Homebrew01

Discuss Stage 1.

Thoughts on Cavendish not being selected ?

Caretaker

Good weather, good crowds, usual first week nervy crashes. Happy to see Sagan being pipped on the line.

Cavendish probably should have been picked but he has been struggling with illness etc. for some time.

mac mini 

If his team thought he was still competitive and had the possibility to win a stage they would have brought him. He was a great sprinter, at one time the best in the world. His best days are behind him.

Doge

I am really enjoying Horner. I always have.

Doge

Sometimes the boss does not get it.

Homebrew01

Viviani only managed 9th...ouch.

noodle soup

I'm hearing Horner say "we all want to see Cavendish break the records".

I can't be the only one that doesn't want Cavendish to take the stage wins record.

diphthong

^on the same page as you in this regard.

Caretaker

When sprinters can and often do pull out half way through a GT I don't really see the validity of 'records' in this regard.

Doge

I'm torn a bit on this Cav sprinter/Chipo thing. I think you should get accolades for being the top and finishing the Tour - that is what the green jersey does.
Still, winning stages after racing 100 miles is something. Even if you can't ride up a hill as well as a junior.

To Cav - being he is on Dimension Data, a team that has nothing. DData offers nothing other than Cav. So why not have him?
Maybe because he was an embarrassment at ToC? They know his power and I assume, made that calculations.
But I don't see them offering anything else interesting.

slcbob

I found Horner's comment interesting, that Cav wouldn't survive stage 6 if he made it past 3 and 4, and shouldn't want to be there on those terms.

I'm not sure if that was Horner talking out of his butt or not. But interesting.

Not sure why this topic is a stage 1 shout out instead of a stage 0 or Cav thread.

As far as stage 1:

I was stunned to see Groenwegen be the first guy go down and, on the 5th or 6th replay, caught the view of the DQS rider slow up and create the chain reaction that took him down. C'est la vie.

I was surprised to see Ewan move across Viviani in the way he did in the last ~100m. I thought it might be a relegation but I guess either a) it's racing, or b) DQS wasn't going to dispute a race they weren't going to win.

Doge

I agree with you BUT (you knew that was coming), are we to hold the jersey in escrow until they finish? Part of the game/job is camera time and doing what those that pay the bills think is important. Mario was really good at that.
Did Mario ever finish? I ride the model bike he road and was aware of that when I purchased it. I figured if it could take Chippo power it could take mine.
The races within the race are significant. And I grow less interested in super skinny guy overall time every year.

noodle soup

I think that's why many fans like Sagan more than Cavendish these days.

Sagan finishes the tour, and it's unlikely that Cavendish could.

Cav's days of finishing the race are long behind him.

Caretaker

What jersey? The points jersey (green) is lost if a rider doesn't finish in Paris.

Back to this so-called record that Cavendish should be allowed a crack at, Merckx leads, Cav 2nd and Hinault 3rd. Apples competing with oranges for a 'record' that is meaningless. It's ridiculous.

slcbob

Tremendous on-bike footage here

Just a whole lot of closeness in the peloton. It includes clips from just in front of Fuglsang having his bike swept out from under him, and from just behind and in front of Groenwegen.