I am a bit late with this, as his last
official “race” was just before Halloween, but I wanted to take the time to bid
a very fond farewell to one of my all-time favorite cyclists, Fabian
Cancellara, who decided to retire at the end of this season. My title refers to
the fact that the charismatic star, born to Italian parents in Wohlen,
Switzerland, speaks all four of the languages involved fluently – which
astounds me almost as much as his list of victories.
The photo above, showing Fabian with special
team jersey and bike to mark his final ride, was taken at the Tour de France
Saitama Criterium, a showcase event in Japan that features the various jersey
winners from this year’s Tour. Just as a quick aside, the results of this event
are always a bit staged. Somehow Chris Froome (in yellow as G.C. winner), Adam
Yates (in white as best young rider), Peter Sagan (World Champion, wearing
green as Tour points winner) and Japanese national champ Sho Hatsuyuma got into
a breakaway, with Sagan winning the sprint. Well, at least that would be very realistic!
Back to the main subject, I have written
about Cancellara several times in this blog, as the powerful rider has
consistently been at the top of his profession. An internet search of his
palmarès would prove somewhat mind-boggling, but I’ll provide a brief summary
of the highlights:
Since turning professional at the age of 19
with the Mapei-Quick Step team in 2000, Cancellara has had great success in cycling’s
Monuments, winning both the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix each three
times (including TWICE achieving the very difficult “double” of claiming both
events in the same season), and Milan–San Remo once. He also won the
classics Strade Bianche and E3 Herelbeke each three times. Fabian has won the
opening stage of the Tour de France five times and has led the race
for 29 days total, which is the most of any rider who has not claimed overall
victory. He has won general classification of Tirreno–Adriatico, Tour
de Suisse, and the Tour of Oman. In 2008, Cancellara won gold in the
individual time trial and silver in the men's road race at the Summer
Olympics, and during the games in 2016, he again won gold in the individual time
trial. He also has been the time
trial world champion four times in his career.
Below is one of my favorite action photos of
Fabian – I just love the composition, with the Swiss champion, who has just made
the winning move up the cobbled Muur de Geraardsbergen to win the 2010 Tour of
Flanders, and the massive crowd at the top roaring for their “honorary
Belgian” hero.
Last week I mentioned a Pinarello Veneto repaint job, and it unfortunately has come to an abrupt stop before even starting. The peeling paint and rust issues were not just surface problems, as the bottom bracket and stem are both completely stuck. In fact, when I inserted the bottom bracket tool, the teeth on the inside rim of the cup just crumbled. And I am very familiar with Pinarello fork/stem problems from past experience!
Without being able to service the bottom bracket and headset, I don't think it would be worth it to sink funds into this project as-is. Painting around the issues wouldn't exactly be ideal anyway, considering the awkward masking it would entail.
I feel really bad about this situation, and I proposed to Paul trying to cobble something together that would fit his budget by combining his parts with the Veneto I currently have for sale, but we'll see what we can come up with.
In the meantime, I dropped off my Ciöcc frame at Bruce's place to have it touched-up, and I have been doing my own bit of (simpler) paintwork on the Olmo's rear triangle. The Wilier also arrived from Italy, in the normal average condition that Giovanni's "finds" always seem to be - nothing that a little work can't improve, though. I definitely plan on purchasing an aluminum polish kit to try to bring up the shine on that frameset.
It's always at the back of my mind - or maybe more accurately, in front of my face, as it hangs right at the bottom of the basement steps to my shop - but I have yet to finalize a plan on the Colnago. However, it's kind of nice to keep a relaxed attitude about completing all of these projects. I can jump from bike project to bike project, picking out some aspect to work on, as the mood strikes me.
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