2014 Pro-cycling season thread

Just watched the last 6km of stage 7 in the tour of Turkey and was wondering if Cav spoke about what happened in the final run in.

To me it looked like Steegmans went full gas after the final corner and Renshaw(?) couldn't keep up and dropped out of the line leaving Cav to bridge up to Petacchi. When Steegmans eventually peeled off Cav looked like he slapped out at him in frustration, or maybe Steegmans was coming into Cav's line? Didn't look like a happy bunny.

The video quality was pretty poor quality and I know nothing about sprinting so maybe I'm mis-interpreting the pixels...

The video is this one and the action starts at about 4:50. On reflection though, I think it mightn't be Cavendish that I'm looking at, and maybe it's Mr Bonet from Caja Rural? Serves me right for trying to catch up using steep hill links...

From what I could see it looks like Cav is moving Steegmans, or just putting his hand out to let him know he is there. You often see the Quick Step guys pull off and then drift back into the line, creating another obstacle for chasers.

I'm not sure what Renshaw is doing there, it could be that he's is trying to bully the rider who is trying to hop onto the Quick Step lead out (you see him take another rider with him across) —*and assumes Cav can close that gap easily. Unfortunately Steegmans really hits the gas at that point and Cav has burn a match to get onto the wheel, which is 3 bike lengths by then, instead of the original 1.

Exciting finish but I shuddered watching that crash at the end.

Certainly looked like Cav, but I think it was more 'keep out of my line' than anything else, especially seeing the chaos Steegmans caused behind Cav as he weaved all over the road.

Edit: ^ What he said

^^^ yeah that's just a 'I'm here' hand on shoulder.

Cav had to push a bit to close that gap though! Steegmans is a machine.

I know this was ages ago, but to clear it up - Cav was 3rd wheel when the gap goes - behind him. He's then 2nd wheel after Steegmans pulls off. This is pretty obvious simply from the number of riders in line. I think the guy who taps Steegmans on the back must be from Caja Rural.

Sorry for the topic dredge!