TOB Stage 1 SPOILER

ContrelaMontre

Mark Cavendish wins again according to the E.ON Tour of Britain blog thingy

http://twitter.com/EON_TOB

How many wins is that then this season? 10 plus some points jerseys! Did anyone keep a track of the British men versus Nicole Cooke wins tally? I assume Cav has won more races than Nicole (although clearly not as prestigious as he isn't on course to win the men's equivalent of the World Cup) - is that right?

natrix

Hmmmmmmm, maybe you need to learn the difference between a prologue and Stage 1.

ContrelaMontre

barnesr wrote:

Hmmmmmmm, maybe you need to learn the difference between a prologue and Stage 1.

No quite clear on the difference thanks

and Cav's won them both!

EmergBiker

Yep, bbc site says he has won stage 1, further details to follow.

And yes that means both the prologue and stage 1. I do know the difference

heavymental

Nice one Cav. Led out by his mentor Hammond aswell. Good stuff.

CM92S4E

Another great win for Cav, I now really feel we have the new McEwen in our hands!!!

Heard there was a crash as well through BBC, pretty much ruling Hunter or Gerdemann out for any overall challenge.

ContrelaMontre

CM92S4E wrote:

Another great win for Cav, I now really feel we have the new McEwen in our hands!!!

Heard there was a crash as well through BBC, pretty much ruling Hunter or Gerdemann out for any overall challenge.

Where did you read Gerdemann was involved in t'crash?

According to beeb it happened 3.5km from the finish, unfortunate for anyone with GC hopes as just another 500m and any crashers would've got same time - bad luck indeed. (doesn't mention Linus at the mo)

If Gerdemann has lost too much time will T-Mob ride for Hammond for the GC? I can't help but wonder that he could do it. We shall see...

Anonymous

barnesr wrote:

Hmmmmmmm, maybe you need to learn the difference between a prologue and Stage 1.

I bet you feel proper daft now, hey?

adifiddler

It came down to a sprint finish after T Mobile caught the 2 man breakaway in the last 4 miles or so. It was a convincing win too as Cavendish took the line by a complete bike length.

Here are a couple of images if your interested

dmjb3

Oh great stuff - I went to see this in the New Forest today (Rhinefield Drive if anyone is local), all flew by in seconds but had a nice day out.

I know there is no live coverage, but are any video highlights available online?

andrewgturnbull

HI there.

Great photos!

Question - Can T-Mobile shut down the rest of the race, and protect Cav's 14 second lead?

A home victory for a young rider on an oustpokenly anti-doping team would do wonders both for the Tour of Britain as well as Cavendish himself.

Cheers, Andy

andyp

andrewgturnbull wrote:

A home victory for a young rider on an oustpokenly anti-doping team would do wonders both for the Tour of Britain as well as Cavendish himself.

Andy - better edit this bit before Iain comes along and trashes it!

andrewgturnbull

andyp wrote:

andrewgturnbull wrote:

A home victory for a young rider on an oustpokenly anti-doping team would do wonders both for the Tour of Britain as well as Cavendish himself.

Andy - better edit this bit before Iain comes along and trashes it!

Ah, I never said they were _actually_ anti-doping. I just said they were _outspoken_ about it!

iainf72

andyp wrote:

andrewgturnbull wrote:

A home victory for a young rider on an oustpokenly anti-doping team would do wonders both for the Tour of Britain as well as Cavendish himself.

Andy - better edit this bit before Iain comes along and trashes it!

Cor, I'm a stuck record.

Is that the same anti-doping team who had 10% of their riders produce positives this year? [*]

[*] I count Honchar as a +.

andyp

iainf72 wrote:

Cor, I'm a stuck record.

Is that the same anti-doping team who had 10% of their riders produce positives this year? [*]

[*] I count Honchar as a +.

It is. Also the same team whose anti-doping medical program was administered by the same doctors who'd been supplying most of the team with performance enhancing drugs throughout the 1990s. Allegedly.

As PR exercises go, and let's be honest this has been nothing more than a PR exercise, it's been a bit of a disaster really hasn't it?

iainf72

andyp wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

As PR exercises go, and let's be honest this has been nothing more than a PR exercise, it's been a bit of a disaster really hasn't it?

It's a disaster.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I trust Riis more.

andyp

The difference between the CSC program and the T-Mobile one is important - CSC saw the way the wind was blowing and asked a previously vocal critic of the team, and respected anti-doping expert (Ramsus Damsgaard) to run their program and didn't really make much of a fanfare about it. T-Mobile, on the other hand, made a big fuss about it but then used the same medical team. I bet we'll see changes to this in the coming months.

LangerDan

Much more importantly, can someone please send Trinny and Susannah over to the T-Mobile bus. Cav may be the fasted lad on two wheels but the combination of pink helmet, ToB yellow jersey, TdF yellow shorts and black socks make him look like he's been shoplifting from cycle-jumbles. What's happened to the understated "cool" thats supposed to be the mark of professional cyclists?