Got to get Cav over the mountains now, might be a close thing but he'll have all the help they can muster.
Got to get Cav over the mountains now, might be a close thing but he'll have all the help they can muster.
Not being picky Marco, but I also had my fingers crossed for him (not wishing ill on Sam as he's a good lad) while he was at his pre TdF training camp in Italy as I knew by then he was in great form.
That win in the Tour of Belgium was against the best of the current sprinters bar Sam Bennett.
I was really casting my mind back further. It's been quite sad for the last few years watching him not even contesting the sprints.
Richard Taylor
"William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
Sid Waddell
It all depends on the data base eg Cipollini would undoubtedly have won far more TdF stages if his team had been allowed to enter by ASO. I am more impressed by complete riders, like Merckx, than Cavendish a 30 second sprinter. Cavendish is a great sprinter but Hinault was a great rider. And of course some might have continued to win stages but decided there was more to life than riding a bike in the TdF.
TOTAL Grand Tour Stages
1 MERCKX Eddy 64
2 CIPOLLINI Mario 57
3 PETACCHI Alessandro 52
4 CAVENDISH Mark 51
5 BINDA Alfredo 43
6 HINAULT Bernard 41
7 RODRÍGUEZ Delio 39
8 GUERRA Learco 39
9 VAN LOOY Rik 37
10 MAERTENS Freddy 35
11 COPPI Fausto 31
12 GIRARDENGO Costante 30
13 BARTALI Gino 29
14 BASSO Marino 27
15 MOSER Francesco 27
16 DI PACO Raffaele 27
17 SARONNI Giuseppe 26
18 POBLET Miguel 26
19 BONTEMPI Guido 26
20 BITOSSI Franco 25
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 08-07-2021 at 02:39 PM.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
Been away (fishing as usual) so missed the last couple of days, back home in time to catch the final 25k and Cav having to work for his result.
Congratulations to him on a milestone, headbutts and all 😇.
[QUOTE=Graham Breeze;674892 I am more impressed by complete riders, like Merckx, than Cavendish - a 30 second sprinter. [/QUOTE]
Eddy Merckx’s total was accumulated on different stages, in a different time, essentially in a different sport. Cavendish said that anybody who tries to compare him with the Cannibal doesn’t know anything about cycling. As Tour director Christian Prudhomme commented in Carcassonne, Merckx is the greatest rider in the Tour’s history and Cavendish is its greatest sprinter.
This is a record that is both meaningless and meaningful, because by achieving this remarkable feat, Cavendish has transcended the eras of the sport.
This is from Rouleur which publishes the most insightful,wittiest, measured (and expensive) writing on cycling.
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 10-07-2021 at 08:37 AM.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".