Tour de France - Blazin' Saddles: Columbia Cavalier
Eurosport - Mon, 06 Jul 18:40:00 2009
There is no end to superlatives about Mark Cavendish's sprinting abilities but Sunday's win was the perfect example of good teamwork coming together.
Last year it took Cavendish five stages to put his mark on the Tour; this year the 24-year-old has done so at the first occasion possible.
With five Tour victories to his name - and now a maiden green jersey - Cav will probably overtake Barry Hoban's British record of eight wins by the end of the week.
His detractors will still complain about his withdrawal from last year's race; they will slate his no-show in Saturday's prologue (in which he finished fourth-last); they will say he can only deliver when it's set up for him on a plate.
But cycling has always been about teamwork - and trains have been central to the careers of top sprinters for years now: ask Mario Cipollini or Alessandro Petacchi.
Columbia rode a perfect finale on Sunday. They were the sole team with nine men working to reel in the breakaway. Tony Martin brought Cav to 1km to go before passing the baton to Big George Hincapie and then, finally, Mark Renshaw - engines whom Cav rightly calls "the best in the business".
Cavendish wasn't lucky to avoid the crash on the final bend. He was unaffected because his team were already so far ahead.
Put simply, the Columbia train is so effective it offers the same kind of advantage to Cavendish as the Brawn rear diffuser gives Formula One's Jenson Button.
Hincapie and Renshaw are like pacy football wingers, making incisive runs before delivering a perfect cross for the star striker, Cavendish, to put away with aplomb.
Until Cavendish can do the cycling equivalent of gathering the ball in his half, run through an opposition's entire defence, before rifling a pile-driver into the roof of the net with his left boot, questions will still be raised about his "greatness".
Monday's stage across the flat Camarque marshlands to La Grande-Motte will reveal a lot about Team Columbia's mentality.
The crosswinds are potentially treacherous and with Tuesday's team time trial looming, orders from above may dictate that the train takes a day off to refuel.
Or will the prospect of emulating their three consecutive Giro wins be too much for Bob Stapleton's stalwarts?
For the neutral, the best would be for the train to stay in the station because then we would see how Cavendish operates without a conductor. It would be nice to see him stretch his legs against a full field too.
Maybe then, after a solo win, the cynics would pipe down and appreciate him for what he is: the fastest, most ruthless rider in the peloton. That's not a compliment, it's a fact.
Yes, he chooses his days - but why go flat out on a prologue that means absolutely nothing? Would six-time green jersey Erik Zabel ever compete for polka-dot points atop a third-category climb? Cavendish's Tour started on Sunday - he won the stage and is now in green. What more could he do?
That green will probably stay on his shoulders for the rest of the race - provided he makes it through the testing final week of the Alps.
And if he fails to do so? Well, that would tell us more about Cav than any of his wins. Then, you can bring out the knives. But until that happens, praise is in order.
QUOTES OF THE DAY: "Napolitano was just stupid, riding like an idiot." German Kangaroo Heinrich Haussler lets the world know who he holds responsible for the disrupted sprint finish in Brignoles.
"An Englishman is the worst man to put in this heat. Green can cover my red body." Britain's Wayne Rooney on wheels, Mark Cavendish, burns under the Provencal sun.
PLAT DU JOUR: If you've had enough of the seafood by now then feast on a wild boar stew served with Camarque rice. Preceded with a glass or two of Ricard and washed down with a good Languedoc-Roussillon.
STAGE 3 PREDICTION: Tom Boonen. The Belgian finished fourth-last on Sunday. See a pattern here?
Don't forget to follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day at www.twitter.com/saddleblaze
Stage Three LIVE at 13:00 on Monday July 6 on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe
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Comment 1 - 18 of 18
But remember he only has the best lead out train in the world because he is the best sprinter in the world. If he couldn't do the job at the end better than anyone else then they wouldn't place such faith in him.
rogers got him to 1 km, not martin
well i don't think it's that bad an article ...... but if you read carefully .... both cav and tom boonen came fourth last !
it seems we have a lot of arm chair sprinters that criticize CAV for doing the job he gets paid for. not one of these critics can outsprint him. keep going and showing them your back wheel. good luck CAV from the silver fox.
@namportnawak Given BS's reputation, maybe he was drunk while he wrote the piece. But seriously, don't you think you've hit the nail on the head here... Have you considered that the piece was written intentionally swaying from side to side? Seems to be trying to praise Cav and his team for all their achievements, while trying to keep their feet on the ground. And a lot of it is rhetorical... BS seems to be throwing in ideas and statements, but firmly sitting on the fence, as if to provoke and incite debate. Maybe you have risen to it? Still, think BS should lighten up and bring back the puns... cycling - and Cav - are too serious. Where's the light-hearted banter??!
1. I've never seen a spriter thank his team-mates as his first action, like Cav does. Shows humility. A word that is seldom associated with him.
2. If he wants to be great Tour sprinter then needs to get to Paris. Otherwise he has already shown he can outsprint anyone at any single race. He is human - he is beatable.
3. Fassa-Bartolo and SAECO are two teams which specialized in lead outs. Columbia are the best now, but nowhere close to those.
Yo namportnawak - I nominate you as the new and improved Blazing Saddles.... of course we expect "much better", right?
This article reads like a drunk man arguing with himself in the pub. First Cavendish is not very good because his team lead him in (like every other team does for every other sprinter); then we have rubbish footballing analogies (just out of interest, what IS the cycling equivalent of "gathering the ball in his own half"?). Then he's not stretching his legs against a full field and "cynics" want him to ride "a solo win". Then suddenly he's the fastest, most ruthless rider in the peloton and he's going to keep the maillot vert for the rest of the race.
With his build, you'd no more expect him to go on a long solo effort than you'd expect Cancellara to win a mountain stage or Andy Schleck to win a sprint. He's there to do one job, and he does it extremely well. Unlike whoever wrote this shambles.
"With five Tour victories to his name"...
...sums it up, really. You might perhaps like to put the word "stage" in there?
markear1
Remember that is GC of 176 out of 180 for the "fastest man alive!"
dwp
Now that was one SIGNIFICANT helping of Cavendish Kool-Aid.... but you know what BS? I am still not drinking it,,,,
dwp
Now that was one SIGNIFICANT helping of Cavendish Kool-Aid.... but you know what BS? I am still not drinking it,,,,
dwp
General classification - Mark Cavendish 176th position out of 180!!! I think that's about right.
Why should a sprinter be expected to do it all? They specialise in short sharp bursts. Maybe one day there will be someone who can sprint as fast as Cav and beat everyone in the mountains but that requires alot of the body. Mountain climbers use different muscle fibres to sprinters, they have different body shapes and train differently. Questions about "greatness" tend to be asked about anyone who does well.
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I think cav did do something special today.
No-one reading this other than him will be able to do it in such a prestigious race.
He had tyler farrar in his wheel and he still got away from him. There can be no disputing his greatness. I've seen him in other country tours where his lead out was michael barry for 2km and he still won and whilst others were sprinting he was in the saddle moving up and he sprinted eventually to win. He is great, end of
THANK THE LORD SOMEONE FINALLY GETS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Until Cavendish can do the cycling equivalent of gathering the ball in his half, run through an opposition's entire defence, before rifling a pile-driver into the roof of the net with his left boot, questions will still be raised about his "greatness"."
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