PRESS CONFERENCE Fabian Cancellara | "When I retired, I said, I want to give back to my sport" - Swiss legend returns to the Tour de France

Fabian Cancellara was last at the Tour de France as a rider back in 2016. Nine years later he returns, but as the owner of Tudor Pro Cycling Team which is making it's debut at the Grand Boucle. CyclingUpToDate was present at the team's press conference to hear what the veteran had to say about the team's creation up until this moment.

Cancellara, a multiple time monument winner, time-trial World Champion and Tour de France stage winner, is a rider with plenty history in this race. Hence, although he is not riding it anymore, he is going to be one of the most regular faces behind the scenes throughout the three weeks - specially if the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Storer or Alberto Dainese manage to take a stage win.

Answer: Yes, I think it's quite special. I think it's special in different ways because it might feel like it has been yesterday, last time at the Tour, but already many years now have been gone. But I think, yeah, you mentioned a few things from my past and of course the past is something, but I'm looking forward and now definitely it's really honoured to be here with the team, to get this chance and being not anymore a bike rider to be here. I think it's, yeah, I mean, the next few days will give you more of these feelings because now it's like, I don't call it business as usual, but I've been standing outside and looking here in. I said last time this was like talking to press when you have been a rider.

Now you sit here as a team owner, talking about something completely else. And I think for me, it feels great. It feels special. And yeah, I'm sitting here not for myself. I'm sitting here for the whole team. I think we are super proud to be here and I'm looking more for the team than myself because I was mentioned that I explored a lot in my past. I explored highs and lows. But for me, it's now what is about the team, to put the team in the front, to put our people that makes this possible. Because again, I'm talking here to you, but in the end, it's a lot of people that make this happen to be here today on this special occasion. The team started in April 2022. We've been in the pro peloton since January 2023.

A: Yeah, fast. I think we just did our steps. I think we are in a growth process. I mean, of course, people ask, what are your ambitions and what do you want to reach? I think everything we reached so far is definitely steps. And for us, they are huge. I think in the first year, we started with 20 athletes. Last year, 27 athletes.  This year, 30 athletes. We did the first Grand Tour last year the Giro, the first time this year that we do two. I think for some people, it looks fast [...] look, I was a fast bike rider, so somehow it's normal. If we go slow, that is nothing bad to go slow. But I think it's not just the circumstances. I think we have great people. I think without those people here, I would not sit here. We have great partners. We have people that believe in our project, that sees what we do, because it's not just the bike team. We have a development team. We have mass participation events. We do kids projects in Switzerland. So we have a surrounded, I don't call it ecosystem, but we have more than just the bike team. I think this is also to mention, because we want to move people.

And when I retired, I said, I want to give back to my sport. But what, at the first point, was not clear. The professional team came quite late. And I think we have a good, strong base. And this is maybe also where we are today, thanks to the organizers, thanks to all of the organizers, because I'm sitting here in the front of the Tour de France. But I think we have to look on a wider scale that also people that have believed and also give us the support to do those races. And I think our motto is clear. It's not just Tudor has born to dare, that stands for. But I think the way we race, the way we present ourselves on the races and also the way our riders perform, I think, yeah, makes even more happy and shows that we invest in our people.

Because again, without our people, nothing works. We want happy people, because in the end, I think this goes to everyone here as well. I mean, if you're not happy, then you think about, right? So we also think, so that's why we take care, not to only the riders, because the riders is one thing. But we have so many people. I mean, I never explored so much people on a race, because when I've been riding, then, yeah, we had one chef or a few people around. But now it's just larger, bigger. The organization has grown. And I think it's the circumstance of our sport. That is not bad. But I think, again, I'm not the trainer. I'm not the sports director. So I'm happy in my position I am. I can live something special. I'm happy in the morning when I wake up, because this is about, because then you give the stage to the people that we have, because I created something with the people, and now it's their stage to continue. And this is, for me, a huge, huge honor and makes me just a happy person.

Answer: I was kind of a puncheur but that was also just the guy that could go fast, huh? I wasn't bad in sprinting, or dropping them just a kilometer before the finish line. My past has shown many different ways of my skills and of course if you see the first week it's going to be a special week, even if a lot of people think there's a lot of sprints, but from Saturday on it's a battle left and right. It's going to be hectic, chaotic, you need to have punchy skills and not just sprint legs. If the race is hard from start to finish with this parcours they have, you have to be punchy.