Cav gets win number 20

Eurosport - Sun, 02 Aug 23:31:00 2009

Briton Mark Cavendish claimed his 20th win of the season at the Sparkasse Giro in Bochum, Germany.

CYCLING 2009 Tour de France Mark Cavendish - 0

Team Columbia High-Road Sport's Manx sprint king beat German Gerald Ciolek to take the 177km one-day race.

"It's an impressive result for Mark," team manager Rolf Aldag said. "He had a tough Tour de France and he's been winning all season, but the victories just keep coming.

"And this was not an easy race at all. It was held on a tough little circuit, with two short but hard climbs and then a fast descent to the finish, and on top of that it was raining most of the day.

"A break of five guys got away but in the last lap and a half we managed to bring things back together for Cavendish. He seems to be totally unbeatable in the sprints right now."

Despite only having five riders in the race, Columbia were always in control for star man Cavendish.

"It's really impressive when you consider we've just come out of a really successful Tour and all of the riders who took part for us in this race had taken part in the Tour," Aldag continued.

"Some guys just lose their way a little if they've done well there, but not Mark and not our team. So even if it's not a huge surprise when Cav wins a sprint, this victory shows he's still focused and concentrating on winning."

Cavendish's first win of the year came in the Tour of Qatar in February, and he has since taken stage victories in the Tour of California, the Tour of Italy, the Tour of Switzerland, six stages in the Tour de France, and overall victory at the Milan-San Remo Classic.

Eurosport

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  1. Odd comments - no other good sprinters around? Boonen,­ Ciolek, Hushovd - just three from the tour. One other­ who's really strong is Renshaw! As a brit who's­ watched the tour for years and been a fan of Sean Yates­ for his longevity, strength and team commitment I'm­ over the moon for Cavendish to be the best by a mile. I­ love the fact that he just rides his bike - he's­ not media-trained to the eyeballs and inhuman, he's­ a very talented and hard-working young man. Long may it­ continue. The icing on the cake has to be that Wiggins­ is going so well at the same time - finally we­ don't have to go all the way back to Robert Millar­ for a GC rider.
    Let's be happy that these guys do­ it all from a world class training setup and that­ they're such straight, open, admirable people.

    From PompeyRick, on Mon 17 Aug 9:27PM

  2. As an Italian national I am surprised at, what I must­ think are British , comments on Cavendish. Brits­ complain for years that they have no good riders,and­ when they do they knock them. If Cav is head and­ shoulders above the rest then its not his fault, his­ efforts will raise the bar for the other sprinters.­ Don't knock him you Brits, you have 2 class riders­ in Cav and Wiggo, be grateful for small mercies.

    From priorydave, on Tue 4 Aug 1:09PM

  3. I agree with comment 27. Cav is not the only guy who­ wants to win bike races. As for comment 26 saying there­ are no other good sprinters around at the moment. There­ are a lot of other good sprinters around its just when­ you get a rider who is head and shoulders above the­ rest he will make the best look average. Dont knock the­ guy for doing what he is paid to do.

    From a.j.peacock, on Tue 4 Aug 10:26AM

  4. Love him, hate him, the results are there to see. There­ are NO free rides in cycling and you can only race­ against those people who sign-on on the day.

    He needs­ to keep playing his own game for now and think (if­ necessary) about a reinvention if and when it is­ necessary. Don't knock a guy because he is by far­ the best sprinter at this time.

    Keep it up Cav!

    From obriendonal, on Tue 4 Aug 8:23AM

  5. that's true there are no good sprinters available­ at this moment to compare him, he is having a free ride­ right now, free wins!!

    From Tamerair, on Mon 3 Aug 11:18PM

  6. Lets be real, he is a great sprinter but there are no­ other good sprinters around at the moment to relly test­ himself againts, Thor Husovd is well past his best and­ any other sprinters are just average at the moment.­ Fine, you can only beat what your up against, and­ he's beating all around him, but to compare him to­ Merckx is laughable. Needs to turn himself into a sean­ kelly or johan musueew (spelling) type rider

    From fergus M, on Mon 3 Aug 10:43PM

  7. Comparisons to the great Eddy Merckx? Let's not get­ carried away. Cavendish is having a great year no doubt­ but reserve comments of greatness until after he has­ continued to perform after a number of years. And a­ fair share of his success can be attributed to the­ strength of the team that he is riding for. Before­ everyone gets crazy, I know that he is the one who has­ to deliver but by the same token, if he were riding for­ a lesser team the results would be different. It will­ be interesting to see what happens when Columbia has­ stronger GC riders and the focus shifts from winning­ stages to winning GTs. I wish Cav and Columbia­ continued success.

    From Chris, on Mon 3 Aug 10:36PM

  8. yep!, cavendish did struggle to drag his backside over­ the mountain top as others rode off into the­ distance,but he did not and does not give up!,that is­ why one week after finish the gruelling tour he is­ winning his 20th race of the season!.
    it's called­ class!.
    hail a great briton!.

    From Freddybee, on Mon 3 Aug 10:10PM

  9. One word - Wow.

    From heliosgaia, on Mon 3 Aug 9:47PM

  10. Its stupid to compare anybody to Merckx let alone Cav.­ He is only 24 and is also a world Track champion so he­ is an alround rider. He has won 20 races this year they­ were not all flat give him a break he is doing­ fantastically well.

    From christine.garrett567, on Mon 3 Aug 8:42PM

  11. dont think cav will be at the vuelta. hes already done­ (some of) the Giro and the Tour

    From leandr0_77, on Mon 3 Aug 5:32PM

  12. Are there any more classics left this season that Cav­ can win? Does Paris - Tours count?

    From pedro118118, on Mon 3 Aug 4:34PM

  13. Best sprinter? Most certainly. Best rider? Most­ certainly not. Once again, let's not get carried­ away here...............

    From pedro118118, on Mon 3 Aug 3:41PM

  14. Best rider of the year can apply to any type of rider,­ not just mountain goats. 20 wins is fantastic as were­ the 6 wins at the Tour. If he picks up another classic­ in the fall it will be close to criminal if he does not­ win it ( Barring one of the other classics/ grand tour­ winners putting on a rainbow jersey. )

    From Maxx92, on Mon 3 Aug 2:40PM

  15. Cav cannot be compared to Merckx or anyone like that -­ You've gotta be an all round God for that

    From H C, on Mon 3 Aug 2:18PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    'mokusmisi' duh! Cavendish, the best rider­ this year? Someone has a short memory. Seem to recall­ him dragging his backside up the major climbs on the­ tour while the best riders in the world diappeared off­ into the distance.

    From richardsnoel86, on Mon 3 Aug 1:38PM

  17. All hail Cavendish. Best rider this year hands down.­ Hope he doesn't miss the Vuelta.

    From mokusmisi, on Mon 3 Aug 1:18PM

  18. aslong as columbia put everything behind cav he will­ clean up, but if they get a gc rider cav will loose out

    From veloboy22, on Mon 3 Aug 11:30AM

  19. Ther is absolutely way that Cavendish can be compared­ with Eddie Merckx. You seem to forget that Merckx could­ actually ride up mountains as well!

    From lenpugh, on Mon 3 Aug 9:45AM

  20. Ther is absolutely way that Cavendish can be compared­ with Eddie Merckx. You seem to forget that Merckx could­ actually ride up mountains as well!

    From lenpugh, on Mon 3 Aug 9:44AM
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