Mark Cavendish, the best UK cyclist?

doesn't sound like it's going to straight forward: there's a big buy out clause, and he wants Eisel and his soigneur to go where ever he does. It looks like he wants Brailsford to do him a favour and allow him to leave for cheaper but I wonder if he's being a little naive: the team is a business after all. Cav brings you guaranteed wins, put the right train in front of him and he'll mop up stage wins, points jerseys and one-day races. Not only are Sky giving those wins away, they are giving them to a rival. There's not many teams that can afford him anyway

He's a very expensive dead weight unless they are prepared to use him for his intended purpose. They aren't. I should think they'll let him go to whom ever comes knocking. Not sure about the others.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9530857/Mark-Cavendish-breaks-long-silence-to-confirm-he-wants-a-move-away-from-Team-Sky.html

Omega. Boonen for the Classics, Cav for the Tours.

^ and it's a deal, no payoff for sky either

This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com.

Mark Cavendish is leaving Team Sky because he was not treated on a par with Bradley Wiggins, according to Sky teammate Juan Antonio Flecha and sport director Steven de Jongh. “Sky treated him as a great rider, but not the boss,” Flecha said.

"Bradley has always been the big boss with us. Mark expected maybe the same treatment as Bradley got, he asked for it. Sky treated him as a great rider, but not the boss,” Flecha, who is also leaving Sky, told NuSport.nl.

"The boss is Bradley, since Sky's main goal is always winning the Tour de France and that is why Mark is lower on the ladder than Bradley."

De Jongh was sorry to see the former world champion leave, but found it inevitable. "I think both sides are not entirely happy,” he said. "It did not turn out as we had hoped. It's not a happy marriage."

The most persistent rumours have Cavendish moving to Omega Pharma-QuickStep, but no announcements have yet been made.

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http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/cavendish-leaving-sky-due-to-unequal-treatment-flecha-says-35485/

Sooky bum. He must've known what he was getting into..

Sky never looked like they knew what to do with Cav, even when they built a team around him like at the Giro. It always looked a bit clumsy, a bit slow-witted, lacking the savvy of a more experienced classics/one-day team. That said they were always going to be compared the HTC-Highroad and given how brilliant they were at delivering Cav to the line.

People complain about how boring the Tour was, one of the reason IMO was the lack of HTC-HR, which left a void on the flatter stages no-one could full. We need the like of that again. Just hope Cav goes and we can draw a line under it. Sky will miss the wins he supplies though.

People complain about how boring the Tour was, one of the reason IMO was the lack of HTC-HR, which left a void on the flatter stages no-one could full..

I don't think the Tour De Bore was due to lack of a HTC lead out train.

Agreed. What on earth is exciting about 4 hours of putting along with a, often barely contested, win for Cav that comes about in the last 30-60 seconds?

I disagree completely: the powerhouse HTC-Highroad team left a void in the Tour. Personally I love sprint stages. I love the drama as the breakaway gets hunted down, as the speed of the peloton cranks up and HTC-HR was magnificent, probably the best team there has ever been in those situations. Their lead out train was amazing to watch, and I love watching Cav win personally.

Plus what about when they shredded the peloton in 2009?

Bollocks to it, it was a huge shame that they lost their sponsors and I think the Pro-Tour needs a team like them. I hope OPQS can match them

Boonen as your lead-out man would be pretty tasty.

I disagree completely: the powerhouse HTC-Highroad team left a void in the Tour. Personally I love sprint stages. I love the drama as the breakaway gets hunted down, as the speed of the peloton cranks up and HTC-HR was magnificent, probably the best team there has ever been in those situations. Their lead out train was amazing to watch, and I love watching Cav win personally.

Plus what about when they shredded the peloton in 2009?

Bollocks to it, it was a huge shame that they lost their sponsors and I think the Pro-Tour needs a team like them. I hope OPQS can match them

Mmmm hmmm.

I'm happy for a return of a Cav-centred sprinter team. I just don't see how that could possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, be what makes a tour exciting.

But I also love watching Cav lose.*

I have man-love for Cav, I freely admit it. Lots of man-love

It doesn't make the Tour exciting on its own, but it adds drama to the flatter stages. Also the peloton could use a powerful team to control it in the aerly flat stages, else you get every man and his dog (don't tell Gilbert) trying to get to the front and chaos ensues

Boonen as your lead-out man would be pretty tasty.

Chav would cew him up. I mean, Cav would chew him up.

^ It's hard work trying to please all of the people all of the time.

Cav was enticed to Team Sky so that Brailsford could control his in-season racing so as to provide the best chance of him winning the olympic road race. He must have known that, and I would guess that if the team had stuck him +1 in the break and he had won it then he might be staying at sky now. Then again he might have left anyway because he's right, the team is not built around him, and it needs to be to satisfy his ambitions.

Probably just me but this photo looks like Cav:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Young_Ismail_Agha%2C_ten_days_after_repatriation_from_Guantanamo.jpg/220px-Young_Ismail_Agha%2C_ten_days_after_repatriation_from_Guantanamo.jpg
From here:
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ismail_Agha[/ame]

Transfer to OPQS is official per Sky Sports

Wow, who knew!

It's almost as if the Leipheimer sacking was planned.

Tony Martin is having flashbacks; "Don't make the Panzerwagen pull the little twat's train to the finish again uncle Rolf, please!"

Is the timing due to the anti-doping declaration that he would had to have signed if he'd stayed at Sky?

Probably just me but this photo looks like Cav:

So does this one: