Cavendish Career Checklist

by Softie on Mar 22, 2009 9:55 AM EDT

The Manx Terror just won MSR. He bagged 4 TdF stages last year among a bunch of other victories. He's not unbeatable, but no one seems faster than him when he has the correct launch---his finishing speed is excellent.

So . . . what else does he need to do to cement his place in the firmament of sprinters? The remaining items of hardware (as I see them) would be a rainbow jersey, another monument, and a points jersey at the Tour. All of these could prove elusive: Great Britain tends not to have a strong squad at the Worlds, the other monuments don't play to his strengths, and grand tours have not just hills, but mountains.

I think he needs to go after the green jersey next. His new Svengali, Ete, can tell him how it's done, and since apparently just talking to Zabel makes you a better climber, I think he'll have the legs this year.

Poll

What Should Cavendish Do Next To Become A Sprinting Legend?

Win Paris-Roubaix

7 votes

Win the Ronde (Really? You expect Cav to win the Ronde?)

3 votes

Take home the green jersey rather than borrow it

51 votes

Win the Worlds RR

5 votes

Amass more career victories than Cipollini

7 votes

Meh . . . can't get excited about sprinters

12 votes

85 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I think the obvious next step is the Green Jersey

Both because its the next thing he’s actually prepared to do (the northern classics that he rides this year will be strictly as a tourist / helper) and because it seems to me that its the next big dividing line between stage hunter sprinters and sprinters who get remembered.

by Ed K on Mar 22, 2009 10:09 AM EDT reply actions

And also the Worlds are a bit of a gamble

A great sprinter can always win the green jersey but evil courseplanning at the Worlds can foil your chances at a win there.

Did your favourite rider just win Montepaschi Strade Bianch Eroica Toscana? OK then.

by Jens on Mar 22, 2009 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions

But the Olympics are of course a completely different game

even now someone’s out trying to find some nice East Anglian crosswinds to blow certain unnamed Spanish climbers off into a ditch.

by Monty. on Mar 22, 2009 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Humm...

We’ll know something is up when the cycling venue turns out to be the Isle of Man…

by Ed K on Mar 22, 2009 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Or the Manchester Velodrome

It’s a circuit!

No longer that I call them tights, I call them freedom ware.

by TheFigurehead on Mar 22, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions

He has been pretty open recently about wanting the World RR.

This is very much a career goal. This year he stated that he is focusing on finishing the Tour. He believes that if he finishes, he will be in a good position to win the green jersey.

by steph- on Mar 23, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Given last year, its hard to argue with him about the TdF

by Ed K on Mar 23, 2009 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

by Le Comte on Mar 23, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

It's the Green Jersey

That certainly is the most realistic immediate goal.

“grand tours have not just hills, but mountains.”

I don’t think that’s too much of a consideration. Cavendish finished the Giro last year, which was brutal.

And he only pulled out early of the Tour last year to prepare for the Olympics – finishing was an entirely realistic goal, and had he been there for the last few stages, I guess he would have been a real contender for the Green.

by Mark T1979 on Mar 22, 2009 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

He can have Tom's green jersey.

I doubt that it is one of his more prized possessions. Even if I’m not being sarcastic, is it in the top ten in terms of his accomplishments?
Baden Cooke won a freaking green jersey, for cripes! The green jersey will place him among the best sprinters, but he is already there.
Give him a few more years of this sprinting foolishness, and then his legacy will start to come into focus. If I were him, I’d buy an apartment at the base of the Muur and start timing myself up that thing every day. If he can’t go up it within a few seconds of Georgie, then it isn’t going to happen for him. His destiny will be “Sprint Legend.” Basically, the kiddy table of cycling legendom.

Never, ever, work with a sprinter.

by Put 'Em in the Gutter on Mar 22, 2009 3:41 PM EDT reply actions

I think you're being a bit hard on him here -

after all, is Andy Hampsten any less of a legend because he “only” won climber’s races (Alpe d’Huez and the Giro in a year it was set up for the climbers)? If he wins the green jersey this year, he’ll already have done two things people said he couldn’t do: win a monument and finish the Tour.

The green jersey’s huge. I agree that there are loftier goals, but imagine if he never wins one? People will definitely see that as a strike against him.

by plinytheelder on Mar 22, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree

If he wants to be great with a capital “G”, then he needs a collection of green jerseys, and a rainbow jersey, and another classic win, or five. True “Greatness” requires a lot. But the next item would be his first green.

More Muur...

by Jimbo... on Mar 24, 2009 1:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Frankly, yes.

Hampsten is less of a legend because of those things.

I really don’t think many people were/are saying that he can’t win MSR or finish the Tour. I don’t think it has diminished Cipo’s stature all that much (not winning the Green Jersey). The Green Jersey is something that sponsors love because of all those eyeballs they reach with it. But, Baden and Robbie still sit at the kiddy table in the grand scheme of things.

I’m not trying to diminish either Cav, Robbie or Baden. I’m simply trying to place them where I believe they belong within the cycling hierarchy.

Never, ever, work with a sprinter.

by Put 'Em in the Gutter on Mar 22, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions

fair enough,

I guess we just think about these things differently.

(I do think a lot of people were saying he can’t win MSR – most people in fact – but I guess it’s open to debate.)

by plinytheelder on Mar 22, 2009 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I suppose the confusion is...

about whether he could win MSR this year. I was perceiving your comment as, “People are saying that Cav will never win MSR.” You may not have meant that.
As for me, I thought that he’d win it eventually, but I didn’t think it would be this year at all. I was dead wrong about that.

Again, I appreciate the conversation a great deal(what’s your name anyway?).

I think the only debate left between you and I is whether he has a chance in the North? You have caused me to believe way more in his chances than I did at the beginning of this conversation. I’ve said this elsewhere, but I think E3 will be very telling.

Never, ever, work with a sprinter.

by Put 'Em in the Gutter on Mar 22, 2009 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

His next step should be to give Zabel a lifetime contract.

Or should I say to lock Ete into an exclusive contract. Being a champion requires that you surround yourself with the best people.

Speed on the descent can easily be lost when you slam into a tree.

by flying dog on Mar 22, 2009 5:51 PM EDT reply actions

Got to be the green jersey,

Last year he completely knew he was stopping for the olympics so wasn’t ever going to try for intermediate sprints etc. Now he’s no other committments and has proven he can go up a ramp without getting off to push, he’d be a fool not to go for it. Alse, at 11-8 he’s pretty much the lowest odds you can get for an bet on the tour 2009.

However, they HAVE overlooked that he’s on my VDS team. This means he’s probably tapping the wrong brakes as I type and lurching towards the tarmack wondering weather to use his collarbone or ribs to cusion his fall. . . .

by ebbsandflows on Mar 23, 2009 4:44 AM EDT reply actions