Fabian Cancellara has confirmed that he will take part in the road race world championships in Melbourne but has put off any announcement about his team for 2011 until after he returns from Australia.
Cancellara pulled out of the Vuelta last Friday, just a day before Bjarne Riis agreed to let him end his contract with the Saxo Bank team. He claimed that he was tired and needed time with his family and said he would decide about competing at the world championships after a training ride on Tuesday.
He confirmed he would take part in the world championships in a press conference in Zurich just a few hours before getting on a plane for Australia. He will target a fourth world time trial title on September 30 and then the road race on October 3. However he admitted that his form was not as good as when he dominated the time trial in Mendrisio in 2009.
'If I take the world championships in Mendrisio in 2009 as a comparison, when the situation was similar, I'm confident. The legs are on the right path. Now it must only make the click in my head," he said on his personal website.
Looking for a new challenge
After ending his contract with Saxo Bank, Cancellara has been linked to the new Luxembourg team, the Swiss-registered BMC squad, Team Sky, and the new Australia team that is hoping to secure a ProTour licence for 2011. He tried to play down speculation about his future by saying he will only announce his future after the world championships.
Cancellara denied that his decision to quit Saxo Bank was about money or his relationship with Bjarne Riis.
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"There are a lot of changes going on in the team and it was time for me to seek a new challenge," he told sport.ch during the press conference.
Tweeting just before taking off for Australia, Cancellara insisted that he has not yet signed a contract with a team for next season: "About 2011 there is nothing official to say about my future. A lot of rumours bin going on. I dont have eny contract signet somewear."
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
