If you were Cavendish...

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited September 2011 in Pro race
Who would you be offering cheques to in the next couple of days?
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
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Comments

  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    Several years ago it was €15k a man for help at the worlds. Can't see Sky wanting the heat around any hint of a pay off. Especially given the trouble News Int are in.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Austria, Belarus, Sweden and Poland.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    Several years ago it was €15k a man for help at the worlds. Can't see Sky wanting the heat around any hint of a pay off. Especially given the trouble News Int are in.

    No need. Just keep it in-house. Barry, Loftvist and Eisel (all been at HTC and (according to rumour) Sky riders with no-one credible to ride for). Maybe Siutsou too, if Hautorovich isn't going well.

    Looking at the GB team though, I'm not sure he'll need them.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    This is the world champs - the GB team is average, they all seem pretty tired, a couple of riders are off to different teams so not as straight forward as you think.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    I trust if this should happen, Dave Brailsford will provide the details of the riders whose services were paid for to their respective national federations so the offending riders can be banned from representing their country for life.

    It seems only fair.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    Several years ago it was €15k a man for help at the worlds. Can't see Sky wanting the heat around any hint of a pay off. Especially given the trouble News Int are in.

    There'd only be heat if it didn't work.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    This is the world champs - the GB team is average, they all seem pretty tired, a couple of riders are off to different teams so not as straight forward as you think.

    The GB team really isn't average. At least not as team to specifically serve Cavendish's needs. Millar, Wiggins, Froome, Stannard, Thomas - that's a lot of big engines to chase down breaks and set up a lead-out. Hunt and Cummings are no slouches either.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,653
    RichN95 wrote:
    Rodrego Hernandez wrote:
    This is the world champs - the GB team is average, they all seem pretty tired, a couple of riders are off to different teams so not as straight forward as you think.

    The GB team really isn't average. At least not as team to specifically serve Cavendish's needs. Millar, Wiggins, Froome, Stannard, Thomas - that's a lot of big engines to chase down breaks and set up a lead-out. Hunt and Cummings are no slouches either.

    Certainly a team that could do an incredible amount of damage in a TTT (once they'd dropped Cav...)

    But it is all eggs in one basket and one day races are far more difficult to control than stages.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    They won't be the only team hoping it ends in a sprint. Australia, Germany and the USA will all be working for that conclusion.
  • mouth
    mouth Posts: 1,195
    GB seem to have a bit of everything and I can't see them needing any help TBH.
    The only disability in life is a poor attitude.
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Be interesting to see what tactics the other nations with fancied sprinters adopt. Cav is just so dominant that they might play chicken with GB over who burns their riders pulling it back for a bunch sprint.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • dougzz
    dougzz Posts: 1,833
    andyp wrote:
    They won't be the only team hoping it ends in a sprint. Australia, Germany and the USA will all be working for that conclusion.

    Do you think any of them rate their chances to beat Cav in a sprint at more than about 10%. I think they all need to force some sort of selection, if the tactic is to beat Cav in a sprint that's unlikely to work.
  • lostboysaint
    lostboysaint Posts: 4,250
    dougzz wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    They won't be the only team hoping it ends in a sprint. Australia, Germany and the USA will all be working for that conclusion.

    Do you think any of them rate their chances to beat Cav in a sprint at more than about 10%. I think they all need to force some sort of selection, if the tactic is to beat Cav in a sprint that's unlikely to work.

    That!
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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    dougzz wrote:
    Do you think any of them rate their chances to beat Cav in a sprint at more than about 10%. I think they all need to force some sort of selection, if the tactic is to beat Cav in a sprint that's unlikely to work.

    There's a bit of a slope in the finale (nothing massive), so a power sprinter may fancy his chances
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Hushovd, Sagan, Freire?....

    Would be great if they cut a deal with the Belgians - We won't chase Pip down if you help us keep it together if he's not away.


    Uuuunlikely though.

    Then again, it's a dangerous game to play.
    _
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    The reports of people who've ridden the course say it's flat. Very very flat. Even the "climbs" are lame.

    Booooo
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Have you not watched the video, Iain? One of the big hills on the profile is a motorway bridge. :lol:
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    RichN95 wrote:
    dougzz wrote:
    Do you think any of them rate their chances to beat Cav in a sprint at more than about 10%. I think they all need to force some sort of selection, if the tactic is to beat Cav in a sprint that's unlikely to work.

    There's a bit of a slope in the finale (nothing massive), so a power sprinter may fancy his chances

    Exactly. The likes of Hushovd, Goss, Farrar etc are all going to think they have a chance against Cavendish on an uphill finish like this.
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    How uphill is it - is it the same finish the junior women and the the under 23 men are going to finish on today ?
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Not very. A drag at best
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Tom Butcher wrote:
    How uphill is it - is it the same finish the junior women and the the under 23 men are going to finish on today ?

    It is. 500 metres at 5% on a dual carriageway.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    iainf72 wrote:
    The reports of people who've ridden the course say it's flat. Very very flat. Even the "climbs" are lame.

    Booooo

    Unibet have Cav at 15/2.

    Worth a punt?
    _
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Looking at the junior race it did look a relatively hard finish - OK so maybe junior women don't go up hills quite as well as the senior men but a few of them looked more like they were climbing than sprinting.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Tom Butcher wrote:
    Looking at the junior race it did look a relatively hard finish - OK so maybe junior women don't go up hills quite as well as the senior men but a few of them looked more like they were climbing than sprinting.

    Without wishing to appear the slightest bit arsey, the performance gap between the junior women and the Elite men is enormous. The U23 race today will be a better indicator of how hilly it is.

    I think one of the Danish forums had a thread about how the "official" lap profile had been produced using an uncompensated GPS and the reality is quite different (read flatter) in a couple of key areas, particularly the climb after the start / finish line.

    I spoke to someone who rode the course yesterday and said the "climbs" were really just drags - they expect the Elite race to be very fast. The only impact the drags will have is by virtue of the fact that they have to go over them 18 times. Fatigue rather than climbing ability will make for any splits. I suspect Pip will have to wait until 2012 in Valkenberg for his title.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Exactly, it's hard to draw conclusions based on the junior women - but - there was enough to suggest that the finish might disadvantage sprinters who like a pan flat sprint. I don't think anyone has suggested that it's a course for any kind of climber.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Not sure how anyone can say the GB Team is average. Any team that has the worlds best sprinter in and a recent GT Podium placer must surely be above average.

    It would be foolhardy for any nation to try their luck against Cav in a sprint - he would win 80% of the time. So its got to be that they'll try plenty of breakaways. And Team GB will chase selected ones down and let others go. Its a lottery but Cavs got to have a better chance than almost anyone else.

    (and he was 11-1 on Betfair earlier in the week)
  • thamacdaddy
    thamacdaddy Posts: 590
    Team GB are super strong, I can't see another team with the same level of guys working for a sprinter anywhere else? Wiggins, Stanard, Millar, Thomas etc. That's not average and Cav knows it and feels the pressure of responsibility to deliver:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cycling/15020262.stm

    I put a bet on days ago as he is third fav behind gilbert and sagan, doesn't match with what riders are saying about the course i.e. bunch gallop.

    It's about keeping the breaks controlled and let cav do the rest. Gilbert defo gonna try something from 1km out.

    EDIT: teams with an equal amount of power to control the race would seem to be Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. But I would still say GB is as good as any other team there.
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    Has Sagan won anything over this kind of distance ? It's a war of attrition.
    http://tinyurl.com/332edp
    http://tinyurl.com/2nu7r3
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Is it though ? If its a flattish course - he'll just be following the wheels ?
  • pat1cp
    pat1cp Posts: 766
    260km makes anyone tired.
    http://tinyurl.com/332edp
    http://tinyurl.com/2nu7r3

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