Schleck brothers to compete in Luxembourg Crit

Only a few days after watching his brother finish a close second to Alberto Contador in the Tour de France, Frank Schleck returns to cycling Thursday in the Luxembourg Criterium.

Schleck and brother Andy will compete in the race, which starts at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Frank Schleck was forced to leave the Tour de France early after breaking his collarbone in a Stage 3 crash on one of the cobblestone-lined portions of the course.

"It took me two to three days to accept," Frank Schleck said of his exit from France. "I think if I'd been there I could have won the Tour."

The Schleck brothers have both said that Frank's absence from the race played a role in Andy's second-place effort at the Tour. He was not able to break away from Contador in the final stages.

"If the two of us had been there we could have proceeded like last year," Frank Schleck said. "We would each have taken turns to attack and Contador would have had to let either Andy or me go."

Andy finished second and Frank took fifth at the 2009 Tour.

There are 62 riders in Thursday's race. The Schleck's are also slated to compete in the Tour of Denmark and the Vuelta a Espana.