Or maybe just maybe they follow Cav in the wheels when Cav originally kicked he blew them away only Morkov he dint make look silly. Cav behind say Phillipsen would have no doubt blew him away. Or when Merlier the supposed fastest guy here who gave Phillipsen a great leadout and Cav was surfing wheel guess who won?. No one as the strikerate when Cav is good no sprinter Cav in 2016 was unreal aswell and yet no one as been doing it since.
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TdF sprint stages and field is awful this year. No suspens. Nothing interesting, no tactics. Sprints are being dominated by PCT sprinters like it's Tour of Turkey.
Forgot to mention that the only World Class sprinter in this field somehow did leadouts instead of sprints in 2 of the 3 stages.
Forgot to mention that the only World Class sprinter in this field somehow did leadouts instead of sprints in 2 of the 3 stages.
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Yes I am! That a One Trick Pony like Cav may surpass a guy like Merckx who won his stages on the highest mountains, the middle mountains, the TTs AND the sprints upsets me.
Bennett has done exactly one Tour in the past five years thanks to Bora being Bora and his injury this year, in a year with a grand total of six real bunch sprints, while winning the green jersey in the process. Not really the fairest comparison.
WVA wouldn't get close to his Tour self last year in a sprint. He was out for ages and his training suffered. Just cos he's got the same name, doesn't mean he's the same rider. He's not even close to the form he showed last year.
Cav in Turkey proved he was back you beat who is infront of you he then beat Ewan in a sprint in Belguim. It does not matter the standard when Cav is winning sprints you know he will be good vs any sprinter. Not like he was beating Nizzolo and Bauhaus guys the last few years was it? He could barely get top 10's vs them sort of guys. He obviously got on a great level since April. Also Ewan has been around for years you guys act like he is prime Cav. Never dominated the sprints interms of wins like Cav did or Cav is doing now. What about Demare? Isit Cav's fault he missed the timelimit something Cavs haters were guaranteeing he would.
Some guy called Sasha Weemaes beat Ewan in the sprint Cav beat Ewan in at Belgium. Clearly that means he's also better than Ewan with that logic.
It's not the same. Everyone knows Merckx's wins were more valuable. I think Cav now getting close even highlights that, showing how much more difficult it must have been for an allrounder to get to that insane number of stage wins - and in less time too. Eddy Merckx only even started in the Tour 7 times! He won almost
I really like Cavendish, but clearly, nothing he can do could ever come close to this. It would be ridiculous for Merckx or any of his fans to be jealous at Cav for taking that record imo.
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Worth pointing out Bennett rode his only other Tour with a broken finger after a crash on stage 1.
Bennett and Ewan split 5 stages between them last year, and they’re both missing this year.
Cav is still beating what’s in front of him. I looked back through his 2nd, 3rd, 4th placing a on Tour stages the other day; if he finished on st as the winner, the names ahead of him were almost all some combination of Kittel, Greipel, Sagan. That’s the quality of sprinter it takes to beat him, and none of those are at the best here.
Bennett was also thought of the 3rd best sprinter on Bora before Quickstep.
The driving factor was marketability, and in any case Bennett has proven them wrong in the past 18 months. And Bora know this too, with them not taking Ackermann to the Tour, letting go of Sagan after this year and showing an interest in resigning Bennett himself.
Not even Bora thought that. They had quite good reasons other than sprint ability to choose Sagan over Ackermann and Ackermann over Bennett.
In that year Bennett won 13 sprints, 10 in the WT. Sagan won 1 sprint. Nobody seriously thought that Sagan was a better bunch sprinter. That’s not why Bora, quite rightly, took him to the Tour.
As for the original point about whether Cavendish has better finishing instincts than Bennett, of course he does. Cavendish has better finishing instincts than anyone, ever, and even when he’s 100 years old and only riding a mobility scooter he will still have better finishing instincts than whoever is winning Tour sprints then. He’s the best there‘s ever been.
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If you really think about it, It would elevate Merckx's achievement. If Cav does beat or equal it, it would've taken a world champion & the best sprinter of his generation 14 years to beat his record. Its an incredible feat and we really shouldn't begrudge Cav for beating it if he does so - he's certainly put in a lot of work to make it happen
If all other sprinters either have hurt themselves at home, crashed themselves out, is in bad shape, too old or on teams with bad tactics, that is not Cavendish's fault and doesn't take anything away from his wins (imho).
Records are made to be broken, and I would be surprised if Merckx has any bad words in case his record gets equalled or broken - especially if Cavendish makes it to Paris.
Records are made to be broken, and I would be surprised if Merckx has any bad words in case his record gets equalled or broken - especially if Cavendish makes it to Paris.
Yes but Cav has done something no other sprinter has done at the Tour. 33 wins spread out over 14 years, no other sprinter comes close to that length of time in winning stages. When sprinters are usually on top for 2-5 years. It massively shows his longevity.
The uninitiated will only see who holds the record, not what is behind it. I'm not jealous at all I just think it's a travesty to the history of the sport.
I’m not talking about why they didn’t take him to the Tour, I’m talking about how he was rated as a sprinter. Yes, let’s talk up his 2019 season while talking bad on the opposition Cav has beat this year.
So what? It could be amusing to have a discussion with someone who claims Cavendish is the more successful athlete compared to Merckx based on that stat.
Tbh I think that racking up the wins back in the day was if anything easier for a really dominant rider like Merckx, because the sport was less specialized. Someone like him could expect to go into any stage and win it regardless of whether it was a TT, a bunch sprint, a mountain stage, or whatever.
Today even the greatest riders have relatively few opportunities. To win 34+ stages in the TdF in the 21st century you need to be a f*cking... missile. Possibly manx.
Of course other than that actually comparing their wins is impossible and frankly pointless.
Yes, but only because he was Eddy Merckx. In the 50-ish years before him and 20-ish years after him the situation was similar, and nobody did what he did.
Thanks for that. I'll enjoy those discussions!So what? It could be amusing to have a discussion with someone who claims Cavendish is the more successful athlete compared to Merckx based on that stat.
“Member when Merckx dominated the Tour on all stages? Remember when Merckx won 5 Tour de Frances? Remember when Merckx won all the jerseys and even in the same year? Carols remembers.”Thanks for that. I'll enjoy those discussions!
Obviously he was ridiculously OP, I'm not claiming Cav is a better cyclist than Merckx. But their wins are insanely impressive for different reasons.
Again, it doesn't matter how crazy strong a rider is today, it would be physically impossible for him to be able to do what Merckx did because the sport has changed too much.
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Do we know what happened to the "I wouldn't ride the Tour on this salary" contract? Was it upgraded?
That really was like PCM sprinting: Cavendish didn't see a backside without a Lidl sticker on it for about 4km.
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