Fabian Cancellara
>>> Fabian Cancellara results and rider profile
Nationality: Swiss
Date of birth: March 18, 1981
Height: 185cm
Weight: 81kg
Twitter: @f_cancellara
Fabian Cancellara is one of the greatest classics riders and time triallists of his generation. The Swiss rider, who retired in 2016, is a four-time world time trial champion and three time winner of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. He was a regular on the podiums of other Classics and would have won more had his rivals not worked out ways to beat him.
The classics form only half of his back catalogue as time trials make up the other. His talent against the clock has brought him several victories in Tour de France prologues, and as a result he is the rider who has spent longest in the Tour's yellow jersey once you've excluded the winners.
Fabian Cancellara turned professional with Mapei-Quick Step in 2001 at the age of just 19 after impressing with a second place finish at the Under-23 World Time Trial Championships.
From there Cancellara moved to Fassa Bortolo in 2003, picking up a number of time trial wins during his first season at the team, including prologues at the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, and also rode his first ever Classic, finishing 73rd at the Tour of Flanders.
The Swiss rider's first notable success in the Classics came the following season at Paris-Roubaix, where he arrived in the famous velodrome in the leading group, but missed out in the sprint to finish fourth. That year also saw him wear the Tour de France yellow jersey for the first time, winning the prologue time trial in Liège.
After a relatively quiet year in 2005, Fabian Cancellara joined Team CSC in 2006, and immediately found success, winning his first Classic at Paris-Roubaix with the sort of solo victory that would become his trademark for the next decade. That season also saw Cancellara take his first World Championship title, beating American Dave Zabriskie by over a minute in Salzburg.
The following season saw Cancellara suffer a poor Classics campaign, finishing 53rd in the Tour of Flanders and 19th in Paris-Roubaix. However he found greater success in the summer, winning the Tour de France prologue on the streets of London, taking the yellow jersey in the process, which he would hold until the first mountain stage at the end of the first week. Cancellara also successfully defended his rainbow bands in Stuttgart.
2008 saw no cobbled Classic victory for Cancellara, but it did see him take the only Milan-San Remo victory of his career. At the Tour de France there was no yellow jersey, but he did help team-mate Carlos Sastre to the overall title in Paris, and at the Olympics he won gold in the time trial and bronze in the road race to cap another successful season.
The next season saw Fabian Cancellara again go without a Classics victory, but he did at least manage to win the opening stages of both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, won the overall title of the Tour de Suisse, and took a third World Time Trial Championships on home roads in Switzerland, and even managed to place fifth in the road race.
2010 saw Cancellara return to form over the cobblestones, winning both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with powerful solo efforts. The Swiss rider memorably dropped Tom Boonen on the Muur Van Geraardsbergen to win Flanders, but Roubaix was even more impressive, going solo with more than 50km to go to win by more than two minutes.
The victories then kept coming throughout the year, with Cancellara take prologue victories at the Tour de Suisse and Tour de France, before rounding out the year with a fourth, and what would turn out to be final, World Championship win.
The following year proved less successful as Cancellara suffered from a lack of team support and perhaps a little over-ambition at the Classics, where a bold attack with 60km to go at the Tour of Flanders left him with little left in the tank for the sprint finish. He also struggled in the Tour de France, where he was only able to take seventh place in the only individual time trial of the race, which was won by Tony Martin, who would consistently get the better of Cancellara against the clock over the coming years.
2012 was a year of bad luck. After being out-sprinted by Simon Gerrans at Milan-San Remo, Cancellara crashed out of the Tour of Flanders suffering a bad collarbone break in the process. He returned to take yet another yellow jersey at the Tour de France prologue, but would miss out on Olympic glory a few weeks later after crashing in the road race when in the front group.
Perhaps spurred on by the disappointments of 2012, Cancellara reached new heights in the spring of 2013. A powerful solo attack gave him the win at E3 Harelbeke, and although this made him a marked man for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, he won both; Flanders after dropping Peter Sagan at the top of the Paterberg with 13km to go, and Roubaix after out-sprinting Sep Vanmarcke.
In order to focus on the World Championships, Cancellara decided to miss the Tour de France for the first time since 2006, but fell short in Florence, finishing third behind Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins.
The 2014 Tour of Flanders saw Cancellara take his final victory in a Monument, winning the group sprint to the line ahead of Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke. Another podium came a week later at Paris-Roubaix, where Cancellara finished third after Niki Terpstra launched a late solo attack.
In 2015, Cancellara was a shadow of his former self, being ruled out of the Classics with injury and picking up only a single victory. However he returned with a vengeance for his final season in 2016.
There were no spring victories for Cancellara to cap off his career, although he still performed well, taking 2nd place in the Tour of Flanders behind a peerless Peter Sagan. He then followed that up with an astonishing 11th national time trial title, before bowing out of professional riding with an unexpected victory in the Olympic time trial in Rio de Janeiro.
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'Getting away with it is shockingly easy': Five reasons why motor doping suspicions won't go away
Having spent over a year investigating motor doping, Chris Marshall-Bell examines the rumours and unanswered questions that remain
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Tweets of the week: Fabian Cancellara has a PS5 for you, and SD Worx's riders have fun in California
The World Cup might be distracting you, but cycling still exists, come on
By Adam Becket Published
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‘Those climber guys can ride over the cobbles these days’ - Fabian Cancellara predicts a fast paced opening week at the Tour de France
Cancellara has won the opening stage of the Tour de France five times and knows the importance of a strong opening week
By Tom Thewlis Published
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Fabian Cancellara: 'It's happy Easter, but not happy Ghent-Wevelgem day'
Fabian Cancellara says he's remaining calm ahead of the Tour of Flanders after missing out on podiums at E3 Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem
By Gregor Brown Published
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Fabian Cancellara: 'My future is with Trek, but not as a sports director'
Fabian Cancellara wants more than 'waving and shaking hands' when he retires, saying he wants to help develop the Trek-Segafredo youth riders
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara: "I'll start Paris-Roubaix with my game face on"
Fabian Cancellara says he is racing his last Paris-Roubaix to win it – a race that Tom Boonen says you don't need a plan for, "you need balls"
By Gregor Brown Published
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Fabian Cancellara exclusive: I've won time trials before when I've felt bad
Fabian Cancellara tweeted on Thursday that he's in bed with a fever, but that's no reason to write the Swiss rider off ahead of the Giro d'Italia time trial
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara crashes in the velodrome after finishing final Paris-Roubaix (video)
Fabian Cancellara signs off from Paris-Roubaix in dubious style - crashing on his lap of honour and sliding into a puddle
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Catch behind the scenes documentary with Cancellara and Trek on Eurosport tonight
The 'Behind the Stripes' documentary will be aired on Tuesday night, offering an insight into one of cycling's biggest teams
By Jack Elton-Walters Published
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Geraint Thomas stays second after Volta ao Algarve time trial as Luis Leon Sanchez crashes out
Fabian Cancellara won the 18km time trial at the Volta ao Algarve after with Tony Martin taking overall control and Geraint Thomas in second
By Richard Windsor Published
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Fabian Cancellara aiming to add world road race title to his collection
Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara wants the road race rainbow jersey to add to his four time trial titles
By Gregor Brown Published
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Fabian Cancellara: 'Don't compare Strade Bianche with Paris-Roubaix'
Classics legend Fabian Cancellara says Strade Bianche cannot be compared to the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix.
By Gregor Brown Published
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Fabian Cancellara: Rider Profile
Fabian Cancellara - rider profile, biog, results, photos
By Cycling Weekly Published
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Trek and Cancellara taking ‘careful’ approach to disc brakes in 2016
Fabian Cancellara is testing a disc brake bike in his winter training, but his Trek technical director believes he will use a traditional system in his Classics season
By Gregor Brown Published
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Fabian Cancellara wins Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana in Mallorca
Swiss time trial and classics star Fabian Cancellara solos to victory on the third day of the Challenge Mallorca
By Nigel Wynn Published
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Tony Martin: Cancellara wrong, there can't be enough attention on the Hour Record
German time trial specialist hopes to announce his own attempt sometime this year
By Richard Windsor Published
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Fabian Cancellara announces comeback plans
Trek Factory Racing rider Fabian Cancellara confirms he will return to racing at the Tour des Fjords at the end of May
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara: I gave it all I had in Tour of Flanders, but I'm not Superman
Cancellara was left disappointed after finishing second to Peter Sagan in his final Tour of Flanders, but said that he's 'not Superman'
By Gregor Brown Published
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Milan San-Remo 2016: Alexander Kristoff is the bookies' favourite to regain his crown
Winner in 2014, Alexander Kristoff is the pre-race favourite at 9/2 but Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and Fabian Cancellara all offer good prices
By Cycling Weekly Published
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Fabian Cancellara leads calls for change after Tirreno blizzard
Trek Factory Racing's Fabian Cancellara takes to Twitter to call for rule changes after the peloton at Tirreno-Adriatico were forced to ride through a snow storm
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara’s top 11 time trial tips
Olympic Champion Fabian Cancellara has one word to describe amateur time triallists in the UK: “crazy”. All the same, the TT maestro was happy to pass on 11 nuggets of wisdom that any of us can make use of, regardless of ability
By Jack Elton-Walters Published
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Fabian Cancellara wins Rio Olympics men's time trial as Chris Froome claims bronze
Swiss time trial master Fabian Cancellara puts in a blistering ride to claim Rio Olympic gold as Chris Froome places third behind Tom Dumoulin
By Nigel Wynn Published
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‘Fabian Cancellara's retirement is a pity for all at Trek-Segafredo'
Edward Theuns is sad to see his teammate leaving the sport at the end of 2016, but hopes to maximise the benefits of riding with the Swiss.
By Chris Marshall-Bell Published
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Fabian Cancellara says Trek's stability could be the key for 2015
Fabian Cancellara also claims he had planned to make a similar attack to Michal Kwiatkowski in the World Championships if his body had allowed
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara announces retirement date
Trek Factory Racing rider Fabian Cancellara says that 2016 will be his last season as a professional
By Stuart Clarke Published
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Fabian Cancellara's lawyers demand book that alleges motor doping be withdrawn from sale
Phil Gaimon's book 'Draft Animals' claimed that Fabian Cancellara probably had a hidden electric motor in his bike during 2010 Classics wins – now Cancellara wants an apology
By Nigel Wynn Published