Hushovd deserving wearer of green jersey

[Balleballe]

says more of certain peoples attitudes towards cav more than anything.. i dont think they would have let him off the front for 12 pts..

Columbia had enough with themselves today. They tried to send away Hincapie and Monfort, and they tried to push tempo in the breakaway, but they could'nt catch him actually. Hushovd would not have let Cavendish in front, but Cavendish wouldn't let Hushovd in front either, but Cavendish is just not good enough to follow. Cav is only sprints and no more....

 

[psychlist]

+1 for Hushovd being deserving of green jersey. The only green we are going to see on Cav is his face green with envy.

 

[fairplay]

Ha, suddenly Velits sprinting against Hushovd the other day makes sense; he & his brothers are headed to Columbia.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/milram-sponsor-confirms-for-2010

 

[regor1]

God of thunder

As earlier mentioned above: The green jersey is a points competition and not a sprint competition. Hushovds record is a list of good performances for example in Paris roubaix. Looks like Cav needs to gain some more experience in racing before trying to make an attack on of the most wanted shirts in the cycling world. You cannot talk yourself into the green jersey.

Ride On !

 

[tigerboy]

The Green Jersey is NOT a King of the Sprints jersey. It rewards consistency and combativity as much as raw speed on a flat stage finish.

Cavendish is the fastest flat stage finisher. No arguments. However thor who is ahead on the GC, ahead on the points classification and ahead on the Mountains clasification is the better all round cyclist.

 

[joe_papp]

I have no doubt that Cav is the fastest man in the world in a straight line, but as well as growing up mentally he needs to appreciate that there is more to both the Tour de France and the green jersey than simply sitting in a train until the last 100 metres of every flat stage and taking stage wins...Well won Thor and hope you are still wearing it in Paris.

Bravo! Well stated.

 

[Blakeslee]

What a great ride by Thor today! I can think of no better response to the comments made by Cavendish yesterday. Instead of getting into a war of words in the press, Thor let his legs do the talking.

 

[joe_papp]

Thor - SMASH! What an awesome ride.

Funny NYVelocity ThorSMASH commentary here. Was going to search for a Thor SMASH Toto cartoon there, but it's late.

Excerpt:

"Stage 17117k to go, and I tune in to the delightful sight of Thor SMASHing his way off the front of the race. Will this year's Tour ever stop enchanting me?"

 

[cycledp]

+1. Agree with your sentiments entirely. The "green jersey stain" statement was immature and not worthy of a champion. Columbia stuffed that stage up by trying to protect George. Cav didn't sprint and he would have avoided that situation of he had sprinted. I agree that he should not have been relegated, but in the heat of the moment you can understand why Hushovd thought he had come off his line and why he appealed. The rest is up to the jury. Cav should learn more from Robbie - remember how McEwen responded when he felt he was unfairly relegated following his high speed bustling with O'Grady? He won the next stage and gave a big F-U to the jury in his celebrations. Great stuff. None of this whinging and whining. Hushovd is smart and knows how to ride for the green jersey. He is showing Cav that the only stain on the green jersey is Cav's tears.

Well said Spanky and elapid. Cav and the Columbia lead out train is the most boring thing in cycling. Thor's unpredictable ride today was brilliant!

 

[lechia]

Thor, what a great sportsman. Maybe stupid Cav can learn and stop being a sore loser. Even Armstrong (of whom I'm often critical) can be a gracious loser. Cavendish's ego knows no boundaries. I'd love for Hushovd (or anyone for that matter) to beat him on the Champs Elisee.

 

[CerveloFan]

Thor put in a great ride today - if he hadn't earned Green through his consistent finishes, his previous breakaway ride for intermediate points, he sure did today.

I think Cav is a whiner - "no one will help chase", "the green jersey is tainted" - if the guy is the fastest in the world, you'd think winning green wouldn't be so hard - remember Thor would still be leading without the Cav's relegation.

As to those who think Cav wasn't aiming for green - how about that (disgusting) all green outfit - helmet, shorts, sunglasses, shoes - at least Thor has better sense than that.

 

[runninboy]

I have no doubt that Cav is the fastest man in the world in a straight line, but as well as growing up mentally he needs to appreciate that there is more to both the Tour de France and the green jersey than simply sitting in a train until the last 100 metres of every flat stage and taking stage wins. His comments regarding the green jersey being 'tainted' are hilarious at best. He shouldn't have been demoted a couple of days back but he should appreciate the fact that Hushovd despite winning only one stage win has worked his *** off to get the green jersey. Look at today, he has bridged across to the break whilst on a Cat 1 climb to try and pick up some more points at the Intermediate Sprint. Where is Cav? Despite the fact that he doesn't have the skills required to pull off such a manoeuvre never mind the interest, it seems that unless you have a train of 6 riders giving you a lead out for sprints, they are not worth chasing. Good for him, but the green jersey as won by the Zabels and Kelly's of this world require more than trains, leadouts and happily finishing 35mins down every other stage.

Well won Thor and hope you are still wearing it in Paris.

Firstly, stage 10 win for CAV he had his nose in the wind for far more than 100 meters and still no one could pass him, stage 11 he outsprinted Thor on the uphill.
This is his first tour where he is trying to make it over the mountains & into Paris. As he has never done this before, i am sure he is trying to be conservative with his energy expenditure in the mountains. Why go for intermediate sprints when they are not an efficient use of your energy?
Thor has been through this before CAV has not. Thor had no choice but to go for the intermediate points. I doubt in future tours CAV will bother with them either he will just continue to spank all the other sprinters for more stage wins
4 stage wins and second in the green jersey would be pretty impressive for anyone on their first trip into Paris.
As far as the laughing group, Zabel & McEwen spent plenty of time there
but that does not seem to correspond to your reality.

I think Thor deserves the jersey, but CAV 's relegation was too harsh a penalty from what was involved. He was never warned in any previous sprints here, a warning and a fine would have been a much more appropriate penalty.

For all u haters, there have always been leadout trains, Cipolini had the best and it made the finishes much safer. There is also nothing preventing other teams from doing leadouts but they are a bunch of whiners, Garmin in particular. You have one of the few riders to outsprint CAV & you just fold up your tent on the sprint finishes?
Oh but wait, they did work on the run in for 13th place once, but Tyler was nowhere to be found, hmmmmmmmmm.... why were they doing that? oh yes time gaps.
You can't do a leadout for one of the fastest sprinters in the world but you can chase like crazy if it'll keep another american out of yellow. losers
Hope Thor & CAV duke it out in Paris they are both good riders & good guys

 

[runninboy]

Thor put in a great ride today - if he hadn't earned Green through his consistent finishes, his previous breakaway ride for intermediate points, he sure did today.

I think Cav is a whiner - "no one will help chase", "the green jersey is tainted" - if the guy is the fastest in the world, you'd think winning green wouldn't be so hard - remember Thor would still be leading without the Cav's relegation.

As to those who think Cav wasn't aiming for green - how about that (disgusting) all green outfit - helmet, shorts, sunglasses, shoes - at least Thor has better sense than that.

did you catch thors outfit today pal? he even added green to the frame & green wheel decals in addition to the aforementioned(disgusting)outfit

apparently Thor has even worse fashion sense than u

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Great posts by Spanky and Elapid. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Krebs cycle]

looks like Thor took his green jersey to the dry cleaners yesterday to get that stain removed before he wears it on the podium in Paris.

poor cav, i guess with all that arrogant hot air coming out of his mouth he didn't hear the bit about needing the most POINTS to win the green jersey, not stage wins

 

[schadenfreude]

Taking it easy in the bunch - just as he should be!
What's the point of him trying to win a jersey that's already bought and paid for?

'Revenge is a dish best eaten cold', and all that...

Just for those who might have forgotten; there's a big TT tomorrow and a climb up the Ventoux on Saturday. Want fresh legs for the finale in Paris? Then don't go out on a suicide break busting your balls for 6 points and ensuring you've got dead legs by Sunday!

thor is going to be enjoying the view from the podium in paris, that's for sure.

 

[Spanky]

Some good responses although I must say I didn't mean this thread to necessarily turn into a Cav bashing thread. I don't necessarily dislike Cav myself and appreciate him for the great talent that he is in being the sprint king, and the talent that he can be in being a green jersey king. However my point is that we all know what the green jersey is for and Thor Hushvod is a very deserving wearer and winner in waiting of that jersey in this years tour. The comment about it being tainted from Cav was ridicules and was more a mark of the immaturity of the guy IMHO. His post stage comments since day 2 in the tour have been constantly disingenuous and immature from a guy who has never completed a grand tour. Coming on air every day complaining that "nobody chased", "its like a junior race", "why are we the only ones doing the work" are indeed paradoxically like something out of Junior racing. Its a three week tour Cav and teams have got different priorities, sponsor difficulties/obligations, problems, etc. Complete a grand tour and come back next year and we'll reassess your attitude.

With regard to the GarminHincapiegate, I again don't agree with the nonsense coming out of Cav and Columbia. They do realise that the tour is not all about them? There are 170+ riders in the peloton and excuse them if their number one concern is not how to get George into yellow and also line up the trains properly to get some points for Cav in the sprint. Should David Miller be jumping around mouthing off about the great injustice done in the streets of Barcelona when the world and its mother was shouting him on to win the stage. I mean who the hell was chasing that day - why didn't they stop for a second and think about who the good people at home would love to see on the podium that day? David Miller, the great reformed man killing himself in the rain soaked streets of Barcelona only to be cruelly caught within spitting distance of the flame rouge. Maybe Wiggins should have a go at the Schleck's for unfairly turning up the pace on the climbs and dropping him? Its road bike racing for fcuks sake. Cavumbia should set themselves up as a track racing outfit if they don't understand this.

 

[Danilot]

That's quite philosophical.
You have to fight real hard, e.g. climb severeal cat 1 mountains, in order to pretend to be a fighter?


Next time someone might point out that Michael Phelps is indeed only pretending to be a swimmer. In reality he can't swim at all.

Well, a fighter is someone who's able to climb several cat 1 mountains ahead of the group without the permission of the group. When you get ahead of the group just because they allowed you to, you're not a fighter, you're just a breakaway.

 

[fairplay]

Not being able to give Thor props for yesterdays riding says a whole lot about you Danilot, what a bunch of crap.

 

[Jonathan]

Well, a fighter is someone who's able to climb several cat 1 mountains ahead of the group without the permission of the group. When you get ahead of the group just because they allowed you to, you're not a fighter, you're just a breakaway.

I wonder why Columbia allowed Hushovd to stay away...oh ofcourse, they weren't interested in points!

 

[fairplay]

I saw an interview on Norwegian TV2 earlier today where Cav said something like Thor did an amazing ride yesterday and humiliated him with his riding (after his jersey comments), and that Thor deserved the green jersey. I'm quite impressed, I never expected that from Cav.

 

[TRDean]

I saw an interview on Norwegian TV2 earlier today where Cav said something like Thor did an amazing ride yesterday and humiliated him with his riding (after his jersey comments), and that Thor deserved the green jersey. I'm quite impressed, I never expected that from Cav.

If true then good for Cav!!!

 

[mr. tibbs]

did you catch thors outfit today pal? he even added green to the frame & green wheel decals in addition to the aforementioned(disgusting)outfit

apparently Thor has even worse fashion sense than u

I hate the yellow outfit syndrome that has swept classification jersey wearers this decade more than anyone, but--excepting the hideous sunglasses and helmet--I kind of like Thor's approach.

The subtle highlights on the bike are a nice touch. The stripe on his saddle is especially nice, but I could do without the green wheels--they remind me too much of the faux-fixies I see runnin traffic lights everyday.

My favorite part of the kit is the assymetry of the the one green stripe down the left leg of his shorts. I LOVE it. It's much more interesting than just painting everything green (or yellow or polka dot or etc.).

 

[Jayarbie]

I saw an interview on Norwegian TV2 earlier today where Cav said something like Thor did an amazing ride yesterday and humiliated him with his riding (after his jersey comments), and that Thor deserved the green jersey. I'm quite impressed, I never expected that from Cav.

Why not? Cav himself has said several times that he just says what's on his mind, and that sometimes makes him come off as an a-hole. He's just being honest again. There's no way for Cav to sugar coat what Thor did yesterday. It's refreshing to hear athletes speak honestly instead of politically correct all the time.

 

[elapid]

Why not? Cav himself has said several times that he just says what's on his mind, and that sometimes makes him come off as an a-hole. He's just being honest again. There's no way for Cav to sugar coat what Thor did yesterday. It's refreshing to hear athletes speak honestly instead of politically correct all the time.

I like Cav and this is one of the reasons why. He is honest. He sings the praises of his team, and he will give credit where credit is due. Yes, he is arrogant. But why not? He is by far and away the strongest sprinter in the peloton and he is young. Sprinting is a volatile game and most sprinters have the temperament to match. I still think he needs some media training. Other than that, he and Thor have moved on and perhaps we should to!