I'm starting to dislike Cavendish less

iainf72

Only a little bit mind you but, props for this

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... tful-21539

blazing_saddles

Garmin have a point.
Best to target stage 1, when your team leader is Tom Danielson.

DaveyL

And, by proxy, Cuddly Bob?

mattsy666

i dislike Cav too ... but it's getting harder to when he keeps winning ...

it's like Robbie McEwen used to be ... whininess becomes arrogance becomes confidence when the wins start rolling in ...(Cadel take note ... it takes wins to make it work)

dave_1

he strikes me as someone easy to make an impression on...wish he would cut the Zabel Aldag ties...any young pros with 90s generation riders leaves me in doubt

Le Commentateur

Slipstream's most memorable moment from last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bPu0cg0A5k

frenchfighter

Well said Cavendish. I like his frankness and openess. It is more interesting and often revealing.

sing_for_absolution

Dave_1 wrote:

he strikes me as someone easy to make an impression on...wish he would cut the Zabel Aldag ties...any young pros with 90s generation riders leaves me in doubt

Eh, who else will mentor him?????

Kléber

It's good stuff and he has a point about Garmin. Now it's true that the TTT is a speciality and some organisation and practice will pay dividends win but it also feels like they exist for this stage only and to be frank, it's a boring matter. But perhaps it says something about the extent of their clean abilities, they realise they can't compete with the way some are prepared on the mountain stages.

dave_1

Kléber wrote:

It's good stuff and he has a point about Garmin. Now it's true that the TTT is a speciality and some organisation and practice will pay dividends win but it also feels like they exist for this stage only and to be frank, it's a boring matter. But perhaps it says something about the extent of their clean abilities, they realise they can't compete with the way some are prepared on the mountain stages.

I see Lance "echong Cavendish's views on twitter...nobody went out of his way more than Lance A to make out what a big deal the team TT was to him on USPS and Disco...even though nobody remembers the riders really...too many to share it as a win...I agree with Garmin...if they are not drugged then tea tests where technique come into it as much as CERA are the best opportunity to prove clean cycling has being done

Brian B

I dont like him at all but I like his style. He is exciting to watch and inspiration to all young aspiring British cyclists as to how to do it. I just think he is a bit of whinge - but hey he wont give a damn what I think.

spanielsson

From what I've read and seen I think he's awesome. Cav is a punk, he's not afraid to say "Fcuk you", he can put his money where his mouth is and delivers.

As Lemond went against the grain and spoke his mind, Cav does the same.

Lets hope he's on top for a long time.

leguape

Dave_1 wrote:

Kléber wrote:

It's good stuff and he has a point about Garmin. Now it's true that the TTT is a speciality and some organisation and practice will pay dividends win but it also feels like they exist for this stage only and to be frank, it's a boring matter. But perhaps it says something about the extent of their clean abilities, they realise they can't compete with the way some are prepared on the mountain stages.

I see Lance "echong Cavendish's views on twitter...nobody went out of his way more than Lance A to make out what a big deal the team TT was to him on USPS and Disco...even though nobody remembers the riders really...too many to share it as a win...I agree with Garmin...if they are not drugged then tea tests where technique come into it as much as CERA are the best opportunity to prove clean cycling has being done

I'd imagine Armstrong's reasons are slightly different though, in that if there's a TTT and you're going for GC, you might as well make sure you use it to your advantage. Look at how Di Luca built his 2007 Giro win on a good TTT from Liquigas compared to some of his rivals who effectively started stage 2 a good minute or two down and finished the Giro much down or more.

lucca

Didnt he once go past Cippo in a TT with only one foot on pedals ? That's disrespectful

DaveyL

He'd be better off having a pop at Saxo Bank or another team where it's hard to see what exactly they are targeting here, if anything...

teagar

lucca wrote:

Didnt he once go past Cippo in a TT with only one foot on pedals ? That's disrespectful

No, that's funny...

frenchfighter

Good one for Cav today.

The Prodigy

Its all good, a bit of rivalry adds abit of spice, especially when the mouthpiece can back up what he says

LangerDan

A bit rich from a guy who pissed off in the middle of the Tour last year to train for the Olympics (which he now claims aren't worth much anyway).

He'll have Max Clifford as an adviser by the end of the year.

DaveyL

And the bloke who is also not planning to finish this Giro.

A few quotes from the aftermath, courtesy of

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009//g ... ts/giro091

Team manager Jonathan Vaughters said, "Of course it's disappointing not to win when you've worked so hard, but does that mean we should work less hard? Of course not. We always planned to finish with five riders, and it was a very smooth ride. There were no execution errors. Winning today was definitely a goal but the result can't be a specific parameter to measure the process. I think that the guys did a great team time trial. We went six seconds slower than the number one team in the world. Contrary to the consensus among some people we have other goals over the next three weeks."

Asked if he enjoyed beating Garmin-Slipstream, Cavendish hesitated before answering. "Sure... who wouldn't? Doesn't matter who was second; as long as we won, we were happy. I want to take this opportunity to clear up what I said yesterday. It wasn't [directed] at the whole team, just the comments by the director. The riders are really, really good guys. I maybe regretted [what I said] towards the riders, but what I said... I think a lot of people think that," he laughed.

And one just for iain, on his NBFs, Columbia:

"Mild temps, a slight easterly and a dead-flat parcours proved to be the perfect scenario for this team that has definitively banished the T-Mobile doping demons of years past, under the guidance of general manager Bob Stapleton."

Mike Healey

Fancy him planning to drop out of the Giro for tactical reasons. Such an insult to the world of pro-cycling, where taking decisions like that, in preparation for a hugely demanding event and a plan to take the TdF green jersey have never been known before.

And sprinters have always managed to combine delicate social sensibilities with the self-belief necessary to sprint, shoulder-to-shoulder at 70kph, haven't they?

Or, to put it another way, what a miserable bunch of tall-poppy slayers you lot are.

LangerDan

Mike Healey wrote:

Fancy him planning to drop out of the Giro for tactical reasons. Such an insult to the world of pro-cycling, where taking decisions like that, in preparation for a hugely demanding event and a plan to take the TdF green jersey have never been known before.

The point is not that he's planning to bail out of a GT "for tactical reasons" but the fact that he sees fit to lecture other squads that the race is 21 days long beforehand. I can't seem to recall Cipo haranguing the prologue specialists over their own particular short-term objectives before pissing off to the beach by Bastille Day.

teagar

Plenty of big name riders have dropped out of the Giro half way through over the years. It's par for the course.

Can't really see too much of a problem with it? Granted it's a fair bit less kosha when you have a Giro jersey on at the time, but they very rarely are when they do drop out. Unless you're Ulrich in the Vuelta.

afx237vi

teagar wrote:

Plenty of big name riders have dropped out of the Giro half way through over the years. It's par for the course.

Can't really see too much of a problem with it? Granted it's a fair bit less kosha when you have a Giro jersey on at the time, but they very rarely are when they do drop out. Unless you're Ulrich in the Vuelta.

There is no problem with it. The problem comes when you criticise another team for "disrespecting the race" for focusing all their effort on one goal, only to win one or two stages and then bugger off home to focus on another race. Both acts are equally disrespectful, even if neither of them was particularly disrespectful in the first place.

teagar

afx237vi wrote:

teagar wrote:

Plenty of big name riders have dropped out of the Giro half way through over the years. It's par for the course.

Can't really see too much of a problem with it? Granted it's a fair bit less kosha when you have a Giro jersey on at the time, but they very rarely are when they do drop out. Unless you're Ulrich in the Vuelta.

There is no problem with it. The problem comes when you criticise another team for "disrespecting the race" for focusing all their effort on one goal, only to win one or two stages and then bugger off home to focus on another race. Both acts are equally disrespectful, even if neither of them was particularly disrespectful in the first place.

Haha.

It's just mind games. Course that's true. I'm sure Cavendish knows it as much as you all do.

I like it. I've always enjoyed sports people doing "total sport", trying to find every advantage possible.