Accepts that sprinter will have limited opportunities alongside Wiggins and Froome
In the wake of a suggestion by his former directeur sportif and current friend Brian Holm that Mark Cavendish has been frustrated by a lack of opportunity at Sky, the way may be clearing for him to leave the British squad at the end of the season.
Sky’s team principal Dave Brailsford has acknowledged that the team’s priority on the general classification has impacted on Cavendish’s ability to win stages. This year’s haul of three victories is his smallest in five years, with the Manxman taking four stages in the 2008 Tour, six stages in 2009 and five in both 2010 and 2011.
He also took the green jersey last year, but didn’t figure in the hunt for the Maillot Vert this time round. And while he has been pledged the support of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and others in the upcoming Olympic Games, there will be no such consolation race next year.
“If he felt, or if it was felt, that he would like a dedicated team around him, then he is quite within his rights to want to do that,” Brailsford told the BBC.
Cavendish’s signing to the team practically guaranteed the team wins in the Tour, and would have been useful if the team’s bid for yellow had not paid off. However with Sky Procycling taking first and second overall with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, Brailsford and the rest of the squad will remain focussed on that classification in the years to come.
“This team will keep its GC [general classification] ambitions and I am sure that we will sit down and discuss that with Mark and see how he feels about that,” Brailsford said.
“He is a prolific British winner and on the one hand we would love to have a prolific British winner on the team.”
However he accepts that Cavendish won’t have the same support on the team as he did before with the HTC Highroad squad. There, he had riders available to chase down breakaways and also to lead him out inside the final kilometres.
“We wouldn't fall out about it, there wouldn't be an issue about it, but we are very proud to have him on Team Sky, he is a fantastic champion and long may that continue. I can't see an issue at all, there's no problem and we will take the common-sense approach and sort it out like that.”
Omega Pharma Quick Step directeur sportif Holm believes this year has been tough for Cavendish. “The last few weeks I’ve seen an unhappy Cav,” he told Het Nieuwsblad.
“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.” He added that he believed Cavendish now saw his move to Sky as a mistake.
The view appears to be echoed by former British pro Graham Jones, who finished twentieth in the 1981 Tour. “I have my doubts as to whether Cavendish will still be with the team next year. There are certainly rumours going round that he won't and a lot may start to come out in the weeks after the Olympics,” he wrote in an analysis piece on the BBC website.
“A third stage win this year, and a fourth in succession on the Champs Elysees, means he has had a phenomenal Tour but I don't think Cavendish will ride like this again, without the full support of his team.”
Omega Pharma Quick Step general manager Patrick Lefevere was one of those who was chasing Cavendish last year, and indicated that he would be willing to resume talks again. “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.”
The team may also have to pay a buyout fee to Sky. Lefevere has said that it could be possible to find the extra budget necessary.
If Cavendish does go to the team, he would seem like a good fit. The previous Quick Step team featured Tom Boonen as its sprinter, but he chose not to go to the Tour de France this year, choosing instead to follow a different programme to prepare for the Olympic Games.
Although Boonen has had his best early season for several years, he no longer sees himself as a big bunch sprint winner in the Grand Tours. Cavendish fits that bill perfectly, though, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is attracted by the thought of working again with Holm and having a dedicated train.