Well, this confirms it. Cav is paid by sponsors, and not the team. I guess it must be really nice to have companies that still believe in your potentials.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...cant-stop-like-this/

You are so right and I want to disagree, but I can't and I'm happy. I love this. One of our athletes made it. :)

Mark doesn't have much o a chance to win again, but I think its great that he can make a go from this shite sport!

One of the comments from the linked article.


Thank you Mr. Lefevere!!! I'm all in for the Wolfpack!! Will be shopping at your store! Look forward to seeing your new kit!....The Manx Missile is Back!

Cav still has his fans. Will enough of them be buying jerseys and sunglasses to cover his salary?

---

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

It must be so confidence-inspiring to constantly hear your DS say, "My brain says no." :)

Yes, Sam Bennett has indeed made it :p

But part of me thinks that this is getting a tad close to Chris Horner making $200k/yr racing on the domestic circuit (and without much to show for) while his teammates maybe made 30% of that. Foolish sponsor and its money are easily parted and all that...



I'm sure he's used to it by now. Is there anyone to whom Don Lefevre shows genuine affection (as opposed to a mere liking for transactional reasons)?






Doubtful. Though that said, at least his will be distinct for being the only one with rainbow bands on the sleeves; hell to make it unique, they could even do rainbow bands on one sleeve and British bands on the other.

Let's not forget that Cav will be jumping in with some serious team firepower- even the younguns.
He'll be inspired and could cobble together some decent results. (No pun intended but let's go with it anyway.)

I have a son who does ski mountaineering. I tried to keep up with him once. ONCE. His pro (sponsored) pals have huge engines. All about the engines and a lot of them are very good mountain bikers as well. It'll be interesting.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...lzer-to-2021-roster/

Cam Wurf gave an interview yesterday talking about all of the pro interest in racing ironman.

Besides Hanseeno who has already done an IM and will begin his new career in earnest now that he has retired from the pro peloton, Cam said Warren Barguil had already trained and prepared seriously for a tri-race in Decemeber that was cancelled (not sure which).

He said Porte, Amador, Campanaerts, de Tank, Formolo, Geraint, Degenkolb all intend to race IM.

Didn't take long. Start of second Elite season. To repeat myself - Pidcock is a better bike handler and has a far better brain.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/telenet-superprestige-gavere-2020/elite-men/results/

Great weekend of Cx. MvdP pretty much in command all day yesterday (despite a rare moment where he stacked it in the sand). Pidcock road a great race today. Nice getting up to watch the replays on YouTube.

Nice to see Pidcock come through! It seems like he's been around forever; I keep having to remind myself that he's only 21.

That made for an interesting watch.

Actually, that was the first full CX race I've spectated. Certainly makes for a better viewing than flat sprint stages of various stage races.

Add yet another name to the up-and-coming generation of talents.

Ha!

MvdP beat Pidcock the last 8 times they raced each other. Aside from the British National Championship, this was Tom's first ever elite win.

Today Pidcock looked slightly better at running, a little better bombing the downhill mud. But overall - across the full arsenal of CX skills, I still put MdVP ahead. MdVP is just magical at some aspects. Today really suited Pidcock - breakthrough thought it was.

I don't get the brain bit. MdVP has had some head-scratchers on the road, but he seems downright methodical at CX. Today he didn't lose from tactics. Pidcock was just better, and took advantage of some small mistakes. Though everyone has those mistakes at times, Pidcock included.

Though overall MdVP seems to have great maturity. He never seems to get too full of himself when he's on long winning streaks, nor does he takes losses too hard. Seems to be a solid person.

This is the kind of reply I enjoy getting. We can have a reasonable discussion without getting snarky.

Tom doesn't have the repeated explosive power that MvDP does, but I really admire his line choice and incredible balance. I also think he paces himself very well in a very subtle way. He often prefers to run a section that he could ride, just to save himself. Today suited his strengths and I'm delighted to see him make the breakthrough.

MvDP's power isn't just about dumb raw power either (though he has that). Exiting tight turns, he's got an uncanny ability to get to full torque about a half pedal stroke earlier than anyone else. So he can pull away about 1/2-bike length out of every turn, forcing others to have to drill it to catch back on. It drives poor Iserbyt - who's an excellent technician in his own right - absolutely bananas. And it makes little sense in terms of physics, because a heavier, lanky rider like MdVP should be at a disadvantage around tight turns compared to guys like Iserbyt. Today MvDP couldn't take advantage of that because it was an almost pure mud slog.

I am excited to see Pidcock maybe tear up the script that this season was going to end up being WvA vs. MdVP.

On the women's side - a more under-the-radar breakthrough. Exciting to see American Honsinger in 4th, trying to run down the world champ. Maybe a true heir apparent to Katie F. Compton.

Ha! The accelerations MvDP puts out of each corner is the stuff of nightmares. Never seen anyone who could pound other riders into submission like that.

CX, and of course XC too. When he road bar-to-bar on technical sections with Schurter and then dropped him with a savage uphill acceleration at Nove Mesto, it was a vivid demonstration of how talented he is.

Good day for Pidcock, he’s crazy talented too. However his elite CX win tally now equals the number of MdVP’s monument wins...

It ON in Namur! Women about to go off. Coverage on Flo.

Both great races. (When was the last time we saw 6 nations in the top 10?)
Namur does not disappoint.

Honsinger! Second race in a row with the big girls. She's fully legit.

Men's race was phenomenal. All 3 guys pushed to the limit. Never seen MdVP look so wrecked after a CX race.

Was great. Honsinger can really punch on the ups. And she held all of her lines close to perfectly

Pidcock was pretty flawless, and valiant in trying to stay away. Just, those two working together are Masterclass. MvdP was tentative up through lap 3. Then he figured all his lines, and played MvdP tactics until the end.

That is my favorite WC course.

Perhaps a bit callow? Granted, staying away in CX is different from doing an ITT OTF in a road race, but to believe one could hold off the two best riders of this generation is quite bold. For quite a few laps, it appeared as if MvdP couldn't make any in roads, then all the sudden a former 10-second gap tumbled to nothing.

Also, that's one gnarly course. I might even be too afraid to ride it on my FS MTB...