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Cancellara may race Ardennes
Classics star Fabian Cancellara already rules the cobbles and now it appears he might be setting his sights on the hillier spring classics, with possible starts this year at Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race.
Cancellara – who is already focusing on Tour of Flanders this year as his top early season goal – could expand into the hillier routes in eastern Belgium and southern Holland.
“My main focus is on the classics and I might even be doing some of the more hilly ones next year, so it’s possible that I’ll be starting in Amstel Gold Race and Fleché Wallonne,” Cancellara said on Saxo Bank’s web page.
Cancellara has made it no secret that he’d like to win all five of cycling’s major one-day monuments (San Remo, Flanders, Roubaix, Liège and Lombardia) before retiring.
He won Paris-Roubaix in 2006 and then ripped to a thrilling victory with a perfectly timed late-race attack to snag Milan-San Remo in March.
“I consider it entirely possible that I would be able to win the five big one-day races during the course of my career,” he said at the conclusion of the 2008 season. “I feel that by losing a small amount of weight, I could be ready to win in Flanders.”
“If you look at how I won Tirreno-Adriatico, and how I did on the big climbs in the three big races and especially my performance at the Olympics with a very hilly route, I don’t it’s unrealistic that I could win them all at some point.”
The 27-year-old is already busy preparing for the 2009 season. With heavy snowfall in Switzerland, he brought his family with him to Spain’s Canary Islands to put in some miles before Saxo Bank’s training camp next week on Mallorca.
“There were over 40 centimeters of snow back home, so I chose to take my family to Gran Canaria in order to build up my form properly ahead of the New Year. I don’t really have time to sit and wait for the snow to melt,” he said. “I’ll definitely get a lot of training done during the winter and I’m really looking forward to the training camp in the States, where I’ll be able to get in serious shape.”
Cancellara also says he’s still considering a start at the Giro.
“I’ve read about those rumors, but first of all, I want to check out the route properly along with Bjarne Riis and Kim Andersen to see of it's a good idea or not,” he said. “For now the focus is on the spring season and the key word is: win, win, win.”
