Where SHOULD have Cav gone?

Coach H

Richj wrote:

What makes me uneasy is, Sky came into Pro Cycling saying the aim was to win the Tour with a British rider in the next 5 years, I must admit at the time I thought, no chance! but with Wiggins performance in the Vuelta and Froome's I think they have a real chance in 2012. In my view bringing in Cav jeopardises this goal.

But didn't they also say when launched that they would have loved to have been able to sign Cav then but he was under contract. So perhaps Cav has always been part of the grand plan.

iainf72

Coach H wrote:

But didn't they also say when launched that they would have loved to have been able to sign Cav then but he was under contract. So perhaps Cav has always been part of the grand plan.

Even worse, he'd agreed to sign but then flipped them off at the last minute which threw the whole thing into disarray.

Cavendish and Geraint were always the main target riders.

EKIMIKE

Sky makes sense.

Plenty of big engines for the lead out. Thomas looks nailed on to become lead-out man.

Personally i think that's a great role for Thomas. If he's ever going to win a classic then he'll likely have to out-sprint someone. Who better to learn from? (Cav and Eisel)

Eisel is also good news for Sky in the cobbled classics. Him and Thomas in races like Gent Wevelgem and Paris Roubaix will be dangerous outsiders.

rick_chasey

EKIMIKE wrote:

Sky makes sense.

Plenty of big engines for the lead out. Thomas looks nailed on to become lead-out man.

Personally i think that's a great role for Thomas. If he's ever going to win a classic then he'll likely have to out-sprint someone. Who better to learn from? (Cav and Eisel)

Eisel is also good news for Sky in the cobbled classics. Him and Thomas in races like Gent Wevelgem and Paris Roubaix will be dangerous outsiders.

Thomas was a hero in Flanders.

He was what kept it exciting in the last 10km.

MaxwellBygraves

So what has become of the whole Spesh/Pina thing then?

What will Sky and Cav himself be riding? I'm guessing he has somehow ended his association with Spesh?

Pross

Thing is, his association with Spesh has only been one season. I associate him more with Scott. I think the whole thing is a big red herring to be honest.

Rule74Please

andyp wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

Could have stayed where he was. Cuddly Bob had a sponsor ready to go but lost Cavendish Therefore lost the sponsor.

Would have kept a lot of guys in a job

How many people have actually lost their jobs?

Every rider has got a team for next year for a start.

At the expense of others!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are the mechanics swanies cooks bus drivers promo girls etc going?

Rule74Please

mr_poll wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

Could have stayed where he was. Cuddly Bob had a sponsor ready to go but lost Cavendish Therefore lost the sponsor.

Would have kept a lot of guys in a job

Didn't realise that, which sponsor was that and when did Bob say that?

Press conference called for end of tour then mysteroiusly cancelled?

Read between the lines. No cav on board - now publicity for sponsor ergo no sponsor

Turfle

Rule74Please wrote:

mr_poll wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

Could have stayed where he was. Cuddly Bob had a sponsor ready to go but lost Cavendish Therefore lost the sponsor.

Would have kept a lot of guys in a job

Didn't realise that, which sponsor was that and when did Bob say that?

Press conference called for end of tour then mysteroiusly cancelled?

Read between the lines. No cav on board - now publicity for sponsor ergo no sponsor

Wow. It turns out it WAS all the fault of Cavendish. I for one feel ridiculous for having doubted you.

It does make you wonder what Bob Stapleton was on about here though:

“We went public with our sponsorship search just before the Tour. We were frustrated by the indecision of our title sponsor HTC who, after many months of assurances, had not come forward with a commitment to the team. That indecision remains a mystery to me,”

"We had an agreement in place in principle with a new partner which would have given us a enough funds to operate the team at the same level of the last four years. This deal abruptly collapsed on Sunday night, when I received an email and subsequent phone call from our intended partner.That led us to the conclusion to release our athletes and staff to pursue their career options".

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/htc-hig ... sor-search

mr_poll

Turfle wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

mr_poll wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

Could have stayed where he was. Cuddly Bob had a sponsor ready to go but lost Cavendish Therefore lost the sponsor.

Would have kept a lot of guys in a job

Didn't realise that, which sponsor was that and when did Bob say that?

Press conference called for end of tour then mysteroiusly cancelled?

Read between the lines. No cav on board - now publicity for sponsor ergo no sponsor

Wow. It turns out it WAS all the fault of Cavendish. I for one feel ridiculous for having doubted you.

It does make you wonder what Bob Stapleton was on about here though:

“We went public with our sponsorship search just before the Tour. We were frustrated by the indecision of our title sponsor HTC who, after many months of assurances, had not come forward with a commitment to the team. That indecision remains a mystery to me,”

"We had an agreement in place in principle with a new partner which would have given us a enough funds to operate the team at the same level of the last four years. This deal abruptly collapsed on Sunday night, when I received an email and subsequent phone call from our intended partner.That led us to the conclusion to release our athletes and staff to pursue their career options".

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/htc-hig ... sor-search

That's how I understood it - because thats how it actually happened. In addition Cav is not the only show in town admittedly he is attractive to sponsors but other teams seem to cope without him.

Degenkolb looks very promising and Bob hs done a great job with Tony Martin (who i think might do very well at the TdF this year given the leaked course) and without Cav they could of built the team around Renshaw.

Let's be honest irrespective of Cav, Martin or Renshaw - the economy the world over is screwed, cycling has a reputation issue not helped with the sh1tstorm that may happen when Armstrong is up in court and if the "worlds best current cyclist" gets banned for eating some beef both of which will happen over the next 3-6 months, in the global economy european dominated cycling isnt such an attractive brand. Dont blame Cav when there are so many other issues.

Turfle

Yep. Cav is just an easy target. If he had his way is there any doubt that he'd still be at HTC next year? There is a reason he chose to stay there last year even though he knew Sky wanted him.

Cav, and HTC hung on for as long as they could. When a deal didn't come by the end of July it was time for the non-superstars on the team to make sure they were sorted for 2012.

Cumulonimbus

Cavendish says he decided where he was going on the Saturday. Then the sponsor announced they werent interested on the Sunday. Make of it what you like, Cavendish had hung on for quite a long time.

paggnr

Should of followed Renshaw - we all know he is half the man without the BEST leadout man in the business

lostboysaint

paggnr wrote:

should have followed Renshaw - we all know he is half the man without the BEST leadout man in the business

You're right, he did a great job pulling for him in Copenhagen.................

As for Corney, sorry Rule74 - have you got Oliver Stone lined up to direct the film?

iainf72

lostboysaint wrote:

You're right, he did a great job pulling for him in Copenhagen.................

He had no "lead out" in Copenhagen.

Just sayin'

conceptual_primate

Rule74Please wrote:

andyp wrote:

Rule74Please wrote:

Could have stayed where he was. Cuddly Bob had a sponsor ready to go but lost Cavendish Therefore lost the sponsor.

Would have kept a lot of guys in a job

How many people have actually lost their jobs?

Every rider has got a team for next year for a start.

At the expense of others!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are the mechanics swanies cooks bus drivers promo girls etc going?

Whether that happened as a result of Cav leaving or not, it's not fair to blame that on Cav. I doubt many people would turn down a job because of how it would impact everyone else.

LangerDan

conceptual_primate wrote:

I doubt many people would turn down a job because of how it would impact everyone else.

Tommy Voeckler did last year, when he turned down a previously accepted role with Cofidis as Europcar said they'd withdraw their rescue offer to his former Bbox Bouygues Telecom squad if he left.TBH, it was unfair to put that pressure on a rider but all seems to have worked out in the end.

lostboysaint

iainf72 wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

You're right, he did a great job pulling for him in Copenhagen.................

He had no "lead out" in Copenhagen.

Just sayin'

Bit of a WHOOOSH moment there?

ddraver

Iain does nt know much about sprinting, given him a break!

LeicesterLad

lostboysaint wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

You're right, he did a great job pulling for him in Copenhagen.................

He had no "lead out" in Copenhagen.

Just sayin'

Bit of a WHOOOSH moment there?

Was going to point out poor form from Iain, but wasn't brave enough :oops:

lostboysaint

LeicesterLad wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

You're right, he did a great job pulling for him in Copenhagen.................

He had no "lead out" in Copenhagen.

Just sayin'

Bit of a WHOOOSH moment there?

Was going to point out poor form from Iain, but wasn't brave enough :oops:

He obviously didn't read my original post with a sarcastic enough voice in his head!

iainf72

Blimey, I'm like Cavendish in the alps. A bit slow

LangerDan

For folks in your condition there must be a mental equivalent of hanging onto the back of the team car?

ms_tree

EKIMIKE wrote:

Thomas looks nailed on to become lead-out man./quote]
Why? He's a fine classics rider/break-a-way rider in his own right. Why blight his own chances just to be a lead out.
Anyway hasn't he said next year he's going to concentrate on the track for the Olympics.

andyp

Rule74Please wrote:

At the expense of others!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are the mechanics swanies cooks bus drivers promo girls etc going?

According to this everyone at HTC-High Road now has a job;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-tour ... -cavendish

As for the first comment, how does that differ to any other sector? Competition for jobs is common across all industries.

oldwelshman

bush healthcare and ride more lvrc races !!
Nothing wrong with going to sky, gc and sprints they are strong enough to do both.