[nutmeg]

The regrettable absence of Mark Cavendish is a blow to hopes of a British home win...

And for us TDF fans... Like him or not, Cav is always fun to watch. Really gonna miss him during the many upcoming sprint finishes... :-(

[Baynative]

In any sport there is always the debate about how current champions would stack up against those from the past.

I'd love to be able to see some finish line duels with Cippolini, Abdujaparov, Jalabert, Boonen, McEwen - that would be fun.

I asked an old coach about the sprinters who ruled before the 90s (when I got interested) and he said there really weren't any that stood out, to him. The riders like Merckx, Anquitil, Hinault and maybe Fignon or LeMond were just bulls who dominated throughout the stage.

BTW- he reminded me that when Cippolini burst on the scene there were lots of calls to test him for drugs, but the sophistication for lab work was not there.