Fabian Cancellara wants to end his pro cycling career on a high

Swiss classics, Tour de France and time trial star Fabian Cancellara will pick the right moment to hang up his wheels

Photo: Graham Watson
(Image credit: Watson)

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) could call it quits after another win in the classics.

"It could be [a possible scenario]. It could be, yeah. It's my decision, no one else can take this away," Cancellara said.

"I spoke with Nicki Sørensen, he did it at the right moment, or Jens Voigt did his at his moment. Of course, I see Bernhard Eisel, Tom Boonen and this generation, we are the next ones to say goodbye at some point."

The 33-year-old has been racing professionally since the summer of 2000. He has won three of cycling's five monuments multiple times: Milan-San Remo once, three times the Tour of Flanders and three times Paris-Roubaix.

When he won Flanders in 2014, he tied himself for the record with five others including Boonen. Along with Boonen, 34, Cancellara is this generation's most successful classics cyclist.

Fabian Cancellara on stage one of the 2015 Tour of Qatar

Fabian Cancellara can already look back on a win-filled career without any regrets
(Image credit: Watson)

He also counts eight wins in the Tour de France, four World Championship time trial titles and the 2008 Olympic time trial gold medal.

A road race world title and the Hour Record are two things missing in his palmarès that he could possibility achieve before retiring. He was building towards the Hour Record prior to the UCI changing the rules to allow pursuit bikes in May 2014, but now appears to have shelved the idea. Placing fourth and fifth is the closest he has come to a rainbow jersey in the Worlds road race.

>>> Fabian Cancellara not happy with new Hour Record rules

"There's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Giro di Lombardia... Michele Bartoli never won the Worlds, so maybe I'd join his club," Cancellara said.

"Right now, I can't complain with what I've won."

In a chat with press on Wednesday night at the Tour of Qatar, Cancellara would only confirm his schedule as far as Paris-Roubaix on April 12.

"Retirement? Nothing's planned," he added. "I have a contract that ends in 2016. I want to end on a high level. I don't know about the Olympics, yes or no. The road race, I saw some details. It's a strange parcours, it's climbing, it's harder than Beijing in 2008."

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Gregor Brown

Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.