Mark Cavendish in final 10 for SPOTY

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  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    RichN95 wrote:
    Timoid. wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    And McCoy, the Andre Greipel of horse racing - lots of 'sh*t small wins', rarely delivers in the big races (although he did this year).

    You may know your cycling, but you know jack sh1t about horse racing. McCoy is the Sean Kelly of cycling. His consitency is frightening. Over 3,000 winners and nearly 300 in one season. And he's won almost every race, including the five monuments of horse racing:

    Champion Hurdle (San Remo), Cheltenham Gold Cup (Flanders), Grand National (Roubaix), King George (Liege), Champion Chase (Lombardy)

    So he's allegedly the best ever, yet in 15 years, he's won (of the 'monuments' you mention)

    Champion Hurdle 3 times (he's done OK there), Gold Cup once, Grand National once, King George once, Champion chase once.

    Pretty poor for someone who gets the pick of the horses.

    Compare to Ruby Walsh (who's been around several years less): Gold Cup twice, Grand National twice, King George four times, Champion Chase three times. Top jockey at Cheltenham five times in the last seven years (something McCoy hasn't done since 1998). There's your Sean Kelly.

    Most of McCoy's wins are the equivalent of local chippers - lots and lots of sh1t small races, little in the way of big wins. Racing's Andre Greipel.


    Ruby is a great jockey and currently the best, but lets take a look at those stats:

    All Gold Cup and King George victories came on one horse, Kauto Star, a once in a lifetime performer. Possibly the greatest since Arkle.

    And McCoy only has the pick of his stable. The prime stable for the past five years has been Paul Nicholls'. And Ruby is his stable jockey.

    PS: I never said that McCoy was the best ever. I said he had a frightening mind numbing consistency over a 15 year period and is one of the all time greats. Thus the Sean Kelly analogy (who also is no the best ever).
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Steve2020
    Steve2020 Posts: 133
    I don't think the British public are as stupid as people like to think. The problem for Cavendish is that he wins stuff that no-one, not even cycling fans, really cares about.

    Sprint stages are interesting to the connoisseur but they don't stir the emotions like a breakaway or mountain win. The only monument he is capable of winning at the moment is MSR and everyone's least favourite outcome for that race, a bunch sprint, is the only way he can win.

    If Britain had a racer like Boonen or Gilbert they might win SPOTY - people would appreciate the achievement. But what Cavendish does is very difficult (and good for sponsors) but essentially quite boring so he will have to do something pretty exceptional (green jersey and worlds say) in a weak year to win.

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