CHAOS 1KM 3KM
BENNETT: Sprints feel more cut-throat. There are so many good sprinters now and there’s not really one guy that stands out. Everybody is beatable. I think that’s what make it more chaotic: everyone knows they can win.
CAVENDISH: [At Highroad] other teams would try to get in on us, like Liquigas and Lotto, but they couldn’t. Even in 2011, it was ones and twos coming around – Greipel, Tyler Farrar – but we’d pick it up and were still pretty dominant.
GREIPEL: Sprint speeds and the chaos are as high as they’ve ever been, I think. It’s bike racing. Everybody can decide how much risk they’re going to take.
VIVIANI: The main chaotic moment is from 2km to 1km. At that moment you understand if you are in a good position to win or not - that is the chaotic moment because everyone wants to be in the position to win.
TOM STEELS: For guys like Viviani who come from the track, chaos is second nature. It’s kind of a natural approach to the sprint. You can be as strong as a horse, but if you don’t have the feeling to find position then you can’t be fast – and in this period, it depends a lot on experience.
KITTEL: At the end of the day there will always be one team that’s dominant and will come out of the chaos and do a leadout. This year it was Quick-Step. It’s down to experience and power and it can change from race to race.