The Mighty Cav?

Pork Sword

I have a grudging amount of respect for Chavendish... okay, he has a bit of attitude sometimes, but I have to admire the way he's showed those Euro Pro's that a midget from the Isle of Man can stick it to some of the fastest men on the Planet. I'm hoping yesterday's lack of performance was just a nasty little blip on the radar and that he'll bounce back stronger than ever before this Tour's over.

It's a shame that he's bigged himself up all year about aiming high in the Tour and grabbing the Green Jersey only to find himself struggling. Sometimes you just have to accept that you're having a bad year and get on with it. Something Armstrong's going to have to accept too by the look of things...

OffTheBackAdam

Bikerbaboon wrote:

I dont get why cav just sat up. He was in 4th and able to get good points for the green ( his aim for this year) but he just sat up. I know you are saying its to save himself for tomorrow, but to get the green you need to finish well over alot of days and not just go for the win.

Perhaps he realises that his form isn't good enough to get the Green Jersey, he can't climb as well as Thor when he's on top form. And 4th = 3rd Loser?

Anonymous

He isnt worth all this hype, he won't regain any form this year and he probably won't do anything in the worlds either.

Geraint Thomas on the other hand............get behind him and leave Cavendish to his own devices.

Neil McC

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

Bikerbaboon wrote:

I dont get why cav just sat up. He was in 4th and able to get good points for the green ( his aim for this year) but he just sat up. I know you are saying its to save himself for tomorrow, but to get the green you need to finish well over alot of days and not just go for the win.

Perhaps he realises that his form isn't good enough to get the Green Jersey, he can't climb as well as Thor when he's on top form. And 4th = 3rd Loser?

+1 I think he'd already given up on green and is just going for stage wins now.

Also agree with the analysis of RichN95. Lampre rode a good finale and Petacchi has a good long sprint. May have been different if Cav had been able to get in his slipstream, but iirc Petacchi was right across the other side of the road. Also Cav had a decent finish on the cobbled stage on Tuesday? I wonder how much that may have taken out of his legs?

Dgh

OK, like most people I don;t know Cav personally. Just like I don't know Greg LeMond, Oscar Freire, Rafa Nadal, Chris Hoy or Queen Victoria. But, based purely on their public personae, they seem likeable and Cav seems, well, less so.

Cav plainly isn't on good form, but the way he gave up on yesterday's sprint when he saw he wasn't going to win is not encouraging. The green jersey can be won without a stage win (ask Sean Kelly), but not by giving up like that. Maybe he'll pick up later on in the tour, maybe he'll do something in the Worlds (would rather Freire win that though).

As for Cav going to Sky, I wouldn't be too keen on it. He does seem to have trouble getting on with other riders. Would Sky want him falling out with Boassan Hagen, Wiggins, Swift and Thomas (the latter two could be stars of the not too distant future) et al like he has with Greipel?

I would like to see Cav do well again, but ....

giant_man

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

He may win some stages, he may not. He's his own worst enemy that boy. Fool. Yesterday the better man won the stage.

Petacchi has style and panache Cavendish will never achieve.

Anonymous

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

He may win some stages, he may not. He's his own worst enemy that boy. Fool. Yesterday the better man won the stage.

Petacchi has style and panache Cavendish will never achieve.

Spot on.

andyrr

It seems that Cav is sometimes very reliant on his train. This year at the Tour the train seems way below what it was when firing on all cylinders last year when they could deliver him at the desired place on the finishing straight at the desired speed. This time they do not have that ability, whether the loss of a few riders (Hincapie, and Hansen etc) is the thing or it is as much other teams's work but with 1Km to go HTC were looking a lot weaker than last years Tour.
Cav can win without a big train but he would need to sharpen up to do that and his form is not there yet.

symo

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

He may win some stages, he may not. He's his own worst enemy that boy. Fool. Yesterday the better man won the stage.

Petacchi has style and panache Cavendish will never achieve.

Or gives a shite and see's it as more than a job, but instead a passion?
You say potato, I say earth covered tubular.

Pross

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

He may win some stages, he may not. He's his own worst enemy that boy. Fool. Yesterday the better man won the stage.

Petacchi has style and panache Cavendish will never achieve.

Or that he's annoyed with himself for messing up?

camerone

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

He may win some stages, he may not. He's his own worst enemy that boy. Fool. Yesterday the better man won the stage.

Petacchi has style and panache Cavendish will never achieve.

have you seen him 'throw his bike to the ground'? if thats a throw then i am Petacchi.
getting frustrated about failure is not about immaturity, i dont think letting that frustration boil over is either. Its just shows the amount he cares about it. (the 'v' sign - now that was immature.)

style and penache are subjective, one mans gucci is anothers armani, but i have to agree that the best man yesterday won.

there is a lot of rubbish being written here, cavendish piled up 10 stages in the tour in two years before the age of 24, he deserved the hype, and now he needs to knuckle down and get back some form which he doesnt seem to currently have.

i hope he does, i am a fan (not so blinkered to see through his faults) and think the faults are part of the make-up that makes him the rider he is.

petejuk

Columbia have had a tried and tested race winning formula that other teams simply couldn't beat. They also have the fastest sprinter in the world over a short distance. The combination of both has made them unbeatable in the past and the other sprinter's teams have no doubt spent many an hour reviewing race footage, analysing the Columbia train and finding the best ways to unpick it. Credit to them because they've realised its beatable. Cavendish is not in the best form of his life either, but, even if he was, he would still be finding it tougher than last year's clutch of wins because the other teams have done their homework. This probably is adding to his frustration, but this is good because it means they'll have to up their game. I hope Cavendish doesn't throw in the towel as I'd like to see Columbia come back at the other teams.
It could make for some great racing.

simon_e

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

+1. I'd have no hesitation in saying it to his face (and he's bigger than me). No wonder he has mechanical issues if he treats the tools of his trade like that. Hushovd was beaten yesterday too but did he throw his lid out of the bus door? Did he drop his bike on the drivetrain side? No.

Cav is the first to moan about people knocking him (although I don't know why he cares as he's supposedly the best in the world). Act like a child and you'll be treated like a child.

By contrast, Geraint Thomas is GOD. He even sorted some welsh cakes for the team - top quality nutrition

symo wrote:

You say potato, I say earth covered tubular.

Or tuber. I wouldn't want to eat par-boiled Contis, not even with a sprig of mint.

Monty Zoncolan

I think his head's gone for the moment. A less than ideal start to the year - to put it mildly - and then all the turmoil of the Swiss tour. It just highlights how many things went right for him to succeed last year - build up races, a good train and a winning habit.

He could turn this around to some degree - by digging in, getting some form back and even winning the final stage again, but I think the chances of that are slim.

oldwelshman

dmclite wrote:

He isnt worth all this hype, he won't regain any form this year and he probably won't do anything in the worlds either.

Geraint Thomas on the other hand............get behind him and leave Cavendish to his own devices.

What a load of bollox
What happened today? I guess he read your post for motivation

symo

Simon E wrote:

giant mancp wrote:

Throwing his bike and helmet in rage tells me he's still an immature idiot who needs to grow up.

+1. I'd have no hesitation in saying it to his face (and he's bigger than me). No wonder he has mechanical issues if he treats the tools of his trade like that. Hushovd was beaten yesterday too but did he throw his lid out of the bus door? Did he drop his bike on the drivetrain side? No.

No to be fair he has spent the last two finishes trying to knock other people off their bikes then probably complaining about Cav's line changes.