Cancellara wants to write history with fourth Paris-Roubaix win

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Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) floats along the cobbles(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)

After capturing his third win in the Tour of Flanders and equalling the race record last Sunday, it’s obvious that Fabian Cancellara is the top favourite to come level with the four wins from Tom Boonen and Roger De Vlaeminck in Paris-Roubaix next Sunday. The Swiss rider played down the expectations during a press conference on Friday afternoon, moving the pressure towards riders who failed to grab a win so far in this year’s Spring Classics season.

“I’m not favourite number one. Like in Flanders there’s lot of other favourites and riders riding in good condition. Things will be changed this year. The race is open for everyone. If I get five stars or not, it’s not my decision. There’s a lot more riders with five stars to me, but they’re under more pressure because they haven’t won. There’s Kristoff, Sagan and Terpstra, they’ve won the recent races we went through. The rest haven’t won. The campaign of the Classics finishes on the velodrome and that’s why there’s still a lot of people are hungry. I’m hungry as well and that’s why, let’s go and have a great meet,” Cancellara said.

Cancellara didn’t deny that making history was on his mind. “Yeah, of course. It’s there. It’s no secret. We had that last year too with the possibilities for Tom. It’s not only about winning tomorrow, but also about history. It makes me really hungry,” Cancellara said. “When the fourth stone will be won I’ll have to change something at home as we only have three windows in the sauna, but I don’t care. To be so close to something like this, I know what I have to do.”

The demanding Flanders ride from last Sunday took its toll and Cancellara claimed he needed more recovery than other years. “I feel much better than in the past days. That was important because Sunday was tougher than in other years in my opinion. I won and had the race in Scheldeprijs, which was important to do, stretching and doing 200km. Then there was the recon on the parcours yesterday and now there’s just two days of relaxing and getting ready for Sunday.”

“There’s no correct word for this race. The first time I did Roubaix I hated this race. The first time I came through Arenberg and got to the feed zone you’re just happy to find a car that brings you to the finish. It was a nice story. I came to the velodrome and lost again, but I did a strong move. This week I watched it again and wondered why I did that strong move. Ballerini told me it was probably good I lost it there. If you win it early there would be a lot of pressure at young age in the following year. You need leergeld,” Cancellara surprisingly knew nothing but the Flemish word to describe he had to pay his dues.

“With Ballerini, Museeuw and Tafi, they inspired me most when I watched these races. When I did my first Roubaix I remember I had stopped already two and a half minutes. Taffi was there with me and he went on to finish sixth or so [he finished fifth -ed] so that’s where I learned that you can never give up. He gave me the inspiration to learn things. On a ranking from 1 to 10 Ballerini was the number ten, the man with most class, elegance to ride over the cobbles. To get this feedback from him after I lost Roubaix was a huge boost.”

When asked about his rival Tom Boonen with whom he shares seven Paris-Roubaix victories, the Swiss rider expressed they’re certainly not rivals off the bike. “Normally more riders share more victories. We shared so many victories together ever since 1998. It’s great. He’s not my idol. We don’t call each other every day or have dinner together. He lives here and me in Switzerland. My friends live at home. We know each other since so long. Like with other riders you know what you want. We both want to race. We respect each other, but this weekend it will be a big fight. He showed he’s ready, probably more than people think. Often in Flanders I wasn’t super and the weekend later I was ready. The same counts for him.”