Re:
SHAD0W93 said:
I never saw Cipo sprint and I'm biased towards Cav. But what I would say confidently to go along with Pricey is I would have HTC Cav with HTC's train over any rider and their train. HTC dominated the race, even when they were the only team working all day. There never was and never will be another train like HTC and it's a pity for Cav because if they had stuck around, he would have won many more stages.
Ironically, this is exactly why I would place Cipollini and possibly other era sprinters over Cavendish. A team that could control/set-up and deliver Cavendish to the line against one of the weakest sprinter era's in cycling history. Once Kittel and a few others arrived, Cav's win rate at GTs dropped substantially, except Le Tour 2016.
Just looking back through some Tours from the late 80s/early 90s, there was barely a field sprint in 89, 3 Bunch sprints 1990, in 91 some 4 stages were won by last KM attacks, which almost never happens nowadays and in 92, I don't think there was a full bunch sprint until stage 20. There may have been teams trying to control things until the final km, but clearly there were not that obsessed or efficient at it. Last decade, things are controlled almost to the line so precise have the teams become at dominating stages. There were stages this year, when the last lead out was still there with 200m to go.
Also, there was a different mentality back then regards the importance of the Tour from Italian teams, Ariostea were pre-selected in 89 and gave up their place and Cipo's Del Tongo team were invited in 90/91, but both years turned down the invite. Imagine nowadays, a team turning down Tour invites
Back then, the Giro was of far more importance than the Tour for most Italian teams.
Cipo made his debut in 92 at age 25, which as I mentioned didn't have a field sprint until the final week, by which time Il magnifico had long departed due to lack of opportunities. 93 he won his first stage, but had some top opposition in Abdu, Wilfried Nelissen(what a lost talent), Olaf Ludwig and pre-transformation Laurent Jalabert. He missed 94 completely due to being taken out by his own team-mate Baffi at the Vuelta. I guess you could say 95-99 were Cipo's peak years at Le Tour and he won 14 times despite rivals like Zabel, Steels, Blijlevens and he was 32 by the Tour in 99. Amazingly didn't get to appear after that, but that is the real black mark against Cipo, he never tried to finish Le Tour and was punished for it.
Seeing Cipo, Abdu, Van Poppel, Vanderarden, Steels, McEwen, Petacchi, Kittel and Cav plus more going against each other in peak form minus sprint trains would have been something to behold.
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