Milan-San Remo (*Spoiler*)

[cyberknight]

Blimey, none of us saw that one coming did we?
Well done Gerrans. Mind you, my FP nearly got it.

FP was robbed
Much as i wanted him to win i could see he had no chance when the other 2 in the break hung onto his coatails ,cant say i blame them though.

 

[raindog]

FP was robbed
Much as i wanted him to win i could see he had no chance when the other 2 in the break hung onto his coatails ,cant say i blame them though.

Well, all's fair in love and war and bike racing.....

 

[Strathlubnaig]

Big list of SKY DNF there. Cavendish can sure sprint but hills seem to be his weak point. Pity Gilbert had the fall. Good finish to the race.

 

[Albert]

Looks like Cav is going to have a tough year. In my opinion the Sky crew don't have the sheer class or, I'm betting, the dogged fighting spirit of the old HTC outfit that served Cav so well these past years. He'll have to figure out a new way to get to the business end of super hard days like today.
Great race today - Gerrans was brilliant. Staying with Cancellara and ahead of Nibali on the final downhill was no mean feat.

 

[cyberknight]

Big list of SKY DNF there. Cavendish can sure sprint but hills seem to be his weak point. Pity Gilbert had the fall. Good finish to the race.

Looked like Cav was struggling, i don`t think you can blame the team if he was having an off day .
I was hoping Hoogerland would win at one point as it would have been a good day for him after last years TDF.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

True, cybernight, the rest of the Sky train hung back to try and nurse Cavendish back into the main group, all for nought unfortunately for them, then when he called it a day there was no chance for any of them to make it back.
I am not a Sky fan however.

 

[Keith Oates]

Cav has had some medical problems this year so far with off days happening, perhaps yesterday was another one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Looks like Cav is going to have a tough year. In my opinion the Sky crew don't have the sheer class or, I'm betting, the dogged fighting spirit of the old HTC outfit that served Cav so well these past years. He'll have to figure out a new way to get to the business end of super hard days like today.

Whatever Sky do or don't have this year - and time will tell - Cav's failure today was down to him not the team. If you actually watched the race, you'll have seen that the team put in stupendous efforts to get him back on, but he couldn't do it and he called it off. To be honest, you wouldn't expect Cav to be able to be up at the end of the MSR every year; even though he has won it once, it is not a race to which he is ideally suited. A Strathlubnaig says, he is no climber - look at the contrast between him and more versatile riders who can win sprint finishes like Sagan, EBH or indeed, Gerrans.

 

[Herzog]

...Cav's failure today was down to him not the team...

His three early season targets (according to the man himself were) Kuurne-Brussels_Kuurne, MSR, and Ghent-Wevelgem, so I would have thought he would have been in form for this one. Perhaps an off day, certainly not Sky's fault.

 

[thom]

Whatever Sky do or don't have this year - and time will tell - Cav's failure today was down to him not the team. If you actually watched the race, you'll have seen that the team put in stupendous efforts to get him back on, but he couldn't do it and he called it off. To be honest, you wouldn't expect Cav to be able to be up at the end of the MSR every year; even though he has won it once, it is not a race to which he is ideally suited. A Strathlubnaig says, he is no climber - look at the contrast between him and more versatile riders who can win sprint finishes like Sagan, EBH or indeed, Gerrans.

Totally agree. I don't really know why you'd have a high expectation of Cav or any SKY rider in the classics because there are just a whole pile of better and more (as you put it) versatile riders out there for one day races. Rather than Cav being led to a bunch sprint, it's much more exciting and impressive to see Cancellara riding away on the Strade Bianchi or the Poggio, Vansummeren staying away or Gilbert defying the Schleck brothers.

Cav may never win MSR again because it's clear how to drop him long before the finish. It's no big deal ;-)

 

[raindog]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendishs-milan-san-remo-hopes-fade-on-le-manie
"He didn't have the legs, that was the only thing," Eisel said bluntly, before adding a mitigation of sorts. "He did have to change a wheel before the Turchino."

 

[Albert]

I am a huge fan of Cav. I think he is already one of, if not THE, the best sprinters of all time But I stand by my post. I don't think this Sky crew are in the same league as last year's HTC outfit and I think that Cav will have a much tougher time getting wins this year. Sure they put in an heroic effort yesterday, but they failed to close that last minute's gap. Do you think last year's HTC gang would have failed? I don't and that's all I'm saying.

 

[ColinJ]

Sure they put in an heroic effort yesterday, but they failed to close that last minute's gap. Do you think last year's HTC gang would have failed? I don't and that's all I'm saying.

I think they probably realised that there was little point in killing themselves to do it. Without help from other teams, it was going to be really hard and Cav would probably have been so knackered that he'd have got dropped again on the last couple of climbs anyway, so better to admit defeat and look ahead to the next race instead.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Do you think last year's HTC gang would have failed? I don't and that's all I'm saying.

Yes, I do. Read what Eisel - who was in both teams - said.

 

[PpPete]

Yes, I do. Read what Eisel - who was in both teams - said.

Not often I agree with FM... but spot on!