News: Cavendish Brings Sponsors to Quickstep

Roundup of Cavendish News: After an approach to Patrick Lefevere saying he wanted to return to the Deceuninck-Quick Step wolfpack, Cavendish brings sponsorship to his new team to pay for ride

Rod Ellingworth will return to Ineos as the Director of Racing

Latest news: Rod Ellingworth will return to Ineos as the Director of Racing – After leaving Bahrain McLaren, speculation was ride that Ellingworth would return to Ineos and so it is. Ellingworth will hook up again with a fellow coach from his GB days in the form of Dan Hunt who will be Director of Performance. Ellingworth’s new role will include talent identification, development and recruitment whilst Hunt’s role is expected to be the development of the Ineos team’s performance strategy and systems. Joining the team in 2021 will also be world star already, Tom Pidcock who won the Baby Giro in 2020.

News: Cavendish Brings Sponsors to Quickstep Via Sporza

Mark Cavendish has returned to Patrick Lefevere’s Deceuninck-Quick Step team thanks to his sponsors. Patrick Lefevere is quoted in the Sporza article saying “I’ve always had a good relationship with Mark. He told me he wanted to come back when he was still at Dimension Data. And then at Bahrain-McLaren. But this year you also saw what I saw: Cavendish joining the breakaway from kilometer zero in the Tour of Flanders; Cavendish wept after Gent-Wevelgem.”

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“After his last race in De Panne, he was in a hotel in Kortrijk. I invited him to my office. He said to me ‘I don’t want to stop like this. I want to come back’. I replied that I had run out of euros, that the budget was gone. My heart said yes, my mind didn’t,” says Lefevere. “It was a risk but he can bring a lot to the team. He’s still popular and we got nothing but positive feedback on Twitter. I’m glad everyone is happy and he gets another chance. I don’t think deserved to stop after his last races.”

“Mark said if he found someone to pay for his contract, he could still keep racing. I believed maybe he could ride with us again, but it would be hard to find someone to sponsor but a week later someone called and said they spoke to Mark and they were interested. We talked about it and it happened anyway.”

“Mark now has a chance that nobody wanted to give him. But he starts from scratch. He is the best sprinter of his generation and he can give tips to our young sprinters like Hodeg and Jakobsen, but also Bennett.”

Cavendish’s spring programme already sorted
Via https://www.wielerflits.nl/

Mark Cavendish is in Spain for his first training camp with Deceuninck-Quick-Step and his spring program has also largely been mapped out. “Events in which he can gain confidence,” says Wilfried Peeters. “Without pressure.”

“Cavendish must be given time”, sports director Wilfried Peeters told Het Laatste Nieuws. “We are going to bring him on in a calm manner. We also have to find out where his condition is at and what he can do, because at the moment we do not know.”

The road map for Spring has already been mapped out and in February he will ride his first stage race for 2021, followed by a number of one-day races such as Nokere and Handzame. Without the pressure to win. In a manner of speaking, he can race up to five kilometers before the finish and then we will do the rest”, says Peeters. “The intention is to first give him back his confidence, then we can talk about performance.”

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Cavendish Valuable to his Team says Kittel
Via https://www.wielerflits.nl/

Mark Cavendish can still be of great value to Deceuninck-Quick Step with all his experience says his former rival, Marcel Kittel. I think it’s great for Cavendish to return to Deceuninck-Quick Step. We have come full circle by coming back to the Wolfpack ” Kittel told Cyclingnews. “From my own experience I know that it is a great and dedicated team and they have a history together.”

“In the case of Cav, I believe that ‘adding experience’ is not just a slogan, but that he can be a real help to the leaders. Cav won the Green jersey and was World champion. That experience is very rare and something he can share with Julian Alaphilippe and Sam Bennett. Especially when they have to defend their jerseys next season.”