Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

[SHAD0W93]

With this number of flat stages remaining and a sprint field that at this point would be considered poor at the Vuelta a Burgos, Cav is going to wrap up the stage record before they even get to Paris. He’s going to win six stages.

I think the break will take two of those.

Yeah I think the break has the best chance for the next two upcoming flat stages BUT Quickstep will be very hungry to get the wins. They also need to start marking the breaks to take points from Sonny and Matthews.

He was like 1:30 inside the time cut today. That is quite a struggle. Maybe if there was another hard mountain stage tomorrow it would be over.

Got through though, and looks like he should make it to the end now unless Andorra or Portet are crazy attacks from first mountain in bad weather or something..

They potentially could have been closer. Once knowing they’re within the limit there shouldn’t be any reason to work harder than they need too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried getting in more breakaways with help to be further ahead of the time limit.



Think without the bike damage on stage 3 he could have potentially won 8(!) stages, something no one would have even put close to for him.

 

[oldcrank]

What a great story it would be if our Cav becomes the most prolific stage winner in cycling's biggest and most important race. It is always good for a sport to have current stars setting new records. What an inspiration he is for both young and old.

 

[TMP402]

Another strength for Cavendish is that Ala is way out of the GC battle and has his stage win already, so no hybrid team-within-a-team deal.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Another strength for Cavendish is that Ala is way out of the GC battle and has his stage win already, so no hybrid team-within-a-team deal.

Not going to lie, looking at the stage results I thought the whole team bar Cattaneo was helping him and the others went ahead to be within the limit. Alaphillipe would be to mark Colbrelli on these hilly and mountain stage now when he isn’t able to win to take points from him.

 

[spalco]

He's going to *** do it. He'll really *** do it. Crazy!

 

[jarvo]

got to get over Ventoux twice tomorrow first

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

We want 6! We want 6!

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

We want 6! We want 6!

Which stage do you want him to lose?

 

[SHAD0W93]

About time he stops bullying AF and using their leadout. Textbook and didn’t have to expand any energy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole team bar Cattaneo ride with him to make the time limit. The first descent will be a mad one. He could try being in the breakaway to have more of a buffer.

We want 6! We want 6!

7!!! Could have been 8 if all went and goes right which would have been something. Tying the record of stage wins in a single Tour while beating the record.

Ewan, Groenewegen, Viviani (QS edition) and Van Aert were destroyed by Cavendish?

All of the above now.

 

[Pinot's goat]

I think only Pogacar has more wins this season than him now.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

I think only Pogacar has more wins this season than him now.

Yeah

9 - Pogacar
8 - Cav,endish, Demare*
7 - MvdP, Merlier, Sam Bennett

* no World Tour wins!

 

[jmdirt]

Congrats old man!

 

[Cookster15]

I think its fantastic. I remember reading all the articles about him in recent years and thought, he's embarrassing himself its obvious he can't get back to his old level. How wrong we were. And he seems to be climbing better so stages that were off limits are now realistic objectives. But I won't be satisfied until he wins on the Champs-Élysées just prior to collecting his Green jersey. Amazing.

 

[Red Rick]

By the way. I saw a video of his wife reacting after he won that first stage in Turkey, but nothing like that after his first Tour stage win?

 

[SHAD0W93]

By the way. I saw a video of his wife reacting after he won that first stage in Turkey, but nothing like that after his first Tour stage win?

I’m sure after the race is over something will come out. I’m sure the whole family went ballistic especially his daughter as she got another lion.

 

[jmdirt]

I think its fantastic. I remember reading all the articles about him in recent years and thought, he's embarrassing himself its obvious he can't get back to his old level. How wrong we were. And he seems to be climbing better so stages that were off limits are now realistic objectives. But I won't be satisfied until he wins on the Champs-Élysées just prior to collecting his Green jersey. Amazing.

What's this 'we' crap?!

 

[Red Rick]

What's this 'we' crap?!

I know right

Pretty big contrast with Cav who has one stage podium in the last 2 years at the much coveted Tour of Turkey.

It's great if he still loves racing. But if he's performing like this and still wants to continue it screams desperation to me. Add that he has a family and it just gets a little sad to me.

 

[SHAD0W93]

I know right

I’m happy he didn’t listen to anyone.

I think there's a couple reasons besides age because he has shown in his Instagram this year he was still motivated to train.

1. Having mono severally hampered his racing shape.
2. The crashes on top of the mono caused him to suffer more.
3. His severe lack of racing days since 2017 from the above points. We can talk all we want about everyone losing racing days but his is substantial.
4. Maybe mentally he's worried because he does have the family and he doesn't want to crash and injure himself with his poor form.
5. Maybe he is worried if he actually sprinted the results he would get. He talked about his depression and that he wants to prove everyone that doubted him wrong and that he can still compete. But deep down he has to know the last 3 years has not been in his favor. Maybe he has not come to terms with the position he is in as a rider now. Maybe he doesn't want to see that his shape right now isn't the Mark Cavendish of old. And maybe, he's afraid of what he actually is now and doesn't want to show it by actually sprinting so he can hold out hope that he can return to his old self.

It makes me sad, each day he races I look at procycling to see his result, each day hoping he performed better. I hope he can win again but realistically it will be very hard. No one else has brought the joy that he did when he won 4 stages in 2016 or his lone win in 2015. I was always rooting for him since 2009 and still will. But maybe it is time for Mark and I to let go of the Manx Missile and he retire so he can spend more time with his family.

 

[RedheadDane]

I’m sure after the race is over something will come out. I’m sure the whole family went ballistic especially his daughter as she got another lion.

Why is it only his daughter who gets lions? (and how would she be getting a lion this time?)

Talking about the Cavendish kids:
Cavendish' youngest kid is called Casper.
Little Casper thinks it's very very funny there's another Kasper (spelled differently, but not like a kid that young is gonna know) riding the Tour.
Little Casper wants to say goodnight to Big Kasper every evening.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Why is it only his daughter who gets lions? (and how would she be getting a lion this time?)

Talking about the Cavendish kids:
Cavendish' youngest kid is called Casper.
Little Casper thinks it's very very funny there's another Kasper (spelled differently, but not like a kid that young is gonna know) riding the Tour.
Little Casper wants to say goodnight to Big Kasper every evening.

Do they not give the toy lion out for winning a Tour stage anymore?

I don’t remember where, maybe in his second book but he said Delilah views his success with him bringing back the lion from each Tour win. At the time he would give them to her.

 

[RedheadDane]

Do they not give the toy lion out for winning a Tour stage anymore?

I don’t remember where, maybe in his second book but he said Delilah views his success with him bringing back the lion from each Tour win. At the time he would give them to her.

I thought the lion was only for the yellow jersey.

 

[SHAD0W93]

I thought the lion was only for the yellow jersey.

You’re right, I’m thinking of the flowers not the lion. He always gave the flowers to his daughter.

But maybe, Alaphilipe gave him his lion…..

 

[PremierAndrew]

Today was sad to watch, but a lot of positives too. He wasn't afraid to fight for position against Bouhanni, he just lacked the power to keep the pace. But that's not a surprise, given that he needs racing to build form, he's said multiple times that he's not good at training on the home trainer.

He's so tactically savvy at this point of his career, and if he is motivated next season, he should be able to win some of those small shitty races that he'd avoid earlier in his career. I still think at top form, he could nab a stage here or there in some bigger races if the stars align, but he's gotta consider whether thats worthwhile for him over spending long lost time with the family.

Couple of races were all he needed!

 

[Amazinmets87]

Tomorrow is pivotal. If he's DQd he'll have to resume his pursuit of Merckx as a 37 year old in what we can only assume will be a significantly stronger sprint field.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

I thought the lion was only for the yellow jersey.

There is a grey wolf thing for the Green jersey, I think