<p>Fabian Cancellara brought a little classics flavour to the other side of the world today in Buninyong, Australia. The winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix one-day classics this April, flew the flag for team Switzerland at the Herald Sun Classic, an important World Championships test race.</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara made the winning group of four in the 127-kilometre race. His former Mapei team-mate, Italian Filippo Pozzato was also in the group and won the race. Cancellara glided home in fourth, but with a smile on his face because he knows he made the right decision to travel to Europe. He decided only Tuesday that he would race the Worlds time trial and road race, and only yesterday did he decide he would race the Herald Sun Classic.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I'm pretty happy, I've done the race in Australia, it's great," he said of his first Australian race today.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I still have jet lag, that's normal, I need some more days, but that's okay."</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara's flight arrived Friday morning after a long journey from his home in Bern, Switzerland. He and the other European cyclists are adjusting to the eight-hour time difference.</p><p>
</p><p>
Thursday, he will race for a record fourth time trial title and defend his home win last year in Mendrisio, Switzerland. His other wins come from 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany, and when he was 25 years old 2006 in Salzburg, Austria.</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara also won 2008 Olympic time trial and took a silver medal in the road race.</p><p>
</p><p>
It was last year's World Championships in Mendrisio, though, where he nearly pulled off the double and won the road race. There is speculation, and even more so after today's battle with his Italian rival, that he is aiming at the double again.</p><p>
</p><p>
"It slipped out of my hands. I'll have to recover from this one because it is hard when you get so close but fail," he said after last year's race.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I raced until my legs would not go further."</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara legs carried him to fifth place only three days after they helped him win the time trial gold medal. He had shaped the race and, above all, the final lap. Only the presence of three Spaniards foiled his chance.</p><p>
</p><p>
He would have been the first cyclist to win both Worlds Championships time trial and road race in the same year. Spain's Abraham Olano was the only rider to win both the Worlds time trial and road race. He won the road race in 1995 in Bogota, Colombia, and the time trial in 1998 in Valkenburg, Netherlands.</p><p>
</p><p>
The Geelong course will work in favour of Cancellara's double attempt. As part of his time trial ride, he will take in nearly all of the 15.9-kilometre road race circuit twice. It will give Cancellara a chance to confront the circuit at race pace before Sunday.</p><p>
</p><p>
The time trial is two circuits of 22.7 kilometres, or 45.4 kilometres. The road race starts with a leg from Melbourne and ends with 11 times around a 15.9-kilometre circuit, 262.7 kilometres.</p><p>
</p><p>
Racing for trade team Saxo Bank this season, Cancellara won three time trials, and three one-day races.</p>
More...
</p><p>
Cancellara made the winning group of four in the 127-kilometre race. His former Mapei team-mate, Italian Filippo Pozzato was also in the group and won the race. Cancellara glided home in fourth, but with a smile on his face because he knows he made the right decision to travel to Europe. He decided only Tuesday that he would race the Worlds time trial and road race, and only yesterday did he decide he would race the Herald Sun Classic.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I'm pretty happy, I've done the race in Australia, it's great," he said of his first Australian race today.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I still have jet lag, that's normal, I need some more days, but that's okay."</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara's flight arrived Friday morning after a long journey from his home in Bern, Switzerland. He and the other European cyclists are adjusting to the eight-hour time difference.</p><p>
</p><p>
Thursday, he will race for a record fourth time trial title and defend his home win last year in Mendrisio, Switzerland. His other wins come from 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany, and when he was 25 years old 2006 in Salzburg, Austria.</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara also won 2008 Olympic time trial and took a silver medal in the road race.</p><p>
</p><p>
It was last year's World Championships in Mendrisio, though, where he nearly pulled off the double and won the road race. There is speculation, and even more so after today's battle with his Italian rival, that he is aiming at the double again.</p><p>
</p><p>
"It slipped out of my hands. I'll have to recover from this one because it is hard when you get so close but fail," he said after last year's race.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I raced until my legs would not go further."</p><p>
</p><p>
Cancellara legs carried him to fifth place only three days after they helped him win the time trial gold medal. He had shaped the race and, above all, the final lap. Only the presence of three Spaniards foiled his chance.</p><p>
</p><p>
He would have been the first cyclist to win both Worlds Championships time trial and road race in the same year. Spain's Abraham Olano was the only rider to win both the Worlds time trial and road race. He won the road race in 1995 in Bogota, Colombia, and the time trial in 1998 in Valkenburg, Netherlands.</p><p>
</p><p>
The Geelong course will work in favour of Cancellara's double attempt. As part of his time trial ride, he will take in nearly all of the 15.9-kilometre road race circuit twice. It will give Cancellara a chance to confront the circuit at race pace before Sunday.</p><p>
</p><p>
The time trial is two circuits of 22.7 kilometres, or 45.4 kilometres. The road race starts with a leg from Melbourne and ends with 11 times around a 15.9-kilometre circuit, 262.7 kilometres.</p><p>
</p><p>
Racing for trade team Saxo Bank this season, Cancellara won three time trials, and three one-day races.</p>
More...