Cavendish to ride in Paris-Tours

Gazzaputt wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

Request to Mr. Cavendish. Please, please, please, please, please, please don't wear white shorts to match your new jersey...

Knowing our Cav it'll be the full white and rainbow bling. And why not.

Look at Thor this year everything was white and rainbow.

He won't wear white shorts, cav prides himself on his style, he made a quip only last week on twitter about not going out riding with dowsett if he wears his white tt champ shorts

andyp wrote:

MrTapir wrote:

it also says he might do Giro di Lombardia, i thought someone said it was "brutal" this year. What a hero.

There's a big difference between starting a race and finishing it.

I hope he does ride it though, having the newly crowned world champion on the start line is always good for the race and the sport.

Cavendish riding Lombardy is totally pointless.

HTC want some World champion airtime with their rider?

Shouldn't have pulled out of the team then eh?

andyp wrote:

Never underestimate the power of RCS in persuading certain riders to ride their races, regardless of their chances.

HTC don't really have a hilly classics rider, and are probably struggling to fill their roster for Lombardy, so having Cavendish turn up, do 100 kms and then abandon at the first feed may suit them.

That's where bike racing starts to irritate me, Why start a race knowing you are not going to finish? What purpose does it serve, same with the Grand Tours. i know they are difficult for the sprinters, but they shouldnt be given a spot if they plan to pull out after the first week. I know its all down to coverage/sponsors/money now, but what happened to racing because you wanted to win, or help somebody win...

LeicesterLad wrote:

andyp wrote:

Never underestimate the power of RCS in persuading certain riders to ride their races, regardless of their chances.

HTC don't really have a hilly classics rider, and are probably struggling to fill their roster for Lombardy, so having Cavendish turn up, do 100 kms and then abandon at the first feed may suit them.

That's where bike racing starts to irritate me, Why start a race knowing you are not going to finish? What purpose does it serve, same with the Grand Tours. i know they are difficult for the sprinters, but they shouldnt be given a spot if they plan to pull out after the first week. I know its all down to coverage/sponsors/money now, but what happened to racing because you wanted to win, or help somebody win...

Why do you assume he won't help his teammates for 100 or 150k?

LeicesterLad wrote:

Turfle wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

andyp wrote:

Never underestimate the power of RCS in persuading certain riders to ride their races, regardless of their chances.

HTC don't really have a hilly classics rider, and are probably struggling to fill their roster for Lombardy, so having Cavendish turn up, do 100 kms and then abandon at the first feed may suit them.

That's where bike racing starts to irritate me, Why start a race knowing you are not going to finish? What purpose does it serve, same with the Grand Tours. i know they are difficult for the sprinters, but they shouldnt be given a spot if they plan to pull out after the first week. I know its all down to coverage/sponsors/money now, but what happened to racing because you wanted to win, or help somebody win...

Why do you assume he won't help his teammates for 100 or 150k?

I suppose you could look at it that way, but when Sprinters pull out of a GT after the first week, its the rest of the team who have done all the work to keep the bunch sprints together, and then the sprinter says ta very much, enjoy the rest of your race... i know thats the way it is in cycling, just find it a minor irritation thats all, entering a competition you do not intend to win.

Well riders don't do their job out of the goodness of their hearts. They are well aware that keeping sprinters sheltered etc increases the odds of a nice win bonus.

Take Sunday for instance; neither Froome nor Cummings finished the race; there just would have been no point in them slogging over the final 60, 80, 100k, but it was most certainly worth them riding the first 180. Same goes for the sprinters pulling out before the ridiculously mountainous week at this year's Giro.

Sometimes you need to drag yourself over hills, mountains, and cobbles just for your teammates, but sometimes you're hurting your team's future successes by doing it.

The real issue is why a team which would struggle to fill it's roster should be committed to riding the race, would it not be better to have a smaller Italian team in HTC's place, then a load of cyclists who don't want to be there?

Would it not be better to have a belgian or french team at Flanders or P-R then Euskatel?

well done to Cav for riding Paris-Tours. Gives us all a chance to reason to watch.

As for Lombardy, isn't it tradition for the world champ to show off his new jersey in that race ?

andyp wrote:

MrTapir wrote:

it also says he might do Giro di Lombardia, i thought someone said it was "brutal" this year. What a hero.

There's a big difference between starting a race and finishing it.

Who will last longer, Cav or Vino?