Classics star refuses to give up on Ronde and Roubaix
Swiss time trial and classics specialist, Fabian Cancellara wants to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Giro di Lombardia next year. If he succeeds, he will become only one of four cyclists to have won all five monumental classics.
At an awards presentation Tuesday in Brussels, he confirmed he will ride in Andy Schleck’s new Luxembourg-basted team and outlined his plans.
“I don’t want to give up on the cobbled classics, but I would like to win Liège and Lombardia,” he said. “Otherwise, doing the same things you lose motivation, I need new challenges.”
The 29-year-old won his first of five Monuments in 2006, France’s Paris-Roubaix. In 2008, he won Milano-Sanremo and this year, he won Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix for a second time. He lacks only Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Giro di Lombardia to complete the set.
Belgians Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx are the only riders to have won all five monuments. After Cancellara won Ronde in April, he said that he was anxious to join the exclusive club.
“It is possible,” he said, “but my preparations have to be different. I have to think about skipping Roubaix.”
He now wants to push ahead the two weeks from Roubaix to Liège. Only three riders have been successful in Liège after winning Roubaix: Rik van Looy in 1961, Eddy Merckx in 1973, Sean Kelly in 1984.
Italy’s Francesco Moser won Milano-Sanremo (1984), Paris-Roubaix (1978, 1979, 1980) and Giro di Lombardia (1975, 1978), but cast doubt on Cancellara’s dream.
“It’s difficult,” Moser told La Gazzetta dello Sport in April
“He has to change something in his preparations to do it because Liège and Lombardia have more climbs. Lombardia would be possible if it arrived in Milan, instead of Como, as it did in the past. He would have more time to recover.”
Cancellara’s last major win came in September when he claimed a record fourth World Championship time trial title. In 2008, he won the Olympics time trial in Beijing.