PeterB said:
King Boonen said:
If Tony wanted the yellow jersey he should have won it in the first stage. You know, the TT, his speciality.
Blaming Cav for Tony not getting the jersey is beyond stupid.
I disagree. If you have task to defend 3rd place from Cancellara, and you fail due to subjective reason, then you are to blame. That's after all the core of the debate - did Cav fail due to genuine inability to outsprint Cancellara, or did he just give up trying?
His task was to win the sprint, expecting a sprinter to evaluate what's happening and apply it in the split second they look across and notice they are losing is crazy. I think he probably did give up, because that's his mentality, but I don't think he was thinking "sod Tony, I can't win so I'm not trying" as many here seem to be implying, I think he was purely thinking "I've lost so what's the point in wasting energy". In the split second where it mattered I doubt he even thought about yellow.
The fact remains that if Tony had performed in his specialist discipline he would have been in yellow. He got beat so he wasn't, he only has himself to blame for that. For people to then try and blame Cav is stupid. Both of them failed to perform, Tony probably because the course didn't quite suit him, Cav because his lead-out dropped him off too soon and he was never going to beat power sprinters like Greipel and Sagan from that distance on the front. That's not his fault, even losing isn't his fault, that's just how racing works.
It's a shame for both of them, I like both riders and would also like to see them both perform this Tour and in future Tours.