Pro-cycling thread

Nobody is blaming him but it’s slightly sad* to see a guy who was untouchable for a few years struggling in a world that has moved on without him.

*not truly sad. He’s worth millions I’d have thought.

Is it though? I think he's handling it really well. He seems to come in humbly to see how things go. If he'd be barging in claiming to win races left right center I'd agree, but from the little I've seen he seems cool with not being at the sharp end

It's all well and good being 25 and that being the way you put food on the table or being forced out of racing, but if someone is prepared to field him in races and he's prepared to put in the effort to be at the right level good for him. It's sort of like when Kimi Raikkonen gave that interview saying "It's sort of a hobby for me. I obviously don't need to do it if I don't want to".

This one:
https://youtu.be/cvQ1J3gCPOg?t=13

I think it's good to see. He's still clearly better than most of the field and justifies his place on that alone in the smaller races. Passing on his experience in the bigger stuff without pressure is useful too and it wouldn't surprise me if that love of racing and lack of stress results in some wins.

I mean 99% of us race for the love of racing anyway, he's now just one of us happy choppers, right?

Yea I was sceptical but think it is great to see. His 2nd place behind Merlier was arguably his best result in 3-4 years. Without his tumble yesterday he couldve come close as well.
I'd love to see him win another race

If you look at the usual trajectory of a sprinter’s career, they tend to have a period of high performance early on where they dominate, then it tails off. Some re-invent themselves, some disappear and some try and try to get back to where they were.

I think Cavendish has realised that his problems with Epstein-Barr means he’ll never get back to where he was. So now he’s racing still because he loves it and he’s using his knowledge and experience to educate his younger teammates.

I don’t think you can criticise him for that at all, he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest, sprinters of all time after all. Lots of professional sport people complain after they’ve retired that they wish they’d carried on a bit longer, so as long as he is enjoying it and providing value to sponsors then who cares?

From what I can tell, most people were happy for Ritchie Porte when he got his podium and effectively said I'm stepping back and being a domestique and keep riding his bike and racing.
Always seemed harsh for Cavendish to be criticized for doing the same.
He does come across more grateful and humble to be on his bike now though.

Lots of professional sport people complain after they’ve retired that they wish they’d carried on a bit longer

Exactly. Life after your sports career is ages so do what you want when you can.

Cav certainly could win again. He was very unlucky not to at Monsere. We’d be having a very different conversation right now if he’d won the last two races. He’s ‘at the pointy end’.

Anyone got a link to the MSR schedule?

Phillipe Gilbert will probably have one.

Everyone rides 300kms and Van de Poel wins

NO SPOILERS

@Colin_the_Bald how good would it be if he got his 5th Monument?!

It would be marvellous, but about as likely as me becoming the next Pope.

Watch how Phil Gil wins and then everyone decides next year that Strade is actually a Monument

Edit: forgot he won it in 2011 when it was a chipper

I have decided to have a go at the God-bothering lark as I am eminently better qualified for Popeing than Phil is for MSR.

Me: ageing white male unbeliever, likes fancy clothes, management experience in a large corporation. No younger rivals with better recent form.

Phil: ageing white male cyclist, likes fancy clothes, experience of winning Monuments. Many younger rivals with better recent form.

Actually, Oddschecker is fun; VDP is 16/5, Phil is 66/1, even Pidcock is 46/1, Evenepoel is a ridiculous 4th favourite. My tenner is going on Roglic at 75/1.

Isn’t MSR a bit long for MvdP at 300k? I know he did well in that Tirreno stage, but, let’s face it, he was bonking hard at the end of 200k. Echoes of Harrogate. He could mainline snickers but I think this one for Wout and Jules to duke out. Sagan is still recovering from covid, apparently. I want Ganna to TT the last 100k to victory.

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Fair question. Look at all the years that Sagan was supposedly nailed on to win MSR. His record in the longer classics isn’t as good as everyone thought it would be.

Back to Cav - I suppose the point I was making that it le jarring to see him looking average at smaller races after becoming so accustomed to seeing him winning over the years.

That said, I’m pretty sure this’ll be his last year as a pro.

He won Flanders last year, remember. It was slightly shortened, but still 240 kms.

Exactly. Life after your sports career is ages so do what you want when you can.

We have a family friend who is right at the beginning of what looks like it might be a successful sports career. Even at the age of 18, he's started planning his "next phase" as he's realistic that the sports thing could end at any time so he doesn't want to leave it to chance.

What I’m really wondering about MSR is whether the pure sprinters have a chance? What’s the ratio of breakaway/bunch finales?

Depends on the weather and how hard the race is made in the finale by the non-sprinters ('teams). Only the breakaway from the Poggio used to stand/mostly stands a chance, other breakaways were often caught before the Capi or Cipressa.

Classics specialist, puncheurs, pure sprinters, every type of rider has a chance, provided they have the legs to stay at the front in the final.

About the distance: racing starts for real when they reach the coast, before that it's not very fast going. Some say of MSR it is the easiest race to ride but the hardest to win.

Where's Hirshi? Is he racing msr?

Over what time period?

In the past ten editions, four have been won by genuine sprinters in a bunch sprint, the rest have been won either from a small group of 2-7 riders or solo (Nibali in 2018).

Edit: In 2019 there were 11 riders in the front group, thought it was less than that.