Riding with Spartacus

Fabian Cancellara. Where do I start? I’m not going to list his palmarès (that’s what Wikipedia is for). I’m just going to talk about what it was like to ride with him and what I learned from him.

I will just quickly mention two races where ‘Spartacus’ has particularly inspired me:

The Tour of Flanders

Cancellara has won ‘De Ronde’ three times. His rivalry with Tom Boonen has lead to some fierce duals, incredible displays of power, courage, aggression, and roadcraft. As my all-time favorite race - this pretty much puts him at the top of my hero tree.

The 98th edition of de Ronde in 2014 is still etched on my mind. Cancellara beat the Belgian trio of GVA, Sep Vanmarcke and Stijn Vandenbergh in the sprint finish (Tom Boonen came 7th and Geraint Thomas 8th).

The 2016 Olympic Time Trial

I witnessed Fabian do his final lap of the Roubaix Velodrome in 2016, it felt like the end of the most exciting Spring Classics era since the days of Merckx. I think the whole world wanted him to win that race and ‘go out with a bang’ - but Roubaix is a cruel beast. Plagued with crashes, it was pretty clear he wasn’t going to take home that dream.

“I’m not sad, I’m happy not to be in hospital. I’m happy to have finished.”

— Fabian Cancellara.

The 2016 Olympic Time Trial presented him with the opportunity to ‘go out with a bang’ and add to his legacy. This time - he was in control. He beat Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome to win gold.

Sigma Sports invited me to join them for a few laps of Richmond Park with Cancellara (he was in town to launch the new offerings from Suplest and talk at the Rouleur Classic).

From the off, one thing was clear - Fabian’s bike was a part of him, an extension of his body. Cancellara rides with ‘souplesse’, his pedal stroke is effortless, nonchalant. Even riding around the park at ‘piano’ pace, you could tell he just has… ‘it’.

While sitting on his wheel, I was trying to imagine what it would be like to race against him in the breakaway at the Tour of Flanders. Going with his attacks and attempting to attack him… a frightening thought.

We were only spinning the legs, but you just knew that if he ‘turned it on’, got low and applied some power - you’d be hanging on like a barnacle.

What Did I Learn?

Some cyclists like hurting their opponents. They thrive on attacking and racing their rivals. Others like to hurt themselves (typically time trialists). They focus on their performance, undistracted by the ‘game-players’.

Cancellara is both. Capable of racing with fierce, aggressive, combative, explosiveness against his rivals (that’s how you earn the name ‘Spartacus’), yet still able to ‘attack himself’ and internalise his focus during a TT.

To be one of the G.O.A.T one-day racers and TT specialists is a rare thing.

When I asked Fabian about this, he replied:

“You hurt yourself in training, you hurt other people in racing. Even when you are racing against the clock, you are still racing against Tony Martin or Bradley Wiggins.”

Spoken like a true gladiator.

Fabian has taught me:

“You must put in the effort before you can ride effortlessly. ”

(And don’t worry, on my wheel he made it safely around ‘Cancellara Corner’ 😉)

Thanks for your time, Fabian.

Gareth.