Cav not the fastest sprinter in the world?? (spoiler)
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PrinceofClydes posted 18 weeks ago.
Thor Hushovd said he couldn't keep up with Cavendish on flat finishes.
Surely, he is one who ought to know.
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xc800runner posted 18 weeks ago.
Cav didn't have a single Col-HTC rider with him at the finish today (Stage 12). He used Cervelo for a lead-out, got boxed in, and still beat Hushovd to the line in the bunch sprint. I'd say he's just fine on his own.
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cjhoffmn posted 18 weeks ago.
Y, clearly Cav is regarded by other riders as the fastest, and having watched him literally pulling away from other riders in the last 20-30 meters, seems a strong case.
I do however, agree that his team contributes big-time. They are just doing such an excellent job of controlling the front, and slinging him around with excellent position and timing that he gets to make it easy.
I do think Farrar and Thor can challenge him and could beat him more often if their teams managed as good a lead out as Col is managing for Cav though. I haven't seen stage 12 yet, but in stage 11, Farrar made up just a touch of ground on Cav. Farrar had to swing past an overgeared and tiring Thor, and still almost got there, after a nearly perfect lead out (Cav had to elbow his way past Thor at the moment he took off so it wasn't as perfectly clean as some of the others) by Cav's team and relatively little lead out by Garmin.
I think that if Thor or Farrar was lead up there with as organized launch, they would beat Cav more often.
-C
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PrinceofClydes posted 18 weeks ago.
See my note about team Saeco and Super Mario in the other thread.
Sprinting apparently includes the skills of individual tactics and teamwork as well as raw speed and these variables make it impossible imho to achieve an objective verification of who is the fastest, but it makes for interesting speculation.
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jro81 posted 18 weeks ago.
Didnt see 12 yet. I do think the guy is crazy fast. I read he did win the sprint to the line out of the peloton today but I did not know how he did it. Stage 2 or 3 where he dropped Freire was also bad ass and does make a strong case for him being outright faster than all the rest.
cjhoffmn wrote:
I think that if Thor or Farrar was lead up there with as organized launch, they would beat Cav more often.
I think so too. Cav is probably the fastest, but without his team, I think probably some of those stage wins go to someone else.
Alright, well I was watching stage 11 yesterday and kind of noticed a recurring pattern throughout the Tour. In the last 10k or so Columbia is up front pushing the pace for their guy, Mark Cavendish. In every stage he has won this year it seems he has the most dominant team who is creating the lead out.
Garmin's Tyler Farrar on the other hand had his team drafting to conserve energy, still close to the front, but not hammering it out like 4 or 5 of the HTC guys. The plan was for Garmin to save the energy and be able to fly by an exhausted Columbia team and lead out Farrar for the win. And they had a good group to do so.
The Columbia team just seems too strong. Garmin could not keep up, and their lead out kind of fell apart. Due to brilliant riding by Farrar he was able to grab Hushovds wheel I think and position himself, little thanks to his team, for possibly beating Cav who had a much stronger leadout.
Hypothetics (dont think it is a word but it is now):
So hypothetically speaking, if Cav switched jerseys with Farrar, and had the great lead out of a strong Columbia team, would Farrar be the fastest man in the world? I am not saying he would. Garmin is a pretty strong team too. It just seems Columbia just has their way pretty much everytime and is able to give Cav a perfect lead out for the go-ahead victory. What do you guys think?