You've probably never heard of him, but this man is making some big waves and will be a big star, if not in his home country. 
A future world champion and green jersey winner.
A future world champion and green jersey winner.
Mark Cavendish, Britains new sporting star
- Thread starter Rams
- Start date
Favourite for today's Road Race at the World Championship. It's on the red button as I type.
Hope he does well but it's a tough finish and I'm on Edvald Boasson Hagen at a generous 12/1.
Hope he does well but it's a tough finish and I'm on Edvald Boasson Hagen at a generous 12/1.
Cavendish is World Champion. Great race by the British team, who really took control from start to finish. It was close in the end, but he was the fastest in the sprint.
Congrats to him. Shame Hushovd fell victim to a crash, I really think he would've defended his jersey with Boasson Hagen's help.
I don't know if Hushovd had such a big chance to be honest. This race probably wasn't hard/selective enough for him. Too many really fast sprinters were still left at the end. I think Boasson Hagen had a better chance then.
Next year it'll be Gilbert, write it down
Next year it'll be Gilbert, write it down
The final could have been very different with Ed and Thor working together. Hell, the whole race might have been different. The plan was for Ed to lead Thor out early enough for the likes of Cav and Greipel to lose their legs. Thor might not be among the fastest anymore, but he's much stronger than he was in his youth.
Gilbert next year? Wouldn't bet against it.
Gilbert next year? Wouldn't bet against it.
Together with attempting to make the race as hard as possible from the beginning, that was Belgium's plan for the finish as well. Start at the beginning of the last 500m with Roelandts, Van Avermaet, Gilbert (in whatever order, depending on who's still feeling the best) and try to make it a very long and tough sprint. But Van Avermaet was in Hushovd's group and then Gilbert and Roelandts decided to each take one side of the road because the chance of getting closed in was very high on this narrow finish.
Roelandts did rather well in the end. Could have gotten a medal if Goss doesn't close him in after Cav goes.
Next year is Amstel Gold Race terrain, so I think Gilbert will be one of the favourites. But a lot can happen between now and then. Riders like Sagan will have made a lot of progression by then and I'm sure the Schleck brothers and Dutch riders like Gesink, Poels, etc will have a go as well.
What fecking sport are we discussing? I have no idea by reading this. Thor? It sounds like either a relay race or a horse race.
Well done Cav, will be an absolute travesty if he does not win sports personality of the year. Currrently Britains greatest athlete by a country mile. Almost as good as my sporting predictions...
Whilst I agree, it will depend on who the BBC decide to plug or which sport they want to butter up this year. They've already made efforts with Mcllroy, so it's going to be interesting.
Have to say that like Cav, that this wasn't just Cav's win, this was a team win. What a team performance and what a sprint by Cav. Let's hope that he can keep form into next year's TdF and Olympics.
I took 4s just after he won to go with the 14/1 I have about Mo Farah. My reason for getting involved in this market initially is the ludicrous price of Darren Clarke. Almost 11/10 on Betfair. I think the layers are overestimating how much Joe Public give a feck about Golfists.
Just won BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Can't remember being so chuffed for a winner to be honnest.
Well deserved. Honestly, the other people on the list did great but his year was phenomenal. Doing it on the Tour, and the Giro, and the World Championships, plus all the 'lesser' races...
Same here, very well deserved. Well done Cav, now go bring home Olympic gold.
who?
You've probably never heard of him, but this man is making some big waves and will be a big star, if not in his home country.
A future world champion and green jersey winner.
BTW - Is this edited? (Is there a way to tell?)
If not - good call!
If so - you need to update with SPOTY now.
Great year for him. Will the course at the olympics suit him? (If it's near London there won't be much in the way of hills.) And one would think with his sprinting that he could win some track golds as well.
It's taylor made for him. Bar any accidents, he'll win it.
No not edited, anybody who follows cycling would have said the same at the time. And I know a lot more about sports than the vast majority on here