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Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

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You can't have a GT, at least not in France, without having a few sprinters stages. Thats not the problem. The problem is there are 9.

We know that you dislike those and in particular Cavendish, but there is really no need to have this 'debate' once again. Its pointless. We know where you stand on this.
 
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Valv.Piti said:
You can't have a GT, at least not in France, without having a few sprinters stages. Thats not the problem. The problem is there are 9.

We know that you dislike those and in particular Cavendish, but there is really no need to have this 'debate' once again. Its pointless. We know where you stand on this.

You can get little hills in the final of just about any stage if you wanted. I'm not asking for 10 LBL stages here. If they want a sprint stage then do it alongside the coast at least.
 
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El Pistolero said:
Pricey_sky said:
El Pistolero said:
So you don't even need good form to get a decent result in flat sprint stages. Why do we have these again?

Because a grand tour is supposed to be about all round cycling skills. We can't just have 21 mountain stages. They've gone a bit overboard this year, but every GT should have 5 good opportunities for the sprinters, plus a couple of lumpy finishes where the result is 50/50 between the attackers and the sprinters.

Also a Cav on average form is still a better sprinter than 98% of the peloton.

Exactly, which is why they need to get rid of flat stages, unless it has pavé or sterrato.

That would remove the opportunities for the guys whose (main) skill is sprinting.
 
I thought Cav did great yesterday after a period off.

I have a question about his train though. I am not sure if I have only just noticed this, but why isnt Cummings part of his train and given free reign to sit on the back? Was it only yesterday? Was he off colour?
 
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MartinGT said:
I thought Cav did great yesterday after a period off.

I have a question about his train though. I am not sure if I have only just noticed this, but why isnt Cummings part of his train and given free reign to sit on the back? Was it only yesterday? Was he off colour?

Sitting at the back is what Steve Cummings does along with Tommy V
 
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del1962 said:
MartinGT said:
I thought Cav did great yesterday after a period off.

I have a question about his train though. I am not sure if I have only just noticed this, but why isnt Cummings part of his train and given free reign to sit on the back? Was it only yesterday? Was he off colour?

Sitting at the back is what Steve Cummings does along with Tommy V

Aye, so it weakens Cav's leadout somewhat I suppose.
 
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RedheadDane said:
El Pistolero said:
Pricey_sky said:
El Pistolero said:
So you don't even need good form to get a decent result in flat sprint stages. Why do we have these again?

Because a grand tour is supposed to be about all round cycling skills. We can't just have 21 mountain stages. They've gone a bit overboard this year, but every GT should have 5 good opportunities for the sprinters, plus a couple of lumpy finishes where the result is 50/50 between the attackers and the sprinters.

Also a Cav on average form is still a better sprinter than 98% of the peloton.

Exactly, which is why they need to get rid of flat stages, unless it has pavé or sterrato.

That would remove the opportunities for the guys whose (main) skill is sprinting.

No, they'd just have to focus on other things. Sagan, Boonen, Degenkolb, Kristoff, etc. are all sprinters.
 
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MartinGT said:
del1962 said:
MartinGT said:
I thought Cav did great yesterday after a period off.

I have a question about his train though. I am not sure if I have only just noticed this, but why isnt Cummings part of his train and given free reign to sit on the back? Was it only yesterday? Was he off colour?

Sitting at the back is what Steve Cummings does along with Tommy V

Aye, so it weakens Cav's leadout somewhat I suppose.

Since his leadout last year and this year is basically just Renshaw with sometimes Eisel and EBH helping, Cummings isn't the problem.
 
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Valv.Piti said:
If it had been any other rider than Sagan taking him out like that he would be furious.
True: you don't want a PR war, popularity contest against Sagan. You can't win.

Not being 100%, with no trai, he has to take chances. And Cav is willing to take crazy risks...as he did today. You got to give him that: he's fearless. Good to hear that he's OK.
 
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Tonton said:
Valv.Piti said:
If it had been any other rider than Sagan taking him out like that he would be furious.
True: you don't want a PR war, popularity contest against Sagan. You can't win.

Not being 100%, with no trai, he has to take chances. And Cav is willing to take crazy risks...as he did today. You got to give him that: he's fearless. Good to hear that he's OK.
Exactly and thats the problem with Sagan; aint nobody want to say anything bad about him. Greipel did today, chapeau.
 
Griepel took it back though. I wonder if the Sagan PR machine worked its magic and Griepel wimped out.

If any other rider had done what Sagan did today there would be universal condemnation (like there is whenever Cavendish turns a blind eye to the rules in sprints). Sagan does something utterly reckless and most of the cycling Twitterati are actually saying it was all Cavendish's fault!

Saint Sagan can do no wrong. Still, Robbie McEwen says it's harsh and he's even more saintly.
 
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Valv.Piti said:
Tonton said:
Valv.Piti said:
If it had been any other rider than Sagan taking him out like that he would be furious.
True: you don't want a PR war, popularity contest against Sagan. You can't win.

Not being 100%, with no trai, he has to take chances. And Cav is willing to take crazy risks...as he did today. You got to give him that: he's fearless. Good to hear that he's OK.
Exactly and thats the problem with Sagan; aint nobody want to say anything bad about him. Greipel did today, chapeau.

Naesen has said bad things about him after the incident at Gent-Wevelgem. Greipel retracted his statement after watching a replay by the way.
 
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canarydan23 said:
Griepel took it back though. I wonder if the Sagan PR machine worked its magic and Griepel wimped out.

If any other rider had done what Sagan did today there would be universal condemnation (like there is whenever Cavendish turns a blind eye to the rules in sprints). Sagan does something utterly reckless and most of the cycling Twitterati are actually saying it was all Cavendish's fault!

Saint Sagan can do no wrong. Still, Robbie McEwen says it's harsh and he's even more saintly.

Have you asked yourself why the front sprinters ALL diverted their lines from the left of the road to the right with no reason?

They were roughly in the middle after being left and then ended up right and on the barriers.

Greipel struck Bouhani.

Bouhani moves to the right. He almost fell. Naturally he moved because Greipel hit him.

Demare immediately goes far right (they were parallel-ish..not exactly but close enough).

Sagan had looked at the gap between Demare and Bouhani and appeared to want to go for it.

Suddenly, Demare splits and rushed far left and cuts in front of Bouhani.

Is anyone surprised after such a diversion, that Sagan went further to the right?

I'm not.

Heck, Cav lost out big time on this. He tried squeezing Sagan into a space that got massively smaller because Demare moved across and he only did so because Bouhani moved over and he only did so because Greipel hit him.

It's called a racing incident. Common accident.

Personally I'd strip Greipel, Demare and Sagan of all their points and give Kristoff the win (he came second right?).

Kristoff was the only one who held his line and didn't move...because he was in front. Greipel hadn't of hit Bouhani, Cav would have stayed upright.

That was 3 or so seconds of racing.

Explain to me how this was avoidable? It's an accident and Greipel, rightfully changed his opinion.

It's dominoes and Greipel hit the first one.

The commisars need to stress politely, with in race fines, that riders need to stay in their line as much as possible. ALL OF THEM.
 
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canarydan23 said:
Griepel took it back though. I wonder if the Sagan PR machine worked its magic and Griepel wimped out.

If any other rider had done what Sagan did today there would be universal condemnation (like there is whenever Cavendish turns a blind eye to the rules in sprints). Sagan does something utterly reckless and most of the cycling Twitterati are actually saying it was all Cavendish's fault!

Saint Sagan can do no wrong. Still, Robbie McEwen says it's harsh and he's even more saintly.
Nobody said a blind eye should be turned, just that a full DQ was harsh.

If you read his tweet, McEwen said that relegation and a points penalty would be more appropriate.

As for Cavendish's past behaviour, I doubt Heinrich Haussler thought Sagan got off easy.