Cav is ill - Epstein-Barr virus

salsiccia1

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mark-cavendish-diagnosed-with-epstein-barr-virus/



That'll basically put an end to this season, won't it?

RichN95.

It tends to wipe out a season.

Quite a few cyclists seem to get this. Are they more susceptible to it or do more 'regular' people get it than I realise?

stretchy

He's finished

graeme_s-2

RichN95 wrote:

It tends to wipe out a season.

Quite a few cyclists seem to get this. Are they more susceptible to it or do more 'regular' people get it than I realise?

Might be that they're more likely to realise that they have it, where regular people are more likely to struggle on feeling tired and run down until it clears up by itself?

I had a friend at Uni who was a pretty good runner who had a terrible year where his training was rubbish and he didn't win anything and he eventually discovered that he had glandular fever. They reckoned he'd had it for a yearish before it was diagnosed.

Dorset_Boy

Picked up as part of a regular blood test. Plus elite athletes push their bodies way further than normal peeps so put greater strain on everything.
He'll be a frustrated bunny.

gweeds

Can't see a TDF run this year then. I had this at 15 and it wiped me out for a year and put me back into the year below. Can be really nasty.

rick_chasey

Bummer. Sprint heavy Tour too.

Fill ya boots Kittel

herb71

My son had this a few years ago when he was 15. He was a very good competitive swimmer at the time. It took him 2 years to recover.

Most of us get it, but perhaps because you aren't training at the level of an elite athlete, you might not even notice.

He was never really ill, but was struggling to make the times and had some tests to rule out anything sinister, which was when they picked it up.

DeVlaeminck

Apparently we nearly all have had the virus at some time

keef66

I know a few people who had it either at school or uni and lost an entire year. Not sure if it's just a random thing or if it's more likely when we're stressed.

I know shingles seems to be triggered by stress; I got that in the first few weeks of leaving home and going to uni. (Back in the day when you went to study rather than party and avoid employment)

jimmythecuckoo

Chris Froome has had this no?

He must have caught it when they were at Sky being all naughty.

(This is a joke btw)

awavey

yeah had a friend at uni, who was keen runner, who picked it up and it knocked her out for a whole year too, its not something that theres a quick fix for, still wouldnt surprise me if Cav still made the startline for TdF but I suspect wont make it to Paris or maybe much beyond the first week.

gweeds

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Chris Froome has had this no?

He must have caught it when they were at Sky being all naughty.

(This is a joke btw)

He had Bilharsia which I think is from a waterborne parasite...

andyp

Poor Benat Inxausti (of Sky) has raced 15 days in the past 18 months because of this. Let's hope Cavendish doesn't have it as bad as he has.

No_Ta_Doctor

I had this once and ended up managing The Beatles and appearing on an American sit-com alongside John Goodman.

gweeds

Hat

johnnymcg259

Sadly that'll be the 2017 season done for Cav.
Not getting any younger either...................

kingstonian

Feel sorry for him. I felt just awful when I had it, and it trashed my fitness for best part of a year.

velogee

Really interesting to read peoples comments of this. I got it in my last year of Uni and it totally wiped me out. There's not a lot that can be done other than to just rest up and let it pass. That said, I've never felt like I've fully recovered from it.

Robb0

I got it 5 years ago and it really knocked me out. Took me a good 18 months to recover from it and the resulting post-viral fatigue syndrome / chronic fatigue syndrome. I did get my cycling back to where I was, actually better, than before. But everybody's different.

davidof

Had it. Strangely the effects are less severe if you are self employed and not a top level athlete.

ExCyclist

No tA Doctor wrote:

I had this once and ended up managing The Beatles and appearing on an American sit-com alongside John Goodman.

Very good

kingstonian

davidof wrote:

Had it. Strangely the effects are less severe if you are self employed and not a top level athlete.

when I had it I was 18 and a strong junior triathlete, and I was desperate to get back into training but it took me 6 months before I went out on my first bike ride. Must either affect people differently, or there are different strains of the virus, or both.

phreak

Cav raced in the Tour of Slovenia last week. Will that be enough for him to give a good account of himself at the Tour?

gweeds

As that was his first race since M-SR I'd say not (bearing in mind he'll be coming up against Kittel et al in peak form) but you can't ever write him off.

bompington

It's highly variable - effects range from "wiped out for years" to absolutely nothing.

Some blood test or other did reveal that I'd had it at some point - I must have been on the "absolutely nothing" end of the spectrum.

takethehighroad

They'd be mad to not take him, and I'd be surprised if he factored in any of the first week sprints, but to get second to Sam Bennett is a good sign and he may come good in the later stages.

He needed 2 or 3 this year to get close to the Merckx record, and for me that's gone now. Shame, as I would have loved to see him do it.

He's not finished though

TheBigBean

On the plus side his team won't be expected to do much work.

squired

You'd have to imagine that he'll be desperate to go to the Tour, even if he could only last a week. Conversely, for his team just the coverage they'd get from him being in the race (irrespective of results) will mean good exposure for their sponsors. Having said that, my one concern would be that if he is slightly off the pace he might do something silly in a sprint and end up involved in a bad crash.

Do we know if Steve Cummings is likely to be ready for the Tour? If he isn't they could be sending a pretty mediocre squad to the Tour. I guess EBH could be good for a result.

gsk82

If he does go is he likely to improve as the race goes on our deteriorate? As easy as this route looks i can't see him getting to Paris.

Richmond Racer 2

Reckon DiData will wait to see how he goes in Sun in his home Nats