The New World Champion! Appreciation

[Ragerod]

I can only respond to the Englishman's comments on pulling out of the Giro.

And I did stated that I didn't approve of Cipollini becoming World Champion. Perhaps we don't have the same concept of just what that exactly means?

Would you have preferred that he did the first of the really hard mountain stages, finished outside the time limit, and then gone home?

Everyone knew all the sprinters would pull out after the second week, it's unfair to blame the riders that did so.

 

[Boeing]

It's hard to tell if he is British since he had new teeth implanted

 

[The Hitch]

That's true. I'm indifferent to most cyclists.

I like Gilbert, Contador, Cancellara, Offredo, Vansummeren(because he's always willing to sacrifice him self for his leader), I kinda like the new Cadel Evans, Sagan, Greipel, Jens Voigt(same reason as Vansummeren), Giovanni Visconti, Michele Scarponi, Leukemans, Sylvain Chavanel, Vinokourov, Pablo Lastras, Wout Poels, etc

Of course all of them use some races for training, but most of the time they're trying their best in most races they enter.

And yet you hate the ultimate- race every race to win, rider. Piti.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

Oh, so Greipel is fair game but Cavendish isn't? You should let us all know how the game is played up front, then we can all more ably follow your lead.

what a strange interpretation of my post.

i take it back. angliru is a greipel fan. i guess bronze by a nose is not bad. especially considering how big cance's nose is.

i rename him the bronze-noser.

perhaps, i may have been having a little laugh. try not to be so serious.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

I'm afraid only the English don't consider them self to be European.

The Vietnamese too if i recall...

 

[El Pistolero]

And yet you hate the ultimate- race every race to win, rider. Piti.

I don't hate Valverde?

I'm just never going to cheer for him in a race as I'm a bigger fan of Contador and Phil Gilbert. Thus for one day races I root for Phil and for GTs I root for Contador.

 

[The Hitch]

I don't hate Valverde?

I'm just never going to cheer for him in a race as I'm a bigger fan of Contador and Phil Gilbert. Thus for one day races I root for Phil and for GTs I root for Contador.

havent al and al only met once in a gt?

 

[Duartista]

havent al and al only met once in a gt?

Twice at least - 07 Tour and 08 Vuelta

 

[Midnightfright]

According to Teamskyfans the last stage of the Tour this year was not really a sprinter stage

well there is that 10 meter cobbled section.

 

[El Pistolero]

havent al and al only met once in a gt?

If Contador is not in a GT then I'm too busy complaining how boring the race is Hitch

 

[rhubroma]

The truth is that with a course like that the end result was forecast.

The arguments over Copenhagen (which held its fourth Worlds event: a record) aren't a novelty. In 1949 Rik Van Steenbergen won, while Fausto Coppi, after attacks from the start to the finish, wound up third. Gianni Brera in Gazzetta dello Sport at the time wrote a piece called "Le aquile non scendono nelle aie: Fautso per 290 chilometre e Rik per 200 metri" ("Eagles never land in chicken coops: Fausto for 290 kilometers and Rik for 200 meters")

That time at least there was everyone at the start, from Coppi to Kubler, from Magni to Robic. Yesterday, instead, Contador, Evans and a host of other protagonists of world cycling watched the race on TV. Well they could have just as well turned the channel on for the last ten minutes of the race. The Rainbow Jersey merits a less banal course.

 

[Angliru]

what a strange interpretation of my post.

i take it back. angliru is a greipel fan. i guess bronze by a nose is not bad. especially considering how big cance's nose is.

i rename him the bronze-noser.

perhaps, i may have been having a little laugh. try not to be so serious.

I was poking fun at you and neglected to put in the requisite emoticon(s).
I do need to not be so serious on this forum though. I will try harder.

 

[Echoes]

The truth is that with a course like that the end result was forecast.

The arguments over Copenhagen (which held its fourth Worlds event: a record) aren't a novelty. In 1949 Rik Van Steenbergen won, while Fausto Coppi, after attacks from the start to the finish, wound up third. Gianni Brera in Gazzetta dello Sport at the time wrote a piece called "Le aquile non scendono nelle aie: Fautso per 290 chilometre e Rik per 200 metri" ("Eagles never land in chicken coops: Fausto for 290 kilometers and Rik for 200 meters")

[...]Well they could have just as well turned the channel on for the last ten minutes of the race. The Rainbow Jersey merits a less banal course.

Please tell the whole story.

For 290km, they were with the FOUR of 'em: Coppi, Kübler, Schulte and Van Steenbergen, the others were beaten, earlier on. Not a bunch of eighty, like yesterday. Schulte even had to drop out by the end. I can't figure out that Rik I never did his share of the workload when they were four. Cav never did.

Okay some are gonna tell me that it was another era. But you made the comparison, not me.

 

[SirLes]

Is cycling the only sport where people complain when the fastest person wins the race?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Is cycling the only sport where people complain when the fastest person wins the race?

I think plenty of F1 fans complained at Schumacher winning nearly every race for five years.

The problem was not that Cavendish won. It was that the parcours meant the race was boring. Cavendish was not the problem. The course was.

 

[El Pistolero]

Is cycling the only sport where people complain when the fastest person wins the race?

With Usain Bolt it lasts 9.5 seconds. With Cavendish it lasts 6 hours.

 

[Mambo95]

Is cycling the only sport where people complain when the fastest person wins the race?

It's also seems to be the only one where you're expected to be good at 'everything', to be seen as a top class rider.

Lionel Messi? - can't defend
Dan Carter? - let's see him at tight head prop
Peyton Manning? - can't kick, can't defend
Brian Lara? - not much of a bowler
Teun de Nooijer? - let's have a look at you in goal
Usain Bolt? - Oi! Loser! Do the javelin or get lost!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's also seems to be the only one where you're expected to be good at 'everything', to be seen as a top class rider.

Lionel Messi? - can't defend
Dan Carter? - let's see him at tight head prop
Peyton Manning? - can't kick, can't defend
Brian Lara? - not much of a bowler
Teun de Nooijer? - let's have a look at you in goal
Usain Bolt? - Oi! Loser! Do the javelin or get lost!

Nah, Cavendish is a top class rider. Anybody who says he isn't is wrong, simple as that.

I don't think that the Worlds should always preclude the possibility of Cavendish winning, but I do think they should be harder than they were this year. An in form Cavendish could have won last year's Worlds. And you could make a Worlds that was easier than last year's without entirely preventing people from attacking (for example, there were two short climbs on last year's circuit. If there were just the last one, then it would have been fine as it was steep enough to let people try to force a selection, but still far enough away to give the sprinters the upper hand). But if the sprinters weren't in form or the right break got away and all worked together, they might have been able to stick it.

This year, there was no potential platform for attacks. Nothing. The only hope for anybody not a pure bunch sprinter was if the slightly uphill sprint was tough enough to take a bit out of the elite sprinters' kick.

It wasn't. And so we got a Worlds that was essentially the same as any GT flat stage, didn't feel like anything special and certainly not anything exciting.

Given the parcours they were given, Cavendish was clearly the best rider and deserved his win. The rainbow jersey going to Cavendish is not what's galling. The Worlds going to Copenhagen (or at least to that particular course) is what's galling, because it produced a terrible, predictable race and did not have any of the suspense, excitement or sense of occasion befitting of a World Championship.

 

[pmcg76]

It's also seems to be the only one where you're expected to be good at 'everything', to be seen as a top class rider.

Lionel Messi? - can't defend
Dan Carter? - let's see him at tight head prop
Peyton Manning? - can't kick, can't defend
Brian Lara? - not much of a bowler
Teun de Nooijer? - let's have a look at you in goal
Usain Bolt? - Oi! Loser! Do the javelin or get lost!

Thats kinda pathetic really, comparing guys who play team sports where individual positions are key. you seem to miss the point that those guys are crucial to their teams success whilst with Cavendish, the team is crucial to his success. They are in fact opposites. As for the Usain Bolt comparison, your having a laugh.

As I said before, all the Brits would be doing just as much complaining if Cavendish didnt exist. Hell, they did when Cipo won in 02.

 

[SirLes]

Don't worry I understand why people thought it boring. If I wasn't rooting for someone I would have felt the same.

However the thing with sprints is that you don't know who is going to win until right at the end so the tension builds. There were still contenders from several countries all the way to the last few hundred meters. As a fan I was living every moment, wondering if the group would be caught, would their be a counter attack, would other countries' trains blow GB out the way.

It was far from being a foregone conclusion and as all those who failed to win give their reasons for not succeeding it just highlights the extraordinary ability of Cav to do the business when it matters.

I thought he'd blown it but he found a way to win: sign of a true Champion.

Personally I think there should be variation in the WC course each year including a mountaintop finish from time to time. We know there are different sorts of cyclists who favour different terrains. Over the course of a 4 or 5 year cycle those types should be catered for.

 

[pmcg76]

Don't worry I understand why people thought it boring. If I wasn't rooting for someone I would have felt the same.

However the thing with sprints is that you don't know who is going to win until right at the end so the tension builds. There were still contenders from several countries all the way to the last few hundred meters. As a fan I was living every moment, wondering if the group would be caught, would their be a counter attack, would other countries' trains blow GB out the way.

It was far from being a foregone conclusion and as all those who failed to win give their reasons for not succeeding it just highlights the extraordinary ability of Cav to do the business when it matters.

I thought he'd blown it but he found a way to win: sign of a true Champion.

Personally I think there should be variation in the WC course each year including a mountaintop finish from time to time. We know there are different sorts of cyclists who favour different terrains. Over the course of a 4 or 5 year cycle those types should be catered for.

Oh come on, any sprint with Cavendish in it at present is likely to end in a Cavendish victory at least 8-9 times out of 10. Its hardly exciting unless you are cheering for him. I would already put Cavendish as the greatest sprinter of all time so its not amazing.

 

[Mambo95]

Thats kinda pathetic really, comparing guys who play team sports where individual positions are key. you seem to miss the point that those guys are crucial to their teams success whilst with Cavendish, the team is crucial to his success.

And a modern cycling team is exactly that - a team (or a least a squad). Riders have specific 'positions', a role to play. Cavendish is a sprinter, he does sprints. HTC have plenty of other riders to do the other stuff.

The idea of an 'all-rounder' leading a team in many races is completely out-dated. It comes from the days when racing was more regional, with less money and a team could only afford one star, so he lead in the all the relevant races. Some of the teams from 'traditional' nations are still clinging to this star system (perhaps through lack of funds), but the progressive 'new world' ones have moved on and are leaving them behind.

 

[Winterfold]

I really do think I've read Libertine's and El P's arguments so many times I could type them verbatim.

However, once in a while, maybe a decade or so, it makes a change to have a sprinter's one day course - they are racers too, and like it or nor they are the guys with the most kmh. It is just as admirable quality as climbing or TTing or descending or puncheuring and so once in a while the worlds should reflect that.

To keep going on like this, is not going to make me think any less of cav/GB's win but it may make me think otherwise intelligent and reasonable posters are a bit of a stuck record.

And Wiggins and Froome's efforts were huge, particularly Brad - if anything they made the race boring by being so fecking epic!

Yay go GB I want Rod's babies etc etc

Please just shut up.

 

[Echoes]

It's also seems to be the only one where you're expected to be good at 'everything', to be seen as a top class rider.

Sampras, Edberg, Stich, Becker, etc. were good at every shot and could play on every surface and that's why they were the best tennis players of their era.

Federer too, of course (but he plays on less polarized surfaces)

 

[usedtobefast]

Sneak preview of the Cav World Champion kit.

Bootsy!!!!!!