As you know, Cancellara is racing for Luxembourg next season. Shocker! Chris has the classics analysis dialed. Because that's what he does. I'm here to bring you the press release. I feel so loved today. So here it is. With quotes! And whistles and bells! Okay, maybe not that bit. But really, I never like to let a good press release go to waste.
The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project is thrilled to announce that it has signed
Fabian Cancellara to a contract that will see the Swiss powerhouse riding for the
team for the next three years.
By adding Cancellara’s name to the roster, the management has succeeded in
gathering together one of the most formidable groups of riders in the sport today.
"We entered into this project with the objective to become one of the best teams in
the sport," General Manager Brian Nygaard explained. "Obviously signing a rider
like Cancellara, we have added one of the most significant athletes and personalities
in professional cycling as such. He brings an amazing amount of depth and quality
to the project and we’re extremely proud to have him onboard.” With the roster
now finalized, the team can focus on consolidating its position and unifying the
group. “We are now ready to gather everyone in Switzerland for our first team
meeting. It will be important that we all get to know each other on a friendly,
relaxed basis and make certain that everyone starts the season on the same page,"
Nygaard confirmed.
Though there were many teams who would have loved to have Cancellara join their
ranks, for his part the four-time World Champion for the Individual Time Trial has
said that he always intended to join a team that could from day one help him grow
as a cyclist and a human being. "I had many interesting options, but in the end I
knew that the project in Luxembourg would have all the ingredients I would need to
continue improving myself without skipping a beat," Cancellara said. "It is a unique
mix of familiar personalities with new surroundings which will ensure continuity
while instilling a new motivation to make this project the most successful in
cycling." Since it shares a similar vision for the composition of the team, the
management feels that good relations among the staff and riders will go a long way
towards securing the success of the venture. "We have said many times that we
were looking to sign riders who would be compatible with the core ideas of this
team. I think our humble, but ambitious approach has attracted a lot of great
personalities," Nygaard said. "Reading over the list of riders and staff we have
signed gives us the confidence to believe that we have succeeded in that initial goal.
The proof is of course making it happen on the road and we will not go into the
season thinking we have already won races. We are confident but keeping our feet
on the ground, knowing that the hard part starts now.”
With his outstanding success both as an individual time trialist and as a Classics
rider, Cancellara will be looking to add new depth to his already impressive
palmarès. "My goal of winning more monuments is still in the forefront of my
mind," he explained. "That would be a great accomplishment, and I wanted to come
to a team that would provide the structure I would need to work meaningfully
towards this. In addition to that, I’m happy that the team is perfectly placed to make
its mark in the Grand Tours and most importantly find the top step on the Champs-
Élysées; to be a part of a Tour winning team is one of the most beautiful
accomplishments any pro cyclist can hope for."
When it comes time to select the squads for the biggest races like the Tour, the Giro
and Paris-Roubaix, the team management will be in the enviable position of having a
surfeit of qualified riders from which to choose. "As far as the quality of riders and
indeed staff goes, we really are lucky enough to have a tremendous line-up of
people," Nygaard added. "It does mean that we have quite a responsibility living up
to our own high expectations – on all levels. But we are confident in the abilities of
this great group of people and proud to be taking this project forward for all the
fans of professional cycling.”