Dutch pundit criticizes 'amateurish' retirement spectacle for Mark Cavendish in Singapore: "One last cash in a fake race on the other side of the world"
CyclingWednesday, 13 November 2024 at 10:39
The Tour de France-organized criteriums are by all means 'scripted'. The results are planned beforehand, not with the intent of fooling the audience, but instead of giving the big stars and the events more spectacle. They are races that divide public opinion quite a bit, and Thijs Zonneveld directly criticizes how Mark Cavendish's final race lacked authenticity, whereas he could've retired in the race that marked his career: the Tour de France.
"Mark Cavendish, the best sprinter of all time, said goodbye to cycling last weekend. He had chosen - wait, let me check - the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium for this purpose. But no matter how hard he (along with a few fellow sprinters) tried to make it look epic, iconic, and historic, it didn't work," Zonneveld said in a column for AD. As was the case with the Saitama Criterium the week prior, it was evident that the riders followed a plan to allow Cavendish to win his 'final race'.
Whilst it won't appear on the results sheet of any results website - it's not an official race - this event is ultimately called the final race of the 'Manx Missile's' career. Cavendish won, after decade and a half of pursuit and years of roller-coaster emotions in the 2020's, his 35th win at the Tour de France. And he managed to survive the mountains to make it to Nice. In Zonneveld's opinion, that would've been the ideal place to finish his career, as he was even honoured on the podium at the end of the race.
Instead, after months of indecision and no racing, it was only this Saturday that the Astana Qazaqstan Team announced that he would be retiring and his final event would be in Singapore the day after. Naturally, he was given the spotlight and won the sprint in the race. "Even in the interview afterward, in which he tried to sound emotional, you got the feeling you were watching an amateurish constructed scene," Zonnveld argues. "In almost every pro criterium, the outcome is predetermined. The biggest (and most expensive) names are on the podium; the others are decor."
"Of course, it would have been best if he had said goodbye on the evening of his 35th stage victory in the Tour. On the spot, from behind a Formica table of a French hotel. Had we all remembered him forever? He could also have stopped after the last Tour stage in Nice," he argues. On Sunday, social media was rather flooded by sarcastic comments on the results and criticism on the 'planning' of race results, which were argued to be a cheap way to end such a bright legacy.
"... Instead, he sold his farewell. One last cash in a fake race on the other side of the world, like Elvis making one last Tour past shady casinos in Las Vegas before his body gave out. But in a way, it also suits Cavendish. He has so many faces. That of an unstoppable champion, but also that of a kamikaze," he concluded.
🏆 Sir Mark Cavendish wins his last race: the 2024 Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium!#TDFSG 🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/loqMOVW7aX
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) November 10, 2024
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Relax. It's only entertainment. No one pretended it to be otherwise.
Sir Mark deserves such a spectacle and a salute.
No need to be such a tight a**
When it comes to saying stupid things, Thijs Zonneveld takes the cake. It's as if he's never followed bike racing before.
Most of Cavendish's wins where off the back of a sprint train so ½ of the effort was already done...
You only had to look at the faces of half the riders at the front to see what was going on. Looking to the side into tge crowds to hide their incapacity to stay serious and concentrated.