Fabian Cancellara on his supposed mechanical doping at 2010 Tour of Flanders: "The results have shown who I am and who I was as a rider"
Cycling
One of the most decorated Classics riders Fabian Cancellara may have retired quite a few years ago, but he still finds thrill in professional cycling in his managment role at Swiss formation Tudor Pro Cycling. And so it happens that he'll be back at the scene of some of his biggest triumphs this Sunday - Tour of Flanders.
Cancellara hung up his bike after Olympic timetrial title in Rio 2016 back when he was still at the top of his game. That same year he won Strade Bianche and finished 2nd at Flanders - the race that became so close to him. Did he not miss the thrill of racing? "I closed that chapter with my gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rio. It was the right moment and it felt right," he tells Vive le Vélo ahead Tour of Flanders.
Back in 2010 Cancellara finally made the ends meet at Tour of Flanders, taking first of his three victories at the Flemish Monument. At the time there were speculations of mechanical doping by the Swissman, especially from hurt Belgian fans who would've preferred to see home-crowd favorite Tom Boonen triumph instead. Those rumours clearly don't give Cancellara wrinkles anymore.
"Am I not tired of those rumours? I mainly feel bad for all those people who make up such stories. Today I can laugh about it. I don't have to stoop so low. I don't have to prove anything anymore. The results have shown who I am and who I was as a rider. Ciao, meow!", he laughs.
The Swiss's record is certainly impressive. If he could trade all his victories for one that's missing in his palmares, which would it be? "That's a luxury problem," says Cancellara, referring to a gap in his list of achievements. "It's almost impossible to say which victory I would give away in exchange for the world title. Or for a 4th victory in Flanders or Roubaix. No, I'm satisfied."
What makes the Tour of Flanders so unique for him? "It starts with the country, the region, the people. You have the cobblestones, the chip shops, the beer, ... The Tour is a race that has so many things at the same time. Especially now that the start is not in Antwerp, but in Bruges. It is like being in a stadium. You see the teams going from the buses to the Grote Markt. Those are intense feelings of pride and happiness."
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- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025
- Tricky one as while I agree Pogi and UAE are simply faster over a long distance which means Visma and MVP need to be as smart with energy use as can, it's also been proven in the past that one way for Pogi to be beaten is relentless attacks, to put him into the red. However that does require a rider to as good as sacrifice themselves for that one move which makes riskHoopoeChai07-04-2025
- Even if not technically against the rules, this is just bad etiquette and frankly I hope the rest of pelaton remembers Arkea don't care about etiquette or honoring tradition which means they shouldn't benifit from it.HoopoeChai07-04-2025
- The other issue is that Mad Petersen and Wout would have let MVDP do most of the work, as he kept showing he was stronger. MVDP did the strategy with the highest likelihood of victory, he just wasn't strong enough.acem8207-04-2025