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Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 10: Albertville – Valence, 190.7 km

Page 12 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
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.

Yes, you are talking nonsense about how he was rated as a sprinter, I know.

Look, you don’t have to defend Cavendish’s record against someone like Bennett. Bennett’s been the probable best sprinter of about a two year period. Something similar could be said of Caleb Ewan just before that. Same will probably go in the future for, I don’t know, Groenewegen next maybe or Merlier or Ewan again or Jakobsen or someone else. We are talking about guys who prove themselves great sprinters. Top dog at one point in their careers. Palmares to envy. But footnotes in the history of the sport. Cavendish is different. He’s the best ever. He’s the standard by which others are measured.

You don’t have to talk up the competition in the Farrar period to justify Cav’s status. And you don’t need to talk up the competition in this race either. His record over his long career just doesn’t need that kind of assistance. It speaks for itself.
 
Yes, you are talking nonsense about how he was rated as a sprinter, I know.

Look, you don’t have to defend Cavendish’s record against someone like Bennett. Bennett’s been the probable best sprinter of about a two year period. Something similar could be said of Caleb Ewan just before that. Same will probably go in the future for, I don’t know, Groenewegen next maybe or Merlier or Ewan again or Jakobsen or someone else. We are talking about guys who prove themselves great sprinters. Top dog at one point in their careers. Palmares to envy. But footnotes in the history of the sport. Cavendish is different. He’s the best ever. He’s the standard by which others are measured.

You don’t have to talk up the competition in the Farrar period to justify Cav’s status. And you don’t need to talk up the competition in this race either. His record over his long career just doesn’t need that kind of assistance. It speaks for itself.
No, Bennett was not considered one of the best sprinters until Quickstep. Many thought Bora should have treated him better since he was winning but go back and see who he was beating. Bennett was the best sprinter for 2020, that’s it.
 
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.

Agreed. I never saw Merckx race live (obviously), but I'd guess in the 2010s maybe he would have been a Cancellara-ish rider or maybe MVDP or Van Aert; or Nibali with better TT and sprint.
 
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No, Bennett was not considered one of the best sprinters until Quickstep. Many thought Bora should have treated him better since he was winning but go back and see who he was beating. Bennett was the best sprinter for 2020, that’s it.

lol ok pal, not going to waste any more time on this. I’m enjoying Cav’s triumph and I don’t need to convince myself that Nacer and Jasper are stellar competition in order to do so.
 
I don't think there's much to argue about that he's the best sprinter in the history of the sport. Maybe he beat some mediocre competition over the years, but he also beat some very good competition too.


But right now it's obvious that any to sprinter will have a ton of wins behind this lead out. In this team, Bennett would have 3-4 wins. Merlier would have more than 1. Bouhanni and Philipsen would be winning.

Viviani went there for two years and his CQ Ranking looks like someone who discovered CERA for two years before getting caught lol.
 
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.

At the Tour sure, but Cipollini has the same longevity argument at the Giro. Couldn't climb worth a damn of course but at the race he and his team considered the biggest, he demolished people pretty regularly over as long a period.
 
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lol ok pal, not going to waste any more time on this. I’m enjoying Cav’s triumph and I don’t need to convince myself that Nacer and Jasper are stellar competition in order to do so.
I’m not trying to argue that Nacer and Jasper are stellar competition or that if every sprinter was here Cav would be at 3 wins like he is. I think everyone agrees Cav is beating up on the best of the rest now. Put any of the top rated sprinters behind Quickstep and they match or beat Cav’s win count. Heck they might not even need Quickstep to accomplish it.
 
At the Tour sure, but Cipollini has the same longevity argument at the Giro. Couldn't climb worth a damn of course but at the race he and his team considered the biggest, he demolished people pretty regularly over as long a period.

14 years for Cipollini if I'm counting correctly, that's impressive certainly.


Best stage result in the 1997 Vuelta: 184 lol, what happened?
 
I’m not trying to argue that Nacer and Jasper are stellar competition or that if every sprinter was here Cav would be at 3 wins like he is. I think everyone agrees Cav is beating up on the best of the rest now. Put any of the top rated sprinters behind Quickstep and they match or beat Cav’s win count. Heck they might not even need Quickstep to accomplish it.
Oddly, though, I think only Bennett and Ewen are better right now. Of course a great leadout is key but before the Tour I thought that Wout, Merlier, Demare and maybe Sagan and Colbrelli could beat Cav, even with his sprint train. He was dead in the water last year and he was ostensibly a weak second choice after the Bennett debacle...
 
No, Bennett was not considered one of the best sprinters until Quickstep. Many thought Bora should have treated him better since he was winning but go back and see who he was beating. Bennett was the best sprinter for 2020, that’s it.
I agree that he was only the best for definite in 2020. He may have also been the best in 2019 too but Bora rightly choose Sagan over him on past form and wrongly choose Ackermann due to nationality
 
I agree that he was only the best for definite in 2020. He may have also been the best in 2019 too but Bora rightly choose Sagan over him on past form and wrongly choose Ackermann due to nationality
I could absolutely have a different meaning of best. For his 2017-2019 seasons I would of had Kittel (2017 only), Ewan, Groenewegen, Gaviria, and Viviani above Bennett. I thought about him even with Ackermann and Jakobsen though a little slower. Better than Demare and the others.

Absolutely should have been treated better by Bora and now Quickstep this year.
 
Oddly, though, I think only Bennett and Ewen are better right now. Of course a great leadout is key but before the Tour I thought that Wout, Merlier, Demare and maybe Sagan and Colbrelli could beat Cav, even with his sprint train. He was dead in the water last year and he was ostensibly a weak second choice after the Bennett debacle...

Merlier is better than Cav imo. Sagan is past it as an out and out sprinter, Colbrelli and Matthews are hilly terrain sprinters rather than flat guys, as is WVA imo although his out and out speed is better. Demare and Ackermann on form are strong too but both have been well off their best, likewise Groenewegen. It's a pretty meh year sprint wise really. When Ewan and Bennett were there, they were beating people easily most of the time.

I think it'll continue too. Seems to me at least that race organisers and fans in general prefer the harder sprint finish stages as that brings the likes of Ala, VDP and WVA to your races and that's where the popularity is atm.
 
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Best comeback in history.

However today he didn't anything to remember. This was the best lead-out I saw since Columbia days and if the stage would've been 30m longer he would've lost it. He was spent.
He's gonna beat Merckx record and I think the best thing he can do is to retire immediately after even if this means losing some millions on the way. He's still good but if Ewan and Merlier were contesting sprints most probably he doesn't win any stage.
 
Best comeback in history.

However today he didn't anything to remember. This was the best lead-out I saw since Columbia days and if the stage would've been 30m longer he would've lost it. He was spent.
He's gonna beat Merckx record and I think the best thing he can do is to retire immediately after even if this means losing some millions on the way. He's still good but if Ewan and Merlier were contesting sprints most probably he doesn't win any stage.
Still waiting for these riders who would beat Cav every time to actually turn up at a Tour and win every sprint.

Cav's not at his peak and isn't going to destroy a top field, but the idea there is a tier of riders so far ahead he can't beat them even 1 in 4 looks dubious to me.
 
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Still waiting for these riders who would beat Cav every time to actually turn up at a Tour and win every sprint.

Cav's not at his peak and isn't going to destroy a top field, but the idea there is a tier of riders so far ahead he can't beat them even 1 in 4 looks dubious to me.

To me anyway, Ewan and Bennett are so far ahead if both were here (and let's pretend Bennett is back at Bora for this rather than Cav just not being selected), they've won every sprint stage by now.
 
I could absolutely have a different meaning of best. For his 2017-2019 seasons I would of had Kittel (2017 only), Ewan, Groenewegen, Gaviria, and Viviani above Bennett. I thought about him even with Ackermann and Jakobsen though a little slower. Better than Demare and the others.

Absolutely should have been treated better by Bora and now Quickstep this year.
Nobody would argue Bennett for 2017, but he was being beaten at the Giro by a Richeze/Gaviria double act that were the Morkov/Bennett of the time.

For the next 2 years, Bennett went toe-to-toe with Quickstep in sprints at a GT each year, and came out honours about-even, and went on a long run on never going to a stage race without taking a win. At the same time, the Quickstep sprinters who had beat him in the past, left Quickstep and saw their win-rate dry up. Anybody who wasn’t calling him best in the world at the time, even before he signed for Quickstep, had to at least acknowledge he was in the conversation.
 
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