" "You have to give it all!" "Come on Frank, Andy, come on!" "If you look back at recent years, a good climber has to be reasonably good at time trials, too." "My strength are the mountains, that's where I can win the Tour." "You win the Tour on your strengths, not your weaknesses." "The greatest influence is always yourself." "How far do you want to get?" "Where do you want to go?" "It's your call." "It depends on your personality, and what you are prepared to do." "I love cycling because I can push my body to its limit and beyond." "This might sound a bit perverse, but you have to hurt yourself." "I train and push myself very hard to reach my absolute limit." "That's what I like about bike-racing." "That's the passion." "How far can you go before you collapse?" "It was the hardest point in the early season." "Yes, that's right!" "The first ten days were brutal." "Plenty of crashes." "Wind." "A very nervous peloton." "The Tour is spectacular in every sense of the word." "Spectacular performances, sprints and breakaways." "And there are spectacular crashes." "Unfortunately they are a part of our sport." "Every day we avoid crashes and keep both our captains safe, is a successful day." "That is a huge challenge." "People must understand we're not stuntmen." "We all have family and friends." "To make it worse, my brother's there with me." "We plunge downhill at up to 100 km/h." "On narrow roads covered in gravel, with walls either side." "And we only wear a polystyrene helmet." "That's all." "One moment of distraction, a pedal touching a wall and life stops." "When a rider goes down, the whole peloton sees itself die." "It's very difficult to get over this, especially when it happens in your own team, to a young cyclist from Belgium with whom you built a relationship." "There was no reason for things to end that way." "We start with tragic news in sports." "The Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt of Team Leopard-Trek died today." "The 26 year-old cyclist fell on the 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia and died of his injuries." "Wouter's death shocked many people and for us in the team the shock was even bigger." "Because we were so much closer to it all." "With Wouter, it was a situation I'd never experienced before." "He turned pro one year after me, and we knew each other well." "He lived in Ghent where we went to training camps." "We trained on the track together." "We often talked about the day we would ride in the same team." "And that fell into place this year." "We were good friends." "When I got the news of what happened to him." "I was deeply shocked." "It made me doubt everything." "It was difficult for me as I didn't have anybody around who was close to me." "I had just arrived in the States." "I wondered why I had so many calls." "Everybody knew I was on a plane." "I called my mother first thing and she told me." "I was standing all alone at the airport," "I can't find words to describe how I felt that moment." "I spoke to my brother." "And that brought it all back." "11 stages behind us now." "I think the guys brought you, Andy, Frank, Jakob, to this point here." "We could not have expected a better situation." "Now we need to see where we're standing." "I think that everybody expects that we will do something." "So..." "I mean, we will not really surprise anybody, with anything." "I think, personally, that Contador would like to win the stage." "He always attacks on the first mountain stages." "He always goes for that." "The goal is to take time." "So the first plan is that you, Maxime and so on, you have to speak about who is the best today." "And we save our best riders for the top and the downhill." "But if you do it hard, it doesn't help that you pull for only one km." "We need to go over, and down." "So we have to calculate it." "Hopefully Jakob, he could be there together with Andy and Frank at the bottom of the last climb to "Luz-Ardiden"." "And hopefully they'll have the legs for it." "They have to attack, but they cannot expect to go together." "One of them needs to go full throttle!" " Andy and Frank, you mean?" " Yes, Andy and Frank." " Put the pressure on!" " They need to attack alone!" "And not turn around." "And when he gets caught back, the other one has to attack." "When we do everything that we know, we'll be even stronger." "When we make mistakes, we'll be weak, and the others will see that and will use it." "That's the reason why you have to be 100% focused." "Think about it!" "It's a long stage!" "And don't forget to eat and drink!" "Going up the first mountains there is always a round of observation." "We are still far from Paris and the leaders are watching each other." "They spot the signs in a rival that point to a state of exhaustion or a momentary weakness." "They fine-tune their assessments, and slowly identify their rivals." "A rider is obliged to pinpoint his most dangerous rival." "He will calibrate his own race accordingly." "When you go, we have to be sure we can go." "Go all the way to the top, ok?" "Come on, boys, you can do it!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "There's a puncture!" "Very good." "Go!" "I'm still ok, I'm still good, I'll go to the top." "Good old man!" "Thank you!" " How much did Contador lose?" " 10 or 14 seconds." "Main thing is that he's lost time." "Just one question." "We saw you talk to Frank in the ascent." "What did you discuss?" "I saw that Alberto was glued to my rear-wheel." "I wanted to attack first." "So we discussed tactics." "I attacked first, then Frank went for it." "We played a little game." "Then the moment came for him to go full speed ahead." "If we keep this up we can win." "Andy is a bit like me." "He says "I feel great and the sun is shining." "Now I'll attack"." "Frank says:" ""No I'll wait, I evaluate the race" "I save a bit of energy, and then I go from there"." "He has more of a plan." "They are like a gut-and a head-person." "Together they're unbeatable." "Being brothers helps to shield themselves from the outside world." "A cyclist is always fighting a battle with himself." "That's the fight he must ultimately win." "This battle with oneself becomes increasingly difficult as you ride in your brother's shadow." "In other words, Frank is Andy's shadow and vice versa." "It is both their blessing and their curse." "On the day of the "Plateau de Beille"" "I didn't feel all that well." "But I expected the knot to open up." "The Tour is like a roller-coaster." "You have good days and then you have bad days." "But there isn't a single day when you don't ride to your limit, even in the so-called sprinter stages." "Every day you go to the limit, just to finish the stage." "Not everything always goes according to plan." "And on that particular day, it didn't." "Just to repeat what Jakob said:" "He cannot go faster on the climb, so we save one of the other guys and let him pull in the valley." "Ok?" "A rider has crashed in the descent." "It is Jens Voigt who crashed." "Boys be careful in the downhill!" "Jens crashed in the downhill." "He's ok, no problem." "Be careful, ok?" " He crashed again or what?" " Yeah!" "No!" "I could have stayed down and said:" "No, everything hurts." "Get me an ambulance, I want to go home." "But no, the guys needed me." "It's important that I go on." "So you get on your bike and you ride on." "You don't even think about quitting." "You also get mentally exhausted." "The daily pressure of not being dropped off at the back, things like possible side-winds splitting the peloton." "You can definitely lose the Tour de France in one day, but you can't win it in one day." "Linus, what's the matter?" " I rode ahead for a bit." " A bit?" "That's not enough." "We need to keep up the pace!" "It's 10 more km." "I'm sorry, but..." "Come on!" "A bit?" "!" "You might get a general assessment of your rivals before the race." "But you really find out only as you challenge them on the mountain." "You never know how good they really are, we didn't know how strong Cadel was." "We kept saying "he's gonna crack one day"." "Frank, no major time gaps?" "Wait 5 minutes please." "I'll be with you in a few minutes." "Thank you." "Almost like new." "Wait, wait!" "Yes Gerard, we are with Frank Schleck who is kindly answering our questions right away." "Alberto Contador wasn't in great shape today, but you couldn't shake him off." "No, I think..." "No." "No, but... there will be other days." "Andy, do you reckon the upcoming week will be one of the most essential weeks in your career?" "I think this will be the single most important week in my career up until now." "I feel great." "I am mentally and physically prepared to go for the Yellow Jersey and to defend it." "I have a hunch that winning is not an absolute for you." "If you win the Tour, you will obviously be happy." "If you don't win, it won't change your life, or who you are." "Is that basically it?" " I am sure it won't change my life." " Not even who you are?" " No." " This doesn't really change you?" "It only brings you joy?" "Joy for sure, it's a sports dream." "But there's more to life." "I see this a bit differently." "I am not sure if this is good or bad." "That's how I am." "I think that the life you lead later, looking at Frank with his little daughter, that's what life is about." "That's what gives you pleasure, later on." "Of course it is great to be able to say I won the TDF but that is the kind of joy that comes and goes." "Do you want to win the Tour for your father's sake?" "Yes, that has been on my mind." "You totally look like him." "It's amazing." "At the back of our minds he is way more important than he knows." "After I ride a good race, I seek his opinion first of all." "Looking at my father's face, like last year when I won a stage," "I see that he is proud of me if I ride well." "You appear to be quite simple in daily life." "At the same time, you show a certain theatricality in the mountains, which, I noticed, is becoming stronger." "You turn around to observe..." "you gesture." "You did this less before." "What do you look for?" "Do you look for your brother, or do you observe the others?" "You do this with a real theatricality, or do you feel exposed on the road?" "No, when I reach my limit, I stop looking back." "You are revealing a secret here." "It's true, if I go full throttle in a time trial, I don't turn around." "And in the mountain when you go, you don't look back?" "No, when I go, I go!" "Thank you very much, I appreciate this." " Your prediction?" " You will win, I think." "I have only one doubt about Contador." "You think he is bluffing?" "Yes, he is an expert at bluffing and he pedals very easily." "Is it slowly loosening up?" " No, it's like custard." " Custard?" "On the outside it's pretty soft, but inside it's hard." "We crossed the bridge by the river." "Right, left, and slowly uphill." "So I slowed down, and guess who overtakes me?" "Can only be one guy." "Jens!" "You know how?" "I just thought no, I am cooked, I've had it." "It's always funny when you check out the guys at the front as they wrestle, fight and grind their teeth." "But it's beautiful." "Jens does that very well." "Half of my job was to be the butt of the other guys' jokes." "Good God, the stuff they throw at me!" "That I am so old, that my nose is huge, and that I wobble on my bike, that I have truckloads of kids." "They laughed at everything." "I reckon that half of my job consisted in being the target of their jokes." "But their joking was good-hearted." "We're all friends." "The guys got rid of their stress by making jokes about me." "That was a major part of my job." "With this you can catch big fish." "Do you ever fish with the Drachkovitch system?" "The Drachkovitch?" "Yes, Mathieu does." " For me that's the best." " Yes, it's better." "That fish down there looks pretty old." "It's a sunfish." "You do find some catfish over there." "In here?" " Are there catfish in here?" " Yes, a few." "It's been 2 years now." " I don't like to fish for carp." " No, it is not very interesting." "But if you hook a big one it's a huge fight to get it out." "I think." "Yes." "Where do you keep your fishing gear?" "Everywhere." "At home." "You also keep some by the lake, don't you?" "A classic spoon-bait will do too, no?" "Yes, that's old school." "Is it getting dark already?" "The sun is setting." "8pm, we should head off to dinner." "Which means that our day off is already over." "Yes, almost." "That's no good." "But it was a great day off." "I found it relaxing." "Just that bit with the press his morning." "Did you sleep?" "Yes." "One and a half hours, at least." "Me too, for an hour." "Until we went for the massage." "Nobody asked any questions, we found that quite relaxing." "There is torrential rain and it is freezing cold." "They announce 7 degrees celsius on "Col de Manse", the main challenge for the day." "You need to cover up and be very careful." "Alberto Contador attacks." "The front of the peloton explodes." "Look at how Contador hits the pedals!" "This looks promising for the next three days." "Behind, we notice that Cadel Evans appears very strong, that Voeckler is valiant as usual, and that the Schleck brothers are in trouble." "I was mentally unprepared for this situation." "I made a mistake." "I'll remember this." "It won't happen again." "You must always be ready and I wasn't." "I cannot close a gap of 50m on a dangerous wet slope." "I'm not that good going downhill." "When I, myself, plunge downhill, I'm not scared." "But when I see Andy doing it on TV," "I get really scared." "You've lost 1 minute and 10 seconds on Cadel Evans." "A few seconds less on Contador." "You're the big loser of the day." "I know, but my Dad told me earlier that he was glad that I didn't end up in hospital." "The Tour is not finished." "It only just started and I am in good shape for the mountains." "That's what counts." "Although tomorrow's finish will be similar." "But I keep my spirits up and I'll be ready." "There is too much pressure, but this is the Tour de France." "You know in advance there will be pressure." "Yes, they know." "But you must handle the pressure." "The team is new and has great expectations." "And this year they've had their share of bad luck." "Andy told me after the fatal crash of his friend Wouter that he has problems going downhill." "That's what we saw today." "He should have gone downhill with Frank, but he didn't manage." "Sometimes we get the impression that the Schleck brothers are bad road pilots." "If the conditions are unfavorable they seem to be scared." "It's not a question of being scared I raised them this way." "I'd rather have him lose 5 minutes than see him end up in hospital." "What would be the point if I had to visit them in hospital?" "They are our kids." "A race is secondary." "The Tour comes to life through the media." "And media is mainly TV." "TV demands excitement and these descents create a good spectacle." "It is a dangerous sport." "I never forced them into it." "They love it." "But if it's possible to avoid danger, even if that danger could lead to victory," "I'd rather see them lose than take insane risks." "We started thinking that Andy had probably lost the Tour." "He had to save face now." "By saving face with a brilliant feat he might win after all." "Andy had his back against the wall." "As the favorite of the TDF, he had to react." "A cyclist has to save his prestige, his credibility." "He can't let things lie without reacting." "They have a sort of inner combustion." "I think this is part of it, like a spirit that animates every cyclist." "The two Schleck brothers are driven by this." "They have to metamorphose into a sort of two-headed Janus." "A hero from antiquity who suddenly steps into combat." "In the mountains you always depend on yourself." "You have to suffer on your own." "Until you reach your limit." "You can't change that." "You don't want to hear that you can't do it." "You need to accept the pressure of possible failure." "But it should never distract you." "I don't think that far ahead what will happen if I lose?" "Maybe that's a gift that I have." "I was the same as a kid, before I took up cycling." "I never got scared, even when doing other sports." "With this in mind I go into the race." "Today I'll ride until I fall off my bike." "The race was strange." "I don't like it when" "I can't control what happens and I am unable to make a decision when I want." "I thought, something has to happen." "I have to turn this around, and there is only one way." "Today and tomorrow are the big days." "Andy is very motivated, Frank too, to go for it." "And I think, we talked a little bit last night," "I know he'd really like to attack on "Izoard"" "and I agree." "You need to do it, if you want to win." "I also know that it will be very hard." "As we heard, there's a headwind." "Afterwards, on the way up to the last climb on "Galibier"." "We also know, you're not going to do it alone!" "We need to have a plan A and a plan B." "I think, first of all, to do plan A, we need to have guys in front." "Contador will try not to let you go!" "And if you go on "Izoard", that means that it has to be in red... in red level, to go." "If not, it's nothing." "That's how it is." " Threshold race." " Yes!" "If not, you don't go anyway." "And if that works, then we try it, and you go for it." "And that's it." "We see how far it's going." "If it doesn't work..." "Then, I think, we should work for Frank, on "Galibier"." "And that means we'll go up very, very hard, and at the top, you then need to attack." "We have a situation that we've never had." "We've never had a finish line on 2650 metres altitude." "We've only once been over 2700 metres." "It could be a completely different scenario when we're out there." "With not only seconds." "It will be very difficult, if you finish with Contador." "Yeah, I don't go, I don't pull with Contador." " No." "That's good." " I spoke with Ivan." " And he wants." " He also wants a hard race." "He wants Sylvester Szmyd to pull... full throttle for the first 7km of "Izoard"." "And if Szmyd goes full throttle, then he's gone." "But also, I think Bjarne... his team will also try to pull on "Izoard"." "Yes!" "So it's not just us." "Not at all." "The only one who asks nothing is Cadel." "Cadel will follow." "He will follow." "He only needs to follow." "But I think, that could be really hard in the end." "Yeah, you need to be ready boys." "And one more thing!" "Guys." "Today, you need to fight!" "It's a hard day." "It's a fighter day." "Why does cycling appeal to the public?" "Because it is in the nature of humankind to escape." "In our lives, we always try to escape from education, childhood, society." "We try to escape from everything." "So a cyclist who escapes frees himself from his condition." "Being in the group means being attached to the others." "Alberto Contador has difficulties." "He is dropped by the peloton." "Cadel Evans relaunches his attack." "He knows he will ride a very good time trial." "He is a specialist." "Without a doubt, the truth of yesterday's TDF is not the same the day after." "Things progress very fast." "Andy still has a lead of 3 minutes and 1 second." "We wonder who, apart from Andy Schleck, will be able to attack today?" "Just a few seconds missing." "Cadel did it." "Sit down, over there." "You're exhausted." "You can taste blood in your mouth." "You can't eat or drink." "You feel awful." "Here, put this on." "Bravo Andy!" "Thank you." "Thanks so much!" "On the morning of the "Alpe d'Huez", when I woke up, as I was getting on the bus, I realized" "that I would have a grueling day." "I knew I'd lost a lot of energy the day before." "We are not machines;" "We cannot perform the same every day." "I knew it wasn't worth the risk to go full throttle, because I could lose everything on "Alpe d'Huez"." "So I was careful, and on "Alpe d'Huez"..." "I was burnt out." "No good anymore." "It's complicated." "The TDF is a day to day business." "It's not about being the best one day, but being present every day." "After a rider makes this kind of effort he has to weigh things up, consider his rivals' potential reactions and his own energy levels, because you don't get up easily after such an effort." "The next day you must deal with the situation." "It's not that easy." "Taking risks in the TDF has its price." "In the final time trial, Andy was in yellow and I was second." "The pressure was huge on both of us." "We had everything to lose that day." "The 42km of the final time trial at Grenoble, when I had the honor to start off wearing the Yellow Jersey, was the most important day of my career." "It was to determine whether I win or lose the Tour." "But you go into this stage as into every other one." "Of course, it was the only stage where I wore the Yellow Jersey," "Except for the day before, on the podium." "Wearing yellow in the race is an amazing feeling." "Just one day before Paris." "But you do know that... it is hanging by a thread." "Go Andy, you can do it!" "You start shaking during the last minute before the time trial." "You are hyper-aware." "You take deep breaths, try to get as much oxygen into your blood as possible." "Then you go up, you know you have 30 seconds left, and it's going to hurt like hell soon." "And then you're off." "You must be alert, find your rhythm." "The final minute is a nasty feeling." "You stand there and wait." "And you know that you will soon have... fifty minutes... of pain." "Come on Andy!" "We'll do it!" "Go!" "Now you go." "That's good." "Next 2 km:" "Try to push it hard!" "Put the hammer down for the next 2 km." "Small ups and downs, bad road." "Come on!" "Go!" "Go after the motorbike!" "Chase the motorbike!" "Come on!" "Go, go!" "Keep the concentration!" "Come on!" "Go, go, go!" "Should I tell him the time, to Evans?" "I knew deep down." "Otherwise someone would have told me on the radio that I was about to win the Tour." "Nobody said that." "So I knew I had to go faster." "Come on!" "Fight, fight!" "Come on, boy!" "It's just you and your bike fighting against the wind, against the road." "You have no rival in a time trial, you are on your own." "Your rival is you!" "I'll have them both on the podium." "Stop!" "Stop!" "Hey, watch out for the rider!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Out of the way!" "Move out of the way!" "It's his brother!" "Tell him to come here." "I always tell myself:" "If I do my best for a whole year, if everything works out and I still don't win in Paris, then there was somebody stronger than me." "You can lose the Tour by not being satisfied with yourself." "If I come 10th or 20th, and I know I gave everything, that I made every sacrifice, and gave my absolute best," "I finish 20th, but I can look in the mirror and say:" "That was my best." "Then I didn't lose the Tour." "...and for the first time two brothers on the podium..." "In the TDF you always wait for danger to materialize." "The riders often tell you when you interview them:" "Today it was like this and tomorrow we will see..." "We always wait for something to happen in the TDF." "We always think that big things will happen tomorrow." "Like in life, we always think tomorrow will be better." "But it doesn't change." "It is up to us to take matters in hand." "Strangely, for Andy." "Everything happened in an unknown, fairly insignificant place." "The descent of the small "Col de Manse", hardly ever mentioned in the history of the TDF." "On that downhill slope, he lost one precious minute." "Had he had that minute against Evans in Grenoble, the outcome of the TDF could have been reversed." "That is the TDF." "We often speak of the mythical mountains, but the TDF 2011 was decided in the descent of the "Col de Manse"." "Of course in the coming years, I will try everything to win." "But..." "But one day, when I stop cycling, who knows when that will be, and I never won the Tour, it won't make me an unhappy person." "Of course I want to win it, and I will win at some point." "But if not..." "Poulidor came second 6 times." "He never won the Tour." "He's the most popular athlete in France." "You don't always have to win." "You can't always win."