Cavendish to Quick Step?

[raindog]

that's what I meant by squad

 

[thom]

stop press !
Cav wants to leave Sky !

 

[johnr]

stop press !
Cav wants to leave Sky !

... and is being pretty cool about it. I hope he gets what he wants in the way he wants it

 

[rich p]

Let's hope it all ends up as an amicable divorce. The strange thing is that a year ago everyone on here questioned whether it was feasible to go for green and yellow and most decided that it was an impossible dream. Slightly odd that we voyeurs could see that but the protagonists couldn't.

 

[dragon72]

I think Sky will probably reduce their transfer fee. The other teams know that Sky don't want to keep paying Cav 2 million a year to sit on his sofa in Essex. They want that money to spend on new riders or the next generation of space-age buses or whatever to realise their GT GC ambitions.
Sky are just as keen to offload Cav as other teams are to get him on board. My basic grasp of supply and demand economics suggests to me that they're not in the best position to ask for a 1 million transfer fee.

 

[thom]

Let's hope it all ends up as an amicable divorce. The strange thing is that a year ago everyone on here questioned whether it was feasible to go for green and yellow and most decided that it was an impossible dream. Slightly odd that we voyeurs could see that but the protagonists couldn't.

Yes but a year ago I would have said Wiggo stood a cat in hell's chance of winning the TdF !

 

[rich p]

Yes but a year ago I would have said Wiggo stood a cat in hell's chance of winning the TdF !

I take your point but we all knew that Wiggins and Sky would be targetting yellow and speculated that going for both jerseys would be difficult. I'm just surprised that they're surprised!
I woke and got up a bit early today so I've idled some time away reading last years thoughts and predictions we all made!
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/wheres-cav-going.82932/

Some were prescient!

 

[Steve H]

I like Dave Brailsford's 'reach for the sky' attitude (no pun intended). Green and Yellow at the TdF was a massive goal and a tad unrealistic - however only by setting these massive goals do teams pull together and focus on big things. The Sky team (and the GB team) have achieved so much by having this attitude and I like it! I'm glad Cav gave Sky a go and will be a bit sad to see him go.

Having said that...

I'd also like to see him back with some of his old HTC mates - Cav, Renshaw, Eisel, Tony Martin made a pretty awesome train that I'd love to see roll again.

 

[tigger]

I'm not sure, even with the benefit of hindsight, that Green and Yellow is so unrealistic. Liquigas weren't too far away from achieving both this year. Put it another way, if Sagan rode for Sky it would be realistic.

 

[Red Light]

I like Dave Brailsford's 'reach for the sky' attitude (no pun intended). Green and Yellow at the TdF was a massive goal and a tad unrealistic - however only by setting these massive goals do teams pull together and focus on big things. The Sky team (and the GB team) have achieved so much by having this attitude and I like it! I'm glad Cav gave Sky a go and will be a bit sad to see him go.

Although he didn't do as well as he could have he did pretty well with Sky with its close links with Team GB - it must be said it was pretty special to be led out to a stage victory on the Champs Elysee by the Yellow Jersey and it was also his team mates who helped deliver him to the rainbow jersey and were expected to deliver him to the Gold Medal. As we see in other sports such as football, players do much better when playing with team mates they play with all year rather than just the ones they get together with occasionally for the national team.

 

[thom]

Ciolek and Chicchi, OPQ's sprinters, to leave at end of season...

 

[rich p]

Ciolek and Chicchi, OPQ's sprinters, to leave at end of season...

Making room for Cav, then?
They've both been lead-out men for MC in the past who went on to do less well than they hoped as top man at other teams. Maybe they didn't fancy playing second fiddle again!

 

[tigger]

And in a different take on Cav.... I'm really excited about the prospect of him joining OPQS. It must be the best move available to him? Its a a strong team with many of the ingredients in place to support a pure sprinter, so we may see the glorious HTCesque train in action again.. Boonen seems to want to concentrate on the monuments now, which means Cav will fit in perfectly as the main Grand Tour sprinter. They don't have a really credible GC contender (?) to get in the way either. Add Chavanel's escapism into the mix and you have a team thats difficult to beat

 

[thom]

Boonen would welcome Cav to OPQ

 

[montage]

Boonen leading out Cav is a scary prospect