Cycling: Every fan knows the name Fabian Cancellara. 17 years of professional cycling lie behind the Swiss. Fabian Cancellara has worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, won stages and triumphed multiple times in one-day classics such as Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. There are also several world championship titles and Olympic gold medals. He also finished as a winner in tours such as Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse. Fabian Cancellara's success stories could fill a whole book. After the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, he ended his career. But what actually drives the Swiss clockwork? Velomotion met up with Fabian Cancellara at Eurobike. He took a few minutes at the GORE®wear booth and told us something about his life after professional sport.
“There is still a lot of new territory”
Michael Behringer: Fabian, your fans are probably very interested in what you do after your successful career as a professional cyclist. How do you spend your time?
Fabian Cancellara: Do you have enough time? no fun I have a lot of interesting topics. I'm busy with a triathlon project and with the Chasing Cancellara project, which are sporting events. And of course, I have a long-term collaboration with GORE®wear. I'm with Trek and I have my private sponsors. So I'm sure it won't be boring.
I read that you will even take part in a triathlon yourself on September 3rd in Rorschach.
Precisely. This is also what I briefly mentioned earlier. I'm a shareholder in a company called TriStar. And so I'm going to do a 3 at the weekend - on September 55,5rd: 500 meters swimming, 50 kilometers cycling and 5 kilometers jogging. I want to have the experience there. I want to find out more about what this experience means. To get ahead for me, but also for the entire organization. Because it's not about winning. I really want to find out what we can improve. In the end, it's the quality that makes the difference.
If you draw a comparison: Was your cycling career more strenuous, or is it the challenges now after your career?
It always depends. Of course, cycling gives you the opportunity to work on your physical condition. In my current job it's a bit more difficult. You can't work out a condition there. Here you can only try to reconcile the structure, the possible dates and all the activities that are currently pending. That means, of course, having a good structure, a good agenda… and also taking a nose at yourself. Because I have to adapt to the outside world and not what cycling was before: just training, racing and resting. That's the difficulty here. But in the end a year has passed. So it's been over a year since I stopped. And I'm still figuring out where I can improve what. It's still a lot of new territory. And this new territory needs a little more time.
Even after his successful career, Fabian Cancellara continues to step on the gas.
"I'm too ambitious to just sit at home"
You are now also a certified sports manager. Is it your goal to get into cycling at some point?
This sports management course was important for me to progress in general. Where the journey then goes - whether it is top-class sport, popular sport or individual sports management - it can go in all directions. I think what I've done now is the first step into the next level, into the next project. So whatever comes, it will help me a lot and it has already helped me a lot. It was very exciting and I just don't want to stand still. I'm too ambitious to just sit at home and do nothing. That's why I'm glad that I have certain projects, that I've continued my education - and as I said: that's not all by a long shot, because things are progressing and you have to keep at it. Because in cycling training you have exactly the same thing. From nothing, comes nothing.
But the hour record is no longer an issue?
No, not at all.
"Stefan Küng will ride at the front"
Your great strength was on cobblestones. Who would you currently describe as perhaps the strongest driver on this terrain?
There is currently no one who stands out directly. I think it has a good solid field of racers in general. But now to say "this is the best or could be" is difficult to say. Like I said, it's very broad. But that's a good thing, because it makes it possible to introduce new racers to the whole thing and then maybe make the difference.
The Swiss Stefan Küng is already very far in the time trial. Can he also evolve there on cobblestones?
Yes, sure too. I think he is one of the racers who is predestined for this discipline and also for time trials. It may take another year or two – then he will be among the front runners. He's got what it takes to really be up front.
Probably at the World Time Trial Championship anyway?
I don't know what all his preparation looks like. It always depends on the length. But he certainly has the potential. The goal is there. He just has to find his way to get there.
“We could do 8 drivers & 2 weeks”
What does Fabian Cancellara think of the discussion about perhaps only allowing teams to compete in Grand Tours with eight riders?
You can do eight racers and two weeks. Because it's currently three weeks and nine racers. It makes a difference whether you go with eight or nine people for three or two weeks. The number of kilometers is not always without. Of course you need help from there. You have to discuss everything, not just six or eight racers or two or three weeks. I think the Tour makes it a little easy to say yes, eight racers means less control. Then you can also say, we do two weeks. Because then it is also less intense and hard. Because in the end three weeks just drag on. If you then have hard stages, then in the last week there is only Grupetto everywhere. And the race is made at the top. It's not that interesting anymore.
Another point of contention is still the funk.
I think topic of controversy is a bit exaggerated. It always depends on the situation. When it comes to security, I still think it's important to have the radio in place. Because I've already experienced X situations where we were glad that the radio was there. And we knew the ambulance was coming because of an accident. Not for the racers, just for the street. The cars have to get through somewhere and so must the ambulance. Or you can act much, much better in the event of dangers on the route or in the event of a fall. We're not with Eddy Merckx anymore, not with the old guard anymore. Now we are in modern cycling. Technology keeps coming. One day you can watch bike races and see all the watt values. You may get all the information over the radio. Formula 1 already has it a bit. Cycling will develop in this direction because we are digitally bred, I would say. And that's certainly an area that's still growing.
Understood. Thank you for the interview.
Excellent! I also thank.