Who would win, Cancellara or Cavendish

[Netserk]

Cav could probably sit in front on sleepwalker pace himself, as to ensure that Cancellara has to attack across more distance, and so that accelerating would achieve a higher speed meaning that if Cancellara attacks, Cavendish drafts more anyway. Probably high 20s would do the trick.

He'd ride on the front of Cancellara for the first 100 km at 25 km/h?

Better yet, Cancellara could give him a small buffer and get up to speed as he attacks past him.

 

[RedheadDane]

Indeed. Especially the days you're motivated for defeating yourself.

I especially hate it when my legs want to go faster than my lungs.
And that's not even mentioning when my brain gets involved...

 

[Gigs_98]

The answer is obviously Cav, however if you positioned Tony Martin 200m ahead of them I suspect Cancellara would ride Cavendish off his wheel trying to chase down Martin.

 

[Red Rick]

He'd ride on the front of Cancellara for the first 100 km at 25 km/h?

Better yet, Cancellara could give him a small buffer and get up to speed as he attacks past him.

If we're gonna do the track sprinting game I'm backing the sprinty boy who also has infinitely more track experience. You can literally anticipate so you don't have to spike your power as hard as the guy before you.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

There's no way Cavandish rides 200km without crashing himself. Cancellara has this easily.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The answer is obviously Cav, however if you positioned Tony Martin 200m ahead of them I suspect Cancellara would ride Cavendish off his wheel trying to chase down Martin.

Sadly wouldn‘t have worked back in 2010 because Tony Martin would be riding for Cav.

 

[rallybanana]

Sadly wouldn‘t have worked back in 2010 because Tony Martin would be riding for Cav.

That's a discussion for another thread

How many teammates would Cav need to beat Cancellara

Let's have a real discussion. In a 200 km time trial, Cancellara goes it alone, and Cavendish can have his pick of his HTC teammates to ride team time trial style. What is the minimum number of teammates Cav would need in order for Cav to finish the 200 km in less time than Cancellara. Let's...

forum.cyclingnews.com

 

[SHAD0W93]

Wow I completely forgot about this thread, posters were just as bored in the offseason back then as they are now. Only way to settle this is put them on the Daytona 500 track and have at it. As others have said, it could be hours before this race was finished. 2010 Cav I think would struggle but 2013-2015 has a lot better chance in my opinion.

 

[staubsauger]

Funny how nobody knew back then the answer would be obviously Marcel Kittel!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Wow: I thought I was just being a bit nostalgic, didn't realise that the nest still had so many hornets.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Racing yourself is the hardest thing ever!

I've done it many times, I'm at about 50% against me.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I wouldn't (have) bet against Cav, he's not just a road sprinter he also was a multi world champion in endurance track events and he's won MSR, also 3 WC madisons which might be just the most intense cycling event. Sure if Canc got 10 meters on him he wouldn't see him again, but if you lined them up side by side Cav would win at least the first 15 kilos that they raced head to head. Who knows who would be more thrashed after that. Probably though if you could get them to do it 10 times they would each win five. That's probably about 100 hours of saddle time so no way either would have agreed to do it more than once.

 

[Charlyghoul]

I wouldn't (have) bet against Cav, he's not just a road sprinter he also was a multi world champion in endurance track events and he's won MSR, also 3 WC madisons which might be just the most intense cycling event. Sure if Canc got 10 meters on him he wouldn't see him again, but if you lined them up side by side Cav would win at least the first 15 kilos that they raced head to head. Who knows who would be more thrashed after that. Probably though if you could get them to do it 10 times they would each win five. That's probably about 100 hours of saddle time so no way either would have agreed to do it more than once.

Each win 5 ? Cavendish would have absolutely no chance trying to sit on Cancellara’s wheel.
He’d beat him 1000 times out of 1000

 

[Red Rick]

Each win 5 ? Cavendish would have absolutely no chance trying to sit on Cancellara’s wheel.
He’d beat him 1000 times out of 1000

The theory that a sprinter couldn't wheelsuck his way around a pan flat road is an interesting one to say the least.

 

[Netserk]

The theory that a sprinter couldn't wheelsuck his way around a pan flat road is an interesting one to say the least.

I'd favour Cav if the distance was 20 km or less.

But the elastic only needs to snap once.

 

[Red Rick]

I'd favour Cav if the distance was 20 km or less.

But the elastic only needs to snap once.

You say it needs to be stop/start at low speed, yes? You agree at consistent pace there's no way Cav drops?

I think the whole thing would actually be a super interesting experiment. Too bad you'd never get riders to do it.

 

[Netserk]

You say it needs to be stop/start at low speed, yes? You agree at consistent pace there's no way Cav drops?

Yes, yes.

 

[Charlyghoul]

The theory that a sprinter couldn't wheelsuck his way around a pan flat road is an interesting one to say the least.

He’d have no chance staying with Cancellara over that kind of distance

 

[Charlyghoul]

It wouldn’t be interesting…Cav simply wouldn’t be able to hold on to him, Cancellara would just ride him off his wheel in time trial mode.
Whether he could do that over 20k is more interesting, I still think he would drop him

 

[Red Rick]

It wouldn’t be interesting…Cav simply wouldn’t be able to hold on to him, Cancellara would just ride him off his wheel in time trial mode.
Whether he could do that over 20k is more interesting, I still think he would drop him

For reference, Cavendish used to make MTT time cuts within 25% of the winner, so his threshold would be at most 20% lower than the GC winning climbers of his day.

Drafting is like 30% at 1m distance in common CFD models, and road riders on the wheel suck ride significantly closer on the wheel than 1m.

Finally, Cancellara is significantly bigger than Cavendish, so drafting would be even bigger.

Cancellara may do 450W for an hour going flat out, and Cavendish would sit there doing under 350, and most probably lower.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

You can't convince me cancellara wouldn't drop him at some point .

 

[Charlyghoul]

For reference, Cavendish used to make MTT time cuts within 25% of the winner, so his threshold would be at most 20% lower than the GC winning climbers of his day.

Drafting is like 30% at 1m distance in common CFD models, and road riders on the wheel suck ride significantly closer on the wheel than 1m.

Finally, Cancellara is significantly bigger than Cavendish, so drafting would be even bigger.

Cancellara may do 450W for an hour going flat out, and Cavendish would sit there doing under 350, and most probably lower.

Cavendish just doesn’t have the power to stay with Cancellara , Cancellara can ride the best rouleurs in the world off his wheel, but he can’t do it to Mark Cavendish?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

For reference, Cavendish used to make MTT time cuts within 25% of the winner, so his threshold would be at most 20% lower than the GC winning climbers of his day.

Drafting is like 30% at 1m distance in common CFD models, and road riders on the wheel suck ride significantly closer on the wheel than 1m.

Finally, Cancellara is significantly bigger than Cavendish, so drafting would be even bigger.

Cancellara may do 450W for an hour going flat out, and Cavendish would sit there doing under 350, and most probably lower.

With their size difference, Cav could probably half-wheel Cance at 350. With 30% draft + CdA difference should be well below 300. Cancellara would need to do stop-start the entire time as has been said before and I don‘t think Cancellara is actually close to the best rider for sprint intervals.

 

[Charlyghoul]

With their size difference, Cav could probably half-wheel Cance at 350. With 30% draft + CdA difference should be well below 300. Cancellara would need to do stop-start the entire time as has been said before and I don‘t think Cancellara is actually close to the best rider for sprint intervals.

Come on, if you’ve ever tried to stay in the wheel of a stronger rider for any time you will know that Cavendish couldn’t do it, it’s closer to being on the front yourself than sitting in the middle of a bunch.
Even if Cavendish could hold on to him for 10k both going balls out I don’t know if he’d be able to sprint round him either

 

[Netserk]

With their size difference, Cav could probably half-wheel Cance at 350. With 30% draft + CdA difference should be well below 300. Cancellara would need to do stop-start the entire time as has been said before and I don‘t think Cancellara is actually close to the best rider for sprint intervals.

But he gets to dictate the rhythm and how intense to make it. He never has to fear a counter move and can always ease up when he wants to, whereas Cav can't afford to lose concentration once.