Fabian Cancellara: Difference between revisions
Whileseated (talk | contribs) |
|||
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
==Career highlights== |
==Career highlights== |
||
[[Image:Cance2.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Fabian Cancellara in the prologue of the 2006 [[Tour of California]]]] |
|||
;2001 |
;2001 |
||
*[[Bicycling terminology#prologue|Prologue]] and Overall, [[Tour of Rhodes]] |
*[[Bicycling terminology#prologue|Prologue]] and Overall, [[Tour of Rhodes]] |
||
Revision as of 22:14, 17 July 2006
Template:Road bicycle racer infobox Fabian Cancellara (born March 18, 1981) is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer. A time trial specialist, he has most prominently won the short prologue time trial of the 2004 Tour de France. In 2006 he became the only second Swiss winner of the Classic one-day race Paris-Roubaix, following Heiri Suter in 1923.
Biography
Cancellara was born in Wohlen by Bern, and already in his junior years, he impressed as a time trialist. In both 1998 and 1999 he won the junior World Time Trial Championship. At the age of 19, he came in second at the U/23 World Time Trial Championship, after which he turned professional with Mapei-Quick Step, then one of the strongest teams in the world.
In his first pro-years Cancellara won several smaller races, but when he switched to Fassa Bortolo in 2003, he managed to win the prologues of the big races Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse. 2004 was Cancellara definite break-through season. He finished fourth in the classic race Paris-Roubaix, and at the Tour de France he won the prologue ahead of Lance Armstrong, and thus started the race in the yellow jersey. Defending the jersey in the first stage of the race, he lost it after the second stage, handing it to Thor Hushovd. In 2005, Cancellara was one of the favourites for the Paris-Roubaix, but a flat tire 46 kilometers from the finish line[1] meant he finished 8th, almost four minutes behind winner Tom Boonen. Later that year, he came in third at the World Time Trial Championship in Madrid.
When the Fassa Bortolo team was discontinued in the winter of 2005, Cancellara signed a 3-year contract with Team CSC, starting from the 2006 season. Before the Paris-Roubaix 2006 he said he had never been better prepared[2] and following his own acceleration on the cobblestones in the forest of Arenberg, just below 100 kilometers from the finish line, he forced a selection of 17 riders to compete for the win. When Discovery Channel rider Vladimir Gusev attacked on the Le Carrefour de l’Arbre cobblestones with 17 kilometers to go, Cancellara followed him, before surpassing Gusev for a solo break-away. Cancellara quickly gained 30 seconds on the other favourites and riding the last kilometers like a time trial[3] he kept on expanding his lead for the remainder of the race[4] finishing one and a half minute ahead of the riders closest to him.
Career highlights
- 2001
- Prologue and Overall, Tour of Rhodes
- 2002
Switzerland National Time Trial Champion- GP Eddy Merckx
- Stage 4 and Overall, GP Erik Breukink
- Prologue and Overall, Tour of Rhodes
- ZLM Tour
- Stage 1, Österreich Rundfahrt
- Stage 3, Ytong Bohemia Tour
- 2003
- Prologue, Tour de Suisse
- Prologue and points competition, Tour de Romandie
- Stage 4, Tour of Belgium
- 2004
- Switzerland National Time Trial Champion
- Prologue and 109th Overall, Tour de France
- Stage 1, Setmana Catalana
- Stage 4, Tour de Luxembourg
- Stage 4, Tour of Qatar
- 2005
- Switzerland National Time Trial Champion
- Stage 4, Paris-Nice
- Stage 4, Tour de Luxembourg
- Stage 5, Setmana Catalana
- 128th Overall, Tour de France
- 2006
- Switzerland National Time Trial Champion
- Stage 5 (ITT), Tirreno-Adriatico
- Paris-Roubaix
- Prologue (ITT) of the Volta a Catalunya
Footnotes
- ^ BOONEN KING OF THE CLASSICS, A.S.O., 2005
- ^ Cancellara: Never Been Better Prepared, Team-CSC
- ^ Timely victory for Siwtzerland’s Cancellara, A.S.O., April 9, 2006
- ^ The race, A.S.O., April 9, 2006