• Tour de France

Cavendish quit fear for Team Sky

ESPN staff
July 23, 2012

Team Sky currently have every reason to celebrate following Bradley Wiggins' triumph in the Tour de France, but their joy might be tainted by the prospect of Mark Cavendish leaving the setup.

Wiggins took the headlines by becoming the first Brit to win the Tour, but it was Cavendish who claimed the final stage. By doing so, he became the first rainbow jersey holder to win on the Champs-Elysees.

Cavendish is widely acknowledged as the world's greatest sprinter, but his role for Team Sky this year saw him sacrifice his own goals in order to help Wiggins. The Manxman lost his green jersey to Peter Sagan, and he has been told Sky's aim will be to support Wiggins again next year.

The team's manager, Dave Brailsford, hopes Cavendish will stay, but admits the sprinter currently is not 100 per cent happy with the setup.

"I wouldn't say he has been unhappy but the reality is we prioritised yellow over green, and that's always going to be a challenge for him," Brailsford said in the Sun. "But if he wasn't frustrated a little by that you would want to know why.

"It's clear we will be coming back next year to win this race again, hopefully to defend it with Bradley. That's what this team is about and I'm sure we'll sit down with Mark and see how he feels. He's a prolific British winner and we would love to have him on the team."

Cavendish, winner of 23 Tour de France stages, was happy enough following Sunday's victory, revelling in the team's success. It is future Tours that cause concern, but for now the Brit is happy to enjoy Wiggins' victory.

"It is incredible," Cavendish said. "It couldn't be more perfect, it has been an amazing Tour for us. It is incredible, Team Sky said the aim was to win the yellow jersey and we've done it with a one-two. We've got one more job to do next week [the Olympic road race] and it's going to be an amazing few weeks for us."

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