With a crucial meeting due to take place shortly with Dave Brailsford about the next step of his career, speculation is mounting that Mark Cavendish will leave Team Sky after the first year of his three-year contract. It has been reported that several different teams are trying to bring him on board for 2013, intensifying a bidding battle for his signature.
The world road race champion joined the team last autumn and was due to race there until the end of 2014. However while he was proud to be part of the team which backed Bradley Wiggins to becoming the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France, he is also know to have been frustrated at times with a lack of team support for the sprints.
As a result, he had to be satisfied with three stage victories this year, a drop compared to his four wins in 2008, six in 2009, and five in both 2010 and 2011. He was unable to defend the green jersey he took last year, and later missed out on his goal of becoming Olympic champion when the race proved too difficult to control.
While the sense of making history will compensate in some ways for his own personal disappointments, Cavendish is aware that the Sky team’s focus on the yellow jersey competition will be equally pronounced next year and beyond.
Recognising that, team principal Dave Brailsford said after the Tour that Cavendish wouldn’t be blocked if he decided to leave.
The Daily Mail reports today that Cavendish has already decided to leave and that the talks next week with Braisford will be to work out how that would happen. When a rider has an ongoing agreement in place, the new team must often pay a release fee, as well as covering the rider’s salary.
The newspaper states that up to six teams are interested in signing him, with the American BMC Racing Team, the Russian Katusha squad and the Belgian Omega Pharma Quick Step setup said to be the front runners.
The BMC Racing Team put its weight behind Cadel Evans’ bid to win his second Tour de France but the Australian became sick and had to settle for seventh place. His younger team-mate Tejay van Garderen was fifth and is seen as a future yellow jersey contender. It is unclear though if he would be ready to challenge for the win next year, or if it would take a further season.
Omega Pharma Quick Step and Katusha had disappointing races, missing out on a stage win, not placing riders in the top ten of any of the individual classifications [overall, points, mountains or young rider] and placing only sixteenth and nineteenth out of 22 teams in the prize list.
A rider of Cavendish’s ability would boost their prospects of a successful Tour.
Three other teams are also said to have made enquiries: Liquigas, Rabobank and Lampre.