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Fabian Cancellara set to retire in 2016

'Spartacus' wants to go out at the top of his game, has no wish to carry on into his 40s...

Professional rider Fabian 'Sparatacus' Cancellara looks set to retire when his current contract with the Trek Factory Racing team ends. He has once again indicated that he is unlikely to ride past 2016, and has no wish to carry on racing into his 40s.

"I have a three-year contract and then it's over," Cancellara told Barry Ryan of Cyclingnews.com. "I have a three-year contract and in my opinion it doesn't look like there will be a fourth or fifth year because it will be sixteen years as a professional. I don't feel tired although once in a while I feel tired, and that's normal. That's not going against Jens [Voigt] or Chris Horner but you will not see me riding the bike at their age."

Voigt and Horner have been the standard-bearers for long careers, with Voigt still racing this season alongside Cancellara at 42, while Horner became the oldest ever winner of a grand tour when he won the Vuelta a España last year shortly before his 42nd birthday.

But rather than carrying on as a super-domestique, Cancellara, who will be 35 in 2016, wants to go out while he’s still in top form.

"I think of course I will stop on the highest level," he said. "In my situation, I can't wait until I'm down here, that's normal. I could stop now and I would not have a problem to find new ambitions, but I would still miss something. I feel like I'm not finished yet with what I want to achieve. There's still some time left, but there's many options after and I'm not scared of that."

However, he does plan to remain involved with cycling.

"I want to bring something back to cycling," Cancellara said. "I have a few ambitions to bring cycling back to another level, and this will be the next thing I do.

"I think cycling is now somewhere a political mess with all the new things that are coming. We have still this big mess with the races and the rules. I think I will be a strong opinion-maker afterwards. Now it's difficult because I'm still a rider, because when you talk as a rider you get singled out. But when you finish, you're free with what you want to do."

Four-time world time trial champion, three-time winner of the Paris-Roubaix Classic and the rider who has spent most days in the Tour de France yellow jersey without actually winning the race, Cancellara is reported to be planning an attempt on the Hour Record this year.

He was the first member of the former RadioShack team to sign up when Trek acquired the squad’s UCI ProTeam licence last year, but hinted even then that this might be his last professional deal.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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15 comments

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WolfieSmith | 10 years ago
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'Sparatacus' ? No. I'm Sparatacus!

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Ghedebrav | 10 years ago
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Sad of course that whenever a rider makes a statement about their broader career, we automatically turn our thoughts to chemical cheating.

Like many cycling fans, I'm a huge Spartacist. But I honestly wouldn't be blown away were it to be revealed that he'd doped. Would I remain a fan? Probably, if I'm honest. I hope he's clean of course.

Doping or not, he's a handsome hunk of man. A mile away from the emaciated voluntary-anorexic look that typifies today's pro peloton.

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Paul J | 10 years ago
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Yep, Luigi's been clean as a whistle.

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Flying Heron | 10 years ago
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Never heard a negative word on Cancellara, amidst all the recent turmoil cyclings been through he's been an absolute inspiration. Hour record, Paris Roubaix x 2 would see him out.

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Flying Heron | 10 years ago
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Never heard a negative word on Cancellara, amidst all the recent turmoil cyclings been through he's been an absolute inspiration. Hour record, Paris Roubaix x 2 would see him out.

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Metjas | 10 years ago
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I do have a soft spot for Fabian; he's been such an amazing ambassador for cycling in his career so far and I have no doubt he could be a powerful positive force in influencing its future shape.

For now though I can't wait to see him and Tommeke fight it out on the cobbles and hellingen!

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farrell | 10 years ago
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What's the latest on his Hour record attempt?

I think him giving it a crack in Manchester is out of the window but it would be good to see it happen, regardless of venue.

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farrell | 10 years ago
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What's the latest on his Hour record attempt?

I think him giving it a crack in Manchester is out of the window but it would be good to see it happen, regardless of venue.

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Some Fella replied to farrell | 10 years ago
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farrell wrote:

What's the latest on his Hour record attempt?

I think him giving it a crack in Manchester is out of the window but it would be good to see it happen, regardless of venue.

He is doing it in Majorca isnt he?
Not as glamorous as Eastlands and he can't nip into ASDA afterwards for an all day breakfast.
His loss

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ray silvester replied to Some Fella | 10 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:
farrell wrote:

What's the latest on his Hour record attempt?

I think him giving it a crack in Manchester is out of the window but it would be good to see it happen, regardless of venue.

He is doing it in Majorca isnt he?
Not as glamorous as Eastlands and he can't nip into ASDA afterwards for an all day breakfast.
His loss

Or Donington if he's on a motorbike?

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farrell replied to Some Fella | 10 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:
farrell wrote:

What's the latest on his Hour record attempt?

I think him giving it a crack in Manchester is out of the window but it would be good to see it happen, regardless of venue.

He is doing it in Majorca isnt he?
Not as glamorous as Eastlands and he can't nip into ASDA afterwards for an all day breakfast.
His loss

Yep, sod him. If he doesn't want to roll down the finest sand filled segregated cycle lanes Manchester has to offer before jibbing across the tram tracks and then the bridge over the canal before considering giving the Full-Pipe a bash then he really doesn't know how to enjoy life.

Let him have his Majorca, with their sun and their shine. Bet won't get a decent pint of Holt's anywhere in Majorca, let alone anywhere as welcoming and inviting as The Bradford in Miles Platting. He doesn't even know he's born.

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James Warrener | 10 years ago
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He has been bullet proof over the years when accused of doping and having an engine in his seat tube.

He looks to have got away with it so fair play and good luck in the twilight of your career Fab.

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mooleur | 10 years ago
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Awwwwh, Fabian is my fav - it'll suck not seeing his face on t'telleh. But good for him for doing what he wants  1 <3

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mikroos | 10 years ago
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3 years? Just enough to become the World Champion in road race 3 times in a row! Yay!  41

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mtm_01 | 10 years ago
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He'll surely get at least one more Monument between now and then - 3 more years of epic battles between him and Boonen!

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