Fabian Cancellara missed last year’s world championship time trial due to fatigue after the Tour de France and winning Olympic gold, but Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis believes he’ll be back in the rainbow jersey on Thursday evening.
“Without incident of any kind, Fabian will win the world championship by a margin of two minutes,” Riis confidently predicted to Sporten.dk.
Cancellara is regarded by many as clearly the best in the world against the clock, and his two victories in the Vuelta a España will have further reinforced that notion.
David Millar, who finished second to Cancellara in the Valencia time trial in the Vuelta, has decided not to take part. He won Saturday’s time trial in Toledo, although Cancellara had left the race several days before. Last year’s world champion Bert Grabsch is a likely challenger, although it would be a huge shock if he managed to beat the Swiss rider on home soil.
Riis will also have several riders taking parting in Sunday’s race, albeit in national colours. “As regards the road race, I am not sure that Andy [Schleck] has trained enough to make a difference…. But I think that Matti Breschel can do a good race. I believe strongly in Jakob Fuglsang and Chris Anker Sørensen.”
The tough nature of the course will also help those riders, who are regarded as strong climbers. Riis lives in Italy and said that he has ridden the parcours. “I would say it is one of the most exciting circuits for a world championship,” he enthused. “This is a pretty tough route with a very technically challenging and tricky descent, which in turn will favour the strong-form people.”