2016 was Cav’s last competitive season, wasn’t it?
He won stages at the TdF, Olympic silver in the Omnium and a medal at the road World Champs. He’s not really done anything since.
I wonder if he kept going in the hope that he’d get to ride the madison at Tokyo?
I think he just wanted one last shot at the Merckx Tour stage win record after coming back from illness. After nearly a couple years out like that cant blame him for not ending it on that low note and giving it a go
FTFY
I do wonder how much those bad crahses affected him. IIRC he had a bad concussion. I remember seeing have a crash after that I can’t imagine him having before. He followed someone across the road, within the peleton, over a little traffic island. The guy in front bunny hopped it, Cav followed and went straight into the bollard. It looked highly visible from the moto camera angle. I just wonder whether the concussion had a minor affect on his spatial awareness or reaction time. Sprinters are great bike handlers but a slight drop in that would really affect hiim and then maybe his confidence?
It easy to think of the great sprinter in the past tence but seeing him like that is sad. Be great to see him win again like Alex Dowsett the other day. His joy was palpable. Cav always seemed like a nice guy to me, it must be hard on him on a human level to feel it’s over.
Dowsett was probably in the Last Chance Saloon from a contract point of view.
He was always a TT specialist and he’s been off the pace in the TTs recently. A win like that on a road stage opens up possibilities for him as someone who can get in the breakaway and solo to victory from a long way out, just like David Millar or Steve Cummins.
I really like Dowsett. 4 or 5 years back he was a regular at track league at Lee Valley. Rocked up on an aluminium Canyon with 88in gearing and chatted to everyone. A really nice guy and not up himself.
Tbh, he’s not a rider of Merckx’s calibre, so I don’t pity him in that respect.
He’s had a damned good career, and unfortunately these things always come to an end 
Agreed with the comments above.
Nothing worse than seeing a prize fighter that’s stayed in the game long passed his best. Perhaps he could of reinvented himself a few years ago as a road captain, or part of the lead out train.
Still, what’s the point? He must be made financially and hell of a legacy…
Wiggins had a say!
_Give him another year,” Wiggins said. “Say it’s his last year, and everywhere he goes he’s feted. You don’t let people leave the sport like that. All great sportsmen get to leave in their own way, and I don’t like seeing him drift off like that.
“I’m worried he won’t get what he deserves because it is the way it is and it’s full of ****s and someone’s got to step in. Brailsford, come on! Sign him for Ineos for another year.”_
Biggest mistake of his career was signing for Sky the first time, cost him a year of his life IMO, although I suppose it gave us Brad in yellow leading him out in the rainbow on the Champs Elysee
possibly worth it just for that
3 stages in the Giro, 3 stages in the Tour - not exactly a disaster
Yes and no. He was targeting the Olympics that year anyway, and he actually won more races in 2012 across all events than he did in 2011 when he won the rainbow jersey and was the main man at HTC.
OK he won fewer stages of the tour compared to previous years, but he still won 3 stages compared to the 5 he’d won in 2010 and 2011.
And if you only look at what was said contemporaneously, he was happy to have a focus on the Giro for one year (came second in the points comp) and to sacrifice a full lead out train to support a first British yellow jersey shot. I remember him being very motivated by that at the time, or at least he was in a lot of public interviews. I think it all soured in his own mind when the Olympics didn’t pan out as he hoped, as then it felt like he’d wasted a year when he could have got another stage or two of the Tour with a full team behind him, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Well considering the talent, yes it was. He had a team all working for him for stage wins, to a team that largely didn’t give a shit about sprint stages and he had to do it all off his own back. That year in the tour he could have had double the number of stages with a decent lead out and not bottle carrying for Brad.
yes and no 
He publically said the right thing, a bit like Brad in 2013 but you could tell he wasnt happy at the tour.
I see Scheldeprijs is just going to be run as 10 laps of the 17km finishing circuit today.
I wonder what the chances are of Tour of Flanders being cut to a multi-lap course too?
I see Cav was in the break at Scheldeprijs yesterday, but they reeled them in to set up a bunch sprint.
Not good for JA in the Ronde today, lack of concentration plus not expecting a moto to be parked maybe
Just seen it, looked painful.
Over on TTF they are probably debating head down riding!
A bit unfortunate, he was at the back of the three and wouldn’t have seen the moto until it was too late.