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Cancellara's risky bet - focus on LBL, Lombardia...

May 5, 2009
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I must say that I am a bit surprised that Cancellara is taking this risky bet already next season and not a year or two later.

I must say that I admire him for taking this risk to give up, where he was one of the best if not the best (at least at the moment), i.e. Flanders, Roubaix and target sharply different race profiles. What we often saw missing in GT races; guys not trying something by risking all and prefering to keep what they have, Spartacus is now doing in a pretty courageous and spectacular move on a larger scale. He risks an entire season. At least that's my view, if he really goes for it.

It will be very interesting to follow whether he will suceed in this re-focus like he suceeded in almost all other one day race targets so far during his career. I wish him all the luck and success. Stay tuned...
 
Mar 11, 2009
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I was also surprised he didn't compete in the Geelong ITT because he had nothing to prove and wanted new goals.

Oh, wait...
 
May 5, 2009
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http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cancellara-says-contador-signing-prompted-saxo-bank-departure

...the 29-year-old is ready to change his focus. He told Vélo Magazine that his highlights in 2011 will be Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Worlds road race, and the Tour of Lombardy.

Winning La Doyenne would require a different season schedule. "I think that I can win Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but to do so would require very specific preparation. I would have to forget about Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, and use the Tour of the Basque Country to achieve the best condition." He has never ridden the Basque race in his career before.

It would also mean that he would have to keep his weight down to win all of those races. “The preparation is different for the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. In the Worlds at Mendrisio, where I finished fifth, I weighed 79 kilos, while in the Classics this April, I was 82 kilos. If you want to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April, you should be 79 kilos. "
 
Oct 18, 2009
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What surprised me more is when he stated that the reason behind him leaving Saxo Bank was Contador and the change of focus in the team. During the Schleck period, the whole team was dedicated to the 2 brothers and not Cancellara, so the arrival of Contador wouldn't have changed the way the team operates. So it's not the real reason for leaving Saxo IMO.
 
i respect his choice.having all the monuments in the bag is more valuable than 5 paris-roubaix and 5 tour of flanders in my view.so that will be exciting as hell to watch.he will make his moves 40-50 km away from the finish then ITT.i think he can win them all and i would like that to happen.
and after that what?
grand tours of course.
 
Sep 21, 2009
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roundabout said:
Interesting. No Tour in 2011?

He said during last Vuelta that GT's are not necessarily hard if you are not a GC man and know how to ride them. He may be given a support role for a GC man at whatever his new team might be in a few key stages and take it easy for the rest. Unfortunately for him, pubs in France close earlier at night than in Spain.
 
nobilis said:
What surprised me more is when he stated that the reason behind him leaving Saxo Bank was Contador and the change of focus in the team. During the Schleck period, the whole team was dedicated to the 2 brothers and not Cancellara, so the arrival of Contador wouldn't have changed the way the team operates. So it's not the real reason for leaving Saxo IMO.

That's not totally accurate. Saxo had a dual focus on the Tour and the classics, both hilly and cobbled. Judging from their record it seemed to work out well for them with Amstel, LBL, PR (twice) and Flanders all included in their conquests.

As far his reasoning for leaving well he saw the mass departure taking place and it's only logical that he would want to ride with the group that helped him gain his success.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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The Hitch said:
You think Cancellara will ever be forgiven, for beating Contador in most tts AND for being named rider of the year in front of Gilber? ;)

You forgot Cancellara beating Boonen twice. The Contador thing doesn't annoy me at all, Conti wins the GT anyway :p

Ps: I still think Gilbert is the rider of the year and a way better classics specialist then Cancellara will ever hope to be. The fact that he needs to skip Roubaix and Ronde to participate in Luik says enough. Gilbert doesn't need to do any of that. He can win them all without sacrificing anything. Now if Canc would have won the World road race then I'd consider him the rider of the year xD

I rate the classics specialists like this:

1. Phil
2. Cancellara
3. Boonen
 
Aug 24, 2010
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El Pistolero said:
Ps: I still think Gilbert is the rider of the year


i disagree and i'm a Belgian, Cancellara season was slightly better then Gilberts (PR, RvV, ITT WC, stages in Tour beats GdL, Amstel & stages in vuelta), also Cancellare has already won 3 of the 5 Monuments, Gilbert only Lombardia twice

as for next year, let the best man win
 
Jul 16, 2010
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Mich78BEL said:
i disagree and i'm a Belgian, Cancellara season was slightly better then Gilberts (PR, RvV, ITT WC, stages in Tour beats GdL, Amstel & stages in vuelta), also Cancellare has already won 3 of the 5 Monuments, Gilbert only Lombardia twice

as for next year, let the best man win

Yes, he had a better season, but Gilbert was good during the entire season. Cancellara is extremely boring when he doesn't care. I never said he had a better season if you only consider wins :)
 
Aug 30, 2009
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I understand him wanting the Monuments etc but I really don't think he'll be able to match some of the guys like Vino, Evans, Gilbert etc.

They can keep doing those accelerations, especially up hills - leaving Canc behind.
 
May 5, 2009
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nobilis said:
What surprised me more is when he stated that the reason behind him leaving Saxo Bank was Contador and the change of focus in the team. During the Schleck period, the whole team was dedicated to the 2 brothers and not Cancellara, so the arrival of Contador wouldn't have changed the way the team operates. So it's not the real reason for leaving Saxo IMO.

The classic team was entirely focused on Cancellara even in all the Schleck years. The problem is that all his close friends left and the new hirings were all clearly targeted to be GT helpers for AC and a pretty weak squad in support of Spartacus. However, I would have loved to see AC and FC in best form riding a team trial... wasn't supposed to be...

El Pistolero said:
Hope he fails, that's all I can say lol.

sad. says a lot about you. enviousness, jealousy malicious joy... don't know how this makes some people happy...
 
May 5, 2009
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NickBVK said:
They can keep doing those accelerations, especially up hills - leaving Canc behind.

I can't wait for the 2001 accelerations, from whoever they shall come... but as we know FC, if he targets something he is serious about it... remember Mendrisio uphill accelerations... clash of the titans... will be fun to watch Gilbert, FC and all the guys going for all...
 
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Jul 16, 2010
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la.margna said:
The classic team was entirely focused on Cancellara even in all the Schleck years. The problem is that all his close friends left and the new hirings were all clearly targeted to be GT helpers for AC and a pretty weak squad in support of Spartacus. However, I would have loved to see AC and FC in best form riding a team trial... wasn't supposed to be...



sad. says a lot about you. enviousness, jealousy malicious joy... don't know how this makes some people happy...

So every guy that is a fan of another cyclist is sad according to you :)

Who the hell wants his fav cyclist to lose? Smart ***.

I'm not going to make a secret about the fact I'd much rather see Gilbert finally winning Luik than Cancellara. If Gilbert wouldn't enter LBL I would probably root for Cancellara anyway.
 
May 5, 2009
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El Pistolero said:
So every guy that is a fan of another cyclist is sad according to you :)
stay with the truth and the facts and don't turn my words around to create a lie... are you a journalist? :D

El Pistolero said:
Smart ***.
says also again a lot about you.

El Pistolero said:
I'm not going to make a secret about the fact I'd much rather see Gilbert finally winning Luik than Cancellara. If Gilbert wouldn't enter LBL I would probably root for Cancellara anyway.

If you prefer Gilbert to win, that's fair and your right, no worries, everybody shall want his favourite to win. I like Gilbert's way to ride and attack. But hoping that somebody fails at something and enjoying it, that's entirely different, has no class and is pretty poor...

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