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Kittel

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Jun 22, 2015
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Re: Re:

Billie said:
Bavarianrider said:
Jspear said:
The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish :confused: :confused: :confused:

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

Dubai 2014 stage 4 had a few obstacles in it that were harder than a roundabout!
 
Re: Re:

robin440 said:
Billie said:
Bavarianrider said:
Jspear said:
The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish :confused: :confused: :confused:

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

Dubai 2014 stage 4 had a few obstacles in it that were harder than a roundabout!

And Dubai-Tour is of course a race where everybody is in topform and riding as hard as they can. I guess if they would ride stages with the same profile during the Tour he would've been dropped.
 
Re: Re:

Billie said:
Bavarianrider said:
Jspear said:
The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish :confused: :confused: :confused:

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.
 
Re: Re:

DFA123 said:
Billie said:
Bavarianrider said:
Jspear said:
The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish :confused: :confused: :confused:

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.

You don't have to make any negative assumptions about either rider to explain the switch, Etixx apparently have a somewhat reduced budget. Kittel had a terrible year and then fell out with his team. Therefore Kittel is available at below his expected value. Cavendish only got one Tour stage, but he also got 14 wins, so while he might well be starting the downward slope of his career, he's not going to take a very large pay cut. Therefore Kittel makes sense, regardless of which rider you'd prefer to have monetary issues aside.

Kittel is a bit of a risk, given that it's not entirely clear what's been wrong with him. But he's young, he's super-fast and is a risk worth taking.
 
Re: Re:

Zinoviev Letter said:
DFA123 said:
Billie said:
Bavarianrider said:
Jspear said:
The CN article doesn't say....anyone know how much cheaper he was than Cav?

Why the hell should a way younger, way faster, way better looking and way more charismatic guy be cheaper than Cavendish :confused: :confused: :confused:

Because Cavendish doesn't get dropped on every obstacle harder than a roundabout

I don't think Etixx will care about that at all. They've got more than enough puncheurs who are fast finishers on lumpy terrain and uphill finish. What they need is someone to consistently win dead flat stages - which usually make up about a quarter of TdF stages. Cavendish wasn't cutting it, and for a team with no GC rider, they really need to be challenging on as many individual stages as possible - especially when they are as big as Etixx.

You don't have to make any negative assumptions about either rider to explain the switch, Etixx apparently have a somewhat reduced budget. Kittel had a terrible year and then fell out with his team. Therefore Kittel is available at below his expected value. Cavendish only got one Tour stage, but he also got 14 wins, so while he might well be starting the downward slope of his career, he's not going to take a very large pay cut. Therefore Kittel makes sense, regardless of which rider you'd prefer to have monetary issues aside.

Kittel is a bit of a risk, given that it's not entirely clear what's been wrong with him. But he's young, he's super-fast and is a risk worth taking.
too much of a risk IMO. No winning is still ok as improvements can be made but he is not even finishing races. Don't know what the problem is . Could be mononucleosis. Maybe a year or 2 to recover. Andy Schleck had similar problems and he had to retire. Cunego is another.
 
Apr 3, 2016
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From the helicopter shot it looked as if MK had already lost when MC swerved a bit.

Don't know why he's complaining because MK still had loads of room to his right. MC hadn't put him into the barriers.
 
Nov 29, 2010
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Re:

yaco said:
Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

He's too fast for his own good. There's literally nothing to discuss. :lol:

He doesn't even make contentious/dangerous moves to dispute.

He just wins.
 
Re: Re:

deValtos said:
yaco said:
Wow. The best sprinter has 5 pages in this forum.

He's too fast for his own good. There's literally nothing to discuss. :lol:

He doesn't even make contentious/dangerous moves to dispute.

He just wins.
This^...He is just flat out fast, what else is there to say? Even though its nearly a foregone conclusion that he will win if he is in the mix at 500 M, its still fun to watch him rip his bike to pieces. I wonder if he gets new bikes more often just to be safe? His team seems to really like the guy. When they congratulate him their smiles are huge and the hugs are real. Who else compares WT/TdF sprints to tetris?! :D
 
Well, he either wins by a mile or gets dropped/gassed before the finish, so he is very predictable to watch. I am not sure if he improved his stamina or the race was very easy compared to last few years.

We have seen him running out of steam and not being able to contest sprints in 2nd week, but he seems to have no problem at the moment.
 
I hope he will win 8 stages for pure comedy. I hope that will make Gouvenou and Prudhomme realise how miserably of a job they've done! To be fair to Kittel tho, he clearly is at some monster shape, he isn't as one dimensional either as some make him out to be.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
I hope he will win 8 stages for pure comedy. I hope that will make Gouvenou and Prudhomme realise how miserably of a job they've done! To be fair to Kittel tho, he clearly is at some monster shape, he isn't as one dimensional either as some make him out to be.
I honestly feel that those guys would love little more than to see that happen.
 

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