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Weak generation of topsprinters?

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Aug 16, 2009
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There is Cav and there is everyone else. His impact can't be underestimated. Sprint wins when he is not in the field almost seem a little a empty.

Cav in his best condition has an extra gear that nobody else has. He also has the best train possible and they work extra hard because they know it will pay off. The combination is virtually unbeatable.

He also has really good racing sense. He never seems to get in a bad position.

I have a real hard time trying to figure out who the next best sprinter is out there. There's a huge gallery of good ones, Greipel, Goss, Farrar, etc.

But it really doesn't matter.
 
Not to minimze Cavendish's awesomeness but I think his arrival coincided with a period where this period's best sprinters were past their peaks (Freire, Hushovd, Petacchi) or facing injuries that lessened their abilities (Bennati). Boonen's bout with substance abuse, knee injury and recently admitted apprehension of competing in bunch sprints partially as a result of the crash that was caused by yours truly has limited his output and performance.

Edit: Add McEwen to that list of sprinters who were/are past their peaks by the time Cavendish arrived on the scene.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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I do think there is a lesser group of sprinters right now...but I don't think it is smart to underestimate the speed of guys like Guardini, van Hummel, Degankolb, or Matthews. These guys are pretty fast...Guardini may be the next "big thing" in the sprint world. But right now...when Cav is in form..there is no faster.
 
Angliru said:
Not to minimze Cavendish's awesomeness but I think his arrival coincided with a period where this period's best sprinters were past their peaks (Freire, Hushovd, Petacchi) or facing injuries that lessened their abilities (Bennati). Boonen's bout with substance abuse, knee injury and recently admitted apprehension of competing in bunch sprints partially as a result of the crash that was caused by yours truly has limited his output and performance.

Edit: Add McEwen to that list of sprinters who were/are past their peaks by the time Cavendish arrived on the scene.

+1

overlapping generations where Cav just emerged without a nemesis. the current "sprinters" are more inclined to contest the Spring classics rather than dedicated purely to sprinting abilities. also age comes to play a roll -since some of the sprinters become stronger than faster, so they seem to fit better for a different types of parcours.
 
Aug 2, 2010
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danjo007 said:
cav's one of the greats when you mention top sprinters. combined with a very good train, he just makes it all look too easy.
i do think the other sprinters atm, just cant match him, especially when he combines with someone like renshaw.

still i'm in awe of robbie. he "did" it all without help and against the like of zabel in his prime with the telekom train.

imo, cav is more fragile. if he were in robbies position back then, he'd certainly have the talent, but i think the rattle would get thrown out of the basket when he didnt have 3 teammates lined up in front of him with a km to go.

sorry sir,

i just can't agree with you.

first of all, zabel never was "that" fast. he was a hard working man, similar to freire, but never a cipo.
then, robbie was really good, but cav is just amazing! the sprint train only allows him to put his full speed on the tarmac. if there is anyone faster, or with better collocation, they would simply go pas cav because the road is clear. there are dozens of sprints (some even in the last tour), where cav was alone and he simply...wow.. destroyed them. take a look to stage 21, last year's tour. not only that, he has a team built around him because he won a lot just by himself. the train just makes it easy for the fastest man, it doesn't make the man faster.
 
Nov 30, 2010
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Waterloo Sunrise said:
Go watch an overhead of the Bourdeux stage from last year. No lead out, and he won by 15 yards like everyone else had slammed the brakes on.

It's difficult to look like a tricky McEwan type when your top end means you win so very comfortably, but he won plenty of races before he got a train, and that train was considerably more contested in last year's tour, to very little effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idFmsFYxJ9c from 12:20 on.

But back to the OP, there doesn't seem to have been any young guns getting right to the top in the last few years. A bit of A and a bit of B.
 
Jul 15, 2010
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Sprinting is turning over because all of the power sprinters don't have there trains. In my opinion, power sprinters only succeed when they have a team that can basically drive the pace and ensure they will be in the correct position for the final 400 m. Everyone else will have to start a number of bike lengths behind them for not being in position. This can be enough to negate someone who has real snap. Cipo, Pettachi, Boonen, and Hushvod never had track speed. Cipo and Pettachi are fast but they don't have increbile snap. These guys would be dropped like they were standing still on the track. Cav is a track guy. I don't know why no one has good train anymore. Maybe, training methods have changed.
 
Apr 14, 2010
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Its all in priorities. Its obvious in France that HTC don't give a crap about anything but winning the sprint stages. They have a team built around it. Most of the other teams treat sprint wins as a happy bonus by taking a sprint and maybe 1 leadout guy. How many sprints did Thor go into last year with a 4 man leadout?
 

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