Have Columbia imploded...?

[whiteboytrash]

Cav hanging onto green by the skin of his teeth and now losing stages LRC, Rogers down and out by 13 minutes, Hincapie tipping off selected riders from other teams of dodgy attacks, Cav mouthing off at his opponents/behaving in a completely arrogant manner when winning and finally the rest of the peloton refusing to help them in any way… its all gone wrong for Columbia.

It appears they forgot the rule of keeping friends in the peloton as you might need them one day. Scoolboy antics may cost them a shot at green or any jersey.

The Tour is 3 weeks long and you can't afford to make enemies in the first week. They have a lot to learn.

Discuss.

 

[TRDean]

Good questions WBT!!! I too wonder. What has Hincapie said? I have not heard...

Thanks

 

[*G*K*S*]

Yep. They're done. They should just pack up now, because they won't be a factor the reminder of the Tour.

 

[OKRider79]

Cav hanging onto green by the skin of his teeth and now losing stages LRC, Rogers down and out by 13 minutes, Hincapie tipping off selected riders from other teams of dodgy attacks, Cav mouthing off at his opponents/behaving in a completely arrogant manner when winning and finally the rest of the peloton refusing to help them in any way… its all gone wrong for Columbia.

It appears they forgot the rule of keeping friends in the peloton as you might need them one day. Scoolboy antics may cost them a shot at green or any jersey.

The Tour is 3 weeks long and you can't afford to make enemies in the first week. They have a lot to learn.

Discuss.

They've won 33% of the stages so far and still have the green jersey. I think saying that it's all gone wrong for Columbia is a bit of an overstatement.

Today's stage is just not a good stage for Cavendish in this point in his career. Maybe he'll developing some climbing skills/form eventually, but he's kind of a one-trick pony right now.

 

[dgodave]

They lost a stage that no one picked them to win. Total disaster. I'd say its time to go home and regroup.
.

 

[Cobber]

They are probably resting so they can launch Cav up the road for a mountain top stage win tomorrow

 

[ruamruam]

After today's performance Cavandish should give up and retire. His career is over.

ruamruam

 

[jmnikricket]

I think the real question is how amazing is Columbia when people question their performance when they don't win a race. There are a good 15 teams that would kill to be in Columbia's shoes right now.

 

[whiteboytrash]

I think the real question is how amazing is Columbia when people question their performance when they don't win a race. There are a good 15 teams that would kill to be in Columbia's shoes right now.

But Columbia have big ambitions thou.

 

[LugHugger]

Did anybody really think that Columbia had GC aspirations? I didn't. It seems clear that they've made a decision to position Cav for as many stage wins as possible and possibly the green jersey if he can make through the Alps and up Ventoux. As for Cav 'losing' stages, I haven't seen him beaten in a sprint so far. He rode for position today to defend the jersey. I don't think that any sane armchair pundit expected him to finish top 3 today.

But....they do seem to have a PR problem, much of which is of their own (mostly Cav's) making. You're right that they have made the cardinal sin of trash talking the opposition and that seems to have alienated them from most of the peloton (apart from Astana - make of that what you will!!!).

Cheers.

 

[forty four]

cavendish just needs to learn to choose his words more carefully he creates his own problems with his disrespect of other riders. hes young but thats no excuse.

 

[mambo#5]

It's all Lance's fault!

 

[Delicato]

I hope Kirchen will finally come back into form.

 

[jaylew]

Easy...no.

 

[cody_57]

Brand new to this, so excuse any transgressions!

I think the original posting is spot-on. Behaving like an arrogant spoiled brat may appeal to lots of people in this age of trash-talking and grand-standing and "dissing" your opponents (and I admit, it is more "acceptable" these days), but cycling still has a certain code of behaviour and I believe that Columbia did not get the co-operation in chasing down any breakaways because of that. Also, did anybody else see the confrontation between Piet Rooijakkers and Cavendish? Nevermind what happened in the peloton, but what about the next morning? Not what I expected from somebody who's that critical of his fellow-riders.

 

[BeachBum]

What has Hincapie said? I have not heard...
Thanks

Conspiracy theorists speculate that George tipped off LA about the Columbia attack/tempo raising on stage 3. Given advance warning from George, LA was able to move up to the front and jump ahead of AC--or so says the tinfoil hat brigade.

As far as the bigger question, I'd say yes, most of the other teams would kill to be in Columbia's shoes, and yes, Columbia has a PR problem. Hincapie and Aldag (the 2 who have yapped in public about no other sprinter teams helping them) have no grounds for complaint when they have already won 2 stages and have the green. If I were a DS going up against Columbia I'd sit back and let Columbia chase all the breaks. Cav needs his leadout train and you've got to wear out the train to have a chance against them (on flat finishes).

Thor/Cevelo are thinking ahead, they targeted today's (stage 6) finish. Thor can finish 2d or 3d in flat finishes, and still gain big points on an uphill run like today. I wonder how many of the future non mtn finishes are like today, and how many are flat? Thor has a great chance at green in Paris if he can get a few more finishes like today.

 

[TRDean]

Conspiracy theorists speculate that George tipped off LA about the Columbia attack/tempo raising on stage 3. Given advance warning from George, LA was able to move up to the front and jump ahead of AC--or so says the tinfoil hat brigade.

As far as the bigger question, I'd say yes, most of the other teams would kill to be in Columbia's shoes, and yes, Columbia has a PR problem. Hincapie and Aldag (the 2 who have yapped in public about no other sprinter teams helping them) have no grounds for complaint when they have already won 2 stages and have the green. If I were a DS going up against Columbia I'd sit back and let Columbia chase all the breaks. Cav needs his leadout train and you've got to wear out the train to have a chance against them (on flat finishes).

Thor/Cevelo are thinking ahead, they targeted today's (stage 6) finish. Thor can finish 2d or 3d in flat finishes, and still gain big points on an uphill run like today. I wonder how many of the future non mtn finishes are like today, and how many are flat? Thor has a great chance at green in Paris if he can get a few more finishes like today.

I really have to agree with the above completely. Columbia have not imploded...but they do have a PR problem.

 

[lean mean &green]

Far from "done". Winning today would have been a tall order.

Col/HTC needs to be a little less predictable tho, it would serve them well to get strong riders in some of the breaks forcing others to chase on "sprinter stages". GH is the perfect candidate but they have a number of guys capable of it. I don't usually love this strategy early in tour (you don't want to wear guys like GH out in week 1) but it becomes wiser later in race.

Cav needs to maintain friendships/cooperation but I think the trash talking has been overstated by the media a bit.

 

[richwagmn]

Conspiracy theorists speculate that George tipped off LA about the Columbia attack/tempo raising on stage 3. Given advance warning from George, LA was able to move up to the front and jump ahead of AC--or so says the tinfoil hat brigade.

Tinfoil hat brigade is a good characterization. As LA said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know when to be up front. It probably wasn't very hard for anyone in the front to see that Columbia was massing and that something was up.

 

[LugHugger]

Thor/Cevelo are thinking ahead, they targeted today's (stage 6) finish. Thor can finish 2d or 3d in flat finishes, and still gain big points on an uphill run like today. I wonder how many of the future non mtn finishes are like today, and how many are flat? Thor has a great chance at green in Paris if he can get a few more finishes like today.

looking at the CN stage profile's, only stage 12 looks like replicating today. I have Cav to win 10, 11 and 21 if he's still riding by paris. Having said that, I don't think Cav will take the green jersey this year and agree that Hushovd will pick up enough sprint placings and intermediates to take his second jersey.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Tinfoil hat brigade is a good characterization. As LA said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know when to be up front. It probably wasn't very hard for anyone in the front to see that Columbia was massing and that something was up.

The problem wasn't ColHTC going away or pushing the pace in the crosswinds. The problem was informing select riders of the plan. It stinks & Alberto has a lot of support in the peloton & no one liked seeing ColHTC participating in him getting shafted by his own team.

In addtion to this was the dancing around after winning the stage & telling the media how great they were along with saying how stupid the other teams were.

If you think we're stupid then try no help as us being stupid.

Cav has a lot to learn. Stephen Roche agrees. He says the race doesn't finish when you cross the line... ie shut ya big mouth & stop being so spoilt when you don't win.

 

[DalyPeleton]

I think that Cavendish is still too young to finish the Tour as a sprinter. As such, I think he is spending his last few days in the green jersey before Thor, one point back, places it firmly on his back.

 

[richwagmn]

The problem wasn't ColHTC going away or pushing the pace in the crosswinds. The problem was informing select riders of the plan. It stinks & Alberto has a lot of support in the peloton & no one liked seeing ColHTC participating in him getting shafted by his own team.

Has there been any confirmation of this? I heard this too but couldn't confirm it actually happened. When Hincapie was asked, the journalist said he sort of stumbled. Not sure how you take that as an admission. Love to see a link to the interview or sources for this.

Wasn't it cycling news that reported that AC didn't shake hands with LA after the TTT (which can be seen on video as not true)?

 

[slcbiker]

Wouldn't take today's stage as anything more than one day's result. Alot of chaos from rain and crashes.
Cavendish is arrogant, but so are most sprinters (Cipollini).
He can go uphill at least somewhat. Milan San Remo certainly has hills.

 

[Bainreese]

Conspiracy theorists speculate that George tipped off LA about the Columbia attack/tempo raising on stage 3. Given advance warning from George, LA was able to move up to the front and jump ahead of AC--or so says the tinfoil hat brigade.

As far as the bigger question, I'd say yes, most of the other teams would kill to be in Columbia's shoes, and yes, Columbia has a PR problem. Hincapie and Aldag (the 2 who have yapped in public about no other sprinter teams helping them) have no grounds for complaint when they have already won 2 stages and have the green. If I were a DS going up against Columbia I'd sit back and let Columbia chase all the breaks. Cav needs his leadout train and you've got to wear out the train to have a chance against them (on flat finishes).

Thor/Cevelo are thinking ahead, they targeted today's (stage 6) finish. Thor can finish 2d or 3d in flat finishes, and still gain big points on an uphill run like today. I wonder how many of the future non mtn finishes are like today, and how many are flat? Thor has a great chance at green in Paris if he can get a few more finishes like today.

This. Really not much more to be said.