Tour de France Tour de France Stage 6, Mâcon-Dijon, 162.5k

[pablohidalgo7]

I think this is correct about sprinters and is likely exascerbated by the fact that since the 90s, we have been accustomed to most Grand Tours (and sometimes entire seasons) being dominated by a single top sprinter. I was in some debate yesterday about Cavendish; I was arguing that while Cavendish hasn't been the dominant force he was in say 2009, he has been there to mix it up in some sprints over the past couple of years and has managed to win a few (and was usually placing near or just above Groenewegan in those sprints). His pulling of a stage win (and maybe more) wasn't particularly surprising to me, but some people perceive that Cavendish has done nothing over the past couple of years to suggest that he was still capable of winning a Tour stage. I think Gaviria belongs in this category too, and it wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world if he pulled off a win in this Tour.

Though many people would point to Phillipsen, I actually don't think that we have one sprinter right now who is truly head and shoulders over the rest. Phillipsen, 26, probably is the best of his generation, so I think a lot of people feel like he (or maybe Jakobsen, 27) *should* be dominating the sprints. Historically dominant dudes in their 30s (almost 40 for Cavendish) being competitive in sprints and pulling off wins feels wrong to people, even though those guys have been present at the pointy end of races all along.

Agree about Cavs too, it is like a vicious circle, he is not consistent but his top is quite high still. His victory in Hungary versus Dylan was top sprinting, but like people think Groenwegen is wasted for a couple a bad sprints before (after illness) they automatically think that this sprint was nothing, a weeks later we saw Dylan starting winning again and smashing Kooij in the nationals.

If you analyse the whole context, the logical conclusion for me was: Okay, Philipsen and Alpecin are the big favs but he is not that great this year and he can be beaten, and without Merlier or Milan a great candidate to to that speedwise is Groenewegen and maybe Cavendish if he can reproduce that sprint of Hungary.

I swear it's not an afterthought, I really believed this before the Tour.