Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish took his 22nd career victory in the Tour de France yesterday, equalling the record for a sprinter set by Frenchman André Darrigade in the 1960s, and looks odds on to take his 23rd in Paris tomorrow, but his former directeur sportif Brian Holm does not think that the World champion is happy. Cavendish’s personal ambitions have taken a back seat in this Tour de France, as Team Sky put the vast majority of its resources into the overall victory bid of Bradley Wiggins; the Manxman has constantly emphasised that he is not unhappy with the arrangement, but Holm - now a directeur sportif with Omega Pharma-Quick Step - is not so sure.
“The last few weeks I’ve seen an unhappy Cav,” the Dane told Het Nieuwsblad.
Holm was Cavendish’s directeur at HTC-Highroad, where the sprinter enjoyed the support of most of the team, as he powered to an average of five stage victories each over the previous four Tours. The US-registered team managed to hold onto its prized asset in Team Sky’s first two years of existence but, as it folded at the end of last year, Cavendish finally made the move.
"I understood the deal with Cavendish and Sky very well,” said Holm. “After the World championships in Copenhagen he felt he owed something to Bradley Wiggins."
Wiggins had been part of the Great Britain team that delivered Cavendish to his rainbow jersey glory in Copenhagen, and will be a key part of the team that tries to launch him to Olympic gold next week. This has been the compensation for Cavendish’s quiet Tour but, there will be no equivalent next year.
His former directeur feels that Team Sky was a wrong move for Cavendish. "I think Mark realises that," he said.
The Tour de France is always buzzing with transfer gossip and, should Cavendish be looking elsewhere, Holm would doubtless want to sign him up at Omega Pharma-Quick Step. The Danish former rider took current and former World time trial champions Tony Martin and Bert Grabsch with him as he joined the Belgian team this year, along with Slovakian twins Peter and Martin Velits, Czech Frantisek Rabon, and Irish champion Matt Brammeier.
Cavendish would be an expensive addition to a team that is already heavy with big stars, but general manager Patrick Lefevere - who was one of many to be negotiating with the Manxman last year - does not rule it out.
“To use the words of Jean-Luc Dehaene, you have to solve problems as they occur,” he said to Het Nieuwsblad. “Usually Paris, the last stop of the Tour, is a perfect place to talk.
“I am interested in all available top riders,” he added. “I assume that his agency still has my mobile number in its file. If I can believe the media, he has an annual salary of 2.4 million euro.
If Mark Cavendish wants to leave and to come to us, then we must find an additional budget, but that is negotiable," he concluded.