Scheldeprijs, 204km, 1.HC 03/04/13

[gooner]

Kittel again.
Winning sprints is no longer a walk in the park for Cav.
Much more competition these days.

I think it was more his lack of a leadout and poor positioning as a direct consequence than anything to do with the increased competition. From the overhead shot it was clearly evident that Cav was eating up the ground all the time on Kittel but too much to do from his poor start up sprint position was his downfall.

 

[garyhoop1]

Video

Watch the final kilometers of Scheldeprijs - http://bit.ly/Z9azUy

 

[Cavendash]

Cav's problem by going to OPQS is the way they are spread across the globe just now, with so many splinters of divided focus, they just cannot perfect a lead out train. Will any of the guys there today be in the Tour? Tony Martin was on the front for them in Pais Vasco and will be part of the Tour train. Boonen injured, Chavanel with his own goals. Terpstra resting ahead of P-R. All Cav seems to care about is matching Merckx's record Tour stage win haul. That wasn't going to happen at Sky. Green jersey is probably beyond him with Sagan on top form as Cav doesn't place highly in anything other than sprint stages. IMO, Cav will be satisfied (if not happy) with getting through the Giro with stages in the bag - and with no Purito perhaps a chance at getting red - and look to getting the Tour team in place p.d.q. after that. Once they have all their rouleurs in one place, they'll probably be fine.

He's gone to OPQS because they have no GC focus for the tour. It will be all about him. He'll also have a great chance of wearing pink in the Giro after stage 1, and then TTT World Champs OPQS have the TTT to defend it a day later. That wouldn't have happened at Sky either.

They dont need to perfect it, just a half decent effort would do but they cant even get anywhere doing that!, its pathetic.

What he would give to have Renshaw around, still think he will win 4/5 stages in France though as you allude to.

 

[shalgo]

Watch the final kilometers of Scheldeprijs - http://bit.ly/Z9azUy

It's crazy how far back Cav was. When the overhead replay starts at 2:36, Kittel is fourth wheel and Cav is not even on the screen (even though 24 riders are visible).

 

[cycledp]

They dont need to perfect it, just a half decent effort would do but they cant even get anywhere doing that!, its pathetic.

What he would give to have Renshaw around, still think he will win 4/5 stages in France though as you allude to.

Don't think he will ever have the same success he had at HTC. Stapleton put everything into Cav and his train and still couldn't find a sponsor after HTC bailed from cycling. He will still win a few stages at the TDF, but he will not dominate like he did in the past. Times have changed.

 

[Samson777]

Don't think he will ever have the same success he had at HTC. Stapleton put everything into Cav and his train and still couldn't find a sponsor after HTC bailed from cycling. He will still win a few stages at the TDF, but he will not dominate like he did in the past. Times have changed.

Well, I would maybe agree with you. Last year SKY had the Team to support Cav as good as HTC did, but of course SKY had other priorities.

Quick step maybe don't have the Team to do the same, that would probably be fair to conclude by now. But I am not totally sure that Cav will not win 5 stages in the Tour de France. Maybe Boonen will be Cav's lead out in the tour?

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Martin - Chavanel - Terpstra - Boonen, also Steegmans, Fenn, Stybar
Of they're all up there, they wíll be up there

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Great race. This should be part of the World Tour.

 

[Swabian Lass]

Not really surprising that the OPQS train weren't functioning brilliantly, they're a bunch of guys coming to the end of a long, hard Classics campaign. Plus you have Vandenbergh who must fancy his chances on Sunday (a Boonenless Roubaix), and Maes and van Keirsbulck will have aspirations as well. Are they going to mix it at the finish of one of the most crash prone races in the calendar? Days before what could be one of the best chances of their cycling lives so far? The wonder is that they didn't find excuses to get off before the end.

Come the GTs OPQS will have no competing focus (except Tony Martin in the TTs and that won't impact the leadout). I suspect that their leadout train will be functioning and delivering Cavendish in his accustomed style and we can all go to sleep in flat stages and wake-up 10km from the end.......

 

[will10]

Cav just lacks a last man.

 

[Swabian Lass]

It will be interesting to see if OPQS make approaches to Renshaw at the end of the season. I think not. I'm not sure that either Cavendish or Renshaw would want to resurrect that relationship or if they could function as well a few years down the line. In their position I'd be inclined to look for somebody new, with no baggage who would be totally committed and with no personal ambitions (for the next few years anyway).

 

[SKSemtex]

OPQS lead out train for Cav and generally OPQS tactics sucks this spring but I am afraid it is going to be different story in summer. Much much bigger threat for Sagan´s green jersey this year.

His "solo" finish in de Panne was f..g impressive to me.

 

[Netserk]

Great race. This should be part of the World Tour.

It's too legendary to be World Tour _O_

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Great race. This should be part of the World Tour.

I agree, there is also a case for this race being on a sunday afternoon for maximum exposure. Either Flanders or Roubaix could swap places and take part on the wednesday instead.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

They should replace Eneco tour by a week long stage race where they just do Scheldeprijs every day.

 

[Netserk]

I think they should swap with Tour de France. Instead TdF will be a one day race, and Schelderprijs will be raced 21 days in a row in July _O_

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

I think they should swap with Tour de France. Instead TdF will be a one day race, and Schelderprijs will be raced 21 days in a row in July _O_

I agree, it would be a tragedy if we lost the Eneco Tour.

 

[Cavendash]

Mark Cavendish and his Omega Pharma-QuickStep sprint train misfired today in Belgium's Scheldeprijs one-day race. In fact, according to team boss Patrick Lefevere, it was an outright failure.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong today. They have fear to fail," an upset Lefevere said at the team bus in Schoten. "Everything that [Sports Director] Wilfried Peeters told them this morning, they did it the other way around. They don't have enough balls."

Cavendish won the Scheldeprijs three times before, including his 2007 break-through win. Though finishing second today, it was not enough.

Lefevere wants the most out of his costly contract with Cavendish. To get results, he feels Cavendish needs to do a better job and the others need to step up, or leave.

Disorganised
Omega Pharma's Iljo Keisse and Martin Velits led for the early moments of the race. Andy Fenn, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Stijn Vandenbergh and Gert Steegmans came to the fore later.

The team, however, failed to rally around the former World Champion and the rider regarded as cycling's best sprinter.

"Perhaps I have to find some new riders next year. It would've been different with a guy like [Tony] Martin or Michal [Kwiatkowski]; if they pull for a couple kilometres, then you get a totally different situation," Lefevere continued.

"A few guys need to realise that things have to change. If you are afraid, you shouldn't ride for Omega Pharma, but for Accent Jobs.

"[Keisse and Velits], I can't blame them, but the other guys... Look at Steegmans, he has the body to do the job. I'm not happy.

"Also, Mark could have told them at 17 kilometres to finish that it was too early to lead the peloton that was unnecessary."

'Left alone'
Cavendish is a true competitor and does not like losing. When he misses out, he is moody and hard to approach.

He tipped his hat to Marcel Kittel, but indicated things are not right in the Omega Pharma camp.

"I've got beaten by Marcel Kittel, he's one of the best guys," Cavendish said softly, seemingly not wanting to speak.

"The guys rode brilliant the whole day, and once again I was left alone in the final ... [I'm] disappointed."

Cold European spring
Since Cavendish's early wins in Argentina and Qatar this year, wins have not come easily. The cold European spring, it seems, has not allowed Omega's machinery to function properly.

Cavendish took the leader's jersey in Tirreno-Adriatico after the team won the time trial. The next day, however, the vibe changed.

"I'm quite disappointed in my lead-out to be fair. I know they can be better than that," Cavendish after a rain-soaked stage to Indicatore. "I feel we could've done better."

The next day, he lost to Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

In the Three Days of De Panne, he pulled off his first European win of 2013. Behind his celebrations, flaws existed. Cavendish shot ahead with his team-mate, but slowed and re-started his sprint.

Lefevere told Cycling Weekly at the time it was not a proper lead out, and what it did do was not perfect.

"It's not only been today, the lead out hasn't work this season," Lefevere continued outside the bus in Schoten. "For instance, when he won that stage in De Panne that was because it was a very tough sprint."

Lefevere must now re-tool Omega's machinery ahead of the Grand Tours. They have the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in sight, but with these misfires, wins will be hard to come by.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Yes good he's not blind to it. I could list some names to look hard at for him...

Lefevere indicated that he would make changes for Cavendish for the Grand Tours and for 2014. Riders with contracts up for renewal could be replaced by dedicated lead-out men. Others with an existing 2014 contract might be asked to leave regardless.

"The problem is that when Cavendish finally came to our team, I was already at my 30-rider limit and had no extra room to buy help. With more than 10 riders' contracts ending this year, I have options to look for a locomotive or locomotives," Lefevere continued.

"If you want to do your own thing then maybe you'd better ride for team Accent Jobs, where anyone and everyone is the leader. Maybe there are guys who are not happy because it's all about Cavendish, if so then they have to notify me. Even if they have a contract next year, I let them go.

"A team is like a business. I made a big investment hiring Mark Cavendish. I have to make this transfer pay off, and I will do that. We missed our first targets, Ghent-Wevelgem and Scheldeprijs. Anyway, he was pure class in Scheldeprijs to place second and he has already won seven times."