It was a question asked on the Eurosport coverage of the Giro today. Do you think he will? I hope he does because I like his character.

It’s the kind of question that can only be answered in hindsight, surely?

I like him too, but I’ll be interested to see him get over the mountains in the Tour.

What? Better than the Lion King Cipo?
I don’t think so.

define better? Cipo was a good sprinter but show him a hill and he went home. Zabel. never the fastest but always there. Even someone link Laurent Jalabert a decent sprinter who ended his career winning the polka dot jersey…

No one will know for few years how good he is.

I suppose it depends on how you define it too.
Is the best sprinter the one who wins the most?
Or the one who wins the most stages in the Grand tours?
Or the one who wins the most Classics?

He’s got the Cipo attitude thing going on, but it’s tempered by him being from the I-O-M instead of Italy….

Abdoujaporov was my favourite. Brutal, fast, dirty and did i say fast.

Cav will win lots. he will possibly a lot more than a lot of others, but he’ll never be the best for me, Abdou takes that honour

IMO – No I don’t think so, I would love him to prove me wrong.

He is a gobby little sh!te in his attitude.

He will need to start finishing GTs before he will ever get classed in the same genre as Abdo, JaJa, Cipo.

It’s much the same as Lance, a good tour rider, not a great cyclist.

until cav starts wearing the muscle skinsuit that cipo wore in the tour a couple of years ago then he’s not the worlds best 😉 I think he’s a better all rounder as he can now get over small hills as he proved very successfully in the Milan-San Remo….

I think he could be regarded as Britains most successful cyclist of all time.. 🙂

He is my current hero/inspiration (at the age of 33)… he’s unstoppable… roll on the next week of the Giro and then the Tour.

It’s the sort of question that was custom made to be asked on a road bike racing rather than mountain bike forum…. asking it here will elicit a…

‘not unless he moves to an obscure eastern european ex CCCP dependancy and ingests stuff…’

I am hoping SFB will turn up and put this kind of question to bed shortly

The best so fas was Olaf Ludwig of East Germany. Never bettered IMHO.

Max, I happen to know a few champions from the early ’80’s (uncle’s mates) and the drugs these lot had were called

and

and

You’re confusing gymnastics with cycling 😉

“He will need to start finishing GTs before he will ever get classed in the same genre as Abdo, JaJa, Cipo.”

Cipo never finished a tour!

Olaf was ok, but Eric Vanderarden was the best, especially with the Raleigh train. Sean Kelly was ok as well 😉

Cipo never finished a tour!

Maybe not, but Cipo has a personallity 😉

Hairy Chested .. you think you and your uncles mate are the only one who knew what the Milk race was all about in 1976. I was knew riders who rode the 70’s milk race and went on to took tour jerseys & podiums in the 1980’s.. even Mercx was a lover of his tabs ( not tablets)… pop off to check if your granny is ok, she might need help sucking her eggs

Cipo was without doubt a great sprinter and personality but he also relied heavily on a train leading him to the wins, Cav uses a train but also has the ability to win races without ala Robbie McEwan (another very exciting sprinter). At present for his age their are few if any past sprinters who had such an impressive palmares( it took cippollini almost his entire career to win milan san remo). Also there is this idea he needs to become a good climber he doesn’t! Most sprinters need to climb well enough to come in within the time limit and be able to contest future stages thats all as in gt’s stages are often clearly defined as to what type of rider will contend them. As for finishing GT he only turned in pro in 2006- 2007 ffs and left the tour last year to go to the olympics.Will he be the best , who knows, at present he is very very fast and crucially imo in a very very good team.

Every sprinter needs a lead out train to put them in the right place. I’ve done my fair share of getting riders to the finish and I’ve been the rider taken to the finish. The mark of a class rider is being able to use the other teams trains to take you there. McEwan is an example, Kelly and Vanderarden had a good few cracking battles in the 80’s/90’s (I was there)

Hope you enjoyed him winning today,won’t win again in this race as they hit the mountains.I will be suprised if you see him after the weekend.

Not a big fan of the sprinters within grand tours.It’s like getting excited about a golfer who can hit it the furthest.Doesn’t win you anything !

Exactly Joxter Cavendish like McEwan shows the ability to be versatile in the final stages of a sprint which you probably couldnt say of riders such as Cipo or say Pettachi, both great sprinters btw.

You won’t see him again during the Giro, he has been pulled from the race to rest for the Tour.

what a man though, he has got the attitude, the tactics and the legs.

a la Cipo

Max, F-off my granny, will you? For your information, you numpty, there was a massive cycling culture in that part of Europe and the guys winning had no top-end bikes but lungs and legs. Doping was pretty much unheard of as it wasn’t helping the official propaganda to have cyclists doped. Have a google on Course de la Paix and STFU.
Besides, Szurkowski would still smoke most of us on TT.

“He will need to start finishing GTs before he will ever get classed in the same genre as Abdo, JaJa, Cipo.”

Cipo never finished a tour!

Cav finished the Giro last year at his first attempt

best as in the Sean Kelly, Jalabert, Boonen type of sprinter then no.
best as in flat out bunch sprint to the line then yes (unless someone even faster comes along)