Xavier wrote:
What effect does albumin have? What is it usually used for?

Fresh questions have been raised over Mark Cavendish's future with his team HTC-Columbia with Team Sky, among others, on high alert after the British cyclist criticised his German team-mate André Greipel yesterday.

Having overcome mechanical problems to finish Sunday's Tour of Flanders, Cavendish said he remains on track for the Tour de France but his relationship with his team's other sprinter, Greipel, is another matter. Cavendish told the Guardian that riding in the same team as Greipel "is not a problem for me, because I'm a better rider", but added, in response to the German's suggestion that he could ride alongside Cavendish at the Tour de France, that "there's no chance whatsoever that he's coming to a bike race that I'm in".

When HTC-Columbia confirmed last week that Cavendish will start next month's Tour of California instead of the Giro d'Italia, the 24-year-old Isle of Man rider hinted at unrest, telling Cyclingnews.com: "I didn't make the choice [to ride California]. I love Italy, I love the Giro but I'm paid to do this now, so I have to do it."

Greipel, who has five wins this season and was critical of Cavendish after he failed to defend his Milan-San Remo title at the end of March, will instead be the team's designated sprinter at the Giro. Greipel wants to ride the Tour de France but Cavendish dismissed any chance of the two of them teaming up, saying: "Me on bad form is still better than him.

"I was pretty pissed with Greipel's comments after Sanremo," he said. "If he thought he could win, he'd say it before the race rather than when he's looking at the results sheet. It wasn't through lack of form that I didn't win San Remo - it was bad luck. Last year I won it picking my nose. This year it was possible I'd win again. There's no chance of Greipel winning a 'monument'."

Cavendish crashed twice during the first of the five "monuments", Milan-San Remo, and suffered more bad luck on Sunday, falling and damaging his bike. "That wrecked my race. My condition is coming back, definitely. I'm going better now than I imagined I would be back in January," he said.

Cavendish had dental surgery over the winter, with a subsequent infection curtailing his training. He then withdrew from the Tour of Catalonia with flu, though not before registering his first win of the season, on stage two. This time last year he had eight wins, though his targets for this year, to win the green jersey at the Tour de France and world championship road race, come later in the season.

"If I wanted to just win races I wouldn't ride every ProTour race," said Cavendish. "I understand that at the moment I'm racing to be in my best form for the Tour de France and the world championships. If I wanted to get shit small wins, I'd race shit small races."

roturn wrote:
Both of them should have a contract next year. That`s what they said at Rund um Köln this Monday.
But i`m not too sure if Cavenish is really the better sprinter because they rarely had a chance to test it. Within the Columbia team it`s much more important to have strong riders in the end. A Cavendish in Hushovd`s or Freire`s position with maybe 1 helper in the end wouldn`t have won 6 stages that easy,
So probably a Greipel with good helpers would clearly beat Cav without them.
Of course Cavendish was the fastest last year but like he said last tour: he didn`t even had to sprint, just finishing from the back of Renshaw . That`s why i really understand Greipel, he is one of the best sprinters in the world in a great team but he didn`t had the chance to ride the tour although it doesn`t matter if Cav or Greipel because both of them can win 5+ stages with that team.

SportingNonsense wrote:
Tour Down Under is too early in the season to really be significant, while Pologne is also one of the least significant ProTour races

Deadpool wrote:


The best moment in cycling this year is going to take place at Pologne.

issoisso wrote:


That's not cycling. It's a nice moment, but call it political or social. Don't call it cycling.