Author Topic: Cavendish story? (Read 5744 times)

jezzasnr · « **on:** 11 March, 2011, 08:47:57 am »

Anybody hearing any rumours reference a breaking (bad) news story ref Cavendish?
Couple of mentions on twitter, but doesn't look good.

bobb · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 March, 2011, 09:18:14 am »

What's he done? Suffocated on his girlfriend's tits or something?

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 March, 2011, 09:20:07 am »

Well if it is doping related he is going to look extra bad after saying this stuff:

CAVENDISH DEFENDS CYCLING'S REPUTATION | Sporting Life | Cycling, Athletics, MotoGP, Rallying

geraldc · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 March, 2011, 09:20:49 am »

Looked at twitter and it just suggests he's moving to sky

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 March, 2011, 09:29:03 am »

Wouldn't be surprised if he moves. He is not being paid what he is worth at Htc, and relations between him and Stapleton are bad.

Aidan · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 March, 2011, 09:53:50 am »

Its not a new rumour either, it was doing the rounds last year.

kcass · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 March, 2011, 10:06:24 am »

And with Thomas as his leadout man he'd be even more unstoppable.

2011 Paris-Nice: Stage 2: Recap | www.cyclingfans.com that's him leading out Henderson at 1:00

Rhys W · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 March, 2011, 11:46:55 pm »

The way he got spat out the back on the only hill of the day today I don't think Sky will be interested.

Rig of Jarkness · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 March, 2011, 08:48:22 am »

The attraction would be to build a well drilled, well rehearsed, used-to-operating-with-each-other team around him for London.

Rig of Jarkness · « **Reply #9 on:** 15 May, 2011, 09:49:50 am »

Pez has it that he'll be riding for BMC next year. (I presume they meant next year).

Quote

...the writing is on the wall at HTC, the body language and vibe is all wrong and the word is that he'll be in the red and black of BMC for 2011. He doesn't look like the all conquering Cav of yester year - and in our opinion, Petacchi out dragged him fair and square on stage two.

David Martin · « **Reply #10 on:** 15 May, 2011, 01:35:43 pm »

Still got a sense of humour though.

Quote

En route to Sicily. Ah, the nostalgia of boarding a ferry to a place full of gangsters. Reminds me of my teenage years going to Liverpool.

Steve Kish · « **Reply #11 on:** 15 May, 2011, 08:41:19 pm »

Quote from: bobb on 11 March, 2011, 09:18:14 am

What's he done? Suffocated on his girlfriend's tits or something?

Cruel .... but funny!

onb · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 May, 2011, 08:13:05 pm »

Word is on local tv its been suggested he took a tow from a car up a hill in the stage he won

spesh · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 May, 2011, 10:14:30 pm »

Quote from: onb on 18 May, 2011, 08:13:05 pm

Word is on local tv its been suggested he took a tow from a car up a hill in the stage he won

Rumour control - yesterday's stage 10 won by Cav was a flat one, the accusations relate to Sunday's stage 9 (finishing on the slopes of Mt. Etna), where he only just beat the cut-off time.

Interestingly, there are a couple of pics posted in the Giro Stage 10 thread on Bikeradar that show riders from a variety of teams taking a tow from the Quickstep team car on stage 9. The HTC rider in the pictures isn't Cavendish, BTW.

Giro Stage 9 pictures

Local TV seem to be living down to the nominal standards of researching a story.

Rhys W · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 May, 2011, 10:27:23 pm »

No surprise there - the cameras descend on Petacchi at the finish line no matter who won!

Salvatore · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 June, 2011, 07:56:07 am »

Quote from: geraldc on 11 March, 2011, 09:20:49 am

Looked at twitter and it just suggests he's moving to sky

Richard Moore seems to agree

Mark Cavendish in shock move to join Bradley Wiggins at Team Sky | Mail Online

Aidan · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 June, 2011, 08:02:06 am »

Hardly a shock, if it does happen, it's been rumoured for ages

bobb · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 June, 2011, 08:23:30 am »

Quote from: wail article

...when he competes as favourite for the Olympic road race on day one of next year’s Games

Favourite for the road race? Is he?

Salvatore · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 June, 2011, 08:27:48 am »

If true, it raises all sorts of questions.

Cav has been used to having HTC as a dedicated Cav lead-out train. Will Sky be the same?
Is this a change of policy from the Brailsford 'TdF winner within 5 years' goal? A number of (more or less) guaranteed wins a year to keep the sponsors happy v. an ambitious but probably fruitless gamble?

Wiggins is reputed to have left Highroad because it was nothing more than the Cav show and wanted a bit of the limelight for himself. Will he stay on at Sky if Cav's there?
Likewise will EBH stay on? Also Swift and others? Will they be content with being Cav's leadout with no glory themselves? Or will Cav have to get by with less of a dedicated leadout while doubling his Pay?
Who else will be joining from HTC, Renshaw perhaps?

Somnolent · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 June, 2011, 08:44:23 am »

Sky showed the ability in California to put together a good "HTC Style" train. Was that for it's own sake (and the resulting stage wins) I wonder - or a message to Cav ?

On the other hand when has any team been able to mount a credible bid for GC and Points Jersey in the same grand tour ? I'm new to this so maybe it has happened, but it looks to me like an either/or ?

Riggers · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 June, 2011, 02:48:36 pm »

I reckon if Cavendish – troubled racer! were ever made into a film, a young Kenneth Moore could play the part!

citoyen · « **Reply #21 on:** 20 June, 2011, 03:37:28 pm »

Quote from: PpPete on 16 June, 2011, 08:44:23 am

On the other hand when has any team been able to mount a credible bid for GC and Points Jersey in the same grand tour ? I'm new to this so maybe it has happened, but it looks to me like an either/or ?

Zabel & Ullrich did it for Telekom in... <googles> ...1997. That's the only one I can think of, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were others. Eddy Merckx, of course, won both all by himself on three occasions. And took the polka dot jersey as well for good measure on one occasion.

IIRC, Zabel never had the same kind of backing from his team but I think Cav's reliance on his lead-out train is overstated.

Having said that, a lead-out of Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift and EBH would be a bit special.

d.

mattc · « **Reply #22 on:** 20 June, 2011, 03:58:18 pm »

I wonder if the Lance Era has distorted views on this? He gives the impression that you need 6 sacrificial mountain-goats to do well in the mountains. I'm not convinced this is the case, but I haven't really paid much attention to the domestiques of recent winners.

A better analysis might be:
of teams that had a strong contender for Yellow and Green, how did they get on?

Maybe few teams have bothered employing 2 such people in the recent era.

It feels like your team isn't critical in the mountains - the sprinters just drag themselves round in the time limits, the GC contenders just need a massive engine and they'll do OK! On the flat stages, the same team that gets your sprinter to the last 10km in safety would also be good at getting your GC guy there. I think.

citoyen · « **Reply #23 on:** 23 June, 2011, 12:02:01 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 20 June, 2011, 03:37:28 pm

Zabel & Ullrich did it for Telekom in... <googles> ...1997. That's the only one I can think of...

I completely forgot that Zabel and Riis did it the year before. Doh!

d.

fuzzy · « **Reply #24 on:** 23 June, 2011, 02:28:06 pm »

I know Cav reputedly relys on his train but, I think he can more than hold his own in the last 4-500 meters without it.

The train gets him and the GC rider into the last KM or so and Cav then latches on to whoever he likes the look of. It worked a treat for Robbie McEwan.

Author Topic: Cavendish story? (Read 5744 times)

fuzzy