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Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

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Akuryo

Akuryo

Apr 19, 2014
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Pricey_sky said:
Yes I forget how easy it is on this small island! :D

Hopefully Cav recovers well and can focus on next year with him being fully fit, the days of him winning 5-6 Tour stages are over but no reason why he can't win a few more.
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Well, I am not hoping that his competition will crash, but if Kittel were to miss next years Tour, Cav could end up with a lot of stages again. Last year he had the Giro in his legs and this year crashed (because of own stupidity for that matter) on the very first stage. It's been a long time since we saw Cav in best form in July. 2012 if you ask me, where he won 5 stages without a train from Sky!
So either way, with or without Kittel in the competition. I am not fully convinced, that Cav's time is up already. We will see.
 
Pricey_sky

Pricey_sky

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Akuryo said:
Well, I am not hoping that his competition will crash, but if Kittel were to miss next years Tour, Cav could end up with a lot of stages again. Last year he had the Giro in his legs and this year crashed (because of own stupidity for that matter) on the very first stage. It's been a long time since we saw Cav in best form in July. 2012 if you ask me, where he won 5 stages without a train from Sky!
So either way, with or without Kittel in the competition. I am not fully convinced, that Cav's time is up already. We will see.
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I don't believe it either, looking at this years results there were some stages where Kittel was not at his best and was beaten, As much as I like Kristoff for example I think Cav could have done even better then he did and picked up at least 2 stages this July, all theory of course but he looked in great shape.
 
Jspear

Jspear

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Akuryo said:
Well, I am not hoping that his competition will crash, but if Kittel were to miss next years Tour, Cav could end up with a lot of stages again. Last year he had the Giro in his legs and this year crashed (because of own stupidity for that matter) on the very first stage. It's been a long time since we saw Cav in best form in July. 2012 if you ask me, where he won 5 stages without a train from Sky!
So either way, with or without Kittel in the competition. I am not fully convinced, that Cav's time is up already. We will see.
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Cav didn't win 5 stages in 2012. He "only" won 3 that year....which was still pretty impressive because he didn't really have a leadout (at times he had some support but nothing like his htc days.) I think one of his best sprints ever was actually in 2012 - the last sprint stage before the Champs Elysees (stage 18 or 19 iirc) where Wiggins and EBH lead him out then Cav overtook the breakaway in the last 100 meters or so. He was flying that day. I think it showed that IF he had been supported that Tour he would have won as many stages as his earlier years.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Jspear said:
Cav didn't win 5 stages in 2012. He "only" won 3 that year....which was still pretty impressive because he didn't really have a leadout (at times he had some support but nothing like his htc days.) I think one of his best sprints ever was actually in 2012 - the last sprint stage before the Champs Elysees (stage 18 or 19 iirc) where Wiggins and EBH lead him out then Cav overtook the breakaway in the last 100 meters or so. He was flying that day. I think it showed that IF he had been supported that Tour he would have won as many stages as his earlier years.
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That was the sickest sprint I ever saw, he put the whole sprinting field on 2 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQedKbxiuBA
 
King Boonen

King Boonen

Jul 25, 2012
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Cav needs to step it up this year, he's been usurped and as I see it he has three possibilities:

1) Get back the sprint crowd. I still think he's capable of beating Kittel, but Omega need to be willing to lose the race and force Giant to do some work this year, or they'll just get swapped every race.

2) Focus his talents elsewhere. The guy can TT well, he can last a distance and he can obviously sprint. I'm not saying he's going to start winning Paris-Roubaix, but he could start competing some less sprint friendly one-day races. He's not got Rio in his programme anymore, so why not give it a go if Kittel is just too fast?

3) S£&^, small races.
 
Buffalo Soldier

Buffalo Soldier

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I do not think Kittel is unbeatable, and OPQS can form a world class lead out if they want to.
But Cav is getting to an age where he won everything sprint related, and maybe needs to set some new goals to stay 110% motivated?
 
ILovecycling

ILovecycling

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Buffalo Soldier said:
I do not think Kittel is unbeatable, and OPQS can form a world class lead out if they want to.
But Cav is getting to an age where he won everything sprint related, and maybe needs to set some new goals to stay 110% motivated?
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yep,it can be it.just look how fat Cav is during the season.I still think Kittel is better build for sprints but,not unbeatable.
 
May0maniac

May0maniac

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Red Rick said:
Kittel is way more vulnerable. He gets dropped on 2% climbs and is absolutely nothing without his team, which is quickly loses when it gets complicated or lumpy
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OPQS already found a way to beat him in the 2014 TdF, the problem was that the main sprinter had crashed out on the first stage. The tried to create chaos on the last few km of the sprint stages with guys like Martin and Kwiatkowski and had a smaller sprint-train. That should normally make the final of the race to chaotic/hard for Kittel, Greipel has changed after this years crash and is no longer fighting to mantain his position and the other guys should be beatable in a normal sprint.
 
D

Dazed and Confused

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Cav will not turn into another type of rider, certainly not on a team like the hotsteppers. The team is paying for getting top quality bunch sprint results and the team have much better players for the tougher (hit and miss) type races.

So yea, Cav will continue to work hard in the last few hundred meters trying to beat Kittel et al in 2015.
 
Jspear

Jspear

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Erythropoietin said:
Has Cav prepared properly for San Luis or does he just see the race as part of his training?
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I can't say where he is at form wise as I haven't heard/read anything from him or his team on that specifically. I do know though that he has kept his weight down more this year and his fitness level is better than last year at this time. He did a little bit of track riding through the off season which of course helped him.
 
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