Mark Cavendish Article In Observer Sports Monthly

bunnygreen

Good piece on Cavendish in this Months OSM,worth a read.

Chips Lovell

Yeah, read it this morning. Good photography too, as usual with the OSM.

bunnygreen

What did you think about his comments on Wiggins and the Madison,having to leave the TDF early and then getting ninth,wiggins training for the shorter events.

Chips Lovell

bunnygreen wrote: »

What did you think about his comments on Wiggins and the Madison,having to leave the TDF early and then getting ninth,wiggins training for the shorter events.

That's Cavendish for you. I don't think he'd be so good if he weren't so cocky.

I can kind of empathise with him on certain points. It would wreck my head too if I had mulitiple Tour and Giro stage wins and all anyone ever wanted to talk about back home was not getting a medal in the Olypmics.

cgf

Link to the story - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/nov/23/markcavendish-cycling

Funkyzeit

As a much bigger road fan than a track one (was still mightly confused watching the madison on Eurosport during the week ) I was disapointed the Cav chose the olympics over the chance of the maillot vert but can totally understand him wanting to get his hands on an olympic gold

I did like this comment:

'Winning the Olympics [on the track] would do a lot for my breakfast TV career, but it would do nothing for my cycling career. It would just be a hindrance to what I can gain on the road.'

Besides he's way too sacry/grumpy to ever appear on breakfast TV....

zzzzzzzz

Funkyzeit wrote: »

As a much bigger road fan than a track one (was still mightly confused watching the madison on Eurosport during the week ) I was disapointed the Cav chose the olympics over the chance of the maillot vert but can totally understand him wanting to get his hands on an olympic gold

I did like this comment:

'Winning the Olympics [on the track] would do a lot for my breakfast TV career, but it would do nothing for my cycling career. It would just be a hindrance to what I can gain on the road.'

Besides he's way too sacry/grumpy to ever appear on breakfast TV....

It's fairly confusing alright but probably the most entertaining track discipline once you get your head around it

Raam

Cav is so impressive to watch. He really does make it look easy. That said, I remember thinking (or was it the Eurosport commentators telling me?) that even with his 4 wins, he was too far off to challenge for green.

Hungrycol

I dunno. What peeves me off about him is that he intended to do a short stint in the TdF and went all guns blazing in the beginning in the knowledge that he would pull out. Get some glory and then feck off. I admire more the the guys who come last but finish the race.

Diarmuid

Raam wrote: »

Cav is so impressive to watch. He really does make it look easy. That said, I remember thinking (or was it the Eurosport commentators telling me?) that even with his 4 wins, he was too far off to challenge for green.

He was but that was part of the plan. When he knew that he was going to drop out of the race before the end, there was no point him competing for every intermediate sprint. He (and his team) would have had a very different game plan if he knew he was going to stay in the race until Paris. With his form, I believe it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that he could have won the green jersey.

Diarmuid

Hungrycol wrote: »

I admire more the the guys who come last but finish the race.

If those guys were in for a very strong Olympic medal chance a few weeks later they might not have finished the race either.

Raam

Diarmuid wrote: »

If those guys were in for a very strong Olympic medal chance a few weeks later they might not have finished the race either.

He certainly seems well ticked off about it. I guess he really wants to win, which is admirable. Personally I think four stage wins is better than a gold in the Madison at the Olympics, but there you go.

TinyExplosions

Diarmuid wrote: »

With his form, I believe it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that he could have won the green jersey.

I still don't think he can climb well enough to keep a hand on the green jersey... he just can't get up the mountains quick enough imo -but we'll maybe see next year!

@Raam -I agree on 4 stage wins over an Olympic gold, but the public are clueless, and that's why he's pretty much branded an 'also ran' for not coming home with a medal

Hungrycol

Raam wrote: »

Personally I think four stage wins is better than a gold in the Madison at the Olympics, but there you go.

Ditto. Unless it's the Worlds.

I just don't like this whole idea where you race like you're possessed for the first week in the knowledge that you're only there for a week beating the guys who are in it for the long slog.

Raam

Hungrycol wrote: »

Ditto. Unless it's the Worlds.

I just don't like this whole idea where you race like you're possessed for the first week in the knowledge that you're only there for a week beating the guys who are in it for the long slog.

I can understand your frustration. Didn't Cippolini used to do that? Pull out before all the mountain stages?

Diarmuid

Raam wrote: »

I can understand your frustration. Didn't Cippolini used to do that? Pull out before all the mountain stages?

Didn't Virenque do the opposite? Lose time at the start (intentionally) so that he wouldn't be chased up every mountain and make it easier to win the polka dot jersey.

EDIT Speaking of Virenque, the French splitting image used to have great fun with him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a3jFN7Kz-I

bunnygreen

That's class