Cancellara has his sights firmly set on 2012 London Olympics
Not bothered by either Tour de Suisse time trial loss or Bruyneel investigation
Fabian Cancellara lost the time trial in his homeland Tour de Suisse by less than two seconds, but it does not bother him unduly, as his focus is on the 2012 London Olympics. He also said that he is not overly worried about the doping charges against Johan Bruyneel, his RadioShack-Nissan team manager.
Finishing second in Friday's time trial was “too bad, but not man overboard,” he told Het Nieuwsblad. “My focus is later this year: to become Olympic champion in London.”
And the pressure is already on to become champion there, and win not one but two gold medals. “I can't just go to London. I can really only lose. Four years ago I had gold and silver, so everyone expects that this time I will get double gold.”
Before that, however, he expects to ride the Tour de France, which this year features three time trials, but made clear that is not his top goal. “It would be nice to be there to win,” he said, but “I would not say that the Tour is a workout, but that I'm riding the Tour especially in view of what comes after. The focus is the Olympics. I have not checked out the time trials in France and am doing other things: my preparation for London.”
The Swiss rider is still looking for his first win after coming back from a fractured collarbone suffered in the Tour of Flanders on April 1. “It was a strange experience and hard to come back after an injury during the season. This is entirely different than getting back in shape after the winter,” he admitted.
“I was home with my family, but it was no vacation. I enjoyed it, but it was also a weird feeling, but I tried to keep it in perspective: 'Hey, I don't have a broken shoulder, it's only a broken collarbone,' I said then. I never panicked. But I didn't imagine that it would take so much time.”
The RadioShack-Nissan team is under a cloud this week following the news that manager Johan Bruyneel has been named by the USADA in its anti-doping investigation. Cancellara said, “There is an accusation, but we don't know what's going on, what is true and what is not. There have been many accusations raised against him. When I see how John and I work together, I do not look to the past. If I looked back on the past, I would not have worked with Bjarne Riis, for example.”
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