UKH

A shame to see Cav wasn't selected for the TdF by QSAV, and even more so that Cav only found out by his social media feed. Not very cool. But a Belgium team, protecting a Belgium record, with said Belgium on the board of the team? (at least he was until recently)

You have to think the sponsors of the team, ASO and the broadcasters would want Cav there for the potentially huge story of beating Merckx record, which would stick in the memory far more than a few Jacobsen stage wins. 

Seems to be a big fall out from the decision - wouldn't be surprised if Jacobsen gets covid this week  

I actually feel sorry for Jacobsen, he's at the center of the controversy through no fault of his own. Yes he is younger, probably faster but in a sport that takes huge pride in its history and tradition, why wouldn't Lefevere want to be part of writing one of the great chapters?

Just announced Tim Declercq is out now with Covid ... replaced by Senechal (french champion)

Clearly a fluid situation

Cycling politics is odd...i can't think it would have gone down well with the french public, omitting the french national champion from the tdf.....

I think the sentimentality around Cav is a very British thing.  The obsession with "the record" is odd, too.  For Merckx, number of stage wins would have been pretty incidental to number of overall TdF wins (not to mention other GTs, Classics, Monuments, Worlds, hour record).

From a team perspective, presumably Jackobsen is performing better in training right now (and his race record this year is pretty good too).  As for sponsors, maybe the sponsors see more value in a Dutch sprinter than the British one ?  Maybe Cav's remuneration demands aren't acceptable ? who knows ?

Records are there to be broken, so I don't think it's "an odd obsession" , although if Cav hadn't had Epstein Barr virus he would probably be heading towards 50 stage wins by now and we would all be discussing something else. I do agree that the conspiracy theory of Merckx having any influence or even the fact it's a Belgium team wanting to protect his record is almost certainly nonsense. I don't think it will be financial either. 

No way there is more value in a young dutch sprinter winning a few stages over Cav winning one stage for the sponsors IMO. It would be the story of the tour. Similar to last year where everybody forgot who Sam Bennett was and we had the sprint in Paris where it was the whole story (WVA didn't read the memo lol). It may be a British thing, but Cav is globally popular, like Sagan these guys are the rockstars of the peloton. 

Like I said in the op, cycling is a sport that is built on it's history and traditions and thrives on adding to them. Mark Cavendish is one of the greatest riders of all time and had a chance to cement his place in history on the biggest stage (and after just becoming British Champion....again.)  Jacobsen just doesn't have that, he might win the green jersey though and you won't read about it much except in the dedicated cycling press.

So why didn't Cav at the start of the season join a team where he'd be guaranteed the no 1 sprinter spot? OK QS have the fabulous Mørkøv as leadout, but Cav's been showing for a while that he's quite OK thank you very much sprinting on a freelance basis and grabbing any wheel he fancies.

I expect he thought he was faster/better than Jakobsen and wanted to stay with the best lead out train in the peloton. Maybe he had  some doubts over Jakobsens mental ability to sprint in the bunch after his big crash in Poland?

Its a good point though, Israel Premier tech would have probably snapped him up and paid him handsomely as well. 

incidentally - Ben Turner published his NP for Nat champs last week and it was 372w for 200km. Alexander Richardson's strava shows an average speed of 27.5mph (44km/h) for the race.

They both finished behind 37 yr old Cav

I think the whole 'record' thing is just a media driven story rather than a big issue for Cav, Merckx or any racers. I think Cav just loves to race, loves to win - the rest is just icing on the cake. You have to bear in mind though that pro-cycling is ultimately *entertainment* rather than a pure sport. So whatever entertains (gets tongues wagging?) is no bad thing.

In some way it would have been interesting to see someone like Cav, i.e., perhaps no longer the fastest, but possibly still fast & wily enough to act as minder/lead-out man to a younger generation. Perhaps the psychology would be wrong after all the years of going for the win.

There’s an unfortunate history of ‘exceptional’ performances from older pro cyclists! 

A thinly veiled accusation of PED usage against Cav? If you mean it, why not say it? If you don't mean it, why say it?

Ah, I see. First posting from lurker. Quality.

You're only allowed to post if you're a regular poster?  I think there's one or two minor issues with that rule...

In general I would agree with you. In this specific case however, I would say that a dignified silence would have been a better choice. Anyway, you misunderstood the rule: 'Say what you mean'.

I think it’s the correct decision not to take him, he has a limited shelf life, his form at Giro was poor and without his best lead out man he was average in the sprints, why would quick step take there second best sprinter? Makes no sense, would be a crazy long term move for the team, Jackobsen Is in much better condition than CaV this year and he has ten years at top ahead of him, if quickstep left him at home he would likely seek to leave the team hence leaving the worlds best sprint team without a sprinter, so this years move to drop Cav is more long term thinking than anything else.

its a shame for cavendish as he has clearly got himself in good shape for Tour and could win a stage, but this year tour will be wide open with a lot of young sprint talent, hopefully a smaller team like Israel might sign Cav next year to give him a shot at the record 

Cav definitely had aero dynamics in his favour over the likes of turner at weekend, much easier into the strong head winds, but an amazing performance and race to watch.

I'm not sure about that. The Tour director spoke very warmly about Cav's achievements last year, and seemed genuinely thrilled. I think he is held in considerable warmth and respect within Tour followers; hell, there are monuments to his achievements in France.

Also if he hadn't crashed out (a couple of times? I can't fully remember, but once at least) - but then on the other hand one might argue he got pretty lucky last year with a few absent rivals, so who knows.

Was surprised to see him at the Giro, never thought he'd be riding the tour too. At this age back to back tours seems a bit excessive. Hopefully this means we'll see him at the Vuelta, screw records more Cav!

Yeah i think we will see him at the Vuelta, its not a great route for sprinters, but looks to be at least four stages he could go for and quick step will be going for GC with remco so having Cav in for TTT  will probably be smart move as he has decent TT ability from his track back ground.

Giro was tough for him, a brutal route, but shows a lot for his character that he stayed in the race and suffered the last week of mountain stages, you would never see Caleb Ewan do the full three weeks of a grand tour if there were limited amount of sprint stages to go for.

Good news, I prefer the Giro and Vuelta to the Tour anyway. Hopefully he's going for the most grand tour stage wins record

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/david-millar-why-mark-cavendish-deserves...

Again, this is very much a cycling fans perspective.   Question is, what does it mean to Quick Step or Alpha Vinyl as title sponsors ? They are looking to sell into a much wider audience.   It might be that concentrated coverage in the Netherlands is more beneficial to them.

Anyway, I suspect the real answer is that Cav is number 2 at Quick Step, simple as.