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Cavendish free to move as Highroad disband

Mark Cavendish is now free to join any team © Getty Images

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Mark Cavendish's path to Team Sky has become clearer, after current team HTC-Highroad were forced to end their association with professional cycling after failing to find a new sponsor.

Cavendish has long been linked with a summer move to Team Sky, run by Team GB director of performance Dave Brailsford and containing a number of other high profile British cyclists - most prominently Bradley Wiggins.

The Manx rider revealed earlier in the week that he had made up his mind which team he would ride with, opting for the outfit that would give him "the best chance to win". But that will now not be HTC-Highroad, after they were forced to withdraw from the paid ranks of the sport due to a lack of finance.

Team owner Bob Stapleton revealed the news on Thursday.

"We had an agreement in place in principle with a new partner which would have given us a enough funds to operate the team at the same level of the last four years," Stapleton said. "This deal abruptly collapsed on Sunday night, when I received an email and subsequent phone call from our intended partner.

"That led us to the conclusion to release our athletes and staff to pursue their career options."

Cavendish won five stages - taking his overall tally to 20 - in this year's Tour de France on the way to victory in the points classification, while team-mate Tony Martin added a time trial stage late on to ensure it was a highly successful Tour for Highroad.

But that wasn't enough to persuade HTC to remain as title sponsor, as they withdrew from negotiations last Wednesday.

Cavendish was previously believed to have a straight choice between his current team and a move to Sky, although other suitors might now move to sign one of the most prolific and successful sprinters in the history of the sport.

Highroad has existed in its current guise since 2007, although its roots can be traced back to the formation of Team Telekom in 1991. In recent years the team has consistently been ranked among the best in the world, but this year will be its last.

Some departures have already been announced, with the Velits twins, Martin and Peter, joining Quickstep, while Patrick Gretsch has moved to Skil-Shimano.

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