Professional Cycling For the Fans - Manx Missile; best TDF stage winner of ALL time!!!

So this is an interesting one...
Such an arrogant pickle, yet the brat is on target to be THE greatest stage winner the Tour has ever seen in it's entire history.
Barring an untimely shortened career, Cavy will surpass everybody by a LONG ways.

Thing is, the guy is a' love him or hate him' kinda guy; the fact that he will be ETCHED into the history books must be a very tough pill to swallow for those on the Cavy hate camp.

On another note, we have seen 'great' champion's attributes influence the TDFs route, for example the days of popular Marco Pantani and French climber Richard verenque was just a mountain fest, and lets not forget how they love to favor routes that help if there is a current French champion with particular strengths. At times the organizers have actually made routes more challenging to champions they 'didn't like'
I wonder if Cavy gains an extremely large margin if they will have 1 sprint stage in the whole tour out of spite. The organizers are well known for this.

It's not Maxx.

It's the 'Manx Missile' because he's from the Isle of Man. It's a small island half way between England and Ireland. Everything that comes from there is called Manx.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man

It's not Maxx.

It's the 'Manx Missile' because he's from the Isle of Man. It's a small island half way between England and Ireland. Everything that comes from there is called Manx.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man

Thanks for that. Saved me the trouble. ;)

Greatest of ALL time?

No.

He's a good sprinter but for sheer fireworks I liked M. Cippolini...

I'd have to do some research but I think B. Hinault has the most stage wins. Maybe E. Merckxx...

Eddie Merckxx had 34 stage wins, Hinault 28.

Merckxx also spent 111 (!) days in yellow.

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/HISTO/us/statistiques.html

Greatest of ALL time?

No.

He's a good sprinter but for sheer fireworks I liked M. Cippolini...

I'd have to do some research but I think B. Hinault has the most stage wins. Maybe E. Merckxx...

Bernard is not even close to Eddy. I don't rememebr his totals off the top of my head, but he is in a tie for the most wins in a single TDF at 8, something he did twice. Bernard is in a tie for 5th at 7 for a single TDF (which he also may have done twice, I'm sure he at least has a second at 6).

I love watching the HTC train steamroll to the line over the last 10k, but I really hope they're included in any legacy involving Mark Cavendish as a sprinter. They're the real stars.

Bernard is not even close to Eddy. I don't rememebr his totals off the top of my head, but he is in a tie for the most wins in a single TDF at 8, something he did twice. Bernard is in a tie for 5th at 7 for a single TDF (which he also may have done twice, I'm sure he at least has a second at 6).

Did you see my second post?

I love watching the HTC train steamroll to the line over the last 10k, but I really hope they're included in any legacy involving Mark Cavendish as a sprinter. They're the real stars.

Wasn't that lead out just gorgeous? I think I'm gonna retract my Cippolini statement as that was a fabulous launch.

But Griepel had some stuff there for a few seconds...

Wasn't that lead out just gorgeous? I think I'm gonna retract my Cippolini statement as that was a fabulous launch.

But Griepel had some stuff there for a few seconds...

Greipel sprinted AT LEAST twice as long as Cav with no draft and almost beat him. He also started from a few bike lengths behind Cav.

But yeah, the HTC train actually frightens me because they're so powerful. I think if I was watching them ride by in real life I would tense up and lean away as they passed.

Sprinters careers are short because when they old they lose speed but well... when you get to the top too early you get older faster too. Yes if it wasnt for his team cav wouldnt do it alone, the stages they lost was because the team cracked.

My only problem with Cav now is that phill and paul and the darn versus is all about him being that they have at least 40 more racers to talk about. But no, cav here and there. Cav i believe is going to another team next year so who knows what it will happen to him. Maybe the darn team wont be even there next year. There is a lot of tour yet and in my opinion he wont win the green this year because many of the other guys who want the green jersey can climb better than cav e.g the spaniards.

Sadly the rabobank tracker guy who should beat him with 1 leg and blind eyes suck at the road.

cya.

Greipel sprinted AT LEAST twice as long as Cav with no draft and almost beat him. He also started from a few bike lengths behind Cav.

But yeah, the HTC train actually frightens me because they're so powerful. I think if I was watching them ride by in real life I would tense up and lean away as they passed.

For Greipel that's not much of a consolation prize. With sprinters its all about winning.

Did you see my second post?

Not in time, I started my reply and got distracted, by the time I hit save your second post was in. I did see yuor second post when I started to edit mine to include the information in your second post.

Cav is the fastest sprinter in pro cycling. He also has the best lead out in pro cycling. But he can do it without his team as he proved with his first stage win of this years tour.

Cav is the fastest sprinter in pro cycling. He also has the best lead out in pro cycling. But he can do it without his team as he proved with his first stage win of this years tour.

And with his wins last year after Renshaw got thrown out. He's perfectly capable of poaching on another team's wheels. I've been watching road racing for almost forty years and I've never seen anyone, not even Maertens, who could so consistently outpace the fastest men around.

As for the greatest ever stage winner, he may yet surpass Merckx's number of wins. But Cavendish is never going to win any stages by over eight minutes by riding away from the whole field in the mountains...

Gee, let's see... flat sprint stage today... title about how great Cav is... thanks for putting a spoiler in the thread title!

And with his wins last year after Renshaw got thrown out. He's perfectly capable of poaching on another team's wheels. I've been watching road racing for almost forty years and I've never seen anyone, not even Maertens, who could so consistently outpace the fastest men around.

As for the greatest ever stage winner, he may yet surpass Merckx's number of wins. But Cavendish is never going to win any stages by over eight minutes by riding away from the whole field in the mountains...

Actually not the whole field. There were only 7 other riders in his group going over the Tourmalet. The rest had already been dropped. What makes it insanely impressive is that this was the next to last climb and there was a pretty long runout after the final climb. But that group of 6 riders (plus Eddy's teammate Vandenbossche) could not make up any time on that flat.

And it was just under 8 minutes 7'57".

Won GC by 17'54"
Won Points 244 to the second of 149
Won KOM 155 to second 94
Won Team championship.
Won final stage (A time trial).

That is domination.

Gee, let's see... flat sprint stage today... title about how great Cav is... thanks for putting a spoiler in the thread title!

Haha. This is the "Spoiler Forum" my man.

I don't think he is the greatest tour rider ever. But right now no one seems to be able to catch him on the sprint, and he might be one of the best sprinters of all time. Also, I agree that the HTC lead out man Renshaw gets really under appreciated.

Sprinters are splitters.

Next year he'll probably win a couple of stages then split to prepare for the Olympics like in 2008.

Gee, let's see... flat sprint stage today... title about how great Cav is... thanks for putting a spoiler in the thread title!

If you honestly wanted to shield yourself from seeing results before watching the tape delay/recording/whatever, why in hell are you reading through this forum?

fixed thread title because, honestly, it was driving me nuts every time I read it.

If you honestly wanted to shield yourself from seeing results before watching the tape delay/recording/whatever, why in hell are you reading through this forum?

Because there is plenty of non-spoiler content, and usually no spoilers without a warning.

Because there is plenty of non-spoiler content, and usually no spoilers without a warning.

The thing is is the thread was referring to yesterday's race.

And if you want pure after the fact this is not the place to visit. That's just common sense.

Put your blinders on and go home.

Put your blinders on and go home.

Nice...

fixed thread title because, honestly, it was driving me nuts every time I read it.

Thanks for that. It was bugging me, too.

Eddie Merckxx had 34 stage wins, Hinault 28.

Merckxx also spent 111 (!) days in yellow.

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/HISTO/us/statistiques.html
True, but I guess I was just on the Paul and Phill hype in that he has won 16 stages in only 5 tours or whatever. If he races the same number of tours as the other record holders, Cav would be on target to win the most stages... by a long, long, long, long ways.

He's only 26 years old. He could potentially take the record for Tour stages before he's 30. I certainly wouldn't bet against him. He may even beat Petacchi's 51 GT stage wins (I believe this is the current record for sprinters), as Petacchi is reaching the end of his career. This depends, of course, on whether Cavendish sets this as a goal or not. We know that next year, he's going to miss all or part of the Vuelta for the Olympics, but other than that he should be competitive in all 3 GT's for many years to come.

Now, if he beats Merckx for most all time Grand Tour stage wins (64), then that would be remarkable, eh?