With six days left until the end of the Vuelta a España, Fabian Cancellara has said that he will leave the race in order to build towards the world time trial championships in Copenhagen on September 21st.
The Leopard Trek rider revealed that he would stop early today; it is a little unclear when he will leave, but it is expected that he will complete today’s 180 kilometre race to Haro, then call it a day.
“Finally a flat stage..........!!!,” he said on his Twitter account. “I will leave the Vuelta today and will get rest and then prepear [sic] the worlds.”
Cancellara has won the world time trial championship in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. He didn’t ride the race in 2008, and so he has been unbeaten in recent years. This season has seen some unsteadiness, though, with the rider being beaten in several time trials. He was bested by Tony Martin (HTC Highroad) in both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, with Cancellara only finishing eighth in the first of those and fourth in the latter.
As a result his reputation of near-invulnerability has been damaged, and he will be keen to show that he is still the same force as before. The big Swiss engine knows that Martin will be a big threat in the worlds and with no further time trials taking place in the race, prefers to head home and prepare there for what will be a very big clash in fifteen days time.
His withdrawal is par for the course for the rider; Cancellara didn’t ride the Vuelta in 2007 but in the other years where he won gold in the worlds, he pulled out of the Vuelta before the end. He’s following a tried and tested pattern, and will hope that this again produces the same result as before. With Martin in top form, though, nothing appears guaranteed.