Four-time World Champion confirms Liege and Lombardia goals, will still race the Cobbled Classics
Yesterday, the big news from Fabian Cancellara's honoring by the International Association of Cycling Journalists (AIJC) related entirely to Cancellara's words to Sporza: "I'll race with the Schlecks."
A day later, some more of the words from the awards ceremony have appeared on Sporza as well. The Bernese rider admits that leaving Saxo Bank was not the easiest decision he has ever made, but ultimately, he feels it was the right one.
"It was a difficult decision, but ultimately, I'm not married to Riis. I spent five years on Bjarne's team, so of course I hesitated. I have nothing against the arrival of Alberto Contador, but with the exodus that the team had undergone, I realized that I was not in a very comfortable position. I find it annoying that I finally had to put my name in the category of departures, but Riis's boat will not sink."
Interestingly, the two-time Paris-Roubaix winner made a point to note that he did not choose the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project because most of his former teammates had gone there, but rather for its ethos.
"I chose this team rather than one of the many others, not because the Schleck Brothers are there, but mainly, because it is a team for whom cycling is more important than the 'big names'. I think at almost 30 years old, I made the right decision."
After five years on the same team, switching teams was a big change alone, but Cancellara also took this offseason to change his management. At 29 years old, Cancellara looks to be making the decisions that will follow him through likely some of the most successful seasons of his career.
"For me, everything will be new next year. I changed my manager, I have a new team… This is not Saxo Bank, but I know it well, I know the management. I have 100% confidence in this team, and that is beautiful. The Tour also looks like a nice battle, with or without Alberto. I can help the brothers win the Tour, then I will be proud and happy," said Cancellara to La Derniere Heure.
The winner of three of the five Monuments in cycling feels the clock ticking, and it was the ticking clock that pushed him forward to make the decision to move.
"After five seasons [with Bjarne], I will be 30 in March, it was now or never. I did not want to sit at the table and remain quiet. I need motivation and also to find balance. I had another year on my contract, normally, that's something that I respect, but I want to be comfortable in my skin. I still have the ambition to succeed in new projects. Otherwise, I would stop, and I would go to the beach with my family. I was afraid of finding myself without motivation," concedes the Swiss rider to La Derniere Heure.
Cancellara makes a special note, however, to say that his exit from Saxo Bank was not related to the signing of Alberto Contador, but immediately seems to contradict himself.
"My departure has nothing to do with the arrival of Alberto. I have nothing against him. I do not feel comfortable in that situation though. Moreover, what happens to him is a serious injury both to him and to cycling."
It would seem the loss of many of his Classics support crew to different teams would have left the rider weary of his chances in the Spring. The arrival of Alberto Contador by itself would not have been too upsetting, but it also came along with significant losses in the team's Classics firepower and replaced with Spanish climbing lieutenants for Contador. While Cancellara might have nothing against Contador, he seems to have every right to have been disgruntled with the support available to him on the cobbles and the one day classics as one of the best one day racers in the world.
The cobbled and one day classics have been on Cancellara's mind this winter, and he has made it very clear that he hopes to add two more Monuments to his palmares before he's done: Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia, both races typically considered to be out of the powerhouse rider's wheelhouse. The hilly nature of the races does not seem to deter Cancellara one bit, nor should it, considering his previous performances on extremely difficult courses (Mendrisio Worlds and Beijing Olympics for example). The real question was what would become of the cobbled classics? Would he eschew them entirely to focus 100% on the Ardennes Classics next spring?
"Next year, I will still race Milano-Sanremo and the cobbled classics with bib number one, which will also be great motivation. I also want to go after the Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which I've never done. A win at Liege and Lombardia is a challenge. I need this new motivation, new challenges. I've won Roubaix twice. If you always do the same thing, you lose your motivation," said the AIJC award winner to La Derniere Heure.
Of course, Cancellara understands that targeting those races and winning them are two different things.
"Winning these races would be great, but I realize that this will not be easy at all."
As for the award from the press? Cancellara says it gives him great satisfaction, because the awards relates to more than just his physical achievements.
"This award is different from all those I have earned and particularly this winter. It gives me great pleasure, because it also emphasizes the human qualities and personality of the winner. I try to win races without being selfish and arrogant."