Eldron Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Ahh Cav - one of the riders I just can't like. That said he is getting more humble along the way. I may upgrade to "he only midly gets on my nerves" sometime soon he he he. Awesome sprinter though - half the size of Greipel and faster! Respect to the man. Sprinters should finish the Tour. They're given plenty lenience to get over the hills in their little busses. If domestiques can hammer our 1000's of miles on the front then sprinters can fit a 25/26/27 and diddle over the hills. They're professional cyclists man - not prima donna's. Oh wait... No pulling out unless the race doctor gives you the aye I say. finallygotabike 1
DaLoCo Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Ahh Cav - one of the riders I just can't like. That said he is getting more humble along the way. I may upgrade to "he only midly gets on my nerves" sometime soon he he he. Awesome sprinter though - half the size of Greipel and faster! Respect to the man. Sprinters should finish the Tour. They're given plenty lenience to get over the hills in their little busses. If domestiques can hammer our 1000's of miles on the front then sprinters can fit a 25/26/27 and diddle over the hills. They're professional cyclists man - not prima donna's. Oh wait... No pulling out unless the race doctor gives you the aye I say.I have often wondered if stronger domestique's are not told to join the sprinter's buses to bolster the numbers and influence the decision to not cut them......I remeber one stage last year almost a third of the field came in outside the cut-off...
Eldron Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 I am more of a Sagan fan... +1 That said I'm not liking the current crop of sprinters. I'm more old school - Cipo and Zabel - one over the top emotional super power and the other a quiet german who just got on with winning. Cav's lead train made sprinting boring as hell for a few years - much like Lanc'es postal srangulation of the tour. Sprinting is starting to get interesting again. Multiple teams trying to gain control only with lines all over the road. Lovely jubbly! Wonder Woman 1
Wonder Woman Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Ahh Cav - one of the riders I just can't like. That said he is getting more humble along the way. I may upgrade to "he only midly gets on my nerves" sometime soon he he he. Awesome sprinter though - half the size of Greipel and faster! Respect to the man. Sprinters should finish the Tour. They're given plenty lenience to get over the hills in their little busses. If domestiques can hammer our 1000's of miles on the front then sprinters can fit a 25/26/27 and diddle over the hills. They're professional cyclists man - not prima donna's. Oh wait... No pulling out unless the race doctor gives you the aye I say. It's actually funny as last year I felt exactly the same as you guys. But in one sense how will this change the tour? Only sprinters interested in the green jersey would do the tour, especially with olympics so close.
GLuvsMtb Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 almost choked on my chicken salad reading the title here. For a minute I though Cavendish had 7 Tour titles and a closet full of yellow jerseys all of a sudden. Great sprinter? Yes. Great cyclist? Not by a long shot. He is about as one dimensional as a fullstop. Eldron 1
Pieterg Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Very Strong Sprinter, that's all not a total rider like Lance
Eldron Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 It's actually funny as last year I felt exactly the same as you guys. But in one sense how will this change the tour? Only sprinters interested in the green jersey would do the tour, especially with olympics so close. I guess this will start another sub section of rider - the tour sprinter! "Pure" spinters will do the flat classics and "Tour sprinters" will try for the various Tour sprinting jerseys. To me its just not cool turning the TdF into a 7 or 8 day sprint event...
Eldron Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 almost choked on my chicken salad reading the title here. For a minute I though Cavendish had 7 Tour titles and a closet full of yellow jerseys all of a sudden. Great sprinter? Yes. Great cyclist? Not by a long shot. He is about as one dimensional as a fullstop. +1 Cav is to Armstrong what Armstrong is to Eddie! GLuvsMtb 1
Joe Low Posted July 3, 2012 Author Posted July 3, 2012 almost choked on my chicken salad reading the title here. You've got a while to recover before the thread title changes to Cav closing in on Eddie Merckx. He's next on the list of "most stage wins" at 34. Now that would be blasphemy.
NINER_boy Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 (edited) Sagan didn't deserve that win on Monday!!!(I have to say, I am a fan of his, but do not support wins like that...) He sucked wheel for WAY to long, I felt embarrassed for him when he raised his arms in the victory salute. IMO, he should have come to the front with around 1,2km to go, do a 300 - 400m stint, and then fall back and sprint for the line. That was WAY un-cool!!! On Cav, well, I love that he is outspoken and says it as it is (with a funny accent I must add).As far as sprinting goes, he is the SHIZZZ, and will be for some time to come.He is a great character in the peleton and ensures some entertainment. Edited July 3, 2012 by NINER_boy scotty and _David_ 2
Squier Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 I really rate Mr Cavendish. There's not a lot of people who can say "when I kick, I win" and actually do it. He's also moving away from the pure sprinter mould by being able to drag himself over "reasonable" climbs in order to take sprint finishes. He is something special, no doubt. Comparing him to Lance as a cyclist isn't really fair, however, he will have more stage wins than Lance, and probably Merckx, by the end of his career.
Squier Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Oh, and on the Sagan topic; saying he didn't deserve the win is a bit harsh IMO. He won the stage when he grabbed on to Spartacus' wheel. That there was the critical moment. Being attentive and spotting and reacting to a move in your very first TdF stage shows his composure. He then sat on Spartacus' wheel but didn't have any other option. Giving a rider like Fabian Cancelara the advantage by letting him get on your wheel is suicide. That would've been nothing but stupid as Sagan would've had no chance of winning then. It's racing, it's not about what is perceived as right. Throwing away your chances of a stage win by letting Spartacus grab your wheel just because "it's the right thing to do" is a daft move. What he did may not have neen the "popular" option, but it was the only option he had.
Eldron Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Oh, and on the Sagan topic; saying he didn't deserve the win is a bit harsh IMO. He won the stage when he grabbed on to Spartacus' wheel. That there was the critical moment. Being attentive and spotting and reacting to a move in your very first TdF stage shows his composure. He then sat on Spartacus' wheel but didn't have any other option. Giving a rider like Fabian Cancelara the advantage by letting him get on your wheel is suicide. That would've been nothing but stupid as Sagan would've had no chance of winning then. It's racing, it's not about what is perceived as right. Throwing away your chances of a stage win by letting Spartacus grab your wheel just because "it's the right thing to do" is a daft move. What he did may not have neen the "popular" option, but it was the only option he had. +1 One could say "at least Sagan chased AND sprinted - Cav sat wheel and only felt wind on his face with 200m to go". One man's wheelsucker is another man's strategist! It's going to be interesting to see how Sagan evolves - in my opinion he is not a pure sprinter like Cav. Or a climbing sprinter like Gilbert. If I were Sagan I'd be working on my toughness - I reckon he could become an unbeatable classics rider!
NINER_boy Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Hi Squier I agree, and also disagree with you. If this was a one off, like a world champs, and the status quo is "every man for himself", YES YES YES, then I would do exactly that. As it was on Monday, that was their day at the office, and you do not k@k on your own voorstoep...What I mean by that is, that these guys spend every day next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, and making treating your colleagues like that, will not grant you any popularity points (yes I know it is not a popularity contest, it is a race). But ruffling up the "senior" guys in the peleton is not a good idea.PS, respect anyway for being able to ruffle up the senior rider's feathers!!! Just still, sucking a wheel for THAT long, no go IMO
NINER_boy Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 It's going to be interesting to see how Sagan evolves - in my opinion he is not a pure sprinter like Cav. Or a climbing sprinter like Gilbert. If I were Sagan I'd be working on my toughness - I reckon he could become an unbeatable classics rider! +1 on that!!! We could easily become like the next generation Cancelara, Boonen and the likes...
petatodd Posted July 3, 2012 Posted July 3, 2012 Although Brailsford is his boss he is 100% accurate in this article. Cav is so good he's a freak. Brailsford: Cavendish has shown he’s the world's best sprinter Eisel and Cancellara also full of praise for the Manxman There were smiles all around as Team Sky's riders made their way back to the team bus to go through their "warming down" routine in the wake of Mark Cavendish's stage victory in Tournai. Beaming team boss Dave Brailsford marvelled at his sprinter's superlative skill, saying that Cavendish had proved he was the world's best sprinter having triumphed against the odds. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsford-cavendish-has-shown-hes-the-worlds-best-sprinter
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now