Teams & Riders Mark Cavendish Discussion Thread

[Bernie's eyesore]

Yet they already have 40 wins this season.

Boonen aside, have they won a decent prize this year? Just a load of smaller races. Given how awful they have been in both the Giro and the Tour it seems obvious that Cav would have fit into the team perfectly.

 

[El Pistolero]

Boonen aside, have they won a decent prize this year? Just a load of smaller races. Given how awful they have been in both the Giro and the Tour it seems obvious that Cav would have fit into the team perfectly.

Why? Cav has done nothing of note this season. Quick-Step's season wouldn't have been better because of a single Tour stage

What has any other WT team won that's considered big if you take away their most successful cyclist lol?

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Why? Cav has done nothing of note this season. Quick-Step's season wouldn't have been better because of a single Tour stage

What has any other WT team won that's considered big if you take away their most successful cyclist lol?

Only four stage wins in Grand Tours which isn't too bad with no team behind him and with plenty of bad luck with crashes. Could easily be 7 or 8 with a whole team focused behind him, not bad for a team like OPQS who don't have any this year as far as I can remember. To suggest there is no room for him on the team is ludicrous.

 

[El Pistolero]

There is room, I'm just glad he declined.

I don't want to see talented riders like Stybar, Trentin, Kwiatkowski, Iljo Keisse, Stijn Vandenbergh, etc being wasted on riding in Cav's train. Cav consumes too much team-mates. QS wants a GT team for the future; they have no use for Cav anymore. He's too much of high maintenance. He blew his chances. He should go to a team like Lotto/GreenEdge, but there aren't any of those anymore.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I wouldn't read too much into Cavendish this year. He has said from day 1 with sky his target all year was to win a stage wearing the world champions jersey and hopefully a win in Paris on the final stage too. From there on it's all about winning gold in London which he called and i quote: 'A once in a generation achievement'. He has also said he would do anything to help Brad win yellow as Wiggo will then be helping Cav win gold a week later.

Next year it may be a little different and he will possibly have to change his style if he doesn't get the team around him but for this season i think he has performed as well as he would have wanted.

 

[El Pistolero]

That's just PR talk, Cav wanted to win 5 stages here. Who says he'll win the Olympics anyway? He can't climb and sprint.

 

[Pricey_sky]

That's just PR talk, Cav wanted to win 5 stages here. Who says he'll win the Olympics anyway? He can't climb and sprint.

I would happily put money on the fact that if you offered Cav 2 tour stage wins (1 in Paris), Wiggo winning the tour and Cav winning gold in London he would snap your hand off for that.

As i said his main goal this year if the olympics. Next year we will see how well he is doing with Sky. I reserve judgemnet until then.

 

[El Pistolero]

Doesn't work that way. Again, who says Cav will win the Olympics? He climbs and sprints worse than Greipel. He's going to need one hell of a training regiment to win the Olympics.

What if he loses in the Olympics? Then he has one Tour stage this season for someone who won at least 4 stages each Tour since 2008.

Who says Cav will win in Paris? Do you guys live in a fairy tale world where the narrator is Sky?

 

[Gloin22]

Doesn't work that way. Again, who says Cav will win the Olympics? He climbs and sprints worse than Greipel. He's going to need one hell of a training regiment to win the Olympics.

What if he loses in the Olympics? Then he has one Tour stage this season for someone who won at least 4 stages each Tour since 2008.

Who says Cav will win in Paris? Do you guys live in a fairy tale world where the narrator is Sky?

Disagreed on bolded. Their sprint is same, and Cav has better final kick on flat.

If he looses Olympics, this season will be disappointing indeed. However he had 3 Giro stages, possibly 2 Tour stages and his first ever GC. So overall not great, but could have been worse ( i.e Hushvod etc. )

I think Cav will pull it off in Paris tbh. We'll see but I wouldn't bet against him.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Doesn't work that way. Again, who says Cav will win the Olympics? He climbs and sprints worse than Greipel. He's going to need one hell of a training regiment to win the Olympics.

What if he loses in the Olympics? Then he has one Tour stage this season for someone who won at least 4 stages each Tour since 2008.

Who says Cav will win in Paris? Do you guys live in a fairy tale world where the narrator is Sky?

If he doesn't win in London then yes his season will not have gone to plan. However at this moment all is fine and I don't think he has given 100% on this Tour anyway to keep something in hand for London.
Also if what I have heard is correct Cav will have his favourite leadout man back for next years tour.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Doesn't work that way. Again, who says Cav will win the Olympics? He climbs and sprints worse than Greipel. He's going to need one hell of a training regiment to win the Olympics.

What if he loses in the Olympics? Then he has one Tour stage this season for someone who won at least 4 stages each Tour since 2008.

Who says Cav will win in Paris? Do you guys live in a fairy tale world where the narrator is Sky?

Why do you think he is necessarily going to end up with one Tour win this year? As for that list of riders you named, I had to laugh, as if any of those would have been in his leadout if he had signed for OPQS.

 

[spalco]

Big win for Cavendish today. Not winning the green jersey this year I'm sure is a disappointment for him even if he won't admit it in public, but if he wins in Paris, it's still a successful Tour for him - any other sprinter would be elated with 3 stage wins - if he doesn't it's mediocre at best.

His season still hinges on the Olympics though, hell of a lot of pressure...

 

[piemonster]

The boy was flying on his sprint today. Did anybody else sprint? Didn't look like it!

 

[Apollonius]

Big win for Cavendish today. Not winning the green jersey this year I'm sure is a disappointment for him even if he won't admit it in public, but if he wins in Paris, it's still a successful Tour for him - any other sprinter would be elated with 3 stage wins - if he doesn't it's mediocre at best.

His season still hinges on the Olympics though, hell of a lot of pressure...

He never set out to win green so I don't think he'll be very disappointed. I think he'll be hugely disappointed if he doesn't win a gold medal next week as that seems to be the whole basis of his training plan this year.

Before today's win I'd been hugely critical of his form but he seems to be riding in to it. I still think he's made a bad move going to Sky, I'm still at a loss to properly explain it.

 

[Panda Claws]

Cav's season has not been all that bad so far if he wins in Paris actually.

Then he would have

2012


3 stages Giro d'Italia (Almost the points jersey too)
3 stages Tour de France
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
1 stage Tirreno-Adriatico
Ster ZLM Toer
2 stages Tour of Qatar

Compare this to

2011

2 stages Giro d'Italia
5 stages Tour de France + Green Jersey
Scheldeprijs
1 stage Tour of Oman


2010

5 stages Tour de France
1 stage Tour de Romandie
1 stage Volta a Catalunya
1 stage Tour of California



Is 2012 really that much worse?

 

[Wiggins_Sideburn]

He is simply the best.

 

[Froome19]

2011

2 stages Giro d'Italia
5 stages Tour de France + Green Jersey
Scheldeprijs
1 stage Tour of Oman

Indeed a valid point.. but I think you are forgetting the World Championships in 2011.

 

[Panda Claws]

Indeed a valid point.. but I think you are forgetting the World Championships in 2011.

No. I did not count races past the Tour de France because that would make any comparison with 2012 void.

I just wanted to demonstrate that his season so far has been pretty average and that he does not that badly need a win at the Olympics like Gilbert does at the worlds for example.

 

[burning]

I will still rate his 2009 season as his best season even he wins Olympics, he horribly failed in MSR which is a big minus

 

[Apollonius]

I think he needs it for himself - winning gold has become a huge ambition for him especially after missing out last time, he's achieved so much but he hasn't achieved gold and I think that niggles at him on a personal level.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

The boy was flying on his sprint today. Did anybody else sprint? Didn't look like it!

Saw it. He makes the non sprinters look like tortoises. It looked like the other bunch sprinters got caught off guard not realizing the last of the break would be caught. It should have been a clue when Wiggins led out.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

His 2nd best sprint ever today? Certainly right up there with Bordeaux 2010, Champs Elysees 2010 and Cap Frehel 2011.

 

[will10]

Reminded me of San Remo 09. Immense.

 

[Nocontest]

Wow, just wow! That was one of the most impressive sprints I have seen in a long time. Cav is just a cut above the rest when it comes to a flat run to the line.the look on Luis Leon's face was priceless, especially when he pulled up and looked around, probably expecting to be swamped by the other sprinters but only saw daylight and then realised he had just thrown second place away.

I'm sure though that the naysayers will still have some reason to play it down...like the other sprinters were caught out, weren't ready, were still having lunch....

 

[Arnout]

His 2nd best sprint ever today? Certainly right up there with Bordeaux 2010, Champs Elysees 2010 and Cap Frehel 2011.

I'd say San Remo 2009 and this one are equally his best. Really impressive today.