How GOOD Was Fabian Cancellara REALLY?

Fabian Cancellara was one of the best cobble classics riders and on top of that one of the best time trial-list seen. Cancellara has multiple records to his name and was the pride of Switzerland with dominating performances in the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix.
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[@gulfgal98]

Cancellara was one of my favorite all time riders. And yes, he was that good!

[@rebinu]

his motor was really the best in the peloton

[@herum_lungerer73]

Because i am skeptic i ask my girl who is a psychatrist to analyze interviews with xacellara. She says he is a patoligical liar. I did not tell her about Motor doping

[@gsipp00]

Not sure what riders had better careers? Certainly some of the GC guys like Froome or Contador perhaps better known and received more press but I think this guy was pretty darn consistent throughout his career.

[@ryanphelan6861]

Fabian skipped juniors too so longevity olympics road an TT medals. Froome peaked late but only one year in tour on alpe with quintana did he look vulnerable. contador won at 24 first year on scene I preferred alberto gc wise all or nothing pistolero 9 GT wins no podiums so he beat you or blew up trying respect. Neither ever did anything in one day like nibali, valverde, rodriguez, I loved the generation. Gilbert too 2011 was amazing 2017 flanders.

[@ryanphelan6861]

Best ive ever seen in my life. I started in 89. What he did in 2013roubaix letting race fracture being isolated and allowing others to attack off front and distance each other until he summoned power ive never seen equalled and leapfrogged from group to group with no one able to hold wheel stybar briefly. Basically quickstep E3 situation handled alone. He's so strong but cerebral, he was man marked in 2011 paris roubaix by current rainbow jersey and himself contender thor hushovd. Imagine allaphillipe doing that tomorrow sacrifice himself just to deter WVA from attacking. His MSR wont be repeated he attacked off front after poggio as it was breaking and regrouping before sprint by such distance he posted up for 100 meters. Like compiegne stage you mentioned nobody can do that ride of front of sprinters and their trains and hold them off. Rainbows was his only glaring omission albasini was always great for him such a marked man. Podiumed 12 straight spring classics lol. You had to see it truly, like sean kelly says the calculation he as Time trialist he could calculate his effort to perfection. MSR,Tour de suisse, Strade bianche, 3 times at e3, 2 at roubaix, and 2 at flanders didn't just win finished alone sometimes a minute sometimes a couple. If someone did that today next morning just one of those long range solo efforts we would hear about it all season. He did it non stop. The way teams hound messi they marked fabian in one days. He did what remco did skipped juniors. Museeuw was so special as well he was on a wonderful team but brute of a rider so strong. Kudos

[@dougduchateau443]

His TOF win is my favorite ride-along video when training. What a career!

[@pawelodz8050]

What an ebike

[@drsus0]

my favorite classics guy... to this day.

[@CFCMahomet]

One of my favorite all-time riders

[@vincentkrause7097]

Canellara is like a god a combination of a Tom Boonen AND a Tony Martin.

[@ryanphelan6861]

Yeah surge to get gap engine to ride away. So smooth

[@thecyclingdane]

Very well said

[@davidv.a.8112]

Nah, not an Sprinter like Boonen, not a truly GC challenger like Tony Martin

[@ryanphelan6861]

@@thecyclingdane thanks congrats what a race what a rider he could triple. Love the grinta going for sprint hes had best form hes so efficient like french say souplesse.

[@ryanphelan6861]

@@davidv.a.8112 tony martin won paris nice once correct me, this is all memory 2011, fabian tirreno and tour de suisse but he wasn't gc I do agree TT heavy editions. neither was tony pan flat TT specialist super thin shoulders naturally aero. Cadence too low to change pace least versatile of anyone we mentioned but that vuelta stage was wild 170k's alone until line!!!! He's SD Tempo tapper look at what yellow jersey meant to him that one year sadly crashing. Fabian wore that thing out

[@nilred1791]

For me he was one of the greatest. Most of his successes was in perieod when i really followed cycling. SPARTACUS!

[@codyeynon8467]

What he did was beyond analysis and beyond thought and reason. What he achieved is commonly described in terms of art - a creative ability driven by vision and executed with deep passion. He was inspired in a way we attribute to genius in other disciples. Spartacus reigns supreme.

[@englocoast]

An amazing career!

[@stevekruijswijk1236]

I want to know what the background music is, it's so nice, thanks.

[@bertvanhoofstat7700]

He was certainly a master of the bike change...

[@ryanphelan6861]

Nothing to do with 1450 watts from a seated acceleration on decisive attack and then rode away worse following week like dozen other races. MVDP couldn't manage that at any point out of saddle in strade. Same happened to Sagan in flanders 1;30 in 12k's, but unlike Boonen opening his mouth like he did to peter unfairly before roubaix when he won in rainbows, took it like a man and came back beat him straight up same course 2016 I think. Same silly media put way too much pressure on boonen.

[@greglunderstedt3898]

King cancellara on his e-bike…

[@AlexRochette]

Thank you! Does anyone know why Cancellara never entered Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Giro di Lombardia? I can somewhat understand Lombardia as it is very late in the season but I really don’t get never racing LBL.

[@thecyclingdane]

Glad you liked it Alex and no I have no idea tbh. So strange when he even said in interviews he wanted to try and win all the monuments.

[@Michael00000001]

He has never been a climber. Both races have more than 3000 meters of climb.

[@michaelhansen7516]

cancellara and sean kelly, I'm 64 now

[@alphaniner3770]

Very important are also the (good) cyclists that appeal to women - I know a quite a few women that where very vivid Cancellara fans. My wife is a big fan of Sagan (she calls him Saganitto). These riders are one of the reasons we see so many females interested in cycling nowadays.

[@greglunderstedt3898]

Best e-bike pilot ever.

[@herum_lungerer73]

My girlfriend is a psychatrist. I ask her to analyze cacellaras interviews . She says to her it's pretty obvious he is a liar. And i did not tell her about Motor doping

[@barrymiller3385]

You're not going to mention motor doping then?

[@denbatt]

So. Guess we can can he was pretty good.

[@michaelyblam]

Diesel engine with a turbo!

[@maxt1617]

The speed with which he could change bikes- sometimes as many as 5 changes in a race- was impressive. The UCI was never going to be able to analyse those bikes for the little motors.

[@Mockle07]

Has anyone ever found a motor in a pro’s bike? Or any actual evidence of one? And I mean ACTUAL evidence, not just some bitter ex-pro saying “he must have cheated because I couldn’t do that”.

[@ivodepivo21]

​@@Mockle07yes, the UCI did find cheating cyclist with motor in there bikes.

[@Mockle07]

@@ivodepivo21 Yes, one woman in a cyclocross race nearly 10 years ago, but not one single rider in the pro peloton has ever been caught using a motor. That’s not to say it hasn’t happened but the amount of baseless accusations thrown around is insane. It seems to be that every successful cyclist from the last 15 years or so has been accused of motor doping and every big race winner for 30 years has been accused of EPO usage etc.

[@ivodepivo21]

@@Mockle07 you ask I've a pro cyclist ever been caught, and that's the case. don't change the definition, it will make your argument weak. Also in 2010 there was no control of mechanical doping so technically yes cyclist could get away with it very easily. Fabian winning in Vlaanderen and Roubaix that year was suspicious for variable reasons.

[@Mockle07]

@@ivodepivo21 We were discussing pro cycling, not cyclocross… All of the accusations have been aimed at road cyclists and not a single one has been caught motor doping. The fact that there were no controls doesn’t mean people were doing it. Again, I’m not suggesting it didn’t happen; the bike changes alone back then were pretty suspect, but without proof you really can’t go singling out individuals.

[@vincentkrause7097]

The real question is: Was Canellara better than Peter Sagan? He has more Monument wins but only ITT WC wins and no green jersey....

[@ryanphelan6861]

yellow jerseys though like 40 days in it he was huge grupetto lol you are right man the rainbow was his glaring omission. Head to head peter only won 2016 flanders and classics wise no comparison peter hasn't even won san remo the sprinters classic and fabian did. The three worlds though and I swear bergen if watched helicopter view was just like cancellara savvy he brought back two flyers by himself in last 5 k's that obviously stopped once they saw him on wheels the second he had to be eight wheels back before jumping. He tucked back in and beat kristoff in field sprint just as good as it gets. Tough fabian has palmares and head to head but 3 straight rainbows same cerebral racing sense. Pick em can't go wrong. Olympics too though Fabian has two gold TT one silver road also.

[@georgemjp125]

Much better

[@nicolasdelaforge7420]

green jersey? who cares. Sagan is not even in the same category.

[@josorzo11]

Didn’t he used a motor ??

[@georgemjp125]

That is a moronic rumour

[@Mockle07]

Nearly all of the greats have been accused of cheating one way of another. Usually by some bitter ex-pro saying “he must have cheated because I couldn’t do what he just did”. No pro has ever been caught with a motor in their bike and all of the “gotcha” videos claiming to have proof are Hail Mary speculation at best.

[@simoneborriello]

CANCELLARA > GOD

[@bierkenslennert]

Mechanical doping does a lot...

[@georgemjp125]

Bullshit

[@lfcamerican4366]

Moto-doped. The seated acceleration without changing gear or cadence in Flanders is so obvious.

[@bananasinpyamas9005]

not better than the motor in his frame

[@jacobbbbbbbbbb]

that's becoming a running gag at this point... If he did have a motor in his bike for his 2010 Flanders and Roubaix victories, that means he also had one for his carreer as a whole.. since he's always been on top of the game during those years.. You do realize what it means? It's as plausible as the flat earth theory at this point...

[@nikispaniki]

Great rider but 2010 Flanders was just too shady. I still think he cheated. But whatever, it’s pro cycling. It is a job. Riders are there to create a spectacle not make me happy and live up to my standards. I just don’t think someone would suddenly pull away from another top pro with that cadence on something that steep.

[@holdencaulfied7492]

@@jacobbbbbbbbbb That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It's suspected of those two races because there is video evidence of it in only those two races. Given that he's a cheating piece of shit, I wouldn't rule out that he cheated in other races but there is no evidence of it so that's why people only comment on those two races. Do you understand logic?

[@jacobbbbbbbbbb]

​@@holdencaulfied7492 440w for 1:12:15, that's what he had to push to earn himself the gold medal in the TT at Rio... retiring as one of the top 5 best TT specialist of all time. He didn't need a motor to drop Leukemans, Boonen or the rest of the group while they were too busy eating and drinking.. Video evidence? Othe than an amateurish video of some frustrated franco-belge, there's nothing to incriminate him.. Have you seen his 2010 flanders and PR power file? When you produce 1000+w seated for 15-20 secondes, (from an SRM), no need for a motor. Again, his performances at flanders and Roubaix 2010 aren't different from most of his carreer accomplishments. No need to be condescending ;) Cheers

[@williamtetrault1300]

What a bullshit, unprovable, baseless allegation!

[@pawelodz8050]

Was he as good as his engine?😅

[@cars2drive298]

He was a very good ..cheater ! 😂