Feillu has a new fan

[Apollonius]

Cavendish actually reminds me of his fellow Brit, Lewis Hamilton the F1 driver. Both young, sensational and arguably the best at what they do in the right conditions but both attract trouble and controversy like a magnet mainly due to their attitudes but highlighted by their relative success.
Personally that's what I love about both - their attitude of win at all costs and utter contempt of losing is what makes them entertaining and for me one of the highlights of the tour each day is Cavendish and his outspoken interviews. The more controversy he attracts the more determined he gets, it must annoy the crap out of the other sprinters.

More of the same please!

 

[Marva32]

Cipo was more about the theatre of the sprint and building himself up, not about tearing down his opponents or the media. The media loved Cipo and he loved them. Cav is not even in the same solar system as Cipo when it comes to media relations. Cipo was a virtuoso and Cav is a hack on the corner tapping out a ragged rhythm on bottom of trash cans.

Both are the greatest sprinters of their generation but let's not confuse Cav's media train wrecks with Cipo's fine orchestrations.

I agree with this, Cipo was arrogant and flamboyant about himself, but did not do anything to knock the other riders.

 

[Midnightfright]

You wouldn't happen to be from or in England/Great Britain would you? Sure that's not effecting your objectivity?

On Cipolinni? I live in Scotland from Ireland. I don't see how that would effect my opinion on Cipo. Are British people supposed to have a particular dislike for Mario?

 

[Marva32]

On Cipolinni? I live in Scotland from Ireland. I don't see how that would effect my opinion on Cipo. Are British people supposed to have a particular dislike for Mario?

I think Angliru was alluding to the possibility of Brits have a prejudice in favor of Cavendish

 

[Midnightfright]

I think Angliru was alluding to the possibility of Brits have a prejudice in favor of Cavendish

Yeah I was just being silly. Although I was talking about Cipo not Cav. I do like Cav , wether or not thats biased I can't say. Im sure he will feel it is but I think that anyone is "biased" towards a rider they like. I'm not entirely sure what the reasonings behind me having a Cav bias would be though.

 

[Marva32]

Yeah I was just being silly. Although I was talking about Cipo not Cav. I do like Cav , wether or not thats biased I can't say. Im sure he will feel it is but I think that anyone is "biased" towards a rider they like. I'm not entirely sure what the reasonings behind me having a Cav bias would be though.

A national pride thing

 

[Midnightfright]

A national pride thing

Personally I considered myself more Irish, then Scottish so don't feel any national pride in a manx/English man winning. Ofcourse i could see why it would appear that way. I don't think supporting someone partly because of a shared nationality would stop u from being subjective, granted sometimes people get carried away but I think that's the minority.

 

[Amsterhammer]

What the ****?

I was somehow mislead by the title of this topic and wanted to add my appreciation of this gutsy little Frenchman, but instead appear to find myself interrupting episode 723 of the pro/anti Cavendish debate.

How can you not be charmed by this crazy little guy? On tonight's evening Tour show on Dutch tv, his team mate Pim Ligthart, the new Dutch road champion, was asked to rate his two sprinter colleagues. He said that while Bozic was probably a bit faster, Feillu was 'smarter'. Ligthart particularly likes Feillu's ability to not need or want a standard lead-in, as he prefers to worm his way through the field by himself. I really hope that Feillu manages to win a stage!

 

[ferryman]

Unfortunately he double-majored in "sprinting" and "being a complete *** when things don't go your way".

He is a master of both. In fact, maybe even a PhD of the latter.

With honours.

 

[carl spackler]

Feillu and Cavendish both seem like neurotic little drama queens to me. Feillu looked like an idiot riding abut three inches behind the car pacing back up to the bunch, waving his hands around with the camera on him.

They have more in common than different if you ask me, sure, Cav has more wins, but I think they're both reckless. Do sprinters have to be?

Off the OP - Has Cavendish ever lost a race and said, "wow, the other guy was better than me today"

 

[42x16ss]

Off the OP - Has Cavendish ever lost a race and said, "wow, the other guy was better than me today"

LMAO!!!! Man, you have to spread that kind of material out! You nearly killed me I'm laughing so hard!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Cav is a ******. It's part of the territory. When he wins, he shoves it in your face. When he loses, he shoves it in your face. He deserves to be called out as a ******. Feillu's point is that Cav is a ******. Is he as much of one as Riccò? Probably not yet (Feillu made sure to take doping out of the equation, but Riccò the personality rubbed people up the wrong way enough for Bram Tankink to punch him out back in '08), but he's certainly got more than enough history of calling people out, whining whenever he loses.

Being the best is great and all, but it does seem that Cav has got to the stage where you feel you have a god-given right to win. He doesn't have a right to win - he still has to compete with people. People who he is better than - but that means they HAVE to try other things to beat him.

Think of it this way. If I go into battle with less men and less firepower than you, I will lose, assuming all else is equal. But if I change the territory of the fight to suit me, try unorthodox tactics (and yes, possibly ones of dubious moral nature) I have more chance of winning. If I then win the battle and go home, am I treated as scum for acting underhandedly? No, I'm lauded as a hero.

The more Cav proves himself the best in a straight sprint, the more people will be determined not to take it to a straight sprint, because they can't win in that case. And that means the more times Cav has to deal with somebody doing something other than just letting him waltz to victory. And so far he's shown that his way of dealing with that is to whine.

Besides, Cav always loses the first sprint of a GT then comes back to win every single other one, so who cares? Every flat stage from here on in will be an HTC procession.

And as for Romain Feillu saying that he would try and box Cavendish in?

If Feillu gets close enough to Cavendish to do it, something's gone very wrong with Cav's leadout.

Iam glad you have said that. See if I said that I would be abused due to my status in the forum Thankyou sir.

 

[lilyprotector]

i get all the reasons that cavendish rubs people the wrong way, but i really like the guy. all the bluster is just immaturity and defensiveness, but i think he's got a big heart, and i really like how he always, always praises his teammates, even today when the interviewer was suggesting his team failed him. i like his loyalty, i like his passion, and the guy is just darn freaking fast. he really showed that today.

 

[LugHugger]

With honours.

You're confusing doctorate with undergraduate

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Cav is awesome; he indeed has a big mouth but to compare him with ricco goes slightly to far imo. Even if Feillu took doping out of it.

 

[Winterfold]

Iam glad you have said that. See if I said that I would be abused due to my status in the forum Thankyou sir.

that's because there is still a chance of reason with you

With Libertine, who is in all other respects an interesting poster, his loathing of sprint stages and HTC and Cav is so entrenched that reasoning with him is like trying to explain to a woman why 11 gears are better than 10 or the value of a solid forward defensive stroke

 

[Winterfold]

I think Angliru was alluding to the possibility of Brits have a prejudice in favor of Cavendish

More than a cursory scan of these boards will show that British self-loathing is as prevalent here as in all other walks of life. WRT Cav even more so.

 

[KassyC]

Feillu had a nice ride again

 

[Libertine Seguros]

that's because there is still a chance of reason with you

With Libertine, who is in all other respects an interesting poster, his loathing of sprint stages and HTC and Cav is so entrenched that reasoning with him is like trying to explain to a woman why 11 gears are better than 10 or the value of a solid forward defensive stroke

"so, why don't you make 10 louder, and make that be the top number, and make it a little louder?"

"...these go to 11!"

 

[Ragerod]

You can respect a rider's talent but not respect them as a person. That is Feillu's point. Cav may be a wonderful teammate, but his attitude and lack of respect for some of his opponents and anyone who speaks in less than flattering terms of him is quite juvenile. For me arrogance isn't an attractive trait and Cavendish has it in abundance. He occasionally tries to come off as humble but the real Cav always surfaces when things don't go his way. Feillu is saying that Cav is fine when he's winning but when he's not, he's miserable and growling under his breath about how everyone is aligned against him. He has a serious persecution complex.

I don't think Feillu showed him any respect. Simply saying Cav is good doesn't mean 'I respect him as a rider'. I read 'Cav's good but I have absolutely no respect for him' and I don't have a problem with that. Feillu's entitled to say what he thinks.

The only issue I had was the comparison with Ricco as I don't think any cyclist warrants that, even if it's as harmless as saying they're both short. Besides, Ricco doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as any one of the current peloton.

Anyway, he doesn't strike me as a guy who would normally come out and criticise another rider but felt the need to defend himself, something he doesn't need to do because his performances have been mightily impressive so far.