ohyessh:

Thanks for this thread. I was secretly thinking that I was the only brit who wanted Hushovd to take the green jersey.

Cavendish is ok, after his team take him 200k to the line he can sprint over it slightly quicker than most. Great, well done.
Hushovd is the better cyclist who works for his points, he is not arrogant and a better sportsman.
I agree with the original poster

Thanks, ohyessh. You're not the only Brit, there are at least 3 others. 

Someone somewhere else says that Team Columbia are/were going to appeal today. If I were Hushovd/Cervelo I'd appeal today too, after that shove into the barriers. Hushovd didn't look too pleased about it.........

The appeal has failed. Zero points for Cav today.

And there goes the most exciting part of the Tour...................

 Now I'm not one Cav's biggest fans but that I thought that was a very harsh (to put it mildly) decision. Surely that's just part of racing? If you go down the inside then you have expect to be cut off?

Yes, I agree that the Commisaire's decision did seem a bit harsh as the barriers clearly narrowed towards the line and Cav didn't appear to know where Thor was.

There is no doubt that Cav is a great sprinter, but sadly, also behaves like a spoilt petulent brat when things don't go his way.

For the record, I actually think Alessandro Pettachi is still the fastest man on 2 wheels. He has largely been out of competition for a couple of years (coinciding with Cav's best results) but came back in the Giro this year and when the pair finally sprinted head to head in a flat finish, Pettachi beat Cav quite easily  

After watching the race and watching the event may times over I firmly believe that Cav has been harshly treated and it would now appear extremely difficult for his dream of the Green Jersey to be realised. The barriers narrowed as the front runners came into the final 50-100 meters, Cav was 100% looking around to see where Hushovd was but kept his line throughout until he crossed the finish line, Hushovd got caught out by the narrowing of the barriers not Cav pushing him into them. The interview with the Hushovd after Cav had been disqualified showed him in a slightly less than gracious mode - He couldn't believe his ***luck!! - Hushovd is a excellent Cyclist and I have always felt he was a good guy, but it seems that he nows he can't beat cav on a straight sprint so we try any means possible to get the result - Stating that Cervelo put the complaint in straight after the finish. To appeal seems a waste of time as the Judge did his best "Thatcher - Lady's not for turning.." impression after stating that Columbia can appeal all they like but he won't change his mind.!!  Stitched up... 100%

I really don't understand how someone who has never met Mark Cavendish can make judgements based on what may well be an edited version of events in the first place!

 I wouldn't dream of forming an opinion on anybody unless I had met them face to face and even then I would take account that I might have caught them on a bad day.

I haven't met his critics on this thread but perhaps they have a lot to be modest about and I wonder what they would be like if they acheived the success of Mark?

As for Cav being a useless climber -!!! By whose standards? He isn't going up th Tourmalet at 6 mph. I have ridden a lot of the passes the Tour goes over (e.g.Tourmalet, Alpe D'Huez, Ventoux) and believe me there is all the difference in the world between touring up and trying to stay within the time limit in the TdF - ask someone like Chris Boardman what it's like - and he was a British National hill climb champion!

 When I saw him ride up the Tumble in the National Champs 3 weeks ago he wasn't hanging around - and that is one tough climb - it's steeper in places than any of the aforementioned tour climbs even if it is 'only' 3 miles long.

 (why do we need another rest day – that's what the GC's have been having for the past two weeks)?

Blimey who wrote the above-you must be nutsor maybe you are a couch potatoe who has no idea how it feels on your legs the following day after racing-let alone racing all week

is your name Contador-or are you a spy for him, after all their hundreds of miles making it all look so easy,Im sure the tour members esp leaders have different point of view about a much needed rest before the main ride up the alps

I remember when the only way I could see TDF results as a youngster was in other sports results in the Daily Telegraph there was none of this TV coverage. Then I looked up to Eddy Merckx, I'm not great on the history stuff but I think he won all the Jerseys and came first at his first try - unique physiology, now there's a cyclist I'd like to meet! 

Cavendish - no not really, he's downright rude when he's not winning. 

I dont care how rude arrogant or up his own b*m Cav is I just want him winning he's a Brit and we NEED Cycling to be MORE popular than it was pre war in the UK Cav and Wiggo are doing a great job and IF they hate each other so much the better they will compete even harder.

 If you want to see how a real winner relates to others including his own team,  check out Armstrongs attitude to Contador! it stinks he genuinely belives he has an absolute right to win every stage! more power  to him too (Just as long as Wiggo is in front of him of course)

The biggest problem with Brits are we are STILL stuck in the age of the "Gentlemen" competitor when it didn't matter, if they won, just as long as they were seen as "a thoroughly nice bloke" and look where that has got us! Screw manners I want to see medals hanging round British Necks!

Very wise words indeed.

I too had enough of Cavendish, so very pleased with self when winning, and so unwilling to comment when not going his way. The disqualification was ridiculous case in point. Why did the self-professed fastest sprinter not just sprint instead of trying to be clever, and then we got the sulks. Also he seemed unable to decide whether he wanted Green Jersey or Paris stage, seemed to change daily.

To me there is nothing wrong with cheering on supercav!It makes a change that we have a Brit that is good at something.The thing that often makes us fall short of greatness is the lack of arrogance and stiff upperlip  we suffer from oh didnt we do well not quite winning but nearly.

        If you look at all the teams there is always an uno where the domestics work for the ego thats the tour/pro cycling and at the end Cav always makes a beeline for them.

      Anyways on a last note the Manxman gave me great enjoyment bellowing at the box at his stage wins and  the Champs Elysees was pure a sprint power no one was going to touch him once he was gone beautiful simply beautiful