What's the deal with Cav?

Vino'sGhost

davebradswmb wrote:

I don't understand how Cav's personality comes into the equation. All I expect of my sporting heroes is that they perform exceptionally and make watching sport exciting. George Best was an idiot off the pitch, but on it he was something else. And as far as cycling goes I think you will struggle to find someone more unpleasant than Pantani, but he was the most popular cyclist in his day.

The best of Cavendish's wins was when he lost his lead out train and simply jumped from wheel to wheel to suddenly appear at the front going about twice as fast as the next rider. Simply astonishing. His winning days may be over and there will be others to take his place (currently Groenewegen is looking very strong) but I think it will be a long time before we get a sprinter as exciting to watch as Cavendish.

One of my fave races was when he did a massive move to catch the break in the Nationals, he wasnt using anyones wheels. proper racing.three or 4 years ago?

curium

He's going to struggle to make the timeout on stage 11. Race radio has him out the back and on his own.

alanparsons

curium wrote:

He's going to struggle to make the timeout on stage 11. Race radio has him out the back and on his own.

Looks like he has been eliminated/abandoned, he has disappeared from all the standings.
Edit DNF

https://www.letour.fr/en/rider/131/team ... -cavendish

mrfpb

alanparsons wrote:

curium wrote:

He's going to struggle to make the timeout on stage 11. Race radio has him out the back and on his own.

Looks like he has been eliminated/abandoned, he has disappeared from all the standings.
Edit DNF

https://www.letour.fr/en/rider/131/team ... -cavendish

Renshaw and Kittel also eliminated by the time cut. Is this where the Kittel/Cav era officially ends?

Lanterne_Rogue

alanparsons wrote:

curium wrote:

He's going to struggle to make the timeout on stage 11. Race radio has him out the back and on his own.

Looks like he has been eliminated/abandoned, he has disappeared from all the standings.
Edit DNF

https://www.letour.fr/en/rider/131/team ... -cavendish

Edit: hors delai - he rolled in over an hour later, but finished the stage. The BBC report accuses him of "failing to tough it out", which I think is outrageous - finishing well outside the cut, knowing you're outside the cut for a long time beforehand, but refusing to climb off is "toughing it out" by any rational definition and several irrational ones on top.

gweeds

The BBC are fast becoming a national joke

Lanterne_Rogue

On reflection, actually, doing that kind of has the feel of someone who knows he might not be back at the Tour again. Maybe this time he is (whisper it) finished?

Pross

Sign of his character that, not many would have completed the stage knowing they were going home anyway. The cameramen were lucky he was so knackered or I suspect he'd have rightly chinned them.

DeVlaeminck

He needs to sit down and think is this a case of poor/disrupted preparation, illness or is it just age and a longish career catching up with him? It's easy to think he's finished but is Kittel also washed up?

Of course Cav's problem may be finding a decent team willing to pay him anything like the money he's been used to even if he does think he can enjoy an Indian summer to his career.

imposter2.0

DeVlaeminck wrote:

He needs to sit down and think is this a case of poor/disrupted preparation, illness or is it just age and a longish career catching up with him? It's easy to think he's finished but is Kittel also washed up?

Of course Cav's problem may be finding a decent team willing to pay him anything like the money he's been used to even if he does think he can enjoy an Indian summer to his career.

Greipel is three years older than Cav and still in the tour, so the 'age' thing is difficult to argue in that context...

RichN95.

Both Kittel and Cavendish have recently had to deal with season destroying illnesses. It's got to be hard to come back from, particularly at his age.

tailwindhome

2007 was the last year without Kittel, Cavendish or Greipel winning a stage

G Hincapie

underlayunderlay wrote:

The BBC report accuses him of "failing to tough it out", which I think is outrageous

Perhaps the BBC ought to get on a bike and ride the stage; their perspective may change...

shirley_basso

From the spoiler thread:

RichN95 wrote:

Millar had a nice story about Cavendish on the ITV podcast. He said he went down to somewhere called 'diversion' near the finish (probably where the vehicles pull off) to see Cavendish finish and he found Rod Ellingworth there. He asked Ellingworth why he was there and he said he felt a little bit responsible for it as he'd drilled into him as a junior that you always finish a race. And despite all Sky's success today he made time to clap Cavendish across the line.

G Hincapie

RichN95 wrote:

Both Kittel and Cavendish have recently had to deal with season destroying illnesses. It's got to be hard to come back from, particularly at his age.

He's 33 not 63.

mfin

Lovely day for cycling today both for fans of G and for fans of not liking Cav.

Lanterne_Rogue

Shirley Basso wrote:

From the spoiler thread:

RichN95 wrote:

Millar had a nice story about Cavendish on the ITV podcast. He said he went down to somewhere called 'diversion' near the finish (probably where the vehicles pull off) to see Cavendish finish and he found Rod Ellingworth there. He asked Ellingworth why he was there and he said he felt a little bit responsible for it as he'd drilled into him as a junior that you always finish a race. And despite all Sky's success today he made time to clap Cavendish across the line.

He's also written about it here:
https://chpt3.com/blogs/journal/well-done-mark

Worth it just for the following quote:

He told me he was the fastest sprinter in the world. He’d just won a bunch sprint in Berlin and put 20m into the next guy. I thought he was insane and overweight.

G Hincapie

underlayunderlay wrote:

Shirley Basso wrote:

From the spoiler thread:

RichN95 wrote:

Millar had a nice story about Cavendish on the ITV podcast. He said he went down to somewhere called 'diversion' near the finish (probably where the vehicles pull off) to see Cavendish finish and he found Rod Ellingworth there. He asked Ellingworth why he was there and he said he felt a little bit responsible for it as he'd drilled into him as a junior that you always finish a race. And despite all Sky's success today he made time to clap Cavendish across the line.

He's also written about it here:
https://chpt3.com/blogs/journal/well-done-mark

Worth it just for the following quote:

He told me he was the fastest sprinter in the world. He’d just won a bunch sprint in Berlin and put 20m into the next guy. I thought he was insane and overweight.

That is actually a pretty good read. Mr Millar writes well I think. Thanks for the link.

bigmat

Cav's had an awful couple of years, hasn't he? I still think he could get back to a level capable of winning staged. Problem is, he needs to find a team willing to give him the money and the leadout. He could take a hit on salary maybe, but will also need support to really compete. Wh would be willing to build a leadout train around him? Staying at DD may be the best option, but he'd need some new faces based on this year's showings.

TheBigBean

Hopefully he'll ride the Vuelta.

Vino'sGhost

theres always chipper races round Castle Coome. There are no hills for him to worry about there.

bigmitch41

Hats off Cav, hopefully He can come back to His stage winning days! Nice words from Millar too.

RichN95.

He left a leaving present for Chris Froome

Ben6899

G Hincapie wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Both Kittel and Cavendish have recently had to deal with season destroying illnesses. It's got to be hard to come back from, particularly at his age.

He's 33 not 63.

And it was glandular fever; not a head cold.

Pross

Wouldn't be at all surprised to hear he was ill again. These things can flare back up.

kingstonian

Ben6899 wrote:

G Hincapie wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Both Kittel and Cavendish have recently had to deal with season destroying illnesses. It's got to be hard to come back from, particularly at his age.

He's 33 not 63.

And it was glandular fever; not a head cold.

Yep, it can absolutely destroy your fitness. Really tough to get over - I know because it hit me when I was 19 and took me a few years to fully get over it.

pblakeney

Imposter wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

He needs to sit down and think is this a case of poor/disrupted preparation, illness or is it just age and a longish career catching up with him? It's easy to think he's finished but is Kittel also washed up?

Of course Cav's problem may be finding a decent team willing to pay him anything like the money he's been used to even if he does think he can enjoy an Indian summer to his career.

Greipel is three years older than Cav and still in the tour, so the 'age' thing is difficult to argue in that context...

Not necessarily so...

RichN95.

Kingstonian wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

G Hincapie wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Both Kittel and Cavendish have recently had to deal with season destroying illnesses. It's got to be hard to come back from, particularly at his age.

He's 33 not 63.

And it was glandular fever; not a head cold.

Yep, it can absolutely destroy your fitness. Really tough to get over - I know because it hit me when I was 19 and took me a few years to fully get over it.

It's basically killed Benat Intxausti's career. He's barely raced for three years.

G Hincapie

I really hope I am reading that wrong, but I looked at this and thought 'He's eluding to retirement'.

m.r.m.

Don't think so. Think it's more literal with him not climbing off, but rather doggedly finishing the stage like a true champ.