2013 Tour of Qatar (3rd-8th February), 2.HC

[wirral]

This is not true.

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Fair play to Cavendish. Three wins already this year is a good start in anyone's book.

And heading towards his second GC of his career, I think.

 

[Afrank]

1st, Cavendish.
2nd, Markus.
3rd, Guardini

Guardini made it to the end and actually got to sprint! Finally, I've been waiting for him to be up there in the sprint. Hope he can take good form into Langkawi.

Also congrats to Cav, barring a crash, I don't see a whole lot that can stop him from taking GC.

 

[maltiv]

BMC must be quite embarrassed. In stage 1, they had Cavendish 2 minutes behind them with 30 km to go. Instead of continuing riding, everyone stopped up and Cav got back up.

If not for that decision, BMC would most likely have gotten 1-2-3-4-5 on GC.

 

[Cavendash]

I actually have the completely other impression. Cavendish might be even on the decline. At least the gap between him and many others is beginning to get smaller.

Dream on mate, you really are in fantasy land.

As another poster pointed out you might want him to decline so your man can get some more wins but in reality Cav is in his peak years.

Cav is still out on his own and comfortably ahead of Greipel as he always has been, Andre was very lucky Cav was at Sky last year otherwise he wouldn't of got those 3 stages.

Greipel should be grateful if he wins one stage at this years TDF, if Cav avoids crashes he will win at least 5.

Cav 23 TDF stage wins.
Greipel 4 TDF stage wins.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Dream on mate, you really are in fantasy land.

As another poster pointed out you might want him to decline so your man can get some more wins but in reality Cav is in his peak years.

Cav is still out on his own and comfortably ahead of Greipel as he always has been, Andre was very lucky Cav was at Sky last year otherwise he wouldn't of got those 3 stages.

Greipel should be grateful if he wins one stage at this years TDF, if Cav avoids crashes he will win at least 5.

Cav 23 TDF stage wins.
Greipel 4 TDF stage wins.

AHAHAHAHAHA

fanboy alert!!

 

[spalco]

I can't wait for Cavendish to put Greipel and all the other pretenders in their rightful place again later on in the season. Last year with Sky was clearly an outlier. With Cav having a committed team, I'm looking forward to a lot of whining from his opponents again.

eta: btw. is that an MLP reference Cavendash? Cav, now 20% cooler.

 

[Andy99]

AHAHAHAHAHA

fanboy alert!!

Why?

The statement is clearly fact.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Why?

The statement is clearly fact.

Some people just see that Cav and Greipel both won 3 stages last year and so think they are now equal.

They didn't notice that Griepel's wins came when Cav either crashed (2) or was starting from 40 riders back because he had no team support.

They also missed Cav's first win, where Andre had a perfect leadout, Cav had no support at all, but managed to ride on to Andre's wheel, moving 25 riders forward in the last 500m before still comfortably moving out of Andre's slipstream and overtaking him.

They also missed Andre being absolutely nowhere for the last 2 sprints once Sky chilled a bit and supported Cav.

 

[spalco]

They also missed Andre being absolutely nowhere for the last 2 sprints once Sky chilled a bit and supported Cav.

[hater]That's only because Cav was able to regain energy by being driven up the mountains in the commissaire's car.[/hater]

 

[El Pistolero]

Some people just see that Cav and Greipel both won 3 stages last year and so think they are now equal.

They didn't notice that Griepel's wins came when Cav either crashed (2) or was starting from 40 riders back because he had no team support.

They also missed Cav's first win, where Andre had a perfect leadout, Cav had no support at all, but managed to ride on to Andre's wheel, moving 25 riders forward in the last 500m before still comfortably moving out of Andre's slipstream and overtaking him.

They also missed Andre being absolutely nowhere for the last 2 sprints once Sky chilled a bit and supported Cav.

You can't argue that Cav doesn't need a lead-out train and at the same time blame Greipel's wins because of a lack of Cav having a lead-out train.

What has become clear however is that Greipel would've won just about as much as Cav if he had the real HTC lead-out train at the big races.

And even though Greipel also won 4 stages last year in Australia, I have to say, he's looking better this year than last year.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

You can't argue that Cav doesn't need a lead-out train and at the same time blame Greipel's wins because of a lack of Cav having a lead-out train.

What has become clear however is that Greipel would've won just about as much as Cav if he had the real HTC lead-out train at the big races.

And even though Greipel also won 4 stages last year in Australia, I have to say, he's looking better this year than last year.

No, the point is that in the first sprint of the Tour, Andre had a perfect leadout, Cav had 0 leadout, and Cav won.

No one believes Andre would have been even top 10 on that stage with roles reversed, and that is the difference.

Andre was more impressive in 2011 where he did actually beat Cav from behind. 2012 he was just fortunate Cav was not present in the sprints he won.

 

[El Pistolero]

No, the point is that in the first sprint of the Tour, Andre had a perfect leadout, Cav had 0 leadout, and Cav won.

No one believes Andre would have been even top 10 on that stage with roles reversed, and that is the difference.

Andre was more impressive in 2011 where he did actually beat Cav from behind. 2012 he was just fortunate Cav was not present in the sprints he won.

Just shows how limited Cav is as a rider.

Of course he won the final stage of the Tour. It's the easiest pro race in the world. Suits his abilities as a rider just perfect(granted, his stage win the previous day was pretty impressive).

You're however ignoring that Greipel dislocated his shoulder on a Tour stage and still managed second. Try and spin it whatever way you want, but Greipel was much better in 2012 than 2011, that includes his team surrounding him. And we still have to see if QS can get a lead-out train as good as Lotto's. It will probably improve next year when they buy some new riders for it though.

 

[Pentacycle]

Just shows how limited Cav is as a rider.

Of course he won the final stage of the Tour. It's the easiest pro race in the world. Suits his abilities as a rider just perfect.

You're however ignoring that Greipel dislocated his shoulder on a Tour stage and still managed second. Try and spin it whatever way you want, but Greipel was much better in 2012 than 2011, that includes his team surrounding him.

Of course his team was better, having mostly riders for the sprint train instead of supporting JVDB, that was the only reason he won more Tour stages than he did in '11.

Still it will be interesting to see how Greipel will manage to beat a Cav with a leadout at full strength, ie Trentin, Vermote, Vandewalle, Martin, Terpstra, Chavanel, Steegmans, Boonen and many others. Right now in Qatar he has a very inexperienced train, let's see how Lotto can keep up with that in the Tour. They were already riding at full strength Down Under, nobody takes that race as seriously as Lotto.

And Cav a limited rider? Oh boy, that's been discussed way too many times.

 

[spalco]

Winning on the Champs shows Cav's limitations, aha.

 

[El Pistolero]

Of course his team was better, having mostly riders for the sprint train instead of supporting JVDB, that was the only reason he won more Tour stages than he did in '11.

Still it will be interesting to see how Greipel will manage to beat a Cav with a leadout at full strength, ie Trentin, Vermote, Vandewalle, Martin, Terpstra, Chavanel, Steegmans, Boonen and many others. Right now in Qatar he has a very inexperienced train, let's see how Lotto can keep up with that in the Tour. They were already riding at full strength Down Under, nobody takes that race as seriously as Lotto.

And Cav a limited rider? Oh boy, that's been discussed way too many times.

Are those supposed to be expert lead-out men or something? I don't even see Boonen starting in the Tour and Chavanel has already said he wants to do the Giro.

And JVDB being there was not the reason. He crashed out in 2011 and not in 2012. Gilbert was the main problem for Greipel in 2011. Never the less, Greipel's sprinting seems better than ever. Should be interesting. Still think Lotto's lead-out train is better than Cav's.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Cav doesn't need a leadout train as good as Griepels - as long as they can place him in the first 5 or 10 riders with 300 to go he'll do the rest more often than not.

 

[Pentacycle]

Are those supposed to be expert lead-out men or something? I don't even see Boonen starting in the Tour and Chavanel has already said he wants to do the Giro.

And JVDB not being there was not the reason. He crashed out in 2011 and not in 2012. Gilbert was the main problem for Greipel in 2011. Never the less, Greipel's sprinting seems better than ever. Should be interesting. Still think Lotto's lead-out train is better than Cav's.

Lefevere better talk Boonen into riding the Tour, why else would OPQS be talking about 10 TdF stage wins as a goal? Their train can still become much stronger than what they have in Qatar, I hope you can agree with that.

And of course JVDB rode the Tour in 2012, he just had less support. He only had Vanendert iirc? What I meant was more riders on their 2012 Tour team were commited to Greipel. Both teams are clearly targeting sprint domination in this year's Tour, only then will we see who's the better sprinter.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cav doesn't need a leadout train as good as Griepels - as long as they can place him in the first 5 or 10 riders with 300 to go he'll do the rest more often than not.

I agree, but Greipel's lead-out will in my opinion be better than Cav, so the playing ground will be a bit more even than in 2007-2011.

 

[Caruut]

If the chasing group is 10 minutes behind and then instantly doubles its pace, it is suddenly 5 minutes behind.

No it isn't. Wasn't there a thread about this last year?

EDIT: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17284

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

You can read suddenly to be 5 minutes if people are still finding instant recalculation a little taxing. The distinction is for pedants in any case.

 

[Netserk]

You can read suddenly to be 5 minutes if people are still finding instant recalculation a little taxing. The distinction is for pedants in any case.

The time difference *isn't* how long it takes the peloton to get where the break is.

The time difference *is* how long a go it was that the break was where the peloton is now.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Are those supposed to be expert lead-out men or something? I don't even see Boonen starting in the Tour and Chavanel has already said he wants to do the Giro.

And JVDB being there was not the reason. He crashed out in 2011 and not in 2012. Gilbert was the main problem for Greipel in 2011. Never the less, Greipel's sprinting seems better than ever. Should be interesting. Still think Lotto's lead-out train is better than Cav's.

I agree with your last 3 sentences. However, if Cav wants Boonen and Chavanel as part of his preferred train though, they'll be with him in July, however painful it might be for you to accept the thought of Boonen leading out Cav to victory. You don't sign the best sprinter in history and then not build the team around him for the biggest race of the year, unless you've got a shot at yellow.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I agree with your last 3 sentences. However, if Cav wants Boonen and Chavanel as part of his preferred train though, they'll be with him in July, however painful it might be for you to accept the thought of Boonen leading out Cav to victory. You don't sign the best sprinter in history and then not build the team around him for the biggest race of the year, unless you've got a shot at yellow.

lol. you don't have a clue

boonen is the boss in quickstep and always will be. he's much more important for the sponsor as well. get out of your anglophone world I'd say

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

You can read suddenly to be 5 minutes if people are still finding instant recalculation a little taxing. The distinction is for pedants in any case.

oh my...

you take the cake again with ridiculous things to say

 

[King Of The Wolds]

lol. you don't have a clue

boonen is the boss in quickstep and always will be. he's much more important for the sponsor as well. get out of your anglophone world I'd say

They're called Omega Pharma - Quickstep. Any idea on the business strategies for either of these companies for 2013?