Fabian Cancellara is set to move to the superteam of RadioShack-Nissan-Trek that forms part of the peloton in 2012. Cancellara all but ended speculations about his future in a twitter statement. The team is a merger of the RadioShack and Leopard Trek squads.
Two teams merging will leave some riders scrambling for jobs. Others, like Fabian Cancellara, have the luxury of picking the best offer. After several negotiations, Cancellara seems to have made up his mind for next season. "Rumors and what ever still was it. Had all my chats and meetings with Johan Bruyneel. I tell you it will be great and successful," he said on his twitter account.
Cancellara spent five years at the Saxo Bank of Bjarne Riis, before moving to Leopard-Trek. After only one season the Luxembourg team is now merging with RadioShack.
Cancellara has become highly successful under Riis, with the 2010 double victory in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders as one of the highlights. He also won Milano-Sanremo in 2008.
This year was not quite as good. While he had seven wins, many came in slightly less important races. Instead of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, it was the E3Prijs Vlaanderen this time. And while he became Swiss time trial champion, for once he missed out on a medal in the World Championships in his best discipline, the ride against the clock.
He won both time trials in the Tour de Suisse, but lost out to Tony Martin in the same discipline in both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. One of his wins came in the team time trial.
With the new team and with mentor Bruyneel, the Swiss rider hopes to once again add more important road wins to his palmarès.