Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

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Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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PremierAndrew said:
Cipo's GT record is the final frontier, which noone's really been talking about. Was secretly hoping he'd recover and go to the vuelta last year or in 2022.

(Well and olympic gold, but can't have it all :p)
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I guess we'll know by the weekend, as I say tomorrow is probably his best chance at another, and then there's Saturday. Stage 10 should be good for him but after that there's not too much to keep him in the Tour. If he's in touching distance by then, it's not unreasonable for him to pull out (after all, no Champs stage to stay for this year), and then the Vuelta offers 3 stages in the first week that are doable, Ourem, Castelo Branco and Sevilla. After that there's no realistic sprint stages until stage 17 (unless Córdoba is raced super soft) so I think it'd have to be in that first week realistically. Not sure if he sticks around another year if he doesn't achieve it this season, since he's already got the 'big one' with the Tour record, that very much felt like it was his unfinished business.
 
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PremierAndrew

PremierAndrew

May 9, 2014
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Libertine Seguros said:
I guess we'll know by the weekend, as I say tomorrow is probably his best chance at another, and then there's Saturday. Stage 10 should be good for him but after that there's not too much to keep him in the Tour. If he's in touching distance by then, it's not unreasonable for him to pull out (after all, no Champs stage to stay for this year), and then the Vuelta offers 3 stages in the first week that are doable, Ourem, Castelo Branco and Sevilla. After that there's no realistic sprint stages until stage 17 (unless Córdoba is raced super soft) so I think it'd have to be in that first week realistically. Not sure if he sticks around another year if he doesn't achieve it this season, since he's already got the 'big one' with the Tour record, that very much felt like it was his unfinished business.
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Yeah i doubt he'll be sticking around for the vuelta for cipo's record. Maybe just maybe if he was in touching distance of merckx's 64

Shame he doesnt get a proper send off with the stage to champs this year
 
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Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

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PremierAndrew said:
Yeah i doubt he'll be sticking around for the vuelta for cipo's record. Maybe just maybe if he was in touching distance of merckx's 64

Shame he doesnt get a proper send off with the stage to champs this year
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I think if he gets another one or two stages here and some discussion comes up, he might - especially as Astana could do with the points - have a go at week 1 in the Vuelta, but if this is the only stage he wins in the Tour he probably won't cos he'd need to go 3 from 3 in those week 1 stages in Spain and he probably can't hit another form peak so soon after the work he's put in to be in form here. It does make me think that Saturday was perhaps more to do with the heat and maybe just a short term stomach bug causing the vomiting because I'd have expected him to struggle more yesterday if it was anything more serious or something form-related.
 
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R

RJH

Apr 18, 2024
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Bini is one of my favorite riders, so when I read he won on Monday, I couldn’t believe it… Same with Mark today - so well deserved.

Cav apparently suffered badly on Saturday, so today he was rewarded… I lost belief he would win Number 35, a while ago… Unbelievable… :)
 
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KZD

KZD

Feb 21, 2019
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Cavendish biggest strength has to be his perseverance, after years being dropped on flat stages without being even able to contest sprints, I never expect him to have a Tour like the 2021 one and now to get his 35th win in 2024 beating Merckx record is the icing on the cake.

Even if he doesn't win any other stage, which after today and a lack of a dominant sprinter is far from a certainty, I just don’t see any current rider capable of getting to 35 Tour wins not even Pogačar.
 
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SHAD0W93

SHAD0W93

Aug 13, 2011
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canarydan23 said:
In 2021 there was a lot of talk about how he was delivered to the line and you could have swapped any of half a dozen sprinters into that team and still got the wins. I thought it was rubbish then, but no one can say that about today, what a sprint.
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Even crazier when 2 of the wins was off Philipsen and Alpecin’s train. Just like Cav looked like he would do today before he surfed some more.
 
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K

King Of The Wolds

May 19, 2011
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canarydan23 said:
In 2021 there was a lot of talk about how he was delivered to the line and you could have swapped any of half a dozen sprinters into that team and still got the wins. I thought it was rubbish then, but no one can say that about today, what a sprint.
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I always say he isn't the best because he gets the best train, he gets the best train because he's the best. Not that he's ever been able to win without the perfect lead out, and today showed that again. An utter masterclass in road sprinting, on the highest stage of all. And at 39, after all he's been through. Absolutely mind blowing. Legend.
 
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Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
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canarydan23 said:
In 2021 there was a lot of talk about how he was delivered to the line and you could have swapped any of half a dozen sprinters into that team and still got the wins. I thought it was rubbish then, but no one can say that about today, what a sprint.
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Idunno, it doesn't have to be wrong for him to still be good enough to win. Just look earlier in his career, when he was undisputably the fastest guy in the world - but he still had an absolute monster train at his disposal during HTC's reign of terror, and you could indeed have swapped lots of other sprinters into that team and still got the wins, as they proved with Gerald Ciolek, Matt Goss, Andre Greipel, Leigh Howard, John Degenkolb, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Greg Henderson all winning sprints there. However, after Renshaw was unceremoniously DQed from the 2010 Tour and Cav had to do it on his own, he proved he could do it. Would he have won quite as many races as he did with the full HTC train? Possibly, possibly not. He was still the quickest guy in the field at the time. He wouldn't have had as easy a job of it, but he would certainly still have won a lot even without them.
 
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D

dobrien

Jul 10, 2009
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perico said:
Today wasn’t some freak thing. Cavendish has still got the straight speed to compete for stages. All his ups and downs have somewhat dampened just how dominant he has always been in sprints when he is at his best. He is older and his reflexes aren’t what they used to be, but he is still extremely fast. What separates him from aging sprinters in the past is that Cavendish has never lost his nerve. Most guys can still ride fast as they age, it’s the deterioration of their other skills and the fact that as they get older, the risks of a sprint finish become more clear.

Cavendish has never lost his nerve in sprints. The crashes that could’ve mentally finished lesser riders didn’t dull his ability to block it out.
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This completely. Watching that overhead shot, if you didn't know it was Cav you would have thought it was some crazy 22 year old or something. That's the part that is really something else, at least to me.
 
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