An illness during the last Christmas break and an accident with a car during a training ride in January were the reasons why Fabian Cancellara found himself slightly behind his training Schedule in the beginning of 2014 season. However, if there were any doubts whether the Swiss classics specialist would be ready with fining the disposition for his major objectives: Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, they were all erased with his impressive showing in E3 Harelbeke last Friday.

Cancellara once again proved that he’s able to find his legs exactly when he needs them and an early delay with respect to his training programme cannot prevent the motivated Swiss from hitting the top disposition for the cobbled monuments. The 33-year old Trek Factory Racing rider has showed first signs of life this season in the Strade Bianche, what was followed by impressive runner-up spot in marred by bad weather conditions Milano-Sanremo and a true manifestation of strength in the E3 Harelbeke last Friday.

The 33-year old classics specialist finished ninth in Harelbeke, but certainly left observers with an impression of being the strongest rider in the event - eventually won by Peter Sagan, when he passed almost an entire peloton to rejoin a group of leaders after he’d been caught up in the crash which caused a huge split.

The Trek Factory Racing manager Dirk Demol confirmed that if there was any delay caused by the illness and crash, it had no further impact on Cancellara’s preparations and the Swiss, as usually, is ready for the challenges provided by two most prestigious cobbled classics.

“Every year, we have the same preparation, with training camps and races. We change it around a little bit, but this year, everyone was saying he was a bit behind, but now it’s three months later, and he’s proven that he is ready,” Dirk Demol told VeloNews.

“When he comes to these races, Flanders and Roubaix, these are the two biggest races of the year in his eyes. You can see him growing mentally and physically toward this period. He is a good leader, and you can see the team is growing. On Friday, we did a good race, and in Sanremo, we had four riders on the Poggio in a group of 30. Fabian shows them he is ready.”



Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) experienced highly promsing start to 2014 season and the clash between two splendid classics specialist was highly anticipated, however, a personal tragedy followed by a thumb injury obtained in Draws door Vlaanderen prevented 33-year old Belgian from enjoying a proper build-up towards Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.

As a result, the Omega Pharma-Quick Step leader clearly suffered in his last cobbled events, but Trek Factory Racing manager expects Boonen to be ready when he lines up at the Flemish monument on Sunday.

“I was impressed about his fitness when I saw him in Qatar. When he beat [André] Greipel in the sprint, I thought, “this is the best Tom we’ve ever seen.” But what happened last week, you could see on Wednesday and Friday, he was suffering. But he is one who is always there. It’s not just a fight between Fabian and Tom, we have a lot of good other riders. One thing is sure: we know that Tom will be playing an important role in Flanders and Roubaix.”

Even though the rivalry in Flanders and Roubaix may very likely come down to the clash between Cancellara and Boonen, the Trek Factory Racing manager emphasizes that a list of potential favorites consists of several more than just these two names.

“Young riders are coming up. Sagan is a push for motivation. Fabian knows he has to stay super motivated all the time to see if he can still beat those guys. The big advantage Fabian has is his experience. That helps so much in these big races,” Demol pointed out to Sagan as a third big name to mix it up in the cobbled monuments.

“He’s good. He won at Harelbeke when he said he wasn’t that good, and he won quite easy. I saw at Tirreno-Adriatico he was ready. He was only 10th at Sanremo, but that was a hard day for everyone. For sure he will be there. It’s not just a battle between Tom and Fabian; there is a lot more to come.”