Vuelta a España - Stage 5 : Guadix - Lorca 198.8km

[Frosty]

Looking back at the video, Cav was behind someone from Astana who wasnt going that fast. He also wasnt in the main lead-out on their left hand side. As he had to get round the Astana guy i think he just took a chance and hoped that he could catch the others by surprise, the Astana guy would act as a barrier and he could get a gap. In the end Farrar was able to jump across and got Cav's wheel before coming out of the slipstream and coming past. Just the way sprints play out.

Fernandez got a bit lucky in that he was right behind Cav and so was able to react quickly and get nearly onto his wheel. Having said that, being on Cav's wheel seems like a good tactic so maybe it was well played to him rather than being lucky.

 

[Jamsque]

Looking back at the video, Cav was behind someone from Astana who wasnt going that fast. He also wasnt in the main lead-out on their left hand side. As he had to get round the Astana guy i think he just took a chance and hoped that he could catch the others by surprise, the Astana guy would act as a barrier and he could get a gap. In the end Farrar was able to jump across and got Cav's wheel before coming out of the slipstream and coming past. Just the way sprints play out.

Fernandez got a bit lucky in that he was right behind Cav and so was able to react quickly and get nearly onto his wheel. Having said that, being on Cav's wheel seems like a good tactic so maybe it was well played to him rather than being lucky.

I think this is an accurate assessment. Cav had to go early because he was boxed in and the race was getting away from him. His real mistake was not starting so early, but getting in to a position where had no choice but to start early.

He can win without a train, and has done so several times this season, but without a pilot-fish I think he is still not as adept at positioning himself in the final few KM as Farrar.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A lot of the time sprints are all about positioning (sometimes they aren't - Chicchi in Qatar and Haedo in the Dauphiné are two examples). Look at Milan-San Remo again; in the last 250m Sacha Modolo was the fastest person there. But it counted for little considering he started from about 15th place. Cavendish has shown he doesn't need a train to do it. But even in 2008, he had Gerald Ciolek to pull him into the right spot. Watching Hondo and Petacchi set up for a sprint is always impressive; they could be four men apart and on opposite sides of the road, but at the key moment they'll find each other and be in the right spot. If Cavendish was stuck behind someone from Astana who wasn't going that fast then the blame must lie with either Cav for not having the positional sense to get himself into a better position, or with whoever was charged with the job of shepherding him to the front for not doing their job properly.

 

[Frosty]

Goss had that responsibility but apparently punctured a few kms from the end

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Who's the road captain? They couldn't re-assign somebody else that role? I guess in that case they may not have been so good at it - I assume that after Goss Eisel would have been the next choice but he's dropped out.

 

[Christomir]

Rudi Altig was 35 when he won it in 1962, and his fellow countryman Rolf Wolfshohl was 37 when he won it three years later. Gabica was almost 39 when he took the Vuelta one year after Wolfshohl (that's the record if I'm right). The same Freddy Maertens was 35 when he won it in 1977.

Need to improve those investigative skills.

Hmmm... I thought Altig was born in 1937, Wolfshohl - in 1938, Gabica - in 1937, and Maertens - 1952. That would make them 25, 27, 29 and 25 respectively, when they won those Vueltas... Not 35, 37, 39 and 35... But I'm not sure whose info is wrong about the birth dates - mine or yours... Where exactly do you look up riders' profiles with the years they were born in??

 

[Nick C.]

if Cav was positioned poorly or whatever and had to start so early why didn't do just sprint at more than the 80 or 85% he claims he does to win his sprints????

 

[Descender]

Hmmm... I thought Altig was born in 1937, Wolfshohl - in 1938, Gabica - in 1937, and Maertens - 1952. That would make them 25, 27, 29 and 25 respectively, when they won those Vueltas... Not 35, 37, 39 and 35... But I'm not sure whose info is wrong about the birth dates - mine or yours... Where exactly do you look up riders' profiles with the years they were born in??

I got that info from another site a while ago (which I can't find now...), and it may well be that I made the same mistake I was accusing you to make: not checking my sources properly... if what you say is right, they got mixed up with the decades of birth apparently. Don't have the time to doublecheck now, so I'll trust you.