 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So what's everyones thoughts on this?
I think it's a bit bollox as having an intermediate sprint 25km from the finish may stop sprinters going for both of them, then again is 25km enought time to recover from one so you can still go all out at the next??
Oh, din't you know? It's all to try to hinder that lovely Mark Cavendish and to stop him getting the Green Jersey. Done deliberately by those nasty Tour organisers cos they hate him and don't want him to win....
Erm.. well.. the ASO are only trying to limit the sprinting train that HTC have been able to use for the last few years to great effect..
Cav's good on his own now though dontchaknow, dispite your views on him he's maturing into quite a good sprinter in his own right, abouttimetoo.
As for the the Points jersey, he's interested for sure, but a stage win is a stage win is a stage win..
Don't agree with the points deduction of Rojas the other day, booohissss on the ASO/commisionaires.
There may be an element of experimenting with the new format and the only reason I can think of why the organisers have done this is to make the tactics harder for the sprinters teams.
If they go all out for the intermediate will they be able to regroup ready for the final? Or if the sprinters teams decide to not pull back any breakaway then the shortish distance between the intermediate and the end may give a small advantage to the break.
While i've tried to rationalise it I do actually think it's a bit odd thing to do.
As much as I like cav to win stages, I think it is making for more interesting finishes so far on this tour
I think it's good to mix the stage finishes up but there should be some traditional ones in too.
25K plenty of time to recover, and any break-aways may well still be out by then.
i imagine HTC will let Cav get on other sprinters wheels for the first sprint, then get the train going for the second, I can see him getting maximum points today.
Just listening to the ITV podcast and their view is that they don't think Cavendish will bother contesting todays intermediate sprint. Wait and see I guess.
This year's course is clearly more interesting in the flat stages. Last year it really was 4 hours of nothing then watching HTC work.
This year's course is clearly more interesting in the flat stages. Last year it really was 4 hours of nothing then watching HTC work.
No doubt about it.
But the Green Jersey isn't a sprints jersey (no thing exists) it's the point jersey. I think they are trying to make it this again by putting the intermediate stage points in. It is only that we have become used to the sprinters contesting the flatter stages in an all out sprint finish.
I am warming to Cav, hopefully he will drive to contest more of the points stages.
what ever the logic behind it its certainly making for a more interesting and less predictable tour. All a good thing imo