Fabian Cancellara

Who is Fabian Cancellara?

Fabian Cancellara, nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam RadioShack-Leopard. Cancellara has achieved great success in the sport of cycling since becoming a professional cyclist. He is known for being a quality time trialist, a classics specialist, and being a workhorse for his teammates that have general classification aspirations.

Cancellara began cycling after falling in love with an old bike at the age of thirteen. After that, he then began to take the sport more seriously and he won two consecutive World Junior Time Trial Championships in 1998 and 1999. At age nineteen he turned professional and signed with the Mapei-Quick Step team, where he rode as a stagiaire.

Since turning professional, Cancellara has ridden for four professional teams. He has achieved great success in the classics; he has won Paris–Roubaix three times, the Milan – San Remo once, and the Tour of Flanders twice. Cancellara has won the opening stage of the Tour de France five times and has led the race for 28 days total, which is the most of any rider who has not won the Tour. His success has not been limited to just time trials and classics, as he has won general classification of the Tirreno–Adriatico, Tour de Suisse, and the Tour of Oman. In 2008, he won gold in the individual time trial and silver in the men's road race at the Summer Olympics. In addition that, Cancellara has been the time trial world champion four times in his career.