😄And just like that, it's Day 4 of the #TDF2023! How's everyone doing ? 😄On est déjà à la quatrième journée du #TDF2023 ! Comment va tout le monde ?
Sixth place "not good enough by far" at Tour de France sprint for Mark Cavendish, says Adam Blythe
CyclingTuesday, 04 July 2023 at 13:05
Mark Cavendish only needs to take one win at this Tour de France to break the record of Eddy Merckx and become the rider with the most stage wins in the race's history. It will however be a difficult task with the tough competition he faces, but a sixth place on the opening day was a positive sign. Not for Adam Blythe however, he argues.
“Promising that he’s up there at the pointy end and it would’ve been disappointing had he just rolled in around 67th or something and not been able to sprint. Sixth. Not up to his lofty standards of years gone by but encouraging nonetheless that he was there and there’s plenty more days to come," Robbie McEwen commented on 'Cav' at the Eurosport's 'The Breakaway'.
As Cavendish only contested four sprints throughout the Giro d'Italia, failing several due to bad positioning, the first shot at Tour success was a positive sign, as he did not seem to have any teammates around him in the final few chaotic kilometers. He was happy to be in place with two kilometers to go and then jumped wheels until he ended up sprinting to sixth place, just behind Fabio Jakobsen and Wout van Aert.
“I think he’ll stick with it for the time being but there’s been a lot of speculation as to why they haven’t raced together a little bit more in the lead up to this race," Daniel Lloyd argued. “I think sixth place is really promising for him with the sprints that we’ve still got to come because that was a really fast finale."
Read also
However, for a rider who is seeking only a victory and not secondary results here, the sixth spot doesn't mean much at the end of the day. “You guys are saying sixth is promising. Rubbish. We’re concentrating too much on him saying the third week is where he can shine. Yes, he’s not too far off, but I think we’re thinking too much about he’s just more concentrated on the third week," Adam Blythe argues.
"He’s not. He’ll have wanted to win today as much as he’ll have wanted to win in the third week. Yes, sixth is good but in his terms, it’s not good enough by far. I think because he said it, we’re getting lured into him thinking about this last week, last week. I don’t think we should be at all. We need to look at Mark every day, every sprint, that it’s his chance to make history."
Read also
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Nov 05, 13:04
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Not really.awp15-11-2024
- He had the VID man. Yes, he was well on his way to winning the Giro.awp15-11-2024
- So he's got an attitude of egocentric proportions, typical Yorkshire guy then...
leedorney15-11-2024 - Might be bit isn't. The reason is actually that no one wants to work for free. But that's my point. Incur the costs for a year, make clear that ads are coming and see if it works. No one else has tried this in cycling.Renz15-11-2024
- Plus MVDP now having basically done 4 seasons in 2 years might warrant a slightly longer rest than usual, although even then his will STILL be shorter than 98% of all other pro cyclists in any field.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- Yes, I’d say they’ve done their job in CX.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- C’mon, they need this kind of gooey content in winter to stop readers switching off. Medias sowing seeds to provoke discussion and rumours that lead to a self-defined legitimacy to introduce undesired questions during rider interviews in order to boast delivery of “original” contentMistermaumau15-11-2024
- By definition an analogy is always GERMANE, tganjs for pointing out the obvious and revealing you don’t understand its purpose.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- The reason you don’t see these type of websites often and certainly not in cycling might be that they die before you find them. But tell us about it when you’re done I’ll visit to check it out.Mistermaumau15-11-2024
- Someone should do this: create a cycling news site that is free with no ads. Watch the subscriptions like up. Then carefully and slowly introduce ads. I might do it myself. Sites like CUTD are poorly conceived and consequently a mess. Readers will leave as soon as there is a better alternative.Renz15-11-2024