Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

[SHAD0W93]

If I put Aussie tinted specs on you could make a case that they might drop him out Thursday and Friday for the intermediates but it's a real long shot. Should all be fine.

The strength Matthews and Colbrelli are, riding anything is possible.

 

[Manx Felipe]

This morning the Isle of Man Government announced that a Mark Cavendish fan zone is being created in the Villa Marina gardens, in Douglas, in readiness for Sunday and they are inviting cyclists from all over the island to join a procession from the National Sports Centre, where Cav began racing when he was 8, from 3pm that day. It's going to be a truly special occasion.

 

[SHAD0W93]

By whose reckoning? If it were by general opinion he would have stopped 4 years ago.

The whole forum was saying he should retire at the end of last year and we all would have been wrong. The forum has given riders slack for injuries, sickness, depression, Covid calendar, or lack of racing kilometers resulting in poor performance and saying they will be back after better.

He went through Epstein-Barr 2017-2019, many crashes and injuries 2017-2018, depression, and Covid year. We gave many riders slack for performing bad in the Covid year (and that some over performed) and he was severely lacking in race kilometers before Covid started shutting everything down. His results slowly got worse from 2017 down to 2020 as he kept getting sick, crashing, injured, and lacking racing. 2020 was bad on all accounts and showed no promise compared to his 2017-2019 seasons. He lacked confidence, endurance, and stamina while performing like a worse Guardini. How much you put his terrible 2020 on lack of kilometers, depression, Covid season, and being washed up is your own prerogative. Just like how he got to his performance now is your own prerogative but we can all agree he has gotten stronger and more confident as the year went on.

2017-2019 the riders who finished ahead of him when he finished 4th or higher and a chance to win was:
2017 Kittel, Groenewegen, Ewan, Bennett, Viviani, Demare, and Greipel.
2018 Viviani, Groenewegen, Coquard, and Ewan.
2019 Jakobsen and Bennett.
The same riders people are mentioning aren't at the Tour now giving him an "easy cakewalk".

By the end of the Tour he will have the most second most racedays and KMs with still more of the season to go versus those before. We always talk each year about certain riders lacking the racing days to be competitive and how training kilometers is not equal to racing ones.

Season	Points	Racedays	KMs	Wins	Top-10s
2021	766	45	7315	9	17
2020	13	37	5753	0	0
2019	27	63	9650	0	6
2018	169	48	7134	1	9
2017	222	47	7515	1	12

 

[Red Rick]

To be honest, I don't think it was entirely unreasonable to think he was done for. Like the argument he had going for him would be he was literally too **** to put down to age related decline.

 

[SHAD0W93]

To be honest, I don't think it was entirely unreasonable to think he was done for. Like the argument he had going for him would be he was literally too **** to put down to age related decline.

Exactly, everyone had their own reasoning but everyone thought he was done. That maybe, maybe he could win something small but what’s the point, it wouldn’t add anything. He’s been written off, what 3 times? 2010, 2014-2015, and 2017-2020?

You can not like the person but you can appreciate and respect a comeback.

 

[mrgmyers]

Exactly, everyone had their own reasoning but everyone thought he was done. That maybe, maybe he could win something small but what’s the point, it wouldn’t add anything. He’s been written off, what 3 times? 2010, 2014-2015, and 2017-2020?

You can not like the person but you can appreciate and respect a comeback.

Everyone? A VERY big claim that!

 

[Leinster]

Everyone? A VERY big claim that!

The small number of people who thought he could get back to where he is now are so small as to be statistically insignificant. So yeah, effectively everyone.

Equalling Merckx on top of winning the green jersey on top of winning more than one stage on top of winning any stage on top of getting to ride the Tour on top of winning any race this year on top of getting to even ride this year is the chocolate syrup all over the big bowl of ice cream to go with the cherry on top of the icing on the cake when, at the start of the year, he would've settled for a sausage roll.

 

[SHAD0W93]

The small number of people who thought he could get back to where he is now are so small as to be statistically insignificant. So yeah, effectively everyone.

Equalling Merckx on top of winning the green jersey on top of winning more than one stage on top of winning any stage on top of getting to ride the Tour on top of winning any race this year on top of getting to even ride this year is the chocolate syrup all over the big bowl of ice cream to go with the cherry on top of the icing on the cake when, at the start of the year, he would've settled for a sausage roll.

This. He literally went from having zero luck to all of it.

 

[will-10]

I think even just being competitive at the Tour with a few top 5s would've been seen as a success. One stage win was already a fairytale. I wasn't sure even Ewan would win 4 + green

 

[will-10]

Everyone? A VERY big claim that!

It's not really. He had one offer.
Even the year before the Bahrain contract was a bit of a surprise

 

[SHAD0W93]

One more TTT to go!

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[Strawberry_Jams]

Pog to beat the stage record in 10 years?

 

[Red Rick]

One more TTT to go!

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He posted that during the stage?

 

[spalco]

Solid last place for Cavendish today at + 32' 06", 5 minutes to spare, easy peasy. Well done!

 

[Red Rick]

Tbh 38 minutes on a 3 and a half hour 2 climb stage is a bit lol

 

[spalco]

Tbh 38 minutes on a 3 and a half hour 2 climb stage is a bit lol

I can't disagree with that, haha

 

[SHAD0W93]

He posted that during the stage?

Don’t be silly…..
That was their recon of the full stage last night.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Noncommittal about going for the sprint tomorrow, but at least he'll be guaranteed a shot at Paris now having got through the mountains. Great effort by him and the whole team.

“We got to the Tourmalet, which is probably my worst climb in the Tour de France. I don’t know how many times we’ve done it, ten times maybe, but even before we got to it, I despise it. I was out the back but the lads were around me and they paced me up to the finish. I’m so grateful. I got a bit emotional there crossing the line, now it seems all the obstacles have gone and I can get to Paris."

Asked about the possibility of Friday's flat stage to Libourne ending in a sprint finish so he can beat Merckx's record, Cavendish said: "I don't know... If there is a sprint, we'll try for it but it's 205km and hard. I'd like my boys to be able to sit in the peloton, they deserve it."

Tour de France: Mark Cavendish survives Luz Ardiden with two chances to beat Merckx's record

British sprinter last at the line but inside the time cut on last mountain stage

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[SHAD0W93]

Noncommittal about going for the sprint tomorrow, but at least he'll be guaranteed a shot at Paris now having got through the mountains. Great effort by him and the whole team.

Tour de France: Mark Cavendish survives Luz Ardiden with two chances to beat Merckx's record

British sprinter last at the line but inside the time cut on last mountain stage

www.cyclingnews.com

I saw that but they'll probably see how they feel tomorrow. I'm sure the team will rather have 7 wins instead of 6.

 

[Rackham]

This morning the Isle of Man Government announced that a Mark Cavendish fan zone is being created in the Villa Marina gardens, in Douglas, in readiness for Sunday and they are inviting cyclists from all over the island to join a procession from the National Sports Centre, where Cav began racing when he was 8, from 3pm that day. It's going to be a truly special occasion.

For real? I hope for their sake this isn't tempting fate. And when I read the above comments about Cavendish being "noncommittal" about tomorrow's sprint... I also hope they don't have some sort of grand plan to win the record on the Sunday Champs Elysées stage.

Because this is sport & those sorts of dream scenarios can turn to sh*t real fast.

 

[Red Rick]

They just want some other team to help pulling the break back tomorrow lol.

 

[SHAD0W93]

They just want some other team to help pulling the break back tomorrow lol.

Ineos to help them out, for England and the Queen.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Ineos to help them out, for England and the Queen.

Ineos / Sky have been consistently awful for British cycling - derailed Cav's career putting him a distance 2nd to the Wiggins farce, then used Froome to shaft Yates at the Giro.

 

[BigCoward]

Ineos / Sky have been consistently awful for British cycling - derailed Cav's career putting him a distance 2nd to the Wiggins farce, then used Froome to shaft Yates at the Giro.

What you on about? They have created 4 british grand tour winners. And Cav still got 3 stages and got a lead out from the yellow Jersey on the final day in Paris. How did Froome shaft Yates? They were rivals. Xenophobic nonsense.

 

[Leinster]

Ineos / Sky have been consistently awful for British cycling - derailed Cav's career putting him a distance 2nd to the Wiggins farce, then used Froome to shaft Yates at the Giro.

Wow.