Fabian Cancellara arrives 45 minutes late at our meeting at the Weincafé Klösterli by the Bear Pit in Bern, driving his Mercedes GLE SUV. He had been on business in Belgium, had to pop home, change, then battle the sluggish city traffic. Now he is here – and how! In a slim-cut blue suit with a brilliant white shirt and white sneakers, he cuts a fine figure, one that would turn heads even if he weren’t Fabian Cancellara. Not a trace of haste. Friendly and relaxed, he greets the whole crew, apologises for being late – and is ready. You can tell the man has learned to focus. I get straight into the conversation. We have no time to lose – the photographer is watching the sky, keen to use the perfect light, and Cancellara is said to be known for his efficiency.
Starting Again from Scratch
The first thing I want to know is what it’s like to stop as a professional athlete, to be out of the spotlight from one day to the next. “It wasn’t easy. Nobody had been waiting for me. I had to start again from scratch and, so to speak, find a new identity,” Cancellara admits frankly. After retiring from the world’s race courses in 2016 and founding his company Sette Sports (initially still called Fabian Cancellara AG), he found that the business world differs greatly from his familiar surroundings. “In sport you maintain a human way of dealing with one another,” he observes. “Here the human factor decides success or failure. In business, by contrast, the human being has lost value, I find. People often communicate only digitally, at most by phone. Yet the personal encounter is essential and can be replaced by nothing.”
Striking words from a man who wrested the superhuman from himself on the bike. Over the course of the conversation I notice how important the social component is to him in everything he does. Even during his sporting career, contacts were decisive; again and again there were people – Cancellara calls them “companions” – who showed him the way. He, too, wants to be a signpost for others, and the vehicle for that is, how could it be otherwise, the bike. With his company he has launched the “Chasing Cancellara” event series, in which cycling enthusiasts from beginners to semi-pros ride a route together with Cancellara himself – for instance Bern–Andermatt or a small tour of Flanders. “Cycling was first my hobby, then it became my school of life, and today I can share my experiences in direct contact with others and, I hope, inspire them,” he says, adding: “It matters to me to be authentic in everything. I want to show myself as I am at this point in life. Then I’m credible, and the spark jumps across. Experiencing that moment makes me very happy.”
Arrogant? No, Self-Assured!
And indeed Cancellara seems to have arrived at a good point in his life. He comes across as very grounded – Bernese would say “bödelet” – and it’s hard to imagine he once raced driven against the clock. Professional cycling demands an extraordinary outlay of mental and physical resources; riders are famed for their legendary capacity to suffer. Was Cancellara a masochist? He’ll have none of it: “I trained and raced to win races. Inside, I always told myself: I want to win! Only the first is the winner; the second is the first loser. Quality, for me, means working towards your goal and daring to put that goal into words and stand for it outwardly too.” Despite this focus, Cancellara never seemed arrogant, but rather self-assured in a healthy measure. And so he is today.
A likeable figure, he is aware of his role-model status and uses it to drive change. As chairman of the board of the Laureus Foundation Switzerland, he works to give as many children as possible from socially disadvantaged families access to sport – sport as a means of equal opportunity and prevention, once again as a school of life: an activity in which children and young people learn to set a goal, to work for it, to win, to lose, and yet to stay motivated and fair. Another programme he initiated, “Kids on Wheels”, aims to bring children into contact with the bike, so that even the youngest develop a joy in movement and in their own achievement.
Six years after retiring from elite sport, Cancellara is a sought-after man on many fronts. Unlike in professional sport, with its fixed recovery periods, as a self-employed entrepreneur he could be on duty around the clock. That carries dangers, as he concedes: “At first I accepted every request. But over time I had to learn to set boundaries, to say no. I have to, in order to protect myself and use my time wisely. I want to do less, but properly – people sense that, I’m convinced of it.” A fine closing word, I think. The sun beckons, the team is ready, the photo shoot can begin.
Cancellara the cyclist: Fabian Cancellara (41) grew up in Hinterkappelen, near Bern. He began his professional career at 19, despite his height of 1.86 metres, which earned him the nickname “Spartacus”. The list of his successes is long: two Olympic gold medals and four world titles in the time trial, plus three wins each at Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. He wore the Tour de France’s yellow jersey for 29 days. In 2016 he retired from elite sport after his Olympic victory in Rio. He lives in Ittigen with his wife Stefanie and their two daughters.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/22 (May 2022).
