by Justin Davis

MENDRISIO, Switzerland, Sept 25, 2009 (AFP) – Fabian Cancellara is on the cusp of another career milestone that is set to further enhance his standing in the popularity stakes against Swiss compatriot Roger Federer.

Tennis’s world number one Federer may be more in vogue worldwide, but mention Cancellara’s name across the Confederation’s 26 cantons and the big 28-year-old from Berne would arguably come out on top.

Cancellara claimed a record-equaling third time trial gold at the world cycling championships on Thursday and now has his sights on the men’s blue riband of the road race on Sunday.

It will be an audacious bid, especially as the 13.8km circuit that will be raced 19 times for a total distance of 262.2km is better suited to the ‘punchers’ who can climb, and then hold on for a finishing sprint if needed.

Cancellara, who stands 1.86 meters tall, is built to excel in short and long time trials. After beating Gustav Larsson to the Olympic gold medal last year, he beat the Swede by a massive 1min 27sec over 49.8km Thursday to win his third title in the discipline.

But that feat has only boosted Cancellara’s confidence for Sunday, where he will be hoping years of collecting victories on a wide range of terrain will count.

He now has five stage wins from the Tour de France, victories in ‘monumental’ one-day classics like Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo and has also conquered the climbs to win week-long stage races like Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Switzerland.

And he’s not about to stop there.

In the Olympics there are only two road events, the time trial and the road race. In Beijing Cancellara followed his time trial victory with a gladiator-like ride on hilly terrain that won him bronze in the road race.

Ahead of the London Games in 2012, Cancellara has hinted at spreading his talents further.

“I think I could aim for three medals in London, the road, time trial and on the track,” said Cancellara in a recent interview with Blick Sports magazine.

Thanks to those kinds of performances, the man known as ‘Spartacus’ won Switzerland’s sports personality of the year award in 2008.

Since last year he has been in constant demand, although it doesn’t help that Cancellara speaks all three Swiss languages of French, German and Italian, as well as English.

A devoted family man who has taken up the cause of the country’s small agriculture producers in the face of globalization, he admits it can all get too much.

“It’s got to the point where I have to start saying no,” said Cancellara, who is married to Stefanie, a hairdresser, with whom he has a three-year-old daughter, Giuliana.

Cancellara says one of his cycling idols remains five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain. Coincidentally, the Swiss is now following in the Spanish great’s footsteps.

Indurain was the favourite for the 1995 worlds’ road race after winning the time trial crown, but was upstaged by compatriot Abraham Olano.

The big favourites this Sunday may be Italian Damiano Cunego, Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and Belgian Philippe Gilbert.

But Cancellara believes he can punch above his weight to become the first ever winner of the elite men’s time trial and road race golds at the same championships.

“I dream of doing the double,” he said Thursday. “I said during the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) that I think I can do it. I have the motivation, the determination, and the confidence.

“We have a six-man team, others have nine, and the race will be very hard.

“But I have set the bar high, and I have the belief. If I didn’t, I would stay at home.”