Robbie McEwen doesn't see Mark Cavensdish as serious bunch sprint competitor: "He’s not the rider he was before"

Robbie McEwen shared his opinion at ranking of sprinters, who'll be lining to this year's Tour de France. The twelve-times Tour de France stage winner doesn't include Wout Van Aert in his ranking, as he doesn't consider him a sprinter, although McEwen agrees, that the Belgian might win a bunch sprint or two.

McEwen, who spoke to Eurosport, considers Jasper Philipsen and Fabio Jakobsen the fastest man in the race, who'll be winning at least three stages combined.

"Philipsen won’t be the fastest every time but I think he’ll be faster more often than the others. I see him winning two, possibly three stages. It’s really hard to pick between Philipsen and Jakobsen. But I think as the race goes on, Philipsen is going to deal with the kilometres and the slog of the Tour a bit better."

And where does Mark Cavendish rank? McEwen values Groenewegen, Ewan and Pedersen higher than the Manx Misille. And while doesn't completely rule out his chances, he's not very optimistic.

"Can Mark Cavendish win a stage? I’m saying 99% no, 1% yes. He’s not the rider he was before. He showed at the Giro he can still win when the circumstances are perfect. But he doesn’t have an experienced lead-out and Astana are going to have to do a lot better than they’ve done up until now."

"But that 1% is there because I know if Cav can be in the right place at the right time, and if everything goes right for him, he can still cross the line first. So I won’t completely discount him but I don’t see him doing it against the level of competition that’s going to be at the Tour. But I’m happy to be proved wrong!"