Riding the race as part of a buildup that he hopes will bring him victory in the world road race championships, Fabian Cancellara has said he is disappointed not to take today’s final stage of the Tour of Poland, but also that he
He finished second to Bradley Wiggins, who went 56 seconds faster over the 37 kilometre course. Cancellara was eighteen seconds up the third-placed finisher, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team), but was left frustrated by the experience.
“I didn’t really have the greatest feelings on the bike. I felt quite tired after this tough week of racing,” he said. “It was very hard and then of course doing the time trial at the very end is never easy.
“I did what I had to do. From what I felt before the race and during, the results were actually okay. The parcours wasn’t perfect for me. It was very hard, up and down a lot but the second half was more to my liking.”
Like Wiggins, Cancellara missed this year’s Tour de France. And, like the Briton, he is aiming to peak for the worlds. However the four-time winner of the rainbow jersey for the time trial wants to focus on the road race this year, despite a very hilly course.
At 32 years of age, he is running out of time to become world road race champion and is giving everything to be in his peak condition at the end of September.
“I keep in mind where I am in my training right now,” said Cancellara, putting things in perspective and recognising that today’s defeat may mean very little in a month and half’s time. “I was sick before I came here and then this was a very hard week so I think I did good work and this is a good foundation.
“Wiggins looked comfortable yesterday; he didn’t look like he suffered too much. A minute is a lot of time to lose but considering the course, I’m not too unhappy about it. Now I go to Trek World and then the Vuelta.”