Schleck: "We had to believe in Carlos"

By Brecht Decaluwé in La Toussuire

Stage 15 winner Fränk Schleck worked hard for Carlos Sastre today. The Spanish rider might transform himself into a Tour winner: "I've always said that we had to believe in Carlos (Sastre) until the end."

With only one mountains stage to go, Sastre might find it difficult to make up 1'50 on Pereiro. Afterwards there is still a time trial to come, of course. "He's a very good time trialist. If he knows that he might take the yellow jersey, then he might get that extra push. I'm sure he can do it."

As for Landis' explosion, Schleck said, "That's just the Tour de France: you can win it all in one day, but you can lose it all in one day as well. Maybe he made some mistakes like not eating enough."

The team performance was again impressive, was that the plan before the race? "No, Carlos just looked at me and told me to make some speed. I did what I could but felt the efforts from yesterday."

The Tour de France is evolving in a very unpredictable race. Team CSC seems to have found back their fighting spirit, which was invisible in the first week. Fränk Schleck explains how that was possible: "Everybody knows that the first week was just a week for the sprinters. Today was dangerous and that's why we controlled. We didn't do much work in the beginning of the Tour, but that was all about tactics."