Since when is it unusual for a rider to finish a Grand Tour?
Cav deserves no praise, it's only normal that he finishes a GT he starts in.
Cav deserves no praise, it's only normal that he finishes a GT he starts in.
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TechnicalDescent said:Evans is a GC rider.
Cav does deserve praise for battling throught the mountains and doing the horse work for the bottles. It's unusual. Don't hate.
El Pistolero said:Since when is it unusual for a rider to finish a Grand Tour?
Cav deserves no praise, it's only normal that he finishes a GT he starts in.
will10 said:Sprinters working for their GC guys on mountain stages in not unusual in the slightest.
I'm with Pisti. Cav is what he is - the fastest sprinter in the world. But trying to make him out to be anymore than that is wide of the mark.
richwagmn said:Wait, so Cav crashes heard early in the Giro and not only stays in the race but goes on to win stages (he could easily have gone home).
What's not to like about that?
I think he takes losing very personally and certainly felt he let his team down at the end. He probably felt he was about to phone in at that sprint I assume he was completely surprised.
Also, didn't he end up praising Guardini afterwards?
johnnycash said:Didn't Cav get beaten fair and square at the tour last year, the stage before he won and cried on the podium, Greipel i think it was?
richwagmn said:Wait, so Cav crashes heard early in the Giro and not only stays in the race but goes on to win stages (he could easily have gone home).
What's not to like about that?
I think he takes losing very personally and certainly felt he let his team down at the end. He probably felt he was about to phone in at that sprint I assume he was completely surprised.
Also, didn't he end up praising Guardini afterwards?
zigmeister said:You just made an argument for exactly the opposite position many are taking about Cav.
Yes, you can't win them all. Hey, sometimes you crash, but you don't make excuses, nobody likes somebody who always has an excuse. Cav is always full of them.
His gesture at the end was a display of poor sportsmanship. He got smoked, fair and square, deal with it like a big-boy Cav.
Ride and compete another day and prove you are the best.
TechnicalDescent said:No it's not normal for the Giro. The majority of the sprinters have gone home. This happens most years. Cav is known to struggle terribly but he just wants to do justice to the rainbows. Good on him.
richwagmn said:Prove he is the best? Seriously? Who's better? Or more importantly, who's ever been better? Cav is the best road sprinter of all time. Easily.
Sounds like he was blaming himself for not starting earlier. How's that making an excuse? An excuse would be his lead out failed him, he was suffering from his crash.
rhubroma said:I have never witnessed a multi-victorious sprinter yell at the guy who beat him, simply because he beat him. Fantastic!
will10 said:The whole point is he was not the "team's main guy" that day, he was riding for Uran and Henao (or as much as he can on a stage like that). How is it so unusual considering we saw Petacchi doing it for Scarponi in this very race 12 months ago? Also in the points jersey IIRC, not that that matters on a mountain stage one iota.
TechnicalDescent said:He is clearly the main man for Sky this tour.
burning said:What???????????????????????????????
TechnicalDescent said:You don't think Cav is the most important rider there for sky? Obviously not for GC, but he's more important to the team than Rigoberto Uran Uran. He's won them three stages and is holding the points jersey.
richwagmn said:Prove he is the best? Seriously? Who's better? Or more importantly, who's ever been better? Cav is the best road sprinter of all time. Easily.
Sounds like he was blaming himself for not starting earlier. How's that making an excuse? An excuse would be his lead out failed him, he was suffering from his crash.
burning said:There is some skinny guy who has weird hair and wears jersey with colours of Britain, I guess he will be the most important guy in the tour??
Edit: Ooops, If you mean Giro, you are probably right though
TechnicalDescent said:He is clearly the main man for Sky this tour. He is holding the points jersey. He is also the world champion. He has an important sprint the next day. I think it was unusual. He has done this on many occasions during the tour and is great to see. It shows you that he's not the arrogant selfish guy some make him out to be.
will10 said:So you decided to ignore my (and others') post and just rewrite what you'd already posted?
Again, it is not an unusual practice for sprinters to help out their respective GC guys on mountain stages. The fact that he has the points jersey is moot - see Petacchi last year doing masses of tempo riding in that very jersey for Scarponi. Your world champion point is also moot - he is far from the only world champion to ride in aid of others wearing that jersey.
Fetching bottles every now and then does not excuse his arrogant attitude the rest of the time.
TechnicalDescent said:I was not persuaded by your contribution. I remain with Kelly on this one. Taking everything into context and the place Cav has, it was unusual and above the call of duty. Next time he should send someone else back and focus on saving energy for the big sprints. It's not as though he's a big guy either - a few water bottles are double his body weight!
Libertine Seguros said:I've seen Ballan and Bettini (!!!) fetch drinks in the rainbow stripes.
I've seen Petacchi, Hondo, Greipel, Roelandts and Bennati ride on the front, some of them even on mountains, for their team leader.
It's good that Cavendish is doing these things, but let's not make out like it's something special or unique that deserves unequivocal praise for going above and beyond the call of duty. The fact remains, things like that are part of his duty as a cyclist; team orders are usually in his favour, so he's not likely to complain so much on a rare occasion when he's asked to do some of the botillero duty.
Has Kelly seen UFOs too? You crack me up.TechnicalDescent said:A lot of people claim to have 'seen' things, I have my doubts. I trust Kelly's judgment over the hearsay of comrades here.