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Fabian Cancellara challenges Phil Gaimon to catch him in race

Could be a great head-to-head battle or akward publicity stunt

November 17, 2017
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The war of words between Phil Gaimon and Fabian Cancellara took a new turn on Friday. After sending his lawyers after Gaimon asking for his latest book the be pulled off shelves and a public apology, Cancellara has challenged the American to a race.

Gaimon expressed his opinion in his book that Cancellara used a motor to win Monuments in 2010, a claim that was widely circulated at the time but has never been proven.

In a post on social media, Cancellara invited Gaimon to try and beat him at one of his eight 2018 Chasing Cancellara events.

“Hi @philgaimon, I actually don’t know you, but I kindly invite you to beat me at one of my 8 #ChasingCancellara races, by next year 2018,” Cancellara who retired at the end of 2016 wrote on Twitter. “You choose the @chasecancellara -date out of 5 countries. I am very curious to see how much watt you can push!Start training!”

Cancellara used the hashtag #nomotorneeded at the end of the Tweet.

Gaimon was quick to respond asking, “Are there cookies? Bike rides should have cookies”. Gaimon hosts Phil’s Cookie Fondo in October. During his career he was recognized for his love of cookies. Gaimon did not indicate whether he was taking the challenge seriously. In the Chasing Cancellara events, members of the public can try and catch the former time trial world champion on a course 10 to 15 km in length.

The two retired WorldTour riders have a lean record against each other. The only point of comparison being the prologue of the Tour of California in 2009 which Cancellara won and Gaimon finished 86th in. However,

During his career, Cancellara was one of the worlds best time trialist and cobbled classics riders. Gaimon was a climber who was not a prolific winner. Gaimon has made headlines in 2017 chasing Strava KOMs, specifically targeting those of former dopers.

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