Christmas is coming and we are edging ever closer to the start of the new season at the Tour Down Under. Teams and riders are drawing up plans for 2023 and getting back into the swing of training.
The professional cycling transfer window rumbles on as teams complete their roster for 2023 but sadly the B7B Hotels debacle means Mark Cavendish has to confirm if and where he will race in 2023. The Manxman, former world champion and 34-time Tour de France stage winner, is the last star name in the peloton yet to confirm his future.
B&B Hotels-KTM had been all-but-confirmed as his destination for 2023, but with the team looking back at a failed sponsor search, they look unlikely to even exist next season.
With that in mind, and time running out as teams around the peloton finalise their 2023 rosters, Cyclingnews has taken a look at the best candidates for Cavendish’s signature.
Rumours of Cavendish making a move to the French ProTeam had been circulating since the summer, and as the months of the winter transfer window have dragged on, the move only seemed more and more like a done deal.
However the team’s future has unravelled slowly over the past two months as team boss Jérôme Pineau has fought a losing battle to find new sponsors to boost his budget and sign Cavendish and a solid leadout train.
With last week’s news that Pineau told the team’s riders and staff that they are free to seek deals elsewhere, the certainty that Cavendish would line up for the Breton squad has now evaporated.
Cees Bol and Ramon Sinkeldam (who has now signed for Alpecin-Deceuninck) were rumoured to be signing along with Cavendish as the Manxman’s lead-out train. However, unless Pineau can come up with the latest of last-minute sponsor deals, this move looks to be dead in the water.
Part of Pineau’s ever-desperate attempts to save his team reportedly (denied by Pineau) included the Frenchman seeking a merger deal with Israel-Premier Tech, who are set to be relegated from the WorldTour to ProTeam level next year.
The Israeli team struggled mightily in 2022, scoring two big wins at the Tour de France but getting little out their big-name signings such as Jakob Fuglsang, Giacomo Nizzolo, and Chris Froome.
Israel-Premier Tech have long looked a logical landing destination for Cavendish, even if they won’t be racing at the sport’s top level next year. Team co-owner, billionaire Sylvan Adams, isn’t afraid to splash money on star…
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