Tag: Fabian Cancellara

Categories
News

Cancellara Quits the Tour

Fabian Cancellara

Fabian CancellaraTrek Factory Racing have announced that Fabian Cancellara will not take the start in stage 11 of the Tour de France on Wednesday and has withdrawn from the race. Cancellara came close to victory and his 29th yellow jersey with a late attack in Stage 1, finished fifth in stage 5 in Arenberg, defended his fifth place in the overall until an untimely puncture in the final of Stage 7 and sprinted to second place in stage 9 to Mulhouse.

 

Cancellara appears to have withdrawn purely to save himself for bigger – or at least more personal – goals later in the season. He comments: ‘I will travel home now and take a little break. The season has been long for me, starting back in Dubai. I have done 59 days of competition this season so far and I have another big goal at the end of this season: the World Championships. It’s not a secret that I’d like to be in my best shape there, so it’s important that I take some rest… It’s been good to be back in the Tour. We lost Andy (Schleck) and Danny (Van Poppel) early on, but the team is strong and will keep on looking for opportunities.’

 

Trek General Manager Luca Guercilena adds: ‘We brought Fabian to the Tour to be a factor where his skills allowed it and he didn’t disappoint. He’s a rider that always comes to a race to give everything – if you just look at how he was working for Fränk (Schleck) yesterday at 20 km from the finish in a mountain stage. Now he gets a short break and then we will build up his condition again to be at his best in Ponferrada (the World Championships).’

 

More on Trek Factory Racing at trekfactoryracing.com and on the Tour de France at letour.com

 

Categories
News

Trek Announce Tour de France Team

Trek Announce Tour de France Team

Trek Announce Tour de France TeamTrek Factory Racing has announced their nine-man line-up for the Tour de France and stated their objective as finishing in the top-ten in the general classification and taking a stage win along the way. Their 13 rider-long list has now become: Fabian Cancellara, Fränk Schleck, Andy Schleck, Haimar Zubeldia, Jens Voigt, Matthew Busche, Markel Irizar, Gregory Rast, and Danny van Poppel.

 

Andy Schleck and Matthew Busche will be the key support riders for the team’s GC riders in the high mountains, with Trek Factory Racing General Manager Luca Guercilena commenting:  ‘Andy will ride in support of Fränk and Haimar in the climbs. He will not have a personal focus on the GC. It shouldn’t be a surprise that we’re lining him up as a support rider for his brother and for Haimar: Andy may not have won a stage in the Tour de Suisse, but he aggressively raced well. Riders of his stature should have the opportunity to compete in the race that made them great.’

 

American Matthew Busche is the only rider of the nine-man team who has never raced at the TdF, whilst Jens Voigt will be lining up in his 17th.

Categories
News

Cancellara Victorious in Flanders

Fabian Cancellara

Fabian CancellaraTrek’s Fabian Cancellara has won his second successive Tour of Flanders after playing a final stretch waiting game in a four man group which saw less than 300m to go before the Swiss powerhouse made his move and drove Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Sep Vanmarcke (Team Belkin) into second and third place respectively. Explaining his strategy Cancellara said, ‘I tried to ask Dirk [Demol – Trek Sports Director] through the radio how many seconds we had because the last thing I wanted was the others coming back. That would have been the end of the world. For the spectators at home I am sure it was an exciting track final. It was man against man and I just kept pushing to the end…’

 

But the closing few moments were far from the only exiting ones of the 259km race which saw a number of significant crashes, not least for Cancellara’s team mates; Stijn Devolder and Gregory Rast both went down at the 112km point (Devolder crashing later for a second time before the penultimate ascent of the Paterberg) with Yaroslav Popovych hitting the road a few kilometres further on. Popovych, whose crash resulted in hospitalisation, commented: ‘The only thing I knew is that I hit a lady in red with my handlebar. There is nothing broken, I am lucky… I may have a torn tendon in the hip. I could not walk at first and I was thinking the worst. I am very sad not to be able to finish the race, and especially to help at the end.’

 

Trek Factory Racing were not the only team to suffer the indignity of crashing at Flanders – Team Sky had their own share of misfortune with both Gabriel Rasch and Geraint Thomas tumbling. Thomas, who had also fallen at Cobbled Classic Gent-Wevelgem, managed to fight on despite a badly bruised back to finish in eighth place just 37seconds adrift of Cancellara.

 

Bradley Wiggins, a Flanders replacement for Ian Stannard who broke a vertebra after crashing at last weekend’s Gent-Wevelgem,  rolled in at +1:43 for 32nd place.

 

Categories
News

Cancellara’s Domane Classic in Pictures

Trek Domane

Fabian Cancellara’s truly beautiful Trek Domane – originally created for him for Paris-Roubaix – is now yours to own (for a little over £7k). It features:

 

Fast Pro Endurance geometry – Race-ready geometry puts you in a low and aggressive position, with a front end specifically designed for quicker handling.

 

Smoothest ride – Long days and rough roads are no match for IsoSpeed technology. Our innovative decoupler doubles vertical compliance so you ride stronger, longer.

 

‘Project One’ customisation – Don’t settle for anyone else’s bike. Spec the styling, fit, and components you desire through Trek’s best-in-class customisation programme.

 

High performance – OCLV Carbon frame. Race-optimised cable routing. World Champion Fabian Cancellara’s seal of approval. Performance doesn’t get any higher than this.

 

But forget the spec (or read more about it on Cyclo here) and just look at how damn gorgeous it looks. Spartacus, you are a lucky man…

Trek Domane Trek DomaneTrek Domane

Trek Domane

Trek Domane

Categories
News

Trek Domane Released to Public

Trek Domane

Trek DomaneThe Trek Domane designed specifically for Fabian Cancellara’s conquest of the cobbled classic, Paris-Roubaix, has been made available to the public through the Project One custom bike program. The Domane Classics Edition is purpose-built with Pro Endurance Geometry that provides a lower head tube and a longer wheel base for a more aggressive position, whilst frame highlights include additional tire clearance, a one-piece steel derailleur hanger/dropout for precise and durable shifting even on the roughest roads and foregoes fender mounts.

 

Trek’s Road Brand Manager Michael Mayer says, ‘This is a bike that riders have asked us about since we first unveiled the bike in 2012 and it’s really exciting to be able to offer it as a custom option with Project One. It’s a combination of the two ride qualities all cyclists covet; speed and a smooth ride. Add the millions of options Project One offers and you have an almost perfect bike. For the right rider, this bike is going to be the only bike they’ll ever want to ride again.’

 

First revealed in 2012 at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Trek Domane quickly gained a devoted following and picked up numerous accolades.  Fabian Cancellara commented on the release to the public, saying: ‘I believe it’s very cool that Trek makes “my” bike available to consumers… It’s a very special bike for me. Together Trek and I have put a lot of time and energy in the development of the Domane and I’m happy that it’s out there now.’

 

The custom-painted limited edition frames are hand-built at Trek’s Waterloo, WI global headquarters and are available in 54cm – 62cm. The Trek Domane Classics Edition will only be available as a complete bike build. And the price? At $11,519.99 this is one to put on your Christmas list…

 

Further details at trekbikes.com

 

Categories
News

Fabian Cancellara Takes Vuelta TT Stage

Fabian Cancellara Takes Vuelta TT Stage

Fabian Cancellara Takes Vuelta TT StageDespite a category 3 summit half way through route, RadioShack rider Fabian Cancellara showed a return to form in preparation for the upcoming Worlds by winning Vuelta a España stage 11, the 38.8km Individual Time Trial in Tarazona. An early best was posted by current World Time Trial champion Tony Martin of Omega Pharma – Quick-Step with a time of 51’37”, but Cancellara upped the game by stopping the clock at 51minutes dead, more than half-a-minute faster than Martin. No one else came close to the top times and third place went to Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at +1’24”. Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali finished fourth to secure a 33second lead over Saxo-Tinkoff’s Nicolas Roche in the GC.

 

Speaking of his stage victory Fabian Cancellara commented: ‘I’m happy that is over.  It was a very hard parcours that was not perfect for a specialist, but I said to myself that I needed to do my race at my own pace and just find the right rhythm for myself… The uphill section was very rough especially with the wind. That caused a lot of disruption of my rhythm. Plus yesterday was the rest day so you never know how your body will respond on the day after and I’ve put in a lot of work in the first ten days of the Vuelta working for Chris Horner.’

 

The Vuelta a España continues with the 164.2km route from Maella to Tarragon and conclude in Madrid on September 15. For more information on the race see the Cyclo feature here.

 

Categories
News

Trek Strengthens Team

Trek

Trek Acquires WorldTour LicenseBack in June Trek Bicycle confirmed that it has bought the WorldTour licence of RadioShack-Leopard and would be effectively creating a new team for the 2014 season. Trek, a named sponsor since the team’s inception in 2010, have since been busy building the team and strengthening their position for the coming year; something which has now taken a step further with the announcement of agreements reached with a further six key riders. Stijn Devolder, Markel Irizar, Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast, Hayden Roulston and Jesse Sergent will all now be adding their considerable weight and experience to a team led by multiple Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders winner Fabian Cancellara.

 

Trek Sports director Dirk Demol commented on the agreement: ‘This group of riders has been essential to Fabian’s success in 2012 and especially 2013. Their dedication to him was beyond belief. Fabian’s name is the one on the roll of honor of the great classic races that we all love, but these support riders were all ready to sacrifice themselves to the team’s interest. They are warriors, true unsung heroes. I am delighted and proud that we are able to keep this group together. From here on we keep on working hard, toward many more successes.’

 

Trek Sports Marketing Manager Simon Thompson added: ‘The combination of Dirk, Fabian and all these guys together make this the World’s most formidable Classics team… Only one guy gets to cross the line first, but it’s not possible to win the world’s toughest one-day races without the best team and support around you. This group embodies everything that is great about the Trek Factory Racing Team; they are passionate and committed to go to war for one another and the success of the team’

 

Categories
News

Fabian Cancellara Rides on for Trek

Fabian Cancellara Rides on for Trek

Fabian Cancellara Rides on for TrekThe 2013 Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix champion, Fabian Cancellara, has announced – via twitter – that he will be joining the newly formed Trek WorldTour Team from next year. Cancellara tweeted ‘Here we go! Excited to make anouncement on my future! CC: @TrekBikes’.

 

Away from the character-count restrictions of twitter the Swiss pro – nicknamed ‘Spartacus’ – was more effusive, explaining, ‘There was a lot of speculation around my professional future in the last couple of weeks – even months; That’s why I’m really happy to confirm that I will stay with the Trek family… This is a big opportunity for me as a bike rider and it will allow me to develop even more on the sporting side. Because that’s what I’m in for: winning bike races, not sitting out until I retire. I’m motivated to get the maximum out of my career and I’m really proud it’s going to be on a Trek… I want to be part of this new project and I have no doubt that it’s going to be great!’

 

Commenting on Cancellara’s commitment to the new project Trek VP Joe Vadeboncoeur added, ‘We’re looking to build a team that is a perennial force in the classics, and who better to work with than the King himself? ‘Great Athletes Ride Trek’ is something we believe in and Fabian exemplifies the type of athlete that we are looking to partner with.’

 

For more on Trek’s acquiring of their new WorldTour license see Cyclo News.