Alberto Contador and Mark Cavendish are riders of the same generation. 'El Pistolero' believes the Manx Missile is far from done, and is in fact having a good opportunity to spring back into success in the upcoming Giro d'Italia.
“Due to his age, the team he is in, which isn’t a traditional sprint team, do I think he can win another stage in a Grand Tour?" Contador told Eurosport. “I don’t think you can ever count Cavendish out. We are talking about a rider with an outrageous number of victories, a pure sprinter. A sprinter that has been at the top level for many years. I’m not going to say that he was the only rider that dominated back then because generations change, the years, etc."
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Now at Astana, Cavendish has been faced with the challenge of having a more modest leadout, something which he has not had to contend with often in past years. However this Giro will be a particularly difficult challenge, as the Kazakh team did not select a single rider who has been supporting him throughout the opening months of the season in the sprints, instead focusing on puncheurs for the hilly stages.
“Maybe now he is not in the best team to get that win, but you can definitely not count him out to get another stage win. There will be bigger favourites, but I honestly think he has a chance to win another stage on a Grand Tour," Contador believes.
Although it'll be a brutal Giro, in the opening two weeks there will be a few flat sprint stages which should fit all sprinters. Cavendish will need to have good legs to drift in the wheels of the main sprinters in the race, netting a stage win would already make it a successful race for himself and Astana, and would be an important achievement as he's yet to win in 2023.
“I hope to see him fight for the sprint stages. I think Mark has tremendous experience, he knows how to position himself well, and he will have opportunities to show this," Contador concluded. "I think the most important thing for him is to race solid a Giro, to try and accumulate kilometers at a good speed looking towards future objectives - and why not try and win a stage as well?”
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- for what?frieders311-11-2026
- Blah blah blah!frieders311-11-2026
- Where Merckx just rode every single race he could and won all the time, Hinault won less often (percentage wise) because he was more judicious in what he raced. His palmares are nuts. He had amazing rivals, one to start his career and another to end it in the grand tours. His classics were solid. What sets him apart from Merckx and Pogačar are that he basically dabbled in the classics while the other two love(d) them. I used to compare Pogačar to Hinault for his grand tour record and occasional classics win, until I realized that the comparison was wrong. Pogačar loves the classics - ah, the memory of his reaction to finishing fourth in a 2 person sprint in Flanders in ‘22: utter domination in any one day race since then, even when he doesn’t win. Hinault lived for the grand tours and I don’t think anyone else will ever reach his record. 10 wins in 13 attempts? Good lord. An amazing rider. Wish there was more footage to watch.RidesHills11-11-2026
- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
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🇮🇹 PHOTOS: @giroditalia Some pictures from today’s Team Presentation in Pescara ⬇️ #Giro #AstanaQazaqstanTeam 📷 @SprintCycling
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