Saxo Bank put on a magnificent display at the head of affairs today over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix. Fabian Cancellara put in an almost typical dominant performance over the cobbles. His relentless pacemaking was the theme of the finale, but so was the head peaking around his shoulders: Andy Schleck.
Schleck made the crucial selection, followed the mighty Cancellara's wheel, and even contributed to the pacesetting on the paved sections. At the end of the day, the result was significant: Schleck put significant time into every general classification contender save for Cadel Evans, and Fabian Cancellara was once again in Yellow. The happiness between the two teammates, Schleck and Cancellara, was evident as they crossed the line high fiving.
Sporza caught up with the happy Schleck right after he crossed the line. The overall significance was not lost on Schleck. He erased his terrible opening time trial performance and replaced it with a powerful display in northeastern France.
"The time I lost the first day in the time trial I gained back today. I felt pretty good, you know? I had a super team working for me."
Half a breath later, Schleck turns the attention to his fallen brother, Frank, who broke his collarbone with less than 30 kilometers remaining in the stage.
"Unfortunately we lost Frank today. He broke his collarbone. When I hear that he only broke the collarbone, that makes me happy. It's good there's not more damage. His Tour is finished, but it's not the most important thing in life."
Schleck looked remarkably at ease and confident over the pave of Stage 3. Last year's best young rider and second overall on the final podium couldn't resist a jab at the unanimous verdict ahead of the stage that he would struggle over the cobbles when speaking with Frankie Andreu of Versus.
"I felt pretty good today. I knew I wasn't too bad on the stones even though no one believes in me. Nobody believes that I can manage to go fast over the cobbles. I think I showed differently."
In typical Andy Schleck fashion, he rolled off with a wry smile after noting the possibility of a future appearance at the Hell of the North:
"When we trained on it, we always said, I was pretty good on it. Maybe I'll go for Roubaix next year?"