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BOBKE: BOB ROLL'S TOUR REPORT: CAVENDISH & THE COBBLES
Bobke
July 9, 2010
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What a crazy week this has been. Today’s stage was really like a reaction to the first few days which were unlike the first week of any other Tour that I can remember due to all the drama. I think all the drama of the rain, the crashes and the cobbles caught the peloton off guard, they were like, “Really? And we still have three weeks of racing to go?!”
Other than Cavendish coming back to form and winning the stage, it was all pretty typical today, almost boring in fact. No, today was back to normal for the first week of the Tour , they start, there’s a break-away, they get caught and then things explode in the last 3K. Today was good for Cav after all that went on yesterday. There were some false stories out there about what happened with Cav and the team after the race, but all iut came down to is that the guy is so volatile, he’s like nitroglycerin and when the team manager asked about his finish sprint and why he seemed to stop pedaling, Cavendish exploded.
The think that everybody needs to understand is that tactically, Cavendish represents a new era of bike racer. He doesn’t believe in honorably losing. If he can’t win he pulls the tin and stalls the effort, he’ll stop trying and that’s what happened the other day. When he knew Petacchi had him beat he just quit pedaling to save his energy for the next day. And look at the results – he won. Cavendish isn’t like the typical French rider who will kill himself to finish seventh instead of cruising in and saving his strength to be stronger the next day and maybe finish third. That’s how the French are taught to race – race honorably and never do well versus being smart and getting some results.
AS FOR THE COBBLES
Stage three was a great day of bike racing. It was like an Aesop’s Fable where the bad (luck) guys suffered and the good (luck) guys like Thor Hushovd get the lollipops. Lance proved that it’s not how good or prepared you are, it’s what kind of luck you have. Lance was as prepared as any rider could be, but in the end it didn’t do him any good. But in Frank Schleck’s case it wasn’t just bad luck. He was in good form, but he hit the deck so hard it vaporized his collarbone…you can’t blame the cobbles, you gotta know how to handle your bike.
Overall, I don’t think they’ll be including cobbles in the Tour again any time soon, but they should. The cobbles are great and they should include them in the race every year. The star riders should get over it and learn to become complete bike racers. The age of specialization is hurting the sport when riders pick and chooses the races they know they can do well in. The versatility of the riders is getting whittled away. If they keep including cobbles all the riders will get used to them which could make races like Flanders and Paris-Roubaix better races because the top guys won’t be afraid to compete.
If the Tour de France is supposed to be the greatest bike race in the world, it’s essential to have cobbles in the race to prove that whoever wins is truly the best rider in the world. Too many riders are focusing on the Tour for financial reasons and looking to keep the cobbles out for that reason. They want to go into it knowing that they can keep it under control. Cobbles make things unpredictable and that’s what bike racing is supposed to be.
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