Tour de France 2023 ***spoilers*** Warning in OP

first.

Big part of why the British media/GCN/Eurosport are obsessed with Cavendish is because he collaborates/cooperates a fair bit with the media.

He’s always doing segments and bits with them, engages in interviews and actually had conversations with them.

Plus he’s raced alongside or with the likes of Adam Blythe, Dan Lloyd, Matt Stephens etc.

Carlton Kirby is an English man whose a huge cycling fan and is lucky enough to be a commentator. It's no surprise that he's a huge fan of Mark Cavendish. I am not a fan of Mark Cavendish but respect what he's done in his career. I'm glad he isn't going to break Eddy Merckx record of stage wins.

I completely understand how Carlton is so gutted by it though. I'd be the same if an Irish rider got injured. I remember when Sean Kelly was leading the Vuelta and got piles, apparently one of them was the size of an egg. I was gutted when he had to pull out with two days to go. I was every bit as bad as Kirby was today.

Anyway Stage 9

I think this is a breakaway stage. It's lumpy most of the way. I think we'll see a big group get away. I'd expect Gall, Ciccone and Pinot to be in it.

As regards the two way GC battle. I don't think either team will chase the break. UAE learned their lesson on Wednesday and Jumbo learned theirs on Thursday.

The end is brutal and if the break doesn't have 7+ minutes I could see Vingegaard and Pog racing for the win.

It's been a long race without a rest day so far, I'd imagine everybody is tired and tomorrow is predicted to be 30°.

Puy de Dome has a brutal finish to it. The last 4km averages 12%. It's not that bad before then.

I don't believe the two main men will attack each other unless one looks in bad shape. The reason I think this is because everybody has to be tired at this stage and if you attack it could blow up on you.

We know the last domestique standing will almost certainly be Sepp Kuss. It'll be two against one again but Pog showed the last day that he's willing to sit on Vingegaard's wheel.

So I'm predicting no chase of the break from Jumbo or UAE and most likely no attack between Vingegaard and Pog.

I'll pick Gall for the stage win but I'd love it if Pinot is involved and wins it.

The who wins the most pan flat stages is the best sprinter, and Sagan isn’t close to being the best of his generation, never mind the best ever.

Cavendish, Cipolini, Petacchi, McEwan, Kittel. Sagan’s best sprint couldn’t compete with them at their best

Sagan was an amazing rider and could win all types of races. A truly incredible cyclist. Not close to the sprint levels of Cav etc

Thats if you believe the nonsense about his gears.

He had chances in two sprints and couldn't take either.

He had chances in intermediate sprints and couldn't win them either.

Hes completely overrated based on former glories, he has one sole stage victory this year and it was in the giro with Kirsch who isnt any great sprinter coming second.

Its easier for cav to be out of the tour than spend the next two weeks not being good enough to win a stage, not having to listen to the commentators wax lyrical about him is just an added bonus

What time will they be hitting the final climb today? Around 3pm?

A whole lot of crap in one post there. As pointed out to you already he was competitive in sprints and came second in one sprint. He had bike trouble during the stage which was televised and it does happen that people have mechanicals, why would he fake it. He clearly had to sit down before getting back up and going a second time.

He wasn't aiming for intermediate points so why you bring that up is bizarre. He won the green jersey only 2 years ago and a stage in the Giro this year but no doubt you'll pick on the lack of competition. The fact is that he can only race against who's lined up in the race.

I'm not a fan of sprints or Cav but he deserves the respect for what he's achieved. Yes the British media is tough to listen to but hey he's British.