Pro-cycling thread

He looks so sad

that looks nasty!

Looks like a fractured cheekbone or orbital... poor cav...

FFS

You don't need a face to race.

Depth perception is probably quite useful in the peloton though.

It wasn't working for him when he had both eyes open, I'm sure he'll be fine.

To add insult to injury, Cavendish was outside the time limit so has been disqualified from the race.

Not great for his MSR prep, needs the racing.

I don’t think he’ll ever win it again, am still amazed he did in the first place, but there’s no chance he’ll win this year.

Wout's back baby!

Yeah. Not with some of the new kids about. Out gunned.

Just want him to get Merckx tour record!

Just watching TA. I love a good team TT. Is there any emerging British talant in the pro peleton this year apart from Tao?

James Knox at Quickstep

Linel Birnie's four part blog (one to go still) "Eight years of covering Team Sky"
https://www.lionelbirnie.com/blog/2018/3/5/1dm1u9ioiiygi09k0hsnj8z6c1z7kl
https://www.lionelbirnie.com/blog/2018/3/7/eight-years-covering-team-sky-part-two
https://www.lionelbirnie.com/blog/2018/3/5/eight-years-covering-team-sky-part-3

First two links are duds. Edit: I see you fixed it. :)

Reposting @andyp.

It is really good analysis.

Hugh Carthy is interesting. Didn’t come through the GB system and was promising at Caja Rural but seemed to falter at Cannondale last year.

Hes only 23. He needs more time to develop.

at Cannondale last year

Therein lies your answer.

Looks like he's been getting some top 15's in some of the lesser tours which is to be expected at his age http://www.cyclingarchives.com/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=84392

never mind what I said about Hivert, Cousing is taking it to yet another level. Maybe it’s a team thing.

Any footage of Cav coming off?

Not sure about it being bad luck. Seems like a key responsibility listed on his role description when hired:

• Stay on bike
  
  

“Gee Jimmy, that Mark character has all the qualities we’re looking for in a sprinter: he’s fast, reads the race well etc. Although, did you see he fell off 7 times in the test ride?”

To be fair, he did retire from a race with a concussion just a few weeks ago.

Things like balance and attention span can be really badly affected.