Not silly

The Tour is first and foremost an endurance event. If you want to be able to claim any of the prizes, you first have to prove you can complete the Tour. And you have to do that within a time that's fairly close to that of the overall winner - ie much faster than pretty much any average cyclist could manage.

So Cavendish and the other sprinters have to be tough bastards who can climb unbelievable mountains, and do it fast.

Only if they can do that can they then have a crack at the prizes on offer - proving that at the end of a 130 mile stage, every day for 3 weeks, you're the fastest sprinter. Or the best climber.

Guess that's a post-script Cavendish or whoever should get - ie, he's the best sprinter in the world *amongst those cyclists strong enough to complete the Tour*.

You're right that there may be well be cyclists who could sprint faster than him if they hadn't both done 150 miles first. But that's not what the Tour is about.

Posted By: Tricky Hawes on July 16th 2009 at 17:59:52

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