The Tour Down Under has taught Andy Schleck a valuable lesson, says Jens Voigt

TOUR de France champion Andy Schleck's week of suffering in the Tour Down Under ended with a bizarre disappearing act.

Andy Schleck

TOUR de France champion Andy Schleck's week of suffering in the Tour Down Under which ended with a bizarre disappearing act yesterday will teach him a life lesson, said his teammate Jens Voigt.

The Luxemborger had a mechanical problem mid-way through Stage 6 and when he was unable to rejoin the peloton, abandoned the race and went back to the team's hotel.

He was nowhere to be seen as his six teammates were later presented on stage after RadioShack-Leopard won the overall teams classification.

It continued a tough week for Schleck who looked a shadow of the man who won the 2010 Tour de France.

It was his first race since October and just his second since June when he crashed and spent the rest of the season recovering from injury.

Schleck started yesterday's final stage sitting 127th of 128 riders, having conceded 39 minutes to eventual Tour winner Tom Slagter.

Voigt, the veteran of the peloton at 41, said he had been mentoring Schleck who had doubted his capabilities after struggling to keep up.

"He needed a little pep talk (this week), one time I also gave him a little kick talk," Voigt said. "He is a very good rider and normally (when) he suffers it's for a really good result and he just suffered for survival.

"It's new for him but it's lessons he's learnt for life and after he can say 'I know what it feels like to be down here and I never want to go back there.

"Hopefully that's a lesson that sticks to his mind and he says 'you know what, enough of slacking it, enough (of not) concentrating, I learnt that it's better to be on top and on the giving end of pain rather than to be on the receiving end."

Before the stage, Schleck told The Advertiser the TDU had been harder than he expected, but he had enjoyed the week and would be back next year.

"Yes definitely next year," Schleck said. "I will be back, yes.

"I've definitely got out of it what I wanted but it's also been harder than I expected.

"I haven't been racing for so long and now I've been training a lot but racing is different.

"In today's cycling there are no easy races anymore, this used to be kind of an easy race a race for sprinters, but definitely I will go home with good feelings."

Schleck, who captivated thousands of fans by conquering some of the Tour de France's biggest climbs including the Col du Galibier in 2011, was uncharacteristically dropped by the peloton up Willunga Hill on Saturday.

It was a reality check for the Grand Tour star who will be hoping to be among the major contenders for this year's Tour de France in July.

"He's talented, he's young and he's human," Voigt said.

"There's a lot of small steps to take, it was good that he came here to suffer, to do the race, but there's still lots of room for him (to improve).

"He looked at this (race) as something that has made him move forward because the race is vicious but it's not a killer, you can still survive it and still go through it."

STAGE 6 RESULTS

1. Andre Greipel (LTB, GER) 1h52m59s

2. Mark Renshaw (BLA, AUS) st

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY, NOR) st

4. Matt Goss (GEC, AUS) st

5. Tyler Farrar (GRM, USA) st

6. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) st

7. Klaas Lodewyck (BMC, BEL) st

8. Barry Markus (VCD, NED) st

9. Yauheni Hutarovich (ALM, BLR) st

10. Kenny Van Hummel (VCD, NED) st

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Tom-Jelte Slagter (BLA, NED) 18h28m32s

2. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) at 17s

3. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) at 25s

4. Ion Izaguirre (EUS, ESP) at 32s 

5. Ben Hermans (RAD, BEL) at 34s

6. Wilco Kelderman (BLA, NED) at 34s

7. Gorka Izaguirre (EUS, ESP) at 36s

8. Daniele Pietropolli (LAM, ITA) at 36s

9. Tiago MacHado (RAD, POR) at 38s

10. Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ, FIN) at 41s.

SPRINT CLASSIFICATION

1. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) 46 pts

2. Andre Greipel (LTB, GER) 45

3. Tom-Jelte Slagter (BLA, NED) 41

4. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) 37

5. Mark Renshaw (BLA, AUS) 36.

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

1. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) 22 pts

2. Jack Bobridge (BLA, AUS) 20 2

3. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) 16

4. Simon Gerrans (GEC, AUS) 16

5. Eros Capecchi (MOV, ITA) 16.

TEAM CLASSIFICATION

1. RADIOSHACK LEOPARD TREK 55h27m54s

2. MOVISTAR TEAM at 1m9s

3. LOTTO-BELISOL at 4m

4. BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM at 5m14s

5. EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI at 5m34s 5.

REPLAY our live coverage of the final stage of the Tour Down Under below