Mark Cavendish pays his own transfer

At the end of the Ghent-Wevelgem, one of the main Belgian spring classics that this year were moved to October, Mark Cavendish stood in front of a journalist and burst into tears in front of him.

"This may have been the last race of my life," the best sprinter of this century stammered disconsolately, devastated not by the possible goodbye but by the way it was reaching him, because 'Cav' has long been the shadow what was.

The second cyclist with the most victories in the Tour -30, four less than Merckx- has not achieved one since February 8, 2018, almost three years already during which he suffered from depression and suffered from mononucleosis, and in 2020 he did not even manage to be in the 'Top 10' in his 37 days of competition.

It was that sad and invisible goodbye that haunted the British sprinter.

After that day of public relief, there would still be three more one-day tests with the Bahrain-McLaren.

Two of them, including the Tour of Flanders, he didn't even finish.

A farewell unworthy of his career that he wanted to resist as it was.

So after his last day of competition with

, at La Panne, he decided to turn to

, an old acquaintance who had already been his boss between 2013 and 2015. There was only one point on the agenda of the meeting: "Record me."

“Mark, I really don't have a single euro for next year.

I have already spent the entire budget ”, replied Lefevere, top leader of the Deceuninck-Quick Step of

,

,

,

... The Belgian leader forcibly closed the door of his team for 2021, but left a small gap .

“I told him if he could get someone to take over his pay, he could run for the team.

A week later someone called me and said that they had spoken with Mark and that he was interested.

We started the talks and in the end we reached an agreement », Lefevere explained to the Cyclingnews portal.

"You will have to collect drums"

In Formula 1, for example, it is relatively common for some teams to sign drivers for the sponsors they get for the teams.

In cycling, on the other hand, the closest thing so far was that some teams signed riders of nationalities that interest their patron, especially in the case of state sponsorships such as those of

and

.

In the squad there are those who suspect that this alleged investor does not exist and that it is Cavendish who will pay his own salary out of pocket.

The question, of course, is what role can the rider from the Isle of Man play in the best team in the world in one-day races.

“Definitely not going to the Tour.

It is possible that in the second half of the season he will have chances to look for a victory, but he starts almost from scratch, almost like a neo-professional.

He will have to collect cans, "said

, one of his new sports directors, with whom Cavendish has already met for eight seasons.

Already 35 years old, the only objective of the Briton is to say goodbye with his head held high.

Whatever it takes.

Whoever pays pay.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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