Cavendish "Giro is the hardest GT there is"

[The Hitch]

go create threads for the other 156 riders then, rather than hijack this one.

And as has been explained Cav had very strong reasons why he should not have finished the giro, which perhaps many of the the other 156 did not.

And yet, he finished it anyway.

 

[Morbius]

GTs started: 11
GTs finished: 6

And you think that's a good record?

For a sprinter, yes I do. By my count there are only two GTs that Cav chose not to finish without good reason, so the evidence is that he does try to finish most of his GTs.
2007 Tdf - reasonable not to finish a first tour when aged 22
2008 Tdf - stopped to travel to Beijing
2009 / 2011 Giro - chose not to finish to prepare for the Tour
2011 Vuelta - stopped during stage 4 as he was unwell (possibly due to heat)

 

[movingtarget]

I think Cavendish was right. Giro has the hardest course but the Tour has the hardest racing.

 

[rickshaw]

Maybe But...

I think Cavendish was right. Giro has the hardest course but the Tour has the hardest racing.

Please remember that the reason HE HIMSELF gave for being outsprinted and loosing the other (?) jersey by one point was crashes, not the difficulty of the course. I think he was genuinely shocked at how hard it was to actually finish the Giro, but being on the receiving end of crashes was the real cause of his failures (sez he).