Should Mark Cavendish swallow his pride and retire?

roypsb

I haven’t seen any congratulatory posts from Sam Bennett which strikes me as a bit strange. I checked his Twitter feed and sure enough, nothing. I wonder if there is beef between them.

Lanterne_Rogue

TheBigBean said:

Mad_Malx said:

Can’t see how making it an actual lottery improves matters

It would have stopped the 2016 Vuelta rest day and made it a race. Essentially the riders were saying that the organisers won't throw out that many riders, because otherwise it wouldn't be a race, so what could they do? Removing points wouldn't encourage them either, but a bit of decimation might have.

Not sure you can start removing riders from a competition depending on how lucky they are*: it'd turn the whole thing into a farce.

* Exhibit A: Geraint Thomas

tailwindhome

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

DeVlaeminck

I wouldn't no - each to there own but is Merckx seen as less of a rider because his career petered out?

If he feels he no longer wants to put the work in or take the risks then get out otherwise so long as someone is paying him and he's not got something better to do with his life why not go on as long as possible.

RichN95.

TheBigBean said:

Mad_Malx said:

Can’t see how making it an actual lottery improves matters

It would have stopped the 2016 Vuelta rest day and made it a race. Essentially the riders were saying that the organisers won't throw out that many riders, because otherwise it wouldn't be a race, so what could they do? Removing points wouldn't encourage them either, but a bit of decimation might have.

On that occasion the time limit was so unrealistic that it was obvious fairly early that they wouldn't make it so the peloton decided missing it by 20 minutes was the same as missing it by one minute.

This is a rarity. I don't see the benefit to the sport of expelling large amounts of riders.

RichN95.

roypsb said:

I haven’t seen any congratulatory posts from Sam Bennett which strikes me as a bit strange. I checked his Twitter feed and sure enough, nothing. I wonder if there is beef between them.

Not everything has to be in the public domain. I'm sure he has his mobile number.

TheBigBean

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

If I were him, I would have retired ages ago. I like an easy life.; however, I much prefer sports stars to carry on until they are in decline.

kingstongraham

TheBigBean said:

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

If I were him, I would have retired ages ago. I like an easy life.; however, I much prefer sports stars to carry on until they are in decline.

...and then to win stages in le tour.

joe_totale-2

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

A big factor would be whether Quickstep would be happy to have Cav on board for another year and if the sponsor who is paying for Cav to be at the team this year is willing to fund Cav for another season.

I imagine his results may mean that other teams may be interested again using what happened last time as a guide, I doubt Cav would achieve much at another team.

mrfpb

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

I can't say I saw that coming.

TheBigBean

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

If I were him, I would have retired ages ago. I like an easy life.; however, I much prefer sports stars to carry on until they are in decline.

...and then to win stages in le tour.

Maybe I should rephrase it a bit. I don't think Steve Davis playing snooker at 50 or Teddy Sheringham playing premier league football at 41 affected what I thought of their careers in any way. I actually admired them for carrying on playing a game they love. I wouldn't, however, have cared if they both retired a year earlier.

On the other hand, I find people that retire at their peak e.g. Cantona and others that I have forgotten about, to be a bit annoying as they deprive the viewer of the full story and the entertainment. However, to criticise would be ridiculous as I hope to retire as soon as I possibly can.

pblakeney

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

If I were him, I would have retired ages ago. I like an easy life.; however, I much prefer sports stars to carry on until they are in decline.

...and then to win stages in le tour.

Maybe I should rephrase it a bit. I don't think Steve Davis playing snooker at 50 or Teddy Sheringham playing premier league football at 41 affected what I thought of their careers in any way. I actually admired them for carrying on playing a game they love. I wouldn't, however, have cared if they both retired a year earlier.

On the other hand, I find people that retire at their peak e.g. Cantona and others that I have forgotten about, to be a bit annoying as they deprive the viewer of the full story and the entertainment. However, to criticise would be ridiculous as I hope to retire as soon as I possibly can.

Bjorn Borg being the prime example. Retired at 26.

davidof

TheBigBean said:

On the other hand, I find people that retire at their peak e.g. Cantona and others that I have forgotten about, to be a bit annoying as they deprive the viewer of the full story and the entertainment.

oh we still have to put up with the idiot in France.

amrushton

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

Absolutely. Finish right at the top after a comeback no one had scripted. if he takes the Paris stage and/or the Green jersey - fantastic but if he breaks or evens the record it cannot get better. If he takes another year and could be sick, get injured or up against some Pogacar/MvDP sprint star who suddenly emerges. Merlier could be that guy. Look at Ewan, he's good but smashed on the road. If cav stands on that podium in 2021 and says adieu, I'd say Chapeau and Bon Voyage. he could be an ambassador for Nike,Oakley and Specialized and Richard Mille just for a start.

kingstongraham

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

If I were him, I would have retired ages ago. I like an easy life.; however, I much prefer sports stars to carry on until they are in decline.

...and then to win stages in le tour.

Maybe I should rephrase it a bit. I don't think Steve Davis playing snooker at 50 or Teddy Sheringham playing premier league football at 41 affected what I thought of their careers in any way. I actually admired them for carrying on playing a game they love. I wouldn't, however, have cared if they both retired a year earlier.

On the other hand, I find people that retire at their peak e.g. Cantona and others that I have forgotten about, to be a bit annoying as they deprive the viewer of the full story and the entertainment. However, to criticise would be ridiculous as I hope to retire as soon as I possibly can.

Absolutely agree. I remember watching Neil Webb when he played for Aldershot Town in 1996. Marvellous. We played Croydon that season, and they had Kenny Sansom.

notquite6foot

tailwindhome said:

If you took the 35th win in Paris would you take the Disney ending and call it a day?

Slightly outdated win tallies here:

https://twitter.com/CafeRoubaix/status/1383756054295580678

Greipel now 5th on 158 and Cav =7th with Petacchi on 153 (to still have fewer wins than Sean Kelly (great as he was) is a surprise)

Winning another 14 races (inc. 6+ more than Greipel hereon) is probably a longshot, but it'll be interesting to see where he finally ends up.

mrfpb said:

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

Two stage wins (so far) after the brink of retirement not enough for you?

Dorset_Boy

mrfpb said:

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

I can't say I saw that coming.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Simon Yates took a stage in the Pyrenees. He's not in bad shape and is there to stage hunt.

joe_totale-2

mrfpb said:

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

I can't say I saw that coming.

Dan McLay is in a strong position for the Lanterne Rouge

mrfpb

Dorset_Boy said:

mrfpb said:

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

I can't say I saw that coming.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Simon Yates took a stage in the Pyrenees. He's not in bad shape and is there to stage hunt.

Good point.

Any chance that Cav will try for the World's in Flanders?

daniel_b

mrfpb said:

Dorset_Boy said:

mrfpb said:

So now Mark Cavendish seems to be the last hope for a British success story at this years Tour.

I can't say I saw that coming.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Simon Yates took a stage in the Pyrenees. He's not in bad shape and is there to stage hunt.

Good point.

Any chance that Cav will try for the World's in Flanders?

Is it not too hilly - would he even be in with a chance to be picked I wonder?

ddraver

Surprising to day it eh, but who would you pick ahead of him at the moment..? 😵‍💫

bigmat

ddraver said:

Surprising to day it eh, but who would you pick ahead of him at the moment..? 😵‍💫

Hayter, Pidcock, Swift B, , Swift C, Rowe, Wright would all be good picks. How many spots do we get this year?

Pross

bigmat said:

ddraver said:

Surprising to day it eh, but who would you pick ahead of him at the moment..? 😵‍💫

Hayter, Pidcock, Swift B, , Swift C, Rowe, Wright would all be good picks. How many spots do we get this year?

Thomas has some previous good form in that area assuming he recovers.

joe_totale-2

Jake Stewart came second in the Omloop this year so is worth considering

takethehighroad

The Worlds are pretty much a similar course to Brabants Pijl, which Pidcock won this year.

And they took Pidcock to the Worlds last year for experience, so I assume it's all in for him. He's doing the Vuelta too, to get the base miles

kingstongraham

There's not a yard of flat for the last 200km of this years worlds.

daniel_b

Has to be Pidcock you would assume.

No_Ta_Doctor

I'm looking forward to the mini cobbled classics season this autumn. The world's route is a Flandrian type of thing, and it's followed by Paris Roubaix the weekend after. I'm expecting the usual suspects to be targeting this *very* heavily. Not sure what team numbers look like, but if Holland and Belgium have numbers then the Vans are strong favourites.

Denmark won't have so many places, I think, but have strong riders to fill them.

cruff

Your daily reminder of 'threads that aged well'...

ugo.santalucia

He should have retired a couple of years ago, this is getting ridiculous...