Cavendish the classic winner!

off the back

Superb ride!! Yeah he is still not a great climber but for all his weaknesses he made it over the Poggio, got back to the front and unleashed an unbeliveable sprint that was head and shoulders above the rest. If that doesn't impress you nothing will ...

Mettan

Great ride, incredible finish - very impressive.

DomPro

Brilliant finale. I thought Haussler had it until they showed the side-shot on the finish line. Its amazing he made up those final few metres. Haussler is an awesome sprinter as well though, they put the others to shame!

shakey88

Superb win! The power he created to overhaul the german on the line was jaw dropping.
Cav looks as strong as anyone right now and could win many more races before he's done.
Good to have a brit amongst the top boys ain't it

claudb

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant !!! ..............
.. and several cans of beer later ..
..Brilliant !!!!

Kléber

Oh Joy! 8) Cavendish delivers a master finish. Haussler's move was excellent but Cavendish is just unstoppable. The others were left trailing. All at 22 years old.

Bouygues manager JR Bernadeau said he didn't bother to sign a sprinter in the winter "because Cavendish will take every spring going". Wise words.

This should also dampen down the hype about Armstrong, he was dropped on the Cipressa.

Slow Downcp

Superb finish - I didn't think he was going to make the gap, but once in full flow no-one can match his speed (after 300k anyway).

Should change the header tho' in case anyone's Sky+ it.

Le Commentateur

Looking at the slow motion replay there was a moment about 30m from the line where Haussler just paused slightly -- probably in total deficit -- before the final push for the line. That briefest of pauses may have been the difference between victory and nothing -- hard to take after 185 miles of effort, so no wonder he was on the floor afterwards.

Sprinting against Cav is like playing your computer at some video game -- make the slightest error and you're done for.


Misquoting Kraftwerk:
Manx Machine
Super-human being

jon208

Woooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

moray_gub

Kléber wrote:

This should also dampen down the hype about Armstrong, he was dropped on the Cipressa.

No surprise there for me he was never gonna be a factor in the race and so it proved

off the back

Good post race interview ...

http://www.velonews.com/article/89481/c ... eat-rider-

"One of the sweetest things today was seeing Tom Boonen go past me backwards on the climbs."

mrushton

Fantastic - that's all you can say but how good are the Cervelo squad turning out to be. haussler was always being talked up at G-steiner but they seem to have got it all right straight off incl. having classy looking kit.

sing_for_absolution

f*ck me, what a result! Fantastic.

micron

Guess we have the answer to whether he can keep up on the Poggio

It was a great finish - but I was disappointed by the tactics of some of the other teams. QS must have known Boonen didn't have the legs - they should have let Chavanel have a dig on the Poggio and break things up a bit rather than sending him to ride tempo. Boonen will no doubt get his revenge on the cobbles but Cavendish showed how much he's matured as a rider and great spirit to overhaul Haussler.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I didn't say he was going to win this, but he did and impressively. His climbing aint great but his spirit and sprint are. Hopefully people can now accept that Cav is the real deal - as if last year didn't remove any doubts.........

There is only one cyclist worth talking about today and he won a proper bloody Classic!

finchy

Kléber wrote:

This should also dampen down the hype about Armstrong, he was dropped on the Cipressa.

anyone got Contador's twitter?

I wasn't expecting much from LA today, but to see him get dropped going up a hill is surprising.

sicrow

sing_for_absolution wrote:

f*ck me, what a result! Fantastic.

couldn't put it better myself. I had a bet after the tour last year that he'd get a win here at 20's but didn't think it would really happen

Some beer for me tonight

jerry3571

Hooorah!
It's all my doing thanks because since I marshaled for the Tour of Britain and said Hi to Mr Cavendish he has kicked butt. I will now be charging people who I say Hi to from now on.
Thank you all!!
:shock:

jimmythecuckoo

Cav is God. That is all .

Noodley

Have not seen it yet, but just away to watch the finish on cyclingnews, but that is one shittingly impressive victory.

Well done Cav.

bucketbanger

yeah id love to know what he's on

alien

a damn fine race. LA being in the 2nd group, not really a shock tbh...

Cav++++++ :-)

sing_for_absolution

alien wrote:

a damn fine race. LA being in the 2nd group, not really a shock tbh...

Cav++++++ :-)

Why all these eyes on Armstrong? If they're going to report how this non-contender for this race did today, how about the same for everyone else?

horizon1967

I said a few months ago Cavendish could win the milan san remo.No body seemed to agree with me.At just 23 he can win a lot more one day classics,and go down as Englands greatest cyclist to date.

phil s

he ain't english :roll:

redddraggon

horizon1967 wrote:

.....and go down as Englands greatest cyclist to date.

He's not from England :roll:

redddraggon

Doh...

horizon1967

Oh sh*t I should get my facts straight in the future :oops:

blazing_saddles

johnfinch wrote:

Kléber wrote:

This should also dampen down the hype about Armstrong, he was dropped on the Cipressa.

anyone got Contador's twitter?
I wasn't expecting much from LA today, but to see him get dropped going up a hill is surprising.

Better to be nervous than cooked.
Looked like sh*t, 20kms before the Cipressa.
I see the Giro suddenly becoming a field of dreams....

simon_e

sicrow wrote:

sing_for_absolution wrote:

f*ck me, what a result! Fantastic.

couldn't put it better myself.

Ditto.

Last kilometre of the race already on Youtube. Pretty lo-fi, but it's the real thing - you get to watch God in action.

Nelson Longflap

In this interview, http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/Girodit ... remo.shtml (click on the right, where it says "tutti video") he sounds like Steve McLaren ( the English footie manager) did when being interviewed by a Dutch person. In trying too hard to be understood by non-native English speakers, it's almost like he's going to break into pidgin Italian. It's not a criticism in any way - it's just something that shy and insecure people do in wanting to be liked. The flipside, of course is (or was) his youthful cockiness and still his phenomenal will to win. Way to go Cav!!