Cavendish: Why is so difficult to like him?

[Benotti69]

Scepticism is all well and good and the media deserves to be treated with scepticism, but there's a difference between healthy scepticism and ignoring the evidence right in front of your face. No amount of "context" could make Cavendish comments about Greipel non-douchy. If you don't care that's fine, as I said it's not the end of the world, but please stop pretending that the facts aren't the facts.

i don't have a problem with his quotes. He hasn't killed anyone and chopped their body up and put it in concrete. It's a sport and one i happen to like. I happen to like Cavendish, because he is not the same ol quote different day. He is passionate, he does show hate, that human trait we all posses, but he chooses to do his washing in public. I think their is a lot of anger in the peleton at the moment, and i reckon its due to Landisgate, riders need to vent it on someone and Cavendish is such an easy target. Cycling is at a pivotal moment, like 1998 and a lot riders are wondering will they have a job next year, will their team even exist and that creates a lot of tension in the bunch so as i say easy to pick on the guy with the big mouth saying the wrong thing at the wrong time..

I never pretended facts weren't facts. But the issue over helmets being thrown out of the team bus not captured by the camera, he missed it. I read he threw his bike on the ground and threw his helmet out of the bus. I saw the video, he left his bike against the front of the bus and the camera turned around to show a helmet on the ground, but hey dont let the facts get in the way....

 

[Benotti69]

...and requiring a media person to follow you around so you don't trip on your own tongue is laughable.
....

considering nearly every president/prime minister in the western world has teams of them following him or her around, what does that tell you the state of the world, so why not cycling....

 

[Angliru]

i don't have a problem with his quotes. He hasn't killed anyone and chopped their body up and put it in concrete. It's a sport and one i happen to like. I happen to like Cavendish, because he is not the same ol quote different day. He is passionate, he does show hate, that human trait we all posses, but he chooses to do his washing in public. I think their is a lot of anger in the peleton at the moment, and i reckon its due to Landisgate, riders need to vent it on someone and Cavendish is such an easy target. Cycling is at a pivotal moment, like 1998 and a lot riders are wondering will they have a job next year, will their team even exist and that creates a lot of tension in the bunch so as i say easy to pick on the guy with the big mouth saying the wrong thing at the wrong time..

I never pretended facts weren't facts. But the issue over helmets being thrown out of the team bus not captured by the camera, he missed it. I read he threw his bike on the ground and threw his helmet out of the bus. I saw the video, he left his bike against the front of the bus and the camera turned around to show a helmet on the ground, but hey dont let the facts get in the way....

Actually what his tears show is that he truly cares what the public and the media thinks and says about him. He can protest all he wants about how his words are misconstrued and taken out of context and that he doesn't care but the bottom line is that he dug himself a deep hole with his arrogant attitude and when the going got tough and things were no longer sailing along with the wind at his back his true feelings were exposed. He is a little boy in a man's body who just so happens be a great sprinter. Ultimately I really believe that he needed this period of turmoil for him to mature and to see the error of his ways. For some reason I think that this experience has humbled him and that he will now show greater respect to his opponents (including even Greipel...well maybe) and the sport itself. Then again, he could regress but I would hope that this period of adversity will have taught him that success is fleeting and class is hard to come by, so just maybe he will begin to exhibit a bit of it rather than constantly reminding everyone how great he is.

 

[goggalor]

http://nos.nl/video/37663-rooijakkers-op-zoek-naar-cavendish.html

First he almost pulls a Theo Bos on Piet Rooijakkers, then he spins to the press how ridiculous it is that Rooijakkers can't keep his hands on his bars, then when Rooijakkers tries to settle it like a grownup before the start of the next stage, Cav stops and taps him on the back of the helmet, then rides on. Truly a gentleman and a scholar...

People say Cav's still a kid. More like a 25-year-old manchild.

 

[Benotti69]

.....success is fleeting and class is hard to come by, so just maybe he will begin to exhibit a bit of it rather than constantly reminding everyone how great he is.

when you strip away the facade of cycling and see the dirt, there is not too much class left.....read Willy Voet's book for reference. See recent reports of hookers, cocaine and marijuana...

 

[Mach Schnell]

If one was to put all the succesful sprinters under a microscope, you can always find blemishes to their personalities.
You don't get to be a top sprinter by being cautious, and this spills over into other aspects of their lives.
Its just bike racing, enjoy the spectacle.

 

[oldcrank]

Cav could learn a lesson in Class and Professionalism from Lance Armstrong.
Look how humble and gracious Lance was when Alberto Contador presented
him with a gift. That is true class from the ultimate professional. Cav take
note.

 

[Rupert]

Not so bad

I think he's just a very young guy who had early success and is learning the hard way. He doesn't really seem like a bad sort. I think the press plays up the most controversial and sensational comments, sometimes out of context, and makes more of situations than is really there sometimes. Not that Cav hasn't screwed up (in the race) and mouthed off badly at times, but the press makes tha most of any controversey they can play up top get the most attention-grabbing story. Same applies to Armstrong vs Contador, and all the other dramas...
Meanwhile Cadel Evans is doing a great job staying under the radar, it will be interesting if he hangs on in the mountains (Alps) to be a major player later in the race (Pyrenees). All the drama and hype elsewhere is working to his advantage if he can deliver on the climbs - all he needs to do is follow wheels while everyone else needs to attack and gain time.