At the age of 36 and with years of experience under his belt, Fränk Schleck is surely about to compete in his last Olympic games.

The older of the famous Schleck brothers, Fränk competed at the 2004 games in Athens and in 2008 in Beijing, finishing 16th and 42nd respectively (in 2008 brother Andy just missed out on the medals, finishing 4th in a photo finish).

In 2012 Fränk had been dropped by his team after a positive doping result during the Tour de France found traces of the diuretic Xipamide--he eventually served a one-year ban after the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency ruled that he had not ingested the drug intentionally.

Fränk Schleck during stage 16 of the Tour de France, 22 July 2014. Photo: filip bossuyt (Creative Commons)

In 2006 Schleck caught the cycling world’s attention when he famously won the gruelling Alpe d’Huez stage at the Tour de France. Two years later he had the honour of being the first Luxembourger to wear the famous Tour de France race leader’s yellow jersey since Charly Gaul in 1958.

He would go on to claim another stage win in 2009, then won the 2010 Tour de Suisse (where he had survived a horrendous crash two years earlier).

Fränk Schleck in a 2010 portrait. Photo: Julien Becker

But the highlight of his career was when he placed third in the 2011 Tour de France behind brother Andy in second (the first brothers ever to appear on the podium together).

Always competitive and a gracious but honest interview subject, Schleck told Delano ahead of the 2014 Tour: “I have never ridden a bike without feeling it afterwards. Cycling is a life lesson, but you learn a lot.”