Greipel vs. Cavendish.

Well, it surely appears these two won't be doing their regular training rides with each other in the immediate future...I can also predict you won't see Greipel in Cav's lead-out train at any time in the future as well...

edit - guess I should've read the article before making my brilliant prediction - LOL! Well, knowing the circus that is pro cycling I wouldn't be at all suprised to see the two of them holding hands in France's Vuelta come June...

genedan said:

Cavendish says Greipel will never win a monument.

Cavendish Responds To Greipel's Criticism | Cyclingnews.com

"If I wanted to get **** small wins, I'd race **** small races.""

BURN

I think that Cav's aware of the fact that momentarily the attention of public is on Cancellara, Boonen, Gilbert, Farrar... Riders who can fight out their place in the bunch on their own, thus winning Classics like De Ronde and Roubaix.
Although he said his sensations after De Ronde are good and that he thinks he can win it one day, I don't think he is convinced in that at all. He crashed, wasn't ranked (although he's pointing out that he finished it), rolled in in the finish area with who knows which DNF group, half day after Cancellara (in Ritte's words)... It's not encouraging at all.
So he's talking about TDF and "big" sprint victories there, wanting to position himself as a dominant GT sprinter, knowing that widest audience follows Gts, TDF primarily, and that they'll recognize him as an untouchable flat-stages ruler.

He has to turn back the attention of audience on himself.

P.S.
He didn't mind winning s..t small races last season.

Andrija said:

I think that Cav's aware of the fact that momentarily the attention of public is on Cancellara, Boonen, Gilbert, Farrar... Riders who can fight out their place in the bunch on their own, thus winning Classics like De Ronde and Roubaix.
Although he said his sensations after De Ronde are good and that he thinks he can win it one day, I don't think he is convinced in that at all. He crashed, wasn't ranked (although he's pointing out that he finished it), rolled in in the finish area with who knows which DNF group, half day after Cancellara (in Ritte's words)... It's not encouraging at all.
So he's talking about TDF and "big" sprint victories there, wanting to position himself as a dominant GT sprinter, knowing that widest audience follows Gts, TDF primarily, and that they'll recognize him as an untouchable flat-stages ruler.

He has to turn back the attention of audience on himself.

Sounds about right to me. I think to contend for (much less win) Flanders he'd have to become a different racer. Which he might do, who knows, but that's a ways away.

Quoted post said:

P.S.
He didn't mind winning s..t small races last season.

I noticed that, too. I'm a fan, but he definitely has reason so far this year - his own performances - to be defensive; - no point in sounding it, though.

Where's Greipel?
Scheldeprijs: Results, Route Maps & Results | Cyclingnews.com

He should try to do better than this to deserve some credit.

Gripe-l should drop his whining and come back to the table when he's got something other than a couple of Vuelta and Tour Down Under stage wins under his belt. A classic of some description might help too.

Since it's move to the latter half of the season, most of the top sprinters only seem to go to Spain if their season has been a disaster and the TDU... well, it's hardly the Giro or the Tour now is it?

This would only be an interesting arguement should Griepel be someone as significant as a Boonen, Friere, McEwen, Pettachi.

Griepel - the man going so well that his lead out man beat him in todays sprint finish in the Scheldeprijs. Gripe got 21st place with guys like
Farrar, McEwen, Boonen, Forster and Hondo leaving him the dust.

swampy1970 said:

Gripe-l should drop his whining and come back to the table when he's got something other than a couple of Vuelta and Tour Down Under stage wins under his belt. A classic of some description might help too.

Since it's move to the latter half of the season, most of the top sprinters only seem to go to Spain if their season has been a disaster and the TDU... well, it's hardly the Giro or the Tour now is it?

This would only be an interesting arguement should Griepel be someone as significant as a Boonen, Friere, McEwen, Pettachi.

Griepel - the man going so well that his lead out man beat him in todays sprint finish in the Scheldeprijs. Gripe got 21st place with guys like
Farrar, McEwen, Boonen, Forster and Hondo leaving him the dust.

It's important to notice that his lead out man, who beat him, was Renshaw. Man who hasn't ridden a race this season and last man in Cavendish's train. Ready to subordinate his strength to Cavendish, despite being aware of his own qualities.

LOL! This is laughable.
Greipel finishing 20something is significant?? This result means he rubbish?? Do you really think he sprinted to 21nd place?? What, is Cavendish rubbish too because of his recent performances?? Farrar gonna win the green jersey now??

Ummm, let's put this into perspective - shall we?
Cancellara - DNF.
Petacchi - 124th.
Hushovd - 109th.

These results accurately portend those to come🙄...

tonyzackery said:

LOL! This is laughable.
Greipel finishing 20something is significant?? This result means he rubbish?? Do you really think he sprinted to 21nd place?? What, is Cavendish rubbish too because of his recent performances?? Farrar gonna win the green jersey now??

Ummm, let's put this into perspective - shall we?
Cancellara - DNF.
Petacchi - 124th.
Hushovd - 109th.

These results accurately portend those to come🙄...

Actually, Columbia tried to set the train for Greipel, he targeted this one. But they couldn't, Sky beat them and managed to put Handerson in contest. Greipel, at least, has to contest the sprint for victory, in the race he targets, if he wants some credit.
Cavendish will win the Green jersey. Farrar is doing his best to make any result he can. Greipel should accept his role and try to impose himself for Vuelta. Maybe someone else in Columbia has ambitions in that race.

tonyzackery said:

LOL! This is laughable.
Greipel finishing 20something is significant?? This result means he rubbish?? Do you really think he sprinted to 21nd place?? What, is Cavendish rubbish too because of his recent performances?? Farrar gonna win the green jersey now??

Ummm, let's put this into perspective - shall we?
Cancellara - DNF.
Petacchi - 124th.
Hushovd - 109th.

These results accurately portend those to come🙄...

Once you understand the significance of the Scheldeprijs the you'll "get it".

1. Its a race for the sprinters to shine in that nestled inbetween the big classics of Flanders and Roubaix that the pure sprinters typically do rubbish in. It's flat and fast so it's historically one for the sprinters. It used to be a little later in the season, after the classics, so the likes of Boonen and Hushovd would take it more seriously.

2. Since it's move it's a place for some teams to test their bikes for Roubaix and for the riders to get some fast, easier, miles in. Hence the reason that the likes of Boonen, Cancellara and Hushovd either DNF or sit in at the back - they've got much bigger fish to fry this coming weekend.

Greip will do nothing in Roubaix. He should have been upfront the other day but for whatever reason he didn't have it...

Too late, Bibendum. The matter has already been put into proper perspective...😎

I already knew that the matter of you not having a clue about cycling had been settled but I just felt that you needed a little clue about bike racing in Europe and just incase you were getting all excited about the upcoming Tour of Turkey and some second rate sprinters, you might want to check out a little race between Compiègne and Roubaix that should provide some entertaining viewing.

Bibendum's above slobbering aside...

Greipel was downright manhandled by JJ Haedo in this finale. Obviously, on any given day any sprinter (even Cav) can be had...

[ame=[MEDIA=youtube]acBNcmo5t34[/MEDIA]]YouTube - Rund um Köln 2010[/ame]

VeloNews.com - Stapleton expects Cav', Griepel to settle feud personally

Stapleton, who's an attorney, is well-rehearsed in playing his cards close to his vest. What he's really thinking - you'll never know...

These two are NOT going to settle this feud - personally or otherwise. They will DEFINITELY be on separate teams next year...

Greipel Wants To Be Top Team Sprinter | Cyclingnews.com

Didn't take Nostradamus-like clairvoyance to predict this development...

Hah! They changed the headline from the one this morning. I think it was "Greipel wants out" or something similar to that.

So he said he would have a handful of teams eager to have him. Where do you think he could land?

^^ Still see Cav at Sky with Stapleton workin' a deal where he receives a boatload of money to let Cav go. Where Gripe lands is anybody's guess...

Cav will probably stay at HTC.

Greipel will probably end up in Italy somewhere on a team duking it out with those guys who he just about beats in 'big races' *cough* like Bayern-Rundfahrt, Ster Elektrotoer and the Tour of Austria that made up the majority of his wins last year. True he won a bunch of stages at the Vuelta but were there any 'big name' sprinters there?

So far the guy hasn't shown the all out speed of an on form Cavendish or Cipollini, nor does he seem to have the ballsy display of power and bike handling of guys like Hushovd, McEwan or an pre-2006 Boonen when it comes to big races and riding with the top guys.

He says lots of teams are interested... May be, but only few of them are good choice. And I don't think there are lot of teams interested at all. Not that he's not good acquisition, on contrary; it's just that he'll cost much and it's not certain at all he'll bring wanted attention. And teams know that.
Milram, if they find way to fit him and Ciolek together, would be very good choice. BMC could use him and he could reach good agreement with them. Footon Servetto could find in him what they're searching for - Columbia-like advertising.
Every other team wouldn't refuse him, but he's not gratis, and they've already created teams around their goals.

Tell us how ya feel, Cav. Tell us. 😄

Just so there's nothing lost "in translation" from the British to American, that sign doesn't mean "peace". Lower the first finger and you'll get it 😉 ...

Griepel on the other hand will lead HTC into the Giro and has already started sulking - refusing to give interviews or comments to online cycling websites and magazines. It's money time for Gripe, he's already stated he wants out so it's time to prove his worth with the big lads now that he's established he can win stages in the Tour of Turkey... The pressure is on, will he crack?

Huh...!
Cav's arrogance is starting to be impolite. It could hit him back very hard. His Green jersey hunt (season goal) could end with hard fall, given that this year's TDF parcourse is more mountainous than previous, where he faild to [censored] the Green.
And sprinters' field in Romandie is very far from TDF's
This, what I've wrote previously, shouldn't be mixed with my opinion about Greipel.
Giro will be a nice test for him... Not too strong, but not too weak either. Petacchi, McEwen, Farrar and few others, who would be perfect lead-out men for stronger sprinter, should be good evaluation of Greipel's potential as a leader with weaker lead-out than Columbia's (I think he's sprinter who needs lead-out), which he'll meet in new team.
Petacchi will be Greipel's main opponent. I'd say he'll take one third of bunch sprints in Giro (home turf + experience + ability...). McEwen and Farrar will steal couple of victories from Greipel - Petacchi duo. So, in my opinion, Greipel could be equal with Petacchi at the end (in terms of stage victories). Maglia rosso battle could separate them, but their climbing ability is very questionable, so third rider could take it.
At the end, Greipel won't be more respected as a sprinter than before the Giro, I think. However, I'd hire him under acceptable conditions (not too high salary or team created just for him).