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Apologies if this comes as a spoiler to anyone but Cav is National Road Race Champion again. Tactical sprint from a small group and he won it pretty easily.
One of his best races, he was right up in the fight the whole way through.
I really wanted Sam Watson to win but fair play to Cavendish a canny race.
he was right up in the fight the whole way through
He did a huge amount of the work all day. A really strong performance.
Think he earned that!
Now all he needs to do is get a place in the Tour!
if I go, I'll win
And I 100% reckon he would too
Some good strong riding from Cav today...
When are they going to announce the team..? It's starting soon!
The man is an absolute legend! Please let him ride le tdf! Please please please!
I tuned in near the start of the race, saw him in the break and assumed he was working for Ethan Vernon! Absolutely astonishing ride, tactically and physically.
man I was tired just watching that, looks hard as hell.
well played but you gotta feel for the other 2 in a sprint against Cav.
Yep. Mr Cavendish didn’t even look like he was breaking sweat in the actual sprint.
Yep. Mr Cavendish didn’t even look like he was breaking sweat in the actual sprint.
It was a track sprint format rather than the full on "end of a stage race, leadout train" style so nowhere close to his full sprint - he almost sat up at one point as he looked around and to be fair, the other 2 were really fighting it out for 2nd. They both knew they'd have looked extremely foolish going up in a sprint against him!
It was one of his best races, he played it really smart, followed all the right moves and was 100% committed.
Is breakaway Cav a new thing, or has he always done it and I've just not noticed? He's always been able to fend for himself, fighting through echelons, getting into lead groups, etc. But he's never been so aggressive on the front of a break. He rode exactly the same in ToB last year, where he almost looked like he was going on a solo attack at one point. It's fascinating to watch.
That was a magnificent effort. Assumed he was going to get dropped every time one of the others attacked but he was having none of it
NOOO. 🙁
What's the betting now that they throw everything behind Fabio Jakobsen and he crashes out on the first stage or gets Covid on the long Denmark - France transfer?!
Booooooo 🙁
When can a first reserve get drafted in then?
100!
When can a first reserve get drafted in then?
Before Friday I guess...
That really sucks...
I'd have thought the team would have taken him for the publicity if nothing else.
Constant coverage and mentions on every sprint stage and be a part of history if he won a stage.
Oh well. Let's hope he has another year in him
Fabio could win 5 stages and it wouldn’t generate as much coverage for his team as if cavendish won one, which he undoubtedly would
Call me cynical but maybe a Belgian team doesn’t want a Belgian legend’s record broken
Or he is leaving at the end of year, and they've dropped him out of spite
Call me cyclical
That would depend on how often you mentioned it 🙂
That would depend on how often you mentioned it 🙂
I have no idea what you are on about😉😂
I’d have thought the team would have taken him for the publicity if nothing else.
I do sometimes wonder if that's the plan and all this is theatre to generate more publicity when he's drafted in last minute.
They pretty much did exactly that last year though.
I'm not surprised by this, but I am sad.
The team apparently didn’t even have the courtesy to tell him directly that he hadn’t been selected. Found out via social media.
Shockingly disrespectful and unprofessional
I'll start by saying (probably not for the first time) that I'm not a fan. With that out the way the Merckx record thing really gets my goat. Merckx never chased stage wins, more got about the business of winning tours, so comparing or even mentioning in them in the same sentence seems bizarre to me. Looks like something generated by the cycling media for clickbait. Cavendish should go down in history as being one of the best sprinters the tour has ever saw, but he's no Merckx, not even close. I might be wrong but has Merckx not won the green jersey more times too, without even trying?
Cavendish should go down in history as being one of the best sprinters the tour has ever saw
The best presumably?
but he’s no Merckx, not even close
Agreed.
but he’s no Merckx, not even close
Agreed.
Yeah he hasn’t been kicked out of 3 races for drug abuse 🤷♂️
The best presumably?
Well that circles back to how you measure the best. Is the greatest team the one that's won the most matches or league titles and trophies? Does anyone know who has won the most matches at Wimbledon or won Wimbledon the most times? I find that with most sports you will find a discussion somewhere as to who is the best and never have I saw it where everyone has agreed. They just seem tiresome, mostly these people champion the person from the same country and pull out whatever stat they care to support the home talent. And tbh never moreso than when it comes to Cav.
Yeah he hasn’t been kicked out of 3 races for drug abuse
😆 Truly, I hadn't saw your post before I submitted mine, but you are kind of proving my point.
but he’s no Merckx, not even close
Merckx won a lot of his stages as TTs so if you're going on "bunch finish" or "sprint finish" stages then Cav is already more winninger.
But then he's never going to win the Yellow Jersey therefore on that count, Merckx is the winningest.
Cav has only won Green Jersey twice whereas Sagan has won it 7 times so Sagan is "the best", betterer even than Merckx.
I mean, you can go around with pointless "who's the best?" crap all day and no-one will ever agree but the fact remains that Cav (like Sagan) is gold dust for the Tour and leaving him out of the biggest stage race in the world is kind of a dick move.
Isn't comparing Merckx and Cavendish kind of like comparing Haile Gebrselassie and Usain Bolt? ie, pointless?
Yes, they competed in some of the same venues and they both won medals but that's where the comparison ends.
Sure, you could say that Gebrselassie has broken more records and Bolt has won more medals (they may not have, I can't be arsed checking) but if you tried to argue that one was a better runner than the other everyone would (rightly) just laugh at you.
I feel it should be possible to say that it would be awesome to see Cav break the record without anyone assuming that we are saying that this means he is a better cyclist than Merckx.
I mean, it's obvious, right?
I feel it should be possible to say that it would be awesome to see Cav break the record without anyone assuming that we are saying that this means he is a better cyclist than Merckx.
It's quite an achievement in a race with more than 100 years of history. I don't know the stats but I suspect Cavendish has won more stages than all British cyclists before him, by a large margin. Not sure why we get hung up on this Merckx thing, I can't really say I've noticed any comparisons being made.
Merckx never chased stage wins
Possibly the wrongest comment I've ever read. Merckx chased everything. It probably annoyed him that he couldn't win the Lanterne Rouge along with everything else.
Long interview with Cav in The Times today. Behind a paywall I’m afraid.
Part way into our conversation, Mark Cavendish suddenly stops himself. “I’m doing it again,” he interjects. “I’m justifying my career to you.”
At 37, with unique palmarès among Britain’s greatest cyclists, including an unsurpassed 34 stage wins at the Tour de France among an incredible total of 161 career victories, there really is no need to prove anything. But here he is, a fierce competitor and winner who sits down to explain why, heading into 2023, he is not done yet.
Cavendish laughs when I remind him that he compared himself to the lead character in Rocky the last time we spoke at length. It had seemed apt given one of sport’s most sensational comebacks.
He had returned from a horrendously debilitating illness, clinical depression, years without a notable victory. He had been written off even by some of those who knew him best. In 2021, he had proved them wrong by winning four more Tour stages to draw level with Eddy Merckx, becoming the joint holder of one of those rare sporting records that few can imagine ever being matched.
Non -paywalled version available via a 12 foot ladder
(though it seems it doesn't fully work, I only get a few lines)
(though it seems it doesn’t fully work, I only get a few lines)
That’s because that’s all the un-paywalled contents that The Times exposes to search crawlers. You know, to get people to pay for the journalism they do. Think of it like buying a full membership for Singletrack.
He's riding in the tour of oman on saturday
Can't wait to see how he goes... The team are clearly in a decent place, with the main 'fast' lads doing pretty well including Ces Boll. If they've got the leadout sorted or Cav is in decent early form.. well, a good finish isn't exactly a daft thought.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-of-oman/2023/startlist
Not all the teams are fully listed.. but it's only really Merlier who's the big name in speed currently.
The Times exposes to search crawlers. You know, to get people to pay for the journalism they do.
OT, but the Times is a lobbying machine to further entrench Murdoch's obscene wealth, I don't think they need to actually *sell* papers.
Seems happy in is job
That’s because that’s all the un-paywalled contents that The Times exposes to search crawlers. You know, to get people to pay for the journalism they do. Think of it like buying a full membership for Singletrack.
You can register and access two free articles per week if you really want to read the odd story there.
So it's UAE Tour and the last 11km.... Cavendish in the big group and ready to play....Can this be the first ? Mmmmm
I'd love to see him racing the track champions league
Well as hopefully anyone who cares enough to read has now seen, Cav didn't quite make it on stage 1. Not ideal positioning and didn't quite have the outright speed either...Close... but not there..
So today is chance 2 after a TTT and a mountain stage where hopefully he left some in the tank for today.
Lots of sprinters teams in.
Outside the top 10!
I turned it on literally in the last 200m so missed the run into the sprint, did I miss anything that kept Cav out of contention?
Not really... Although he was all alone on the last km from what i could tell, couldn't see Bol at all.