Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

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luckyboy

luckyboy

May 26, 2009
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Too many pure flat stages like this for a sprinter like Sagan to get green I think. And then the harder stages like 7 and 14 will be for the break unless Sagan can get in the move.
It always looked like a Tour for a 'pure' flat sprinter to win green.
 
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perico

perico

Mar 11, 2009
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I think peak Cipollini was as good as peak Cavendish, but it’s the longevity against 3-4 generations of opponents that makes Cavendish the greatest in my eyes. Plus it’s on the biggest stage that he is now at 32 wins. Cipo’s Giro record is untouchable, and he was unbeatable in 1999. You could make the case that his successes away from the TDF give him the advantage, but on the biggest Cavendish kept up. Had he not gotten sick he would likely have past Merckx a while ago. The reason there is still debate is because he missed the last few seasons. Had he been healthy, any debate would be futile.
 
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S

Salvarani

Oct 15, 2017
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DanielSong39 said:
Cippollini, Petacchi, Cavendish.

Pretty clear that these three are the best sprinters of their respective eras and all-time legends of the sport.

Guys like Sagan are different types of riders so it's an apples to oranges comparison.
Click to expand...

Mqewen had a pretty good run too. He dominated in the Tour for a few years.
 
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Leinster

Jun 10, 2017
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Waterloo Sunrise said:
Looking at the last few years, 2nd place has never got 300 points. So with Cav on 148 already after 2 stage wins from 6 stages, you'd say winning 2 of the remaining 4 chances and continuing to join in with intermediate sprints would put him on an unbeatable score. He's already 52 clear of Matthews and 76 clear of Sagan.

I count 5 chances maximum for them to try for intermediate points that Cav can't also contest, vs 4 more stages where Cav has a good chance to take 20-40 points on them. Biggest threat left looks like the timecut.
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Before the Tour, (actually, I think I said it in the Bennett thread when he was still supposed to start) I said 2nd place would likely get 300+ this year, just because there are more sprint stages than last year, so a lot more opportunities for a true sprinter to pick up points. Obviously, if Cav gets over the mountains in good shape and keeps mopping up the sprint stages, he won't be caught. With his big lead, he's now in the handy position where he can just sit in slipstreams for the intermediates, not really exert himself and just settle for 1-2 points less than the others, and save his big effort for the finale.

At this stage, Sagan doesn't appear to have got out of the blocks, and Bouhanni, Matthews, Philipsen and Colbrelli are the only others that appear to be taking the comp seriously.
 
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L

Leinster

Jun 10, 2017
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RedheadDane said:
I see one major hurdle when it comes to equaling Merckx' record:
He seems to be winning stages in location where he's already won stages before, and as far as I can conclude, the only remaining location is Paris.
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The guy had 30 stage wins, scattered around France, before the race. It would have been harder for ASO to design a route that didn't visit some of his previous victories.
 
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DanielSong39

Jul 15, 2016
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Cavendish is a marked man now and it'll be up to Alpecin-Fenix, Arkea-Samsic, Groupama-FDJ, and Team DSM to form an alliance of sorts so they can beat Cavendish.

Team DSM seems to have an excellent sprint train, it's a shame they don't have a better lead sprinter.

We'll probably see a breakaway or two and a few stages Cavendish just doesn't have the juice but I would not be surprised if he wins 4-5 stages now.
 
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Barnacle Bill

Barnacle Bill

Sep 22, 2020
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Thought his comments on the changes in sprinting over the years were quite interesting:
"The speed here is ridiculous. In 2008, a 52x11 gearing was standard. Now a 54 is standard, some go 55. The lead-out trains are a lot more efficient. The power these guys have… I'm 36 but I'm a massive fan of all these young guys, I wanted to race against them."

He had regrets, though, for one rider who was not there and who has racked up more than a few Grand Tour stage wins on his own account, Lotto Soudal's Caleb Ewan, who was among the green jersey favourites before crashing out of the race on stage 3.

"Honestly, I'm so sad for my friend Caleb," Cavendish said. "Honestly he's the one I see that can really play out a sprint, he's small and jumps from wheel to wheel. It would have been an honour just to sprint against him.

"We spoke the other day and I told him it's going to be hard, sit at home when the race is going on, but it makes it all the sweeter when you come back."
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www.cyclingnews.com

Cavendish says Châteauroux Tour de France win 'means as much as 13 years ago'

Manxman regrets the absence of Caleb Ewan after Australian crashed out on stage 3
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com
 
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M

Manx Felipe

Nov 23, 2020
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Taxus4a said:
Happy for him. One of the best sprinters of all time.

I show him last year out of the peloton in a second category climb at Vuelta a Burgos, I was on my bike opossite of the race thinking all the riders has passed..But suddendty Cavs was there, quite fat IMO for a cyclist. It was the first climb after the pandemia in pro world cycling. But things can change a lot in one year.
He is a nice guy. I was once at Vuelta a España finish party in Madrid. He was there. I though he was a rude boy according how he sprint, but he behave with everybody very polite and quite.
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We're all like that here on the z
Swingtop said:
I'm already done with Cavendish. He cut off both Alpecins in typical fashion. Moved 1.5 meters off his sprinting line, this should have been a DQ. But yeah, it's Cav. On Eurosport, nobody even noticed his blatant move.
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And you obviously didn't notice the blatant move of the Alpecin-Fenix lead out guy to try to block Cav as he went backwards into the peloton. That sort of thing should result in the whole team being relegated.
 
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Swingtop

Sep 9, 2009
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"And you obviously didn't notice the blatant move of the Alpecin-Fenix lead out guy to try to block Cav as he went backwards into the peloton. That sort of thing should result in the whole team being relegated. "

  1. Fallacy: 2 wrongs don't make one right.
  2. Where did this happen? I just rewatched it. Alpecin lead out guy is not blocking Cav at all. Cav is boxed in because his lead out guys were sorely beaten by the Alpecin train (Alpecin were stupid to move to the center of the road so Cav could join their train).
 
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Valv.Piti

Valv.Piti

Aug 3, 2015
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I cant really get excited for 2 reasons

  1. Its sprinting on a flat road after a flat stage
  2. The field is even more horrendous now than before the start after Ewan and Merlier apparantly leading out an inferior rider

Congrats, but really, I couldnt care less when all he does (at least at this stage of his career) is winning uneventful, boring, flat stages.
 
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M

Manx Felipe

Nov 23, 2020
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Swingtop said:
"And you obviously didn't notice the blatant move of the Alpecin-Fenix lead out guy to try to block Cav as he went backwards into the peloton. That sort of thing should result in the whole team being relegated. "

  1. Fallacy: 2 wrongs don't make one right.
  2. Where did this happen? I just rewatched it. Alpecin lead out guy is not blocking Cav at all. Cav is boxed in because his lead out guys were sorely beaten by the Alpecin train (Alpecin were stupid to move to the center of the road so Cav could join their train).
Click to expand...

Alpecin was stupid for doing that just like Cav was stupid for moving left leaving himself open to nitpickers, fact is he's the strongest sprinter in the race and if he hadn't moved left he still would have won.
 
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D

DanielSong39

Jul 15, 2016
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I mean, it was a normal sprint.
It wasn't 100% clean but few sprints are, unless Cav wins by 20m.
No one lost their placing and it was probably the correct decision.
If Bouhanni edged out Cavendish I would've felt the same way.
 
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Taxus4a

Taxus4a

Aug 12, 2012
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Valv.Piti said:
I cant really get excited for 2 reasons

  1. Its sprinting on a flat road after a flat stage
  2. The field is even more horrendous now than before the start after Ewan and Merlier apparantly leading out an inferior rider
Congrats, but really, I couldnt care less when all he does (at least at this stage of his career) is winning uneventful, boring, flat stages.
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You can see things as you want, but life and sport depends always of circunstances, and he has won 2 stages of the most relevant race in the word for an sprinter. He is made to win flat stages on flat roads.. for other circunstances you have Sagan, Van der Poel, etc...

You can add his team did a great job, and the stages were short, but he has won 2 stages in le Tour, and was almost done...as some people say about Froome.
 
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