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Fränk Schleck’s (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Leopard Trek) hopes of victory at 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Amstel Gold Race on Sunday were ruined when he crashed along with his teammate Fabian Cancellara. The Luxemb𓆏ourg champion was directly behind Cancellara when he came 𒊎down, and Schleck was unable to avoid riding into him.

Although Schleck was deeply disappointed to miss out on the chance to form an attacking tandem with his brother Andy in the finale, he was quic🍃k to absolve Cancellara of any blame.

“Let’s face it, he’s the best bike handler we’ve ever seen, he🌼 crashes once every five years,” Schleck said afterward. “Today I was on his wheel because you can trust him with your eyes closed and today he’s crashed.&꧙rdquo;

Schleck was unsure of the precise cause of Cancellara’s crash, although it appears 🍒that a touch of wheels brought the 🍌Swiss rider down.

“I don’t know, I was just following the big master Fabian,” Schleck said. "Normally you can trust him blind and follow him with your eyes closed. I can tru🔯st him and be confident with and everything. He actually felt sorry afterward. He just crashed in front of me. I don’t know how it happened but I just tumbled over him.”

It was Schleck’s second crash of the afternoon, and with the pace rising at the head of the race, his chances of taking the win wꦦent up in smoke.

“After t❀he second time I had to change the bike and it was the key moment,” Schleck said. “Andy did a great race, Jakob [Fuglsang] did a great race but for me it was a punch in the stomach. I’ve been working really hard, I believe that I’m in really, really good shape. But after a down, there’s always an up.

Andy’s attack

While Fränk Schleck was removed from contention by the crash, his younger brother Andy went on the attack in the final stages, hitting out over the top🎃 of the Keutenberg with 13km to go, and surviving until the final haul up the Cauberg.

The brothers had planned a dual offensꦉive from further out, however, and i൩n the confusion following his Fränk’s crash, Andy Schleck delayed his effort.

“We wanted to go in the Eyserbosweg or ev🅰en the climb before the Keutenberg and put on the pressure there,” Fränk Schleck explained. “Andy and myself would have gone on the Eyserbosweg. As far as I know, Andy went later as he didn’t know what was going on. In those key moments, everything changes.”

Andy was eventually reeled in by winner Philippe Gilbert and his Omega Pharma-Lotto squad on the short, sharp climb to the finish on the Cauberg. While Fränk Schleck applauded Gilbert’s victory, ♋he warned that the Belgian’s domination of th🌟e Ardennes Classics was not a foregone conclusion.

“He also won last year here, but he didn’t win Flèche and he didn’t win Liège. We’ll see what ha✃ppens [this year],” Schleck said. “I have to admit that he raced very cleverly. He left Andy out there. Maybe he could have taken him back earlier but he left him out there and he was confident about his sprint, so hats off to him."