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Video: Fabian Cancellara interview: 2014 goals and the Hour Record

A chance to measure up against the greats of the past, says Spartacus

Fabian Cancellara says an attraction of the World Hour Record is the chance to measure yourself against the great riders of the past.

In this video interview from Shimano, the popular Swiss Classics specialist talks about the pressure of attempting to retain his one-day titles (though he doesn't look very pressured, to be honest); the next king of the Classics; and his planned attempt on the title that was once cycling's greatest trophy: the record for most distance covered by a solo rider in an hour.

Cancellara says that the Hour Record puts you on the same level “equipment-wise” as “all the riders that rode the Hour Record”.

“You can go back and [compare yourself with] Merckx, Anquetil, Moser, all those times. That’s something that is special about it.”

That implies that Cancellara is expecting to take a crack at the record under the current 'athlete's record' equipment rules which mandate a bike similar to the one Eddy Merckx rode when he set the record in Mexico City in 1972.

There's been speculation about the exact rules the UCI will impose on Cancellara's record attempt, with some commentators expecting Brian Cookson's regime at the UCI to allow more modern equipment. 

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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mikroos | 10 years ago
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Gosh, Cancellara is such a classy guy. 100% confident of his own value but not arrogant at all. Legend!

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Rupert | 10 years ago
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The video shows a man that's very confident. What with Boonen going well as well and others too hitting good form, I think we're looking at an awesome battle in the Tour of Flanders !

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