Should Mark Cavendish swallow his pride and retire?

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Comments

  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,601
    davidof wrote:
    wombly knees wrote:
    Think he's hurting his legacy by staying on chasing a record which may or may not be attainable. I'm betting he won't get it. At least with Contador, who stayed on a bit beyond his use by date by his standards (IMO), he could chase stages or animate races by trying crazy attacks.

    Contador's last season was not too shabby though, at least he was in the mix a lot of the time with some good overall results and wins.

    He was getting beat by Froomes domestiques
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,124
    gsk82 wrote:
    davidof wrote:
    wombly knees wrote:
    Think he's hurting his legacy by staying on chasing a record which may or may not be attainable. I'm betting he won't get it. At least with Contador, who stayed on a bit beyond his use by date by his standards (IMO), he could chase stages or animate races by trying crazy attacks.

    Contador's last season was not too shabby though, at least he was in the mix a lot of the time with some good overall results and wins.

    He was getting beat by Froomes domestiques

    well if you hire a load of GT leaders as domestiques there is a good chance they will beat other riders.
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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    davidof wrote:
    gsk82 wrote:
    davidof wrote:
    wombly knees wrote:
    Think he's hurting his legacy by staying on chasing a record which may or may not be attainable. I'm betting he won't get it. At least with Contador, who stayed on a bit beyond his use by date by his standards (IMO), he could chase stages or animate races by trying crazy attacks.

    Contador's last season was not too shabby though, at least he was in the mix a lot of the time with some good overall results and wins.

    He was getting beat by Froomes domestiques

    well if you hire a load of GT leaders as domestiques there is a good chance they will beat other riders.

    To be fair, everyone else in this year's Tour de France got beaten by Froome's domestiques.
  • natrix
    natrix Posts: 1,111
    Judging by results at the 6 day in London, then maybe not..............
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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Which reminds me:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    For whose benefit would his retirement be? Yours because you don't like it when he doesn't win?

    As long as he wants to carry on riding and someone is willing to give him a contract, good luck to him.

    And your point about Viviani implying he was past it which is why he is moving down a grade by going to Cofidis - he is 30, and in THIS YEAR's Tour, he had four stages in the top 3 including a stage win. Stage wins in the 2018 Giro, 2018 Vuelta and 2019 TdF. Think he's doing OK actually, and more a statement by Cofidis that they want to go up a level.

    Confirmed today Cofidis are going up to WT level.
  • anjasola
    anjasola Posts: 145
    No
  • New_Old_Stock
    New_Old_Stock Posts: 26
    He's good in the commentary box. IMO.
  • cruff
    cruff Posts: 1,518
    "Cav's finished"
    "It's all a bit sad"
    "He keeps making excuses"

    Says Internet Forum Person whose experience of racing is probably a cat 4 crit at Hillingdon and finishing 130th in a sportive

    Cav will retire when he's ready to retire. He's been proving people wrong since he turned up as a little fat bloke at the velodrome 18 years ago. Wouldn't be a surprise if he does it again next year.

    And - more to the point - only in this country could we possibly have people who think he's somehow tarnishing his legacy by attempting to eke every little bit out of his career at the top that he can. Something peculiar about the British psyche.
    Fat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
    Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.
  • yellowv2
    yellowv2 Posts: 282
    pross said:

    Sad joke? The guy contracted Epstein Barr Virus and still hasn't recovered. Maybe he'll never make it back to winning ways but I think he's earned the right to decide for himself when to retire or to at least get to a position where a team is no longer prepared to give him that chance.

    Absolutely this. He's been a fantastic rider and may yet find another win, if not so be it but nothing to stop him trying if he enjoys it and BTW that goes for VR in Moto gp too!
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    I think his contract is heavily performance based this year - so good luck to the guy.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,656
    Ellingworth on why he disagrees with the OP.
    https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ellingworth-the-easy-option-would-be-not-signing-mark-cavendish/
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • flite
    flite Posts: 226
    edited November 2019
    Wrong thread!
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    What bothers me is you guys seem to think you have some sort of a "vote" in whether he retires. Has nothing to do with you. You don't get a say in it.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    dennisn said:

    What bothers me is you guys seem to think you have some sort of a "vote" in whether he retires. Has nothing to do with you. You don't get a say in it.

    Oh, Dennis. If we could only talk about things we could actually influence I think I would be rather boring. No-one here or anywhere wants to know how to cut their car insurance
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    RichN95. said:

    dennisn said:

    What bothers me is you guys seem to think you have some sort of a "vote" in whether he retires. Has nothing to do with you. You don't get a say in it.

    Oh, Dennis. If we could only talk about things we could actually influence I think I would be rather boring. No-one here or anywhere wants to know how to cut their car insurance
    That firm is like "the firm". No-one ever seems to leave.
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  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    Oh, dennis, indeed...
    I adore dennisn and will fight (in a non confrontational or in any way aggressive manner) anyone who thinks otherwise.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTz5-tKmM4

    My missus also complains about how long it takes for me to reach for my tools.
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    edited November 2019
    ocdupalais said:

    Oh, dennis, indeed...
    I adore dennisn and will fight (in a non confrontational or in any way aggressive manner) anyone who thinks otherwise.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTz5-tKmM4

    My missus also complains about how long it takes for me to reach for my tools- or the point.

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344
    RichN95. said:

    No-one here or anywhere wants to know how to cut their car insurance

    Well.....mine is up for renewal so I do for one. 🤣
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
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  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 8,151
    No thoughts on the matter it's down to him and the teams, just the fact a quick search would have found this thread.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,726
    Not sure what happened to him today. Could have been a mechanical, could have been no legs.
    Long gone even before the final sprint.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,313
    Rebellin is 48 and still racing... just saying...

    If he still enjoys racing and can find a team that gives him a contract, then good for him and I don't see the problem... cycling is not like swimming or gymnastics... you are never too old to compete
    left the forum March 2023
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475
    Doubt that applies to Cavendish or to a sprinter. If he doesn't provide wins, he is dead weight.
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344
    I doubt Cav in his current form would start TdF stage 8, so I doubt he will be selected to go. Any other goals worth him chasing?
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    blazing_saddles said:

    Not sure what happened to him today. Could have been a mechanical, could have been no legs.
    Long gone even before the final sprint.

    Mechanical before the final circuit according to his Insta
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,106
    I've always been one to say he should keep racing - I still think he should if he enjoys it but I wouldn't be taking him to the Tour except perhaps if I had very little else and it was just for his celebrity status. Caught up last night with the sprint from a couple of days ago and he just doesn't seem able to hold his position at the sharp end - whether he's lost a bit of fearlessness, some legs or whatever hard to say but it's too much of a pattern to be bad luck.
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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    If someone's willing to pay him to go around the world riding his bike, I say fair play to him. Not like there's much else he could be doing.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344
    kingstongraham said:

    If someone's willing to pay him to go around the world riding his bike, I say fair play to him. Not like there's much else he could be doing.

    There is this, but I think some still believe that he can compete at the top level.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475
    It really doesn't look like it anymore. Maybe it would make sense for him to ride as a leadout (for race fitness) and just put all his eggs in the basket of the Olympics next year (for the track).
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Is it me or does it feel like having a top flight sprinter is out of fashion? I used to look forward to the sprint battles in the Tour but I have no interest in it anymore. It might just be that with the lockdown it has been a long time since we had a bunch sprint in an important race I suppose.

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