2014 Tirreno Adriatico, Stage 6: Bucchianico→Porto Sant'Elpidio (187 Km)

[TourOfSardinia]

Sagan's third was pretty amazing coming from way back. M-SR?

 

[Wallenquist]

I'm pretty sure it was Modolo who first crashed and took down the Lotto guys who were right behind him. And no, it wasn't on the left side, it was just behind OPQS train.

 

[quintana]

Just want to know what you guys think. Can you guys rate the best sprinters? Cavendish, Sagan, Kittel, Greipel.

 

[King Boonen]

Just want to know what you guys think. Can you guys rate the best sprinters? Cavendish, Sagan, Kittel, Greipel.

Kittel, Cav (Cav will move down the list is he doesn't perform this year.)
Greipel





Sagan.

 

[Old School]

Just want to know what you guys think. Can you guys rate the best sprinters? Cavendish, Sagan, Kittel, Greipel.

Pure Sprint race dictated by thier trains?

1. Kittel
2. Greipel
3. Cav
4. Sagan

One train, but not all the others?

1. Kittel
2. Greipel
3. Sagan
4. Cav

Mano y Mano? NO train at all?

1. Greipel
2. Kittel
3. Cav
4. Sagan

Every race is different, you never know until they wind it up.

 

[veji11]

Crash was far left side, no implications for peleton

Seems OPQS train dropped everyone for a few meters and was hard to close that distance back.

Cav had no competition so this win says exactly 0

edit: but his train was fantastic. again, chasing to many rabbits can yield none, once GC was gone they showed something.

You can't say that, the rider crashes and so drifts to the left and by having 3 lotto riders drifting to the left while, because of the previous 90° turn the peloton is in a single file it does create a gap where the riders can't take advantage of the slipstream.. Doesn't mean Cav wouldn't have won, but to say it didn't have implications for the peloton is just wrong.

 

[RownhamHill]

Pure Sprint race dictated by thier trains?

1. Kittel
2. Greipel
3. Cav
4. Sagan

One train, but not all the others?

1. Kittel
2. Greipel
3. Sagan
4. Cav

Mano y Mano? NO train at all?

1. Greipel
2. Kittel
3. Cav
4. Sagan

Every race is different, you never know until they wind it up.

So you're saying the 31 year old Andre Greipel (11 grand tour stage victories, one points jersey in the Vuelta) is better than the 28 year old Mark Cavendish (43 grand tour stage victories, one monument, one rainbow jersey) as a sprinter on every measure?

That's an, ermm, interesting point of view.

 

[therhodeo]

Every race is different, you never know until they wind it up.

By far the only part of that post worth repeating.

 

[Jspear]

So you're saying the 31 year old Andre Greipel (11 grand tour stage victories, one points jersey in the Vuelta) is better than the 28 year old Mark Cavendish (43 grand tour stage victories, one monument, one rainbow jersey) as a sprinter on every measure?

That's an, ermm, interesting point of view.

Yep, and that's all it is...a personal point of view! I'm happy for Cav even if certain sprinters weren't there. He managed to be where he needed to be to stay safe. Nice win!

 

[Vino's Mum]

Just want to know what you guys think. Can you guys rate the best sprinters? Cavendish, Sagan, Kittel, Greipel.

You asked that one already:

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=21925

 

[VeloHuman]

Crashes kind of prevented us from seeing which of the big three is the fastest right now in this race. Not to take anything away from Cavendish, but I would have liked to have seen at least one battle royale between Cav, Greipel and Kittel in T-A to get a sense of how fast they are this time of year.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

People only care about March results in March anyway.

Cav had the best Jan-June of his career last year and people treat his season as a failure and sign of decline.

He's clearly coming at it a lot slower this year, and absent bad luck on illness we'll see what fruit that bears later.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

So you're saying the 31 year old Andre Greipel (11 grand tour stage victories, one points jersey in the Vuelta) is better than the 28 year old Mark Cavendish (43 grand tour stage victories, one monument, one rainbow jersey) as a sprinter on every measure?

That's an, ermm, interesting point of view.

I think Kittel clearly had Cav's measure last year post Giro, and I also think Greipel just shaded Cav. Very close call between Cav and Greipel.

I still wonder how much chasing the points jersey in the Giro took out of Cav last year. It's accepted that riding properly for the GC in the Giro and performing at the highest level in the Tour is nigh on impossible these days, and given Cav's climbing prowess, it's hard to see that he was taking it much easier than the GC contenders in the Giro so may well have been crocked for the rest of the season.

I don't think Cav's doing the Giro this year, so it should be a right old slugfest in the Tour, the first stage of which finishes in Cav's Mum's home town...

 

[Pricey_sky]

I think Kittel clearly had Cav's measure last year post Giro, and I also think Greipel just shaded Cav. Very close call between Cav and Greipel.

I still wonder how much chasing the points jersey in the Giro took out of Cav last year. It's accepted that riding properly for the GC in the Giro and performing at the highest level in the Tour is nigh on impossible these days, and given Cav's climbing prowess, it's hard to see that he was taking it much easier than the GC contenders in the Giro so may well have been crocked for the rest of the season.

I don't think Cav's doing the Giro this year, so it should be a right old slugfest in the Tour, the first stage of which finishes in Cav's Mum's home town...

I agree with this, a couple of years ago Cav was so far ahead in a sprint he could just turn up where he wanted with his HTC train and get the win. Now he is getting older and guys like Kittel and Greipel have whole teams dedicated to them he needs to plan his season carefully. I expect him to sacrifice the Giro (which he really loves riding in) in order to be 100% at the Tour and take the yellow jersey in Britain which he has already stated is a lifelong dream.

In my opinion I've always believed Cav has a small advantage over Greipel when everything clicks however Kittel is a massive danger and is now probably better than both of them.

 

[Old School]

So you're saying the 31 year old Andre Greipel (11 grand tour stage victories, one points jersey in the Vuelta) is better than the 28 year old Mark Cavendish (43 grand tour stage victories, one monument, one rainbow jersey) as a sprinter on every measure?

That's an, ermm, interesting point of view.

Yes, as of RIGHT NOW, not last year, not 4 years ago, right now, I'd give Greipel as much a chance to win than Cav. Adding all their past victories to use as a measurement today really makes no sense....being they rode for the same team and Cav was given many more opportunities to win on the grand stage. Come on man, that's like saying Contador is MILES ahead of Froome....4 Grand Tour victories outnumber 1 right? Think about what you said.

 

[happytramp]

To be honest it's only really between Kittel and Cav. Cav has been fairly undisputed for the last few years but Kittel is the new kid on the block and last year was unanimously better than Cavendish.

The real question is... Is Kittel faster than Cavendish or did Cavendish get a bit lazy and lose some of his edge last year. Will we see a faster, 100% committed Cavendish this year or will Kittel's raw power triumph again? We don't know yet.

 

[jaylew]

I just want to see a sprint with all three up there. doesn't matter who wins.

So did I

Petacchi got second as well lol

It was funny watching him sit up and cheer and then realize that he could finish 2nd without even putting in much effort.

To be honest it's only really between Kittel and Cav. Cav has been fairly undisputed for the last few years but Kittel is the new kid on the block and last year was unanimously better than Cavendish.

Nah, gotta include the Gorilla. The 3 of them are close and head and shoulders above the rest. That 3-up sprint on the Champs last year was one of the most exciting sprints I've ever seen.

 

[happytramp]

Nah, gotta include the Gorilla. The 3 of them are close and head and shoulders above the rest. That 3-up sprint on the Champs last year was one of the most exciting sprints I've ever seen.

Gorilla is my favrouite of the three. He just always seemed to get bested by Cav in the flat head to heads. I do agree that if the road goes up a bit he'll probably come out on top.

 

[kingjr]

The Gorilla is certainly fast enough but that's about it. His positioning is awful more often than not. The WCH 2011 should have been his, the finish was tailor-made for him and he made a right mess of it, in the end he was lucky to get bronze by a centimeter. He is a fantastic athlete though, I have seen im multiple times live over the years and the amount of work he can put in during a race is impressive for a sprinter.

 

[Jspear]

Nah, gotta include the Gorilla. The 3 of them are close and head and shoulders above the rest. That 3-up sprint on the Champs last year was one of the most exciting sprints I've ever seen.

The sprint last year on the Champs was disappointing to me because of how Cav lost.

His rear tire was losing air. I had been hoping he'd get 5 in a row....

Still, these are the three best, and it'll be interesting to watch as they all progress in form through the season.