One to tie, two to break it.
Yeah, agree about Quickstep. Love those guys.
Serious question (not being a troll, even though Iāve never really been a fan of Cavās personalityā¦his palmarĆØs speak for themselves):
Is Cav winning because there are really no other serious sprinters in the field? I mean, where are all the other pure sprinters? (Ewan crashed out, but heās not the only one, is he?)
I think it comes mostly down to his experience with how to position himself. And also his team doing a much better job in the lead out than any other team.
You could see that in the first Stage he won and Ewan crashedā¦ both Sagan and Ewan were quite out of position compared to Cav
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That is certainly part of itā¦for the Tour, a lot of the bigger sprinters are missing. Bennet (obviously), Groenenwagen, Viviani, Gaviria, etc. Ewan crashed out and Sagan is below his best.
But success breeds success as wellā¦Once Cav got that first win, it changed both his and the teamās mindset. Theya re firing on all cylinders.
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Experience on positioning and the best lead out team is why. Cav is in the right headspace to finish it off.
You see this in other sports. A motorcycle racer or a driver gets a win after a drought and then they go on a tear.
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Entertaining last 15minutes, but tomorrow we go back to the real stuff, the climbs AND the descends are going to be amazing.
Cheers
OK, this is really what was getting at and why I asked. I keep watching these bunch sprint finishes and not hearing names I am used to hearing these last two years, so I keep thinking: āwhereās such-and-suchā¦of course he out-sprinted WVA (but just barely. LOL), ā¦or whateverā.
Makes sense.
And yeah, no doubt having QuickStep be your lead out doesnāt hurt, and also experience, positioning, etc. Heās got a lot of things going for him this year. But legs are legs. And age is age. Without those other names, not hard to see why heās dominating. Good for him. I think he would have plucked a win or two even with a fully stacked field, but now it makes it seem like all the naysayers were SOOOOO wrongā¦well, not really. Youāve just got a little luck on you side this year, Mark.
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Oh yeah thatĀ“s totally true. You also have seen that with other sprinters in cycling. Confidence is really important in sprinting.
Too bad Robbie McEwen isnāt calling the race this year (at least on peacock/nbc stream).
(no disrespect to simon gerrans, who Iāve really enjoyed)
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Awesome finish from Mark - going to be a brave person to bet against him at least equalling the record this year 
Looking forward to Ventoux tomorrow - glad the weather forecast here is rain so I have an excuse to stay in and watch it 
TBF Bennett and Groenewagen would have missed the time cut (most likely) Cav is quite a decent climber, you have to be there at the end, its not always the fastest, its the fastest one still there at the end.
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Looks like Sagan going to Total TDF rumor mill: Peter Sagan will join Team TotalEnergies - CyclingTips
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Wtf how can a continental team afford Sagan and his entire posse??
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The main sponsor is Total, which is a petrochemical company, which is one of the biggest companies in the world. This Sagan transfer has been out there for a while, and INRNG has indicated that it sounds like with Total being such a big company, they want to make a bigger splash.
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Some of it is him bringing his own sponsors, as wellā¦I havenāt read the article but I am sure Specialized will be going with him, and that brings in additional $$$.
So Total finds some extra $$ to sign him Sagan brings in his own dollars as well and there you go. Similar to Arkea signing Nairo two years agoā¦just with more $$$
ETA - this will also guarantee Total to a lot more races next year, so it pays off for the sponsors there too.
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Correct
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So itĀ“s basically a continental team with the budget of a decently funded WorldTour team?
On Cav and his team: you see the confidence in moves like Alaphilippe coming to the front towards the end to do just one more pull to give the lead out train a little more oomph and rest. Thatās shows total confidence and team commitment
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Total is a $140 billion company, so itās not like itās hard for them to sponsor the team more if they wanted. Not sure how much the team is funded now, canāt be a huge budget currently though.
Yeah maybe some different headlines other than ĀØset ocean on fireĀØ are welcome for those companies.
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