bikegolfer

Mark has always been one of my favorites to watch even though his cycling personality irritates me sometimes. I just read an article where Tyler Farrar, himself a very accomplished sprinter, suggested that his new teammate may be the best sprinter ever. Thoughts?

Machka 

My thought is ... this is in the wrong forum. Should be here: Professional Cycling For the Fans

C9H13N 

Cipo > Mouth

WCroadie

Cav is one of my favorites too, he's definitely up there, top 3, not sure if he's the best ever or not.

chaadster

Cipo could push a big gear, but man, Cav just explodes with incredible acceleration...a little more thrilling and amazing to watch. Plus his form is irreproachable. Based on the very little I've seen of him, I don't care for his personality, either, though.

chasm54

I've been present in a live audience while Cav gave an extended interview on stage. He was charming, actually, surprisingly self-deprecating. His own account of his reputation for mouthiness is that he's so hyped up with adrenaline after the finish of a sprint that he has in the past said a lot of things that owed more to excitement than sense. I liked him, he seemed the sort of young man it would be fun to have a beer with.

He's also extremely popular with teammates, apparently being very generous to those who work so hard to bring him to the front. And I really liked the way he performed in the last Commonwealth Games. It's the only major event the Isle of Man gets to field a team in, and he worked his guts out in the road race for an assortment of postmen, carpenters and other good amateurs.

So I 'm a fan. Is he the best sprinter ever? Impossible to say. Of those I've seen I'd put him very high - higher than Cipollini (who, by the way, was mad as a box of frogs) but maybe not higher than Freddie Maertens, who was electric.

sprince

Certainly top 20. He is pretty good, but I think there are contemporaries that are faster in terms of pure speed. Early on that was about all he was good for, but the past 3-4 years he has matured into a something more than just a good sprinter, someone you would actually want on your team.

mprelaw

Cipo, nuts? You don't say.

diphthong

cipo for personality but i preferred zabel for classics and gt's. sagan reminds me a lot of zabel but i think sagan will have more classics wins and fewer gt stage wins when all is
said and done. really enjoy watching sagan. totally underrated guy is robbie mcewen. never had a significant leadout train, rarely had more than a single helper or two but still
managed to be in the sprint finish mix more often than not. seemingly always co-opting leadouts from competitors/rivals involved a seriously different style/mentality.
mcewen's personality bothered me but i respected his successful adapt and overcome methods.

WCroadie

For some reason, lots of people don't like him and always say he's a loudmouth/throws his teammates under the bus etc. yet I often hear him giving his teammates credit and praise and why would his right hand men, follow him from team to team if he indeed was such an a hole? He's my favorite racer along with Boonen and Il Grillo, he's top 3 in my book.

Top 20??? Name 10 sprinters that are/were better than him? Hell, name 5!

chasm54

LOL. All he was good for? He was winning 5 stages a year in the TdF and you wouldn't want him on your team? LOL again.

cafzali

Keep in mind that teams bringing on cyclists who are considered pure sprinters is a relatively recent phenomenon. They largely represent the sport's effort to develop stars, as the casual cycling fan can understand the tactics of a sprint and identify with the winner of a sprint easier than they can the overall winner of the race who has to "slog" through days or weeks of racing before being declared the winner.

One of the "dings" against Mario was that he would sit out mountain stages of the Tour and the Vuelta.

mapeiboy

He sure knows how to dressed on and off the bike .

Dan333SP

I saw this mentioned somewhere before and I was wondering... was there any point in the history of the grand tours that riders could skip stages and still race later on in the event? Obviously they wouldn't be contesting the overall, but could sprinters sit out a mountain stage and wait for the final sprint stage to reappear, or have they always required all riders to complete all stages within a certain cutoff time?

chasm54

No, there has never been a time when you could sit out a stage. But there were various scandals in the early years when some competitors hopped on a train. Stages were much longer, then...

fietsbob

Short memory probably helps .. they have been racing bikes in Europe for over 100 years.

just cannot compare someone alive now on the latest new gear with someone riding on 1900 bikes ..

Leinster

Racing was different back then. Drafting was considered cheating for a while, so there was no such thing as a sprint finish anyway. The sprint is definitely more of a post-WWII thing.

WCroadie

Really? This comparison happens in every sport, and in everything...

fietsbob

Hamster wheel away on this one Kids..

jyl

Cavendish is certainly one of the very greatest sprinters of all time. Measured by Tour de France sprint stage victories, he's head and shoulders above the rest. Other measures may not be so definitive. He is a pure bunch sprinter, so can't be compared to guys like Kelly who used their sprints to win classics. And he is sprinter in the modern era of sprint trains, dedicated leadouts, and 150 meter sprints, so probably wouldn't have shone so brightly 20 years ago when a sprinter needed to have more staying power in the wind.

Velo List: The top 10 sprinters of all time - VeloNews.com

WCroadie

Agreed. I am curious to see what he does this year on his new team, there is talk about him changing his racing style. Also, let's not forget his impressive MSR win, that was not a pure sprinter win.