28 year-old Fabian Cancellara is considered in many circles to be the best time trialist in men's professional cycling today.
The Olympic gold-medallist, known for his aggressive style of racing, is being hotly tipped as a potential threat to the famous frontrunners at this year’s Tour de France.
Cancellara's first victory as a professional came at the prologue of the Tour of Rhodes back in 2001.
Cancellara chalked up more victories in 2004 - he finished fourth in the Paris-Roubaix race, and caused a bit of an upset when he won the prologue at the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong.
However Cancellara could not better his Paris-Roubaix success the following year, as a flat tire 46 kilometers from the finish line meant he finished 8th.
Cancellara bounced back in a major way in 2006 by becoming only the second Swiss winner of Paris-Roubaix. Later that year, he won the World Time Trial Championships in Austria.
At the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France in London, Cancellara repeated his earlier feat and finished first, granting him the yellow jersey.
Cancellara took home two medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – a bronze medal in the road race and gold in the time trials. He also emerged victorious at this year's Tour of Switzerland, which ended in Cancellara's home town Berne.
Following this victory, he was named Swiss Male Athlete of the Year at the Credit Suisse Sports Awards and has since been in training to compete in this year’s Tour de France as part of the Saxo Bank team.
