Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

[King Of The Wolds]

Re:

Devalues his wins

Only the Champs Elysees victor's win, actually.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re: Re:

Abandoned the tour and heading for Rio, go get the gold Cav.

Strip him of the stage wins so far please.

A track sprinter turning up with no intention, nor the shape, to finish the race, has an unfair advantage over the rest and is distorting the competition.

Well, Cipollini's got a bucketload of stages to hand back then.

Why don't you go to Demare's thread and complain about actual cheating which got brushed under the carpet rather than inventing nonsense here?

 

[BigMac]

I can't remember if it was Stryder Halls or Premier Andrew who said he'd call it quits today when arguing with someone over if he was targeting green and the Paris stage or not. Props to either.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Pretty demoralizing for a sprinter to get through the last week sans sprints only for Champs Elysees. With Rio in his thoughts, I support him 100%, Dennis likewise, altho its a pretty different situation with Porte (discounting TJ here).

 

[grumpycabbie]

It might have " something " to do with the fact that as long as Sagan rides TdF, Cavendish even being second has absolutely no chance of bringing green jersey to Paris and the way Sagan is riding this year in 5 years time and Sagan having 10 x green, competition might change to 15 - 18 flat stages withy 500 points for 1st, 400 for 2nd and so on...and intermediate sprints will be abandoned all together, then and maybe only then will Cav be willing to ride full 3 weeks again....Pure and simple, no chance of green and with all the sprinters this year and win in Paris by no means guaranteed in his mind all the effort and a shot at a stage win is worth less than possible olympic gold. Not that I agree with it but he wouldn't be the first nor the last rider doing it.

 

[SlickMongoose]

It might have " something " to do with the fact that as long as Sagan rides TdF, Cavendish even being second has absolutely no chance of bringing green jersey to Paris and the way Sagan is riding this year in 5 years time and Sagan having 10 x green, competition might change to 15 - 18 flat stages withy 500 points for 1st, 400 for 2nd and so on...and intermediate sprints will be abandoned all together, then and maybe only then will Cav be willing to ride full 3 weeks again....Pure and simple, no chance of green and with all the sprinters this year and win in Paris by no means guaranteed in his mind all the effort and a shot at a stage win is worth less than possible olympic gold. Not that I agree with it but he wouldn't be the first nor the last rider doing it.

He rode three weeks last time even though he was ill. I'm sure this year is a one-off.

 

[jmdirt]

Smart move if he want a shot at gold on the track in Rio.

Take away his wins?! WTH?!

 

[Cannibal72]

Re: Re:

Abandoned the tour and heading for Rio, go get the gold Cav.

Strip him of the stage wins so far please.

A track sprinter turning up with no intention, nor the shape, to finish the race, has an unfair advantage over the rest and is distorting the competition.

How on earth is it unfair when Kittel, Coquard and the rest could have done exactly the same thing if they'd chosen to?

 

[SeriousSam]

A tour stage win is devalued if a rider isn't prepared, or even able, to actually complete the entire Tour. All achievements at the Tour derive their value within the context of a rider actually managing to do the 3,000+ km stage race with mountains and all.

Otherwise, they might as well allow the sprinters to sit some stages out and reenter when they feel like it.

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re:

A tour stage win is devalued if a rider isn't prepared, or even able, to actually complete the entire Tour. All achievements at the Tour derive their value within the context of a rider actually managing to do the 3,000+ km stage race with mountains and all.

Otherwise, they might as well allow the sprinters to sit some stages out and reenter when they feel like it.

True but modern cycling is like this it happens all the time in the giro we need to accept it and move on.

 

[What_What]

Re: Re:

Abandoned the tour and heading for Rio, go get the gold Cav.

Strip him of the stage wins so far please.

A track sprinter turning up with no intention, nor the shape, to finish the race, has an unfair advantage over the rest and is distorting the competition.

Well it made me laugh, cheers.

 

[carolina]

isn't this the first time he abandons because of another race? he usually does all the stages, even in the giro and vuelta.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

A tour stage win is devalued if a rider isn't prepared, or even able, to actually complete the entire Tour. All achievements at the Tour derive their value within the context of a rider actually managing to do the 3,000+ km stage race with mountains and all.

Otherwise, they might as well allow the sprinters to sit some stages out and reenter when they feel like it.

Doesn't stop people from praising Cipollini.

At least it's his first time and he has a good motive.

 

[wrinklyvet]

Re: Re:

Abandoned the tour and heading for Rio, go get the gold Cav.

Strip him of the stage wins so far please.

A track sprinter turning up with no intention, nor the shape, to finish the race, has an unfair advantage over the rest and is distorting the competition.

I have to assume this is a tongue in cheek post to wind people up and you actually mean the opposite! Clever.

... or not?

 

[InterestedSpectator]

@DFA23

A whole lotta trollin' goin' on!

 

[happychappy]

Re: Re:

A tour stage win is devalued if a rider isn't prepared, or even able, to actually complete the entire Tour. All achievements at the Tour derive their value within the context of a rider actually managing to do the 3,000+ km stage race with mountains and all.

Otherwise, they might as well allow the sprinters to sit some stages out and reenter when they feel like it.

Doesn't stop people from praising Cipollini.

Of course he gets a pass because he's better looking and Italian. That's what it comes down to with some of these so called "fans".

 

[Sem Travões]

Smart move, he's only chance to another win was in Paris, so.

 

[El Pistolero]

This is why sprinting will always be the least prestigious field in cycling.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

There was a decent discussion about this in a Dutch program. Reasons for trains failing are basically

- Everyone has a train
- There's not one train significantly better
- So the peloton doesn't really get stretched

Trains still work in smaller races, but it seems they're a bit done in the TdF. The days of HTC 8km lead outs are over.

They should put one guy behind Kittel to deny Cav his wheel. And also hit the front a bit later, but that's difficult to time these days.

You could, but you'd give your teammate the worst job in the peloton. And that is without Bouhanni

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Devalues his wins

What about every major win in the Giro before abandoning then? It's not their fault their fault stages are so flat. I don't think it devalues stages. For a pure sprinter, GT stages are the biggest they can typically anyway

 

[Pricey_sky]

A shame he wont be contesting in Paris, he loves that final stage so I'm sure this decision wasn't taken lightly.

Still, 4 stage wins and taking back his position as the best sprinter in the field, it's been a great comeback, chapeau Cav!

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

There was a decent discussion about this in a Dutch program. Reasons for trains failing are basically

- Everyone has a train
- There's not one train significantly better
- So the peloton doesn't really get stretched

Trains still work in smaller races, but it seems they're a bit done in the TdF. The days of HTC 8km lead outs are over.

They should put one guy behind Kittel to deny Cav his wheel. And also hit the front a bit later, but that's difficult to time these days.

You could, but you'd give your teammate the worst job in the peloton. And that is without Bouhanni

I'd say taking Contador's sweaty insole in your mouth is a worse job

 

[robin440]

kittel > cav in qatar

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

A tour stage win is devalued if a rider isn't prepared, or even able, to actually complete the entire Tour. All achievements at the Tour derive their value within the context of a rider actually managing to do the 3,000+ km stage race with mountains and all.

Otherwise, they might as well allow the sprinters to sit some stages out and reenter when they feel like it.

Nice grapes to watermelons comparison!

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

kittel > cav in qatar

I remember when a month ago most of the cycling world thought Kittel > Cav in the Tour too.

If Cav gets to Qatar in this form he has a favourites chance.