A straight battle between Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan? That seems to be the settled view. But how does the route suit each rider and what of other contenders?
The more you look at the 2013 Tour route, the more chances Mark Cavendish will have but if he’s good, he’s got plenty of competition from others. The Tour de France is arguably the only race of the year where we get to see all the top sprinters in competition.
Was there a race-winning moment? Vincenzo Nibali used the first week to put himself in the ideal position and took the race lead after the time trial in Saltara. From this point onwards the cast of potential rivals began to shrink and fade.
But if you had to chose one moment to define the 2013 Giro, what better than the one pictured above? It’s Stage 14 and the final climb of the Jafferau above the town of Bardonnechia. Snow forced a late change to the route and the bad weather even blocked the TV coverage. It’s a scene from winter but in a race defined by bad weather, the only concession to the cold from Nibali is toe covers. He attacks and behind the others think of giving chase but only Mauro Santambrogio and Carlos Betancur will be able to follow.
As part of a series of highlights of the year, here is Stage 18 of the Tour de France and Mark Cavendish’s sprint win.
Cavendish is sometimes called “Cannonball” and this time he sprinted like he was fired out of gun. The sprint into Brive on Stage 18 of the Tour de France is worth watching just for the speed of the final kilometre but there’s more to this than the final sprint, the first is the story of rivalry between Cavendish and André Greipel which made the sprints exciting, and the second story is one of accommodating riders with different goals on a team.
With his win today in Tournai Mark Cavendish’s total of Tour de France stage wins stands at 21 stage wins, placing him in sixth place on the all time list of Tour stage winners. This puts him above übersprinter Freddy Maertens and now only one win away from André Darrigade, the French sprinter who took 22 stage wins from 14 Tour de France appearances.
A heavy week with the recent news dominated by a triathlete. But the racing goes on and so here’s a mention of actual sport for balance. Earlier today Andre Greipel outsprinted Mark Cavendish and Mark Renshaw in Stage 2 of the Ster ZLM Tour in the Netherlands. Look closely and you can see team mate Greg Henderson celebrate. Cavendish might have finished second but he is now in the overall lead after finishing third yesterday.
I’m Ivan Basso. I’m looking for real men who don’t worry about being tired, who are ready to ride many kilometres on the road with the desire to finish first.
No, he’s not looking for new riders. Instead this is a radio advert with Ivan Basso promoting French car maker Citroen’s utility vehicles for small businesses and he wants “traders, artisans, entrepreneurs for Citroen’s commercial vehicles“. The full audio clip is here on youtube:
It’s of minor interest because it is rare these days to see a cyclist in a national advertising campaign. It’s happened in the past but today’s riders are more likely to fry their cycling shoes or even lend their image to sell beach towels but here we have Basso’s voice as central to mixing the idea of riding across Italy with selling vans.
Gerrans wins Milan-Sanremo but the clip above is an illustration of the teamwork and success being enjoyed by all. Expletives are beeped out and at times the soundtrack is like Morse Code as riders and managers alike share the moment.
Milan-Sanremo is on Saturday. The longest day of racing on the calendar at 298km, it is one of the five monuments that are the most prestigious of one day races in the sport. Here is a preview of the 2012 edition.
The Route | The Contenders | The Weather | TV Viewing | Startlist
Boonen’s Arab spring
The Tour of Qatar finished yesterday with Tom Boonen taking his fourth overall win. As much as the race is about sprint finishes, Boonen looked far more complete and thanks to his team, always in the right place at the right time. It’s good for him but does this translate to results in the crucial spring classics? It depends how superstitious you are…
Mark Cavendish’s contractual future was finally settled last week when he signed a contract with Team Sky, which was duly announced yesterday. I gather Sky sent him a formal contract last July just after the Tour but the world’s fastest man did rush to sign it.
The ease with which he wins is impressive. I’m trying to avoid hagiography but all the same, when we see black and white images of the greats of the sport from the past, Cavendish is on his way to joining them with sprint wins. But will he have it all it all so easy in 2012? Several factors suggest sprinting might be more open. Let’s take a look.