Fabian Cancellara is the time-trial champion
Fabian Cancellara left a mark on the 2010 Tour de France even before the first stage. The Swiss cyclist, riding for Saxo Bank, was the first over the finish line in the 9.8km prologue in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This put him in the yellow jersey and the green jersey.
"I’m proud of what I’ve done today, there was no sense of revenge I just wanted to go the fastest and I did just that,” said Cancellara after the prologue. “It’s important to try and hold onto the jersey until the Arenberg (in stage three) but first there is Brussels and Spa and it’s not flat at the end of stage two... but it’s the goal to try and wear the yellow jersey on the cobbles."
Alessandro Petacchi took the green jersey the next day, and they who would lose it for the next nine stages, the Italian would finish the Tour back in the green jersey. Cancellara wore the yellow jersey for all of the first six stages except one, when he briefly lost it to Sylvain Chavanel, the ultimate winner of the overall ‘Fighting Spirit’ award. Cancellara proved that his victory in the prologue time trial wasn’t a fluke when he dominated the 19th stage, and the windy stage saw many past time-trial winner finishing well behind Cancellara’s win in just over an hour.
“I’m proud, happy and also really, really tired. The Tour is long and there are always a lot of things going on. To start and finish with a win, that’s great. I’m also very impressed with what Andy did today. He surprised a lot of people,” said Cancellara. “He had six days in the yellow jersey, he won two stages and the team had a great success. I won the prologue, led the race, and won today… so we have to be satisfied.”
When the Tour hit the mountains, Cancellara wisely changed to a supporting role for his team leader Andy Schleck, who won two stages and wore the yellow jersey from stage 9 to stage 14, when Alberto Contador stepped into the overall lead and Schleck was stuck in second place through the final six stages and stood in the second place spot on the podium in Paris.
The move meant that Cancellara had given up all hope of achieving a podium finish for the sake of Schleck, who went on to praise his team's dedication to achieving him a victory.
“I never had doubts about how I’d go in the time trial,” said Schleck. “My team had faith in me and I went out there today… and did what I could. It was not a battle between me and Contador; in a time trial you fight with yourself – you’ve got to push yourself to the limits and I tried to do that. When I finished I could barely get off my bike. I gave it everything and I think I did a pretty good time trial. I’m satisfied with today and the whole Tour.”
By the numbers, Contador’s time-trial record was better than Schleck’s, and though Contador entered the 19th stage only eight seconds ahead of his spirited opponent, he gained an additional 31 seconds into the lead and basically cemented his 3rd Tour de France victory before the ceremonial 20th stage.
“I am very excited because it was a victory that was difficult to attain,” said Contador. “It had not been easy in 2007 and last year, but it’s unbelievable. It’s a huge relief. This morning I woke up in shape, I had a good night. But today we can say that I suffered. I think Andy has also suffered a lot for the race was very difficult.”
Contador’s performance cemented his overall victory and earning him a place in the small group of champions who have won the Tour without winning a stage, while Schleck earned the best young rider classification, one of only two cyclists to win it twice.
Still, his performance in the time-trials prove that Cancellara, even if he had to be dropped into a supporting role, was still one of the very best riders out of this year's Tour. Next year he'll be looking to up his overall standing.
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