News: Cancellara Best in TT in Algarve

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Many people’s favourite rider in the current peloton, Fabian Cancellara ( Trek-Segafredo ) was fastest in the stage 3 time trial in the Volta ao Algarve yesterday

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News: Cancellara Best in TT in Algarve

Fabian Cancellara ( Trek-Segafredo ) claimed the win in the stage three 18-kilometer time trial in Volta ao Algarve Friday, crossing the line in 20:57 (51.551 km/h), five seconds quicker than Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) and 28 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas (Sky).

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It was a tricky course with a technical start and windy conditions thrown in to make it a tough test against the clock.

“I felt good and powered everything on the road,” explained Cancellara. “The race was one-quarter technical in the first part and three-quarters with more power straights. A lot of wind, tail-wind and cross-wind; it was a really tough one. I just powered everything out I had.

“After yesterday’s hard stage I did not have a huge crazy expectation of going for the win. I knew I started early, and with Martin and Thomas starting so late… so I just focused on myself, on my performance. I did my usual warm-up, and I had good feelings on the trainer, and in this situation, with my experience, I knew with these feelings that I was good, and mentally this helped me.

“And then it was waiting, waiting on the hotseat. I am kind of surprised, but on the other hand super happy about the win.”

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At the 11.3-kilometer intermediate split, Martin was eight seconds ahead of Cancellara, and Thomas came across in the same time, but the final seven kilometers proved crucial. Both Martin and Thomas faded in the latter part of the course while Cancellara maintained his strong pace.

“I don’t know, I just powered everything out,” answered Cancellara when asked if he had a planned his pace perfectly. “I was going 70km/h on certain parts of the course back to the finish. I don’t know if you can say I calculated the pace; I knew it was going to be a 21-minute race, and I just gave it all knowing what the effort would be. When you have good feelings, and you know that you are going fast, then when you also hear from the car from Dirk [Demol, director] in the radio – and they know me so well – that helped me to power out even more, and this is also what is important. I don’t say I was flying home, but I was powering home.”

It is the second victory for Cancellara this year, another positive sign ahead of the cobbled Classics where he will strive to finish his career on top and make amends for a crash-marred 2014 that caused him to miss the entire spring campaign.

“I don’t say that today’s win gives me more confidence because the confidence I need is more from races like Tirreno-Adriatico because this will show me that I am in the right way,” added Cancellara. “There is still some work to do; next week I will take a small rest and move on again with Strade [Bianche] and Tirreno. I still need more, because I need to compete with the others who have been racing in Qatar and Oman. I am just enjoying riding my bike, riding the races, and this makes me feel relaxed. To take another win on top is super cool for myself and super nice for the team and for the motivation for everyone.”

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