Cav as World-Champ should be riding Omloop AND K-B-K this weekend!!!!

[El Pistolero]

Pistolero, when does Cav get respect from you, if he attack on the poggio, or if he wins San Remo in the sprint?
Cavendish races like that because that's the way he can maximise his talents, Cancellara attacks from 50K out in Roubaix because that's his talent.

You have the right to dislike a guy's riding style, but i don't think we should dislike riders because they're doing what they're good at.

Btw, Cav rides the giro because he loves the race.

If the Tour route gets easier than this year, and bonifications are reintroduces, cav might just try to improve his climbing, so he can go for yellow

If he did what Goss did last year in Milan-San Remo he would have gotten my respect. I don't dislike Cav's personality, I dislike his racing style. I hope that answers your questions.

Almost every sprinter rides the Giro by the way, it's not special.

 

[Angliru]

Cav was actually in that mini-break of 8 or so that formed when Greipel attacked.

Likely dragged along by the scruff of his neck if we are to believe his own description of how the race transpired. Not to minimize his victory but let's not confuse his own team's efforts in delivering him to the break with his bridging the gap on his own initiative.

 

[Captain Sensible]

For people like us it's hard. But I can give you some quotes from professional cyclists who find the race too easy

Have everyone of those professional cyclists that quote that won the race ?

 

[Angliru]

Yes, Denmark loves cycling more than Italy and France(with exception of Giro/Tour). Baqsue country is well... Not a country, but a region.

How do we determine whether this is fact or just your own opinion? Are there any stats that support this?

 

[Angliru]

Abo****ely not. The armchair WC should continue to get towed for (insert X number of Ks) and then show in the last 200 metres for a glorious win. Honour the jersey that way. Patronise your teammates. pick up your mega bucks pay check and move on to the next tow in. God forbid a Road WC should acrtually have any road talent apart from being able to stay hidden in the vacume that is the peleton to emerge in sniffing difference of the line.

I love this sentence!

 

[hatcher]

Likely dragged along by the scruff of his neck if we are to believe his own description of how the race transpired. Not to minimize his victory but let's not confuse his own team's efforts in delivering him to the break with his bridging the gap on his own initiative.

We don't need to use the word "likely", as the race was actually televised, so we could all see Cav on Eisel's wheel, pedaling his own bike up the Nokereberg, and going away with only a few others.

 

[LouieLouie]

Yes. ahead of Italy, France and Basque etc.

I used to live in Denmark for years, and the vast majority don't give a rat's *** about cycling. To be honest, at the moment even Norway seems to have more of a fan base.

 

[DominicDecoco]

I used to live in Denmark for years, and the vast majority don't give a rat's *** about cycling. To be honest, at the moment even Norway seems to have more of a fan base.

I like how you write 'used' and 'don't' in the same sentence...

Someone posted a list of nations a couple of months ago about popularity.
Can someone re-post that? Couldn't find it myself through the search option.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

hatcher - spot on

the prevailing hegemony that only insanely hard GTs or 25% finishes taken at 30kmh (won by riders with their bikes seemingly strapped to the space shuttle) are worthy is in many cases an armchair philosophy - and IMO it is inherently connected to both professional and amateur riders doping.

So sprinters never dope? Or is that a tacit admission that the stages won by sprinters are comparatively easy?

If there's no chance of anything other than the final 200m being decisive, why race for 180km first?

Sprint stages need to be made either much shorter (so that they get to the interesting bit sooner) or much longer (so that tiny obstacles become a big challenge; the Poggio di Sanremo in a 160km race is nothing, and might successfully drop Angelo Furlan, Danilo Napolitano and nobody else, but in a 290km race it can shred the field).

 

[Captain_Cavman]

So sprinters never dope? Or is that a tacit admission that the stages won by sprinters are comparatively easy?

If there's no chance of anything other than the final 200m being decisive, why race for 180km first?

Sprint stages need to be made either much shorter (so that they get to the interesting bit sooner) or much longer (so that tiny obstacles become a big challenge; the Poggio di Sanremo in a 160km race is nothing, and might successfully drop Angelo Furlan, Danilo Napolitano and nobody else, but in a 290km race it can shred the field).

Can Hoy win these races? or Bauge? No and Non.

This is because you're ignoring the fact that there has already been a massive selection, the selection that gets you into a top Pro Team as a sprinter and then selection for the race in question.

These guys are there because they can handle the distance and then produce a sprint at the end of it. If you mess around with the distance, some different riders come into the frame but essentially the role is the same and the result is the same. Teams will adjust so that they'll bring their quick man to the front at the finish of the standard length flat stage however long that standard stage is, 20Km, 400Km, whatever.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Can Hoy win these races? or Bauge? No and Non.

This is because you're ignoring the fact that there has already been a massive selection, the selection that gets you into a top Pro Team as a sprinter and then selection for the race in question.

These guys are there because they can handle the distance and then produce a sprint at the end of it. If you mess around with the distance, some different riders come into the frame but essentially the role is the same and the result is the same. Teams will adjust so that they'll bring their quick man to the front at the finish of the standard length flat stage however long that standard stage is, 20Km, 400Km, whatever.

The races will still be sprints, sure. But if you have a sprint over 20km or whatever, then you'll still have the sprint, but the boring bit beforehand won't be as long. And if it's 400km, it's less predictable because though some of your guys may handle the distance well, it'll be damned hard to have the whole train going. After 150km, Óscar Freire's nowhere these days and hasn't been for years. After 300, well, it's different.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

The races will still be sprints, sure. But if you have a sprint over 20km or whatever, then you'll still have the sprint, but the boring bit beforehand won't be as long. And if it's 400km, it's less predictable because though some of your guys may handle the distance well, it'll be damned hard to have the whole train going. After 150km, Óscar Freire's nowhere these days and hasn't been for years. After 300, well, it's different.

If it's 400km, the training and the squad selection changes so that they can roll for 400km and deliver the sprinter (who now maybe Freire and not Cavendish) and you would still be complaining, just for longer.

If it's 100km, it's the same, except featuring the sprinters who are despised because they can't get over a road hump in today's racing. If it's 20km, it's over in under half an hour, what's the point in putting that on?

 

[Four Winds]

If he did what Goss did last year in Milan-San Remo he would have gotten my respect. I don't dislike Cav's personality, I dislike his racing style. I hope that answers your questions.

Almost every sprinter rides the Giro by the way, it's not special.

The way I remember MSR last year Goss didn't have to "ride" much either He made the decisive group which just happened to be a lot smaller than usual due to crashes. He was on his own but that also meant he could sit at the back out of the wind pointing at the Cav group behind saying he couldn't work and just about stayed in touch over the Poggio. Everyone else attacked themselves to death and reeled each other in while he sat there and mopped up the sprint. If Cav had found himself in that group you'd bet the group would have seen him off before the finale whereas I think they overlooked Goss a bit. He did get dropped a bit on the Poggio but not by much and I think the other leaders were rather more concentrating on each other.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cav would have gotten raped on the Poggio and Goss closed some gaps him self. Something Cav has never done in his life.

 

[Velo_vicar]

Cav would have gotten raped on the Poggio and Goss closed some gaps him self. Something Cav has never done in his life.

Or he might not of done, we will never know. He has won it you know and i seem to remember that he closed down quite a significant gap himself right at the end. But it was a Cav win and therefore by your definition not a worthy win/not a great race/not a proper race/ boring/all of the above. (delete as you wish)

 

[greenedge]

No way would Cav have been able to survive in that group ( physically and and even by sneaking in ). Sure those riders tired themselves out by chasing each other but Goss was in a really select group.

 

[woodie]

Cav would have gotten raped on the Poggio and Goss closed some gaps him self. Something Cav has never done in his life.

Your bias towards Cav is unbelievable sometimes, also Goss didn't close down any moves he just followed wheels and then sprinted, which was the right thing to do.

 

[maltiv]

Or he might not of done, we will never know. He has won it you know and i seem to remember that he closed down quite a significant gap himself right at the end. But it was a Cav win and therefore by your definition not a worthy win/not a great race/not a proper race/ boring/all of the above. (delete as you wish)

Perhaps he would have followed them with Ricco-like levels of CERA in his blood, but else than that, no ****ing way. Since when is Cavendish a better climber than guys like EBH, Sagan and Haussler (all of whom were dropped)? Also, you seem to think that the split was only due to a crash, but it was also because the pace was very high on the first climb (which name I can't remember). Even a guy like Farrar, a much better climber than Cavendish, said that he missed the split because he was dropped on the climb, not because he was caught behind the crash.

 

[Parrulo]

Perhaps he would have followed them with Ricco-like levels of CERA in his blood, but else than that, no ****ing way. Since when is Cavendish a better climber than guys like EBH, Sagan and Haussler (all of whom were dropped)? Also, you seem to think that the split was only due to a crash, but it was also because the pace was very high on the first climb (which name I can't remember). Even a guy like Farrar, a much better climber than Cavendish, said that he missed the split because he was dropped on the climb, not because he was caught behind the crash.

Exactly, no freaking way would cav survive the poggio in 2011. He did it in 2009 because HTC controlled the race to perfection and luckily for them only pozzato and nibali tried something on the poggio both unsuccessfully.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Can't believe I've just wasted 15 minutes reading through this thread. I'll never get those 15 minutes back and that's bloody annoying.

Can't remember the last time I read so much rubbish. I genuinely pitty some of you.

 

[SimonC]

I read the opening post (which must be a joke) and the last skipped the rest, although I can imagine what was in between.

 

[Morbius]

Because of Cav's absolute dominance in one particular area, we really have no idea how good he is at other aspects of cyclin, or how good he could be if he trained differently.

As he gets older and loses his edge, we will find out whether he can adapt and maybe win other kinds of races. We may even get an idea this year, with only four team-mates at the Olympics.

As a Brit, I love watching him win, though if he had a strong competitor it would be even more interesting. If you find Cav winning boring, don't blame Cav but blame the other sprinters for not being able to match him.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

As a Brit, I love watching him win, though if he had a strong competitor it would be even more interesting. If you find Cav winning boring, don't blame Cav but blame the other sprinters for not being able to match him.

Or blame race organisers for making too many easy races that end in bunch sprints that are so obvious they're being set up from more than 40km to go.

 

[Pharazon]

Or blame race organisers for making too many easy races that end in bunch sprints that are so obvious they're being set up from more than 40km to go.

a lot of people like sprint finishes...

 

[pmcg76]

a lot of people like sprint finishes...[/QUOTE

........whom have tuned in for the last 5 minutes of the race