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Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

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If only want him to comeback next year if he can replicate this form and has the desire to do it. With a full head to plan Astana can also work to get a better train around him since at the end of the stages, they were almost nonexistent most of the time.
No train when Cavendish still has the energy to freelance is a total underperforming squad. His greatest successes came with some serious long leadout support and I can't see him putting himself through the torment of the status quo for another season.
 
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So you think Astana should build a whole team around one single stage win, the one that'll count? A stage win that may not even come?
To be fair, Cavendish is still good enough to win a fair share of races. This year he came in way undercooked due to the late signing of his contract and didn’t seem to come into some form until the 2nd half of the Giro.

They’ve got a few pieces in place and some nice riders (if really old) like Lulu. With the clearance sale over at Quik Step there will be some great pieces on the market who know how to work with Cavendish. Is Markov one of those who will be out of a contract?
 
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Dedicating a team to Mark Cavendish is a good plan for Astana, because every plan is good on a team that right now doesn't have any.

We look at their squad and the only ones capable of still delivering big results are Cav (on sprints), Lutsenko (stage races and the odd classics) and Moscon (classics, if he ever returns to his Ineos days). Neither one of them has any good support whatsoever, so their chances don't diminish by the team going on a particular direction. And right now, for a broke team like Astana, maybe a sprint train is cheaper than getting good mountain domestiques for Lutsenko, top classics guys to support Moscon or new leaders. Not to speak that good leadout riders can often be also of good value during the spring classics.
 
Dedicating a team to Mark Cavendish is a good plan for Astana, because every plan is good on a team that right now doesn't have any.

We look at their squad and the only ones capable of still delivering big results are Cav (on sprints), Lutsenko (stage races and the odd classics) and Moscon (classics, if he ever returns to his Ineos days). Neither one of them has any good support whatsoever, so their chances don't diminish by the team going on a particular direction. And right now, for a broke team like Astana, maybe a sprint train is cheaper than getting good mountain domestiques for Lutsenko, top classics guys to support Moscon or new leaders. Not to speak that good leadout riders can often be also of good value during the spring classics.
that is a fair point. getting Cav on cheap-ish money can maybe get them some early wins next season and give them something to do!
 
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If Cav asked me for my advice (and he would be an idiot to do so), I would tell him to retire. Winning the extra stage isn't going to add anything for his palmares.

34 TDF wins, 50+ Grand Tour wins, Winner of the point classification jersey for all 3 grand tours, 162 all time victories ....

It is time for the guy to just chill and hang out with his wife and kids. I got a feeling if he comes back it's not going to turn out well for him.
 
If Cav asked me for my advice (and he would be an idiot to do so), I would tell him to retire. Winning the extra stage isn't going to add anything for his palmares.

34 TDF wins, 50+ Grand Tour wins, Winner of the point classification jersey for all 3 grand tours, 162 all time victories ....

It is time for the guy to just chill and hang out with his wife and kids. I got a feeling if he comes back it's not going to turn out well for him.
That's what a lot of folks were saying when he signed with QuickStep as well..

And I know cycling is full of crappy excuses, but at stage 7 I truly believe it was his shifting failure that cost him the victory. I'm pretty sure would have won that one.
 
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With just one opportunity for the sprinters left, let's ask the question: if he'd stayed upright, would he have managed to break Merckx's record this year?
With the form Philipsen is in and how the stages were ridden, most likely not. His best chance was stage 7 but the gear issue screwed him up, even still Philipsen probably wins by half a bike length or so instead. Stage 11 maybe but most likely not. These last two stages no because they didn’t catch the break and even if Astana’s help made it a sprint for the win on stage 18, Cav probably would have been dead tired the way the stages were ridden so hard from the start. It’d have been hard to make the time limit. Then Paris is any ball game but I’d like to hope he’d right his screw up from 2021.
 
Is that official? Nothing on his twitter (unless I missed it...).
Yes during the second Giro rest day Cav said this was his final year.

But hasn’t said anything since the crash and Vino said if Cav wishes to continue he still has his spot on the team and hopes Cav’s 2024 will be redemption for 2023 like Vino’s 2012 was for 2011.

 
If Cav asked me for my advice (and he would be an idiot to do so), I would tell him to retire. Winning the extra stage isn't going to add anything for his palmares.

34 TDF wins, 50+ Grand Tour wins, Winner of the point classification jersey for all 3 grand tours, 162 all time victories ....

It is time for the guy to just chill and hang out with his wife and kids. I got a feeling if he comes back it's not going to turn out well for him.
Yes but winning a tdf stage is one thing, he still has a GT stage win this year so its not like he's at the level of a ..............................Froome.
 
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Yes during the second Giro rest day Cav said this was his final year.

But hasn’t said anything since the crash and Vino said if Cav wishes to continue he still has his spot on the team and hopes Cav’s 2024 will be redemption for 2023 like Vino’s 2012 was for 2011.

I meant after the crash...maybe he changed his mind since the TdF was ended so early.
 
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