In 2008 Fabian Cancellara won his first and so far only Milan-San Remo. This was his second Monument win after his 2006 Paris-Roubaix victory and just weeks after San Remo, he finished a close second behind Tom Boonen in the hell of the north. 2009 was a lean year for Cancellara in the Monuments as he only raced the queen of the classics, finishing a lowly 49th, once again behind Tom Boonen. In 2010 Spartacus had his most successful campaign on the cobbles as he soloed away to victory at De Ronde van Vlaanderen by over a minute and backed up the win by soloing to victory at Roubaix by two minutes. In doing so he became the 10th rider to have won De Ronde and Roubaix in the same year and the second Swiss rider to do so after Henri Suter won the first double in 1923. Having notched his third Roubaix victory, perhaps Cancellara will adjust his goals and attempt to add the last two missing Monuments from his palmares.
Boonen and Cancellara are the undisputed kings of the cobbles in the millennium as both have now doubled on up the cobbled Monuments double. They are the only two to have ever done so. Last year Cancellara crashed out of De Ronde and the battle royale that everyone was anticipating between the pair was put on ice. Boonen went on to dominate Flanders and Roubaix while Cancellara nursed his broken collarbone on the couch at home. This year the tables were reversed as Boonen crashed out of Flanders and Cancellara blew the peloton apart. 2014 may be the year we can finally see these two go head to head again as they did so in 2010.
Boonen has four Roubaix’s and three Flanders and is currently the most successful Monument rider in the peloton today. Cancellara has two Flanders, Three Roubaix’s and a single Milan-San Remo which leaves him second behind Boonen on the contemporary Monument rider victor list. They were murmurs that Cancellara after his general classification victory at the 2009 Tour de Suisse would turn his attention to winning the Tour de France. This is most unlikely as the Swiss maestro is now 32 and time is against him to adapt his body to the demands of the Alps and loss his muscle mass that has been crucial in his Monuments victories and four ITT World Championship wins.
Having never raced the Giro di Lombardia and with teammate Andy Schleck pencilling in Liège–Bastogne–Liège as a season goal, these two Monuments may remain elusive. Only Eddy Merckx has won three Monuments in a single year, he did so on four occasions with Milan-San Remo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège wins in all four years with Lombardia and Flanders alternating as the third Monument. Belgian Philippe Gilbert has three Monument wins courtesy of two Lombardi’s and a solitary Liège yet his two podium finishers at both San-Remo and Flanders suggests that the current World Champion is more likely to make it to five before Cancellara.
This is an incredibly hard ask as only three riders have ever taken all five Monuments and all three were Belgians. Since the 2008 season, Cancellara has raced 15 Monuments, finished 14 of those, stepped on the podium on 11 occasions and five of those times been on the top step. This season has been his most successful at the Monuments as begun the classics season by finishing third at San Remo and on this form alone, an assault on Liège–Bastogne–Liège in just a few weeks time would be universally welcomed. Just try telling Andy that.
Boonen and Cancellara are the undisputed kings of the cobbles in the millennium as both have now doubled on up the cobbled Monuments double. They are the only two to have ever done so. Last year Cancellara crashed out of De Ronde and the battle royale that everyone was anticipating between the pair was put on ice. Boonen went on to dominate Flanders and Roubaix while Cancellara nursed his broken collarbone on the couch at home. This year the tables were reversed as Boonen crashed out of Flanders and Cancellara blew the peloton apart. 2014 may be the year we can finally see these two go head to head again as they did so in 2010.
Boonen has four Roubaix’s and three Flanders and is currently the most successful Monument rider in the peloton today. Cancellara has two Flanders, Three Roubaix’s and a single Milan-San Remo which leaves him second behind Boonen on the contemporary Monument rider victor list. They were murmurs that Cancellara after his general classification victory at the 2009 Tour de Suisse would turn his attention to winning the Tour de France. This is most unlikely as the Swiss maestro is now 32 and time is against him to adapt his body to the demands of the Alps and loss his muscle mass that has been crucial in his Monuments victories and four ITT World Championship wins.
Having never raced the Giro di Lombardia and with teammate Andy Schleck pencilling in Liège–Bastogne–Liège as a season goal, these two Monuments may remain elusive. Only Eddy Merckx has won three Monuments in a single year, he did so on four occasions with Milan-San Remo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège wins in all four years with Lombardia and Flanders alternating as the third Monument. Belgian Philippe Gilbert has three Monument wins courtesy of two Lombardi’s and a solitary Liège yet his two podium finishers at both San-Remo and Flanders suggests that the current World Champion is more likely to make it to five before Cancellara.
This is an incredibly hard ask as only three riders have ever taken all five Monuments and all three were Belgians. Since the 2008 season, Cancellara has raced 15 Monuments, finished 14 of those, stepped on the podium on 11 occasions and five of those times been on the top step. This season has been his most successful at the Monuments as begun the classics season by finishing third at San Remo and on this form alone, an assault on Liège–Bastogne–Liège in just a few weeks time would be universally welcomed. Just try telling Andy that.
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