Cavendish Is Past His Prime

[Mububban]

Bit like Tiger or Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters when they'd been on a long dry spell. I love a sporting fairytale, and after watching Cav suffer on stage 1 I didn't know if he'd be able to recover. Maybe he was a knob when he was younger, but the only Cav I've seen in the last few years has been humble and appreciative of his teammates, so I'm very happy for him to get the 35th win. Finally his leadout clicked and he took full advantage.

Now....will he get any more?!?

[find_bruce]

Would I be a conspiracy theorist if I suggested:
3. Buying a victory has happened before in cycling eg Reg Harris aged 54 beat Trevor Bull for the National Sprint Title in 1974

Not that Im suggesting that

That would be quite the pay off. I don't think Astana have the budget & I'm darn sure it wouldn't be coming out of Cav's pocket

[fat and old]

You know, he's been doing a lot of call ins to the Armstrong podcast...........

[foo on patrol]

What's this bollocks? Unless I'm mistaken, Cipollini never actually finished a TDF

I don't need to answer this as DD already has.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

So what? The title of the thread is "Cavendish is Past his Prime"
It is about Cavendish who is a sprinter. A sprinter who has now won more TDF stages than anyone else ever.
He is past his best but he still got the job done. Those backing him are now justified in backing his decision to keep riding and so is he.

He is, past his prime! The quality of the Sprinters there weren't top tier but as I said back somewhere, you can only beat those that are there.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

Bit like Tiger or Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters when they'd been on a long dry spell. I love a sporting fairytale, and after watching Cav suffer on stage 1 I didn't know if he'd be able to recover. Maybe he was a knob when he was younger, but the only Cav I've seen in the last few years has been humble and appreciative of his teammates, so I'm very happy for him to get the 35th win. Finally his leadout clicked and he took full advantage.

Now....will he get any more?!?

One real hard Stage that he made the cutoff by 9mins the the 3rd Stage was hard but he bailed out the back and had another cruisey one in and that yesterdays Stage was another flat joy ride, so he had time to recover a bit and the leadout Team got it right.

Yes, he seems a lot nicer bloke over the last couple of years.

Foo

[warthog1]

He was towed to the line and any old punter could have done that then.
Suggest you watch it again Foo and take note of the 60+ kmh they were doing.

At least you stick to your guns, even if they are firing blanks

[fat and old]

He is, past his prime! The quality of the Sprinters there weren't top tier but as I said back somewhere, you can only beat those that are there.

Foo

Weren’t top tier??????? He outfoxed Philipsen, 4 stages inc. Champs last year. Put Ackerman to the torch. Mads Pederson fell over from the jet blast. Girmay, Groanawagon, Jackobson, De Lie….. who else is he supposed to beat? Even the car door holding cheese eating cheat Demare got dumped on.

You’re a hard man to impress Foo

[foo on patrol]

He is, past his prime! The quality of the Sprinters there weren't top tier but as I said back somewhere, you can only beat those that are there.

Foo

Weren’t top tier??????? He outfoxed Philipsen, 4 stages inc. Champs last year. Put Ackerman to the torch. Mads Pederson fell over from the jet blast. Girmay, Groanawagon, Jackobson, De Lie….. who else is he supposed to beat? Even the car door holding cheese eating cheat Demare got dumped on.

You’re a hard man to impress Foo

Yep. He had the best position of the lot of them.

Foo

[g-boaf]

Yep, past his prime.. TdF stage win. Good to see him get it.

Anyhow, I didn't watch any of it and am not watching the event.

[elantra]

Yep, past his prime.. TdF stage win. Good to see him get it.

Anyhow, I didn't watch any of it and am not watching the event.

So far…. This TDF has been a ripper.

Well the first 5 stages were anyway. Some exciting breakaways and picturesque settings.
Yesterday’s stage was a bit predictable.
And today’s TT stage is going to be a bit repetitive.

It will be interesting to see how Cav rides in the time trial. I can just imagine him mouthing to Vino - “do I really have to do that preposterous time trial ? Can’t I just get a tick in the box that says “done””

[find_bruce]

Another area where Cavendish's performance has dropped off - while he has a sook about his relegation in stage 12, it was nowhere near the performative levels of him at his prime

I don't think there's going to be a 36th stage win though with Morkov out - Cavendish has always needed a good leadout, not just speed but also tactical nowse to get him in a good position

[MichaelB]

...
I don't think there's going to be a 36th stage win though with Morkov out - Cavendish has always needed a good leadout, not just speed but also tactical nowse to get him in a good position

Would agree with that 100%