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Basically he wants more money.
I don't think that there is anything wrong in sports people trying to get as much money as possible but why do they have to lie about it so much?
Do they think that everyone is stupid?

Really good blog Matt. I'm a huge fan of Cavendish, I think he is undervalued in all respects; I mean there is not a British athlete/sportsperson who comes close to being as good as he has this year, except maybe Westwood, yet will that be recognised in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's SPOTY? Unlikely he will rise above the Ryder Cup contenders, isn't it? A great deal of the British public don't even know who he is, let alone how good he is.

Isn't it a contradiction though to say that HTC-Columbia are lacking a yellow jersey contender and are reliant on Cavendish to win sprints, then rule out a move to Sky because they want to win the yellow jersey? If winning both the yellow jersey and the green jersey are beyond one team (which they are) then HTC-Columbia's lack of yellow jersey contender shouldn't matter at all should it? Winning the green jersey for Cavendish should be their only goal. After all, nothing gives greater exposure to the sponsors than multiple photos like the one just above. But as hinted at, if Cavendish is going to provide the exposure, he should be adequately compensated for that.

I can understand Cav wanting to earn more money but there arent too many teams who could afford him on his current salary. If you want to sign him you are going to have to offer more than he is on currently say 1.5 to 2 million a year. Doesnt leave much in the kitty to pay for the standard of other riders you need to sign to support him.

I like Cav - he's a bit of an idiot but he is completely honest and always interesting... and Greipel aside always full of praise for his team mates. Can't blame him for wanting a bit more money either - he's won a lot since he signed the current one and sportsmen have a limited professional life.

£1m or more is a v big salary in cycling terms isn't it. Only the real contenders for the podium can expect to be earning that sort of money, so Cav might be pushing his luck looking for more.

Re Benny Blanco - agree that Cavendish needs to be in the running for SPOTY, but there's only one man who deserves that title, and it's G-Mac! Winning a major AND coping with the pressure of the entire Ryder Cup coming down to your match and holing 'that putt' on the 16th mean he should be the clear favourite in my book.

Comment 2: Cav DOESN'T want to leave HTC, he loves the team, likes everyone involved, and it's one of the best teams for riders such as him. This is shown by when Cav was on the way to winning the points jersey in L'Vuelta, the team had Peter Velits on leadout duties (closing down the breakaway, keeping Cav at the front of the peloton), even though Velits was looking good for a overall podium, which Velits did indeed get. This shows how much GC contenders are not, "valued's" too strong, but i hope you get what i mean, over CAv's pushes for victory and wins.

Also, Cav wants to actually do some racing, not just be delivered by his team to 200 metres to go, then sprint. He want's to take on Paris-Roubaix this year, which is a very different challenge, and i think he feels HTC and wrapping in him in too much cotton wool.

Number 6: ! mil is the high end for sprinters etc, Contador was rumoured to be on a £3 million contract with Astana. However, the amount of coverage Cavendish generate's by being the fastest sprinter in the world is unparalleled.

To attempt to show how much exposure at the TdF means, the marketing manager of the Belgian team Quickstep said that having a rider in the early day break is worth 2 million in revenue to the company.

A victory, sponsorship deals based on the green jersey, and you can see where Cav comes from in the asking for a better contract, when he add's so much value through marketing.

Also, i have an issue to the supposed £1 million contract mention below, by all accounts it is a long way short of that mark, as before he signed his current contract, he had never even won a Tour stage, and a contract like that isn't given to someone without a track record in cycling, no way, never.

But, good arcticle, well thought out and written. It's not often we get this sort of thing on Cycling, and it's very well received, so thanks again!

"And with a basic annual salary rumoured to be north of £1m" Yes, but rumoured by the Press which notoriously overestimates sports stars' pay for their own sensational purposes. Cavendish has stated that the rumours are wrong. You have to recall that when he signed the contract he had not won a stage of the Tour de France, now he has won 15 - more than any other sprinter in history except Darrigade (21, though some say it's 22) and Freddy Maertens who also won 15.

The estimate that I have seen which may be somewhere near is £800,000, which is peanuts campared to other so called stars in football some of whom can't even be bothered to get themselves on the pitch and play for £2.5 million a year.

Effectively, Cavendish is the Usain Bolt of road sprinting. There is no-one else who comes anywhere near his ability to put in the second burst of sprinting power on top of the immensely high sustained speed at which the bunch sprint approaches the finish line.

It is probably not in his interest to abandon HTC until he can move to a team who have a team capable of delivering him to the last 200 metres.

No sprinter had ever won two consecutive Tour de France finishes on the Champs Elysees until Cavendish did so this year. This year was phenomenal and electrifying as Cavendish had lost his key lead out riders and it looked from the live coverage as if he had been edged out....until he catapulted (across the screen) on the far right of the Champs leaving all trailing in his wake as he did in 2009. If he can get through the last climbing week of the Tour next year he has every chance of taking the final stage again. As a previous comment stated, the value to a sponsor of a multiple stage winner and final stage winner is immense.

I say give him some more money otherwise he'll definitely go when his contract expires.

Cavendish's physique means that he could continue at a high level of performance into his 30s. He will almost certainly become the holder of the highest number of sprint wins in Tour de France history if he continues as he has won these 15 in just three years. It took Darrigade 11 years to accumulate his 21/22.

I am not convinced yet that Brailsford at Sky has got what it takes to run a successful road team capable of succeeding in the TdF.

I agree with bededebike that the quoted salary is very high for someone who accomplished very little on the road when he signed the contract.

I'm not surprised by the timing of this as now that Greipel has moved on HTC are heavily reliant on Cavendsih to provide the wins. He is a superstar of cycling and should take the green jersey next year with ASO now making the intermediate sprints worthwhile in response to Cav's unwillingness to go for them, in my opinion.

I don't think he has any intention of leaving the team at the moment but with HTC seeking a new title sponsor, Cav is their main selling point and having him tied down for more than a year will be a valuable asset. Furthermore, if Cavendish chooses to leave the team in future taking his best lieutenants, namely Mark Renshaw, will be difficult because their contracts are staggered. If he can negotiate a two year deal it will give him even more power when negotiating probably his biggest contract in two years time and he would be able to take his lead-out train with him if things go sour with HTC, much like Greipel has done this year.

If someone signs a contract but then vastly outperforms the terms on which they originally signed then it's reasonable to expect a pay rise.

And my god, Cavendish's performances in the Tour have been incredible over the last 2 years.

For further reading, Anthony Tan from Cycling News has done a good piece, i hope Matt you'll allow me to post it below:



This goes into more detail about what me, bedede and ragerod have touched upon.

Also, feel free to come to the cycling 606 pages, more posters are always welcomed! We even have fantasy games to help everyone learn more about the sport, and some incredible informed posters willing to help out with understanding things about the sport, and the debates always lively!