After a fantastic season highlighted by wins at the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, stages and yellow at the Tour de France, and a fourth World Time Trial Championship, it was no surprise when Bern's, Fabian Cancellara, took home the prestigious Velo d'Or yesterday.
Today, the Swiss star spoke on Swiss television station, Schweizer Fernsehen's, Sport Lounge show. The recently crowned World Champion is satisfied with what he has accomplished, but is looking for more in the future. As always, the one day classics are on his mind, and now that both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix have been definitively marked off the list, Cancellara seems to be shifting his focus heading into 2011.
"There are still one day races that I have not won."
Of course, the races that he hasn't won are those that are normally not associated with the Red Hammer's skillset, but that hasn't stopped Cancellara in the past - one need only look as far as his podium finish at the difficult, some might say mountainous, road race at the Olympics in Beijing as well as his overall victory at the Tour de Suisse. Certainly, it wasn't the hardest Tour de Suisse, but it was a Tour de Suisse nonetheless. It seems perfectly reasonable for Cancellara to set his sights on races like Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, the World Championships, not to mention the final monument of the year, the Giro di Lombardia.
For whatever team that Cancellara does in fact sign for, it seems that it might be a bit difficult for the squad to stomach the cobbled dominator not wanting to peak for Flanders and Roubaix. If Cancellara signs for the Luxembourg project, as the rumors have screamed loudest, there would be three captains heading into the Wallonian Classics - Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, and Fabian Cancellara. In the current climate of undisputed leadership in the Classics, a three-headed hydra of possibilities would be a refreshing return to the times of old when podiums were stacked with talent from one team - why not in 2011?
Cancellara, however, is still not willing to let on to which team he will be riding for next season, but assures that a number of prerequisites have to be met.
One: "I need good people around me, the trust must be there." And two: "I am a leader, and I want to continue to be that in my new team."
The winner of two editions of Paris-Roubaix has little patience for the seemingly continuous announcement of new doping cases.
"It gets on one's nerves when new cases constantly come to light."
The most recent blockbuster doping case, that of Alberto Contador, has been particularly painful for everyone and while we've all thought it, Cancellara said it: "Cycling did not deserve that."
For his distaste for doping, Cancellara's name has come up on several occasions throughout his career, notably earlier this season in the almost farcical mechanical doping allegations. Cancellara, however, has managed to keep a clean record throughout his career and points to that when the question comes to his own habits.
"I can't say much to this criticism. In 2009, I had 58 doping controls. When I'm still not believed, I can't do much about that."
In the interview, Cancellara compares doping to speeding on the highway - sure, you can get away with it most of the time, but at some point, the hammer is going to come down, and for that reason, the Swiss rider can't accept how people can take on that risk.
"There's always the risk of getting caught, I just can't understand the people who take on this risk."
When the topic turned toward just how much longer Cancellara plans to continue racing, the still only 29 year old rider steadily feels a harder pull to his family and home. Cancellara didn't say that he was planning on retiring, but did hint that he won't be one of the riders that continues his career until he's nearly forty.
"It always gets harder for me to leave my daughter for weeks on end."
It will be interesting to see when the news will come of Cancellara's signing. The speculation for 2011 can begin in earnest once that's known.