Cavendish off to Sky?? Is this wise?

As rumoured for a while, it seems Cav is off to Sky (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/8682537/Mark-Cavendishs-team-HTC-Highroad-to-close-after-failing-to-find-a-sponsor.html), or possibly Green Edge?? Very sad to see HTC fold, but is Cav right to move - seems if he stayed then a sponsorship deal for HTC could have been reached? If it is Sky, how many of the HTC train will move with him? (Another rumour says only Eisel). Can Sky manage such well organised lead outs? Don't they already have an up and coming sprinter?

Any thoughts, or more information please.

Not sure Cavendish will be very happy when he has to share leadership with a GC man. But he'll have to cope.

He'll certainly expect Wiggins to pull his weight in terms of the leadout. He definitely won't like having guys like Uran and Nordhaug (domestiques for Wiggins) in the team for the TDF, who will offer very little in terms of being strong rouleurs or powerful locomotives at the end.

I doubt Green Edge will be all that keen on building a team where all the little Aussie helpers provide a Pom with a whole bunch of victories. I don't think that'll be the main priority for the team.

About the worst choice ever in my view.

Apart from all the objections outlined already, those of us of a certain age and with very long memories will be aghast at the Dirty Digger connection.

So you're aghast at the thought of a rider joining a team that is sponsored by a Murdoch company, but you actively support doping in cycling?

You need to get your priorities sorted.

I recognise a wind-up when I read one!

Have a nice day-somewhere else please.

It's not a wind-up. I just don't like your outspoken support for cheats in cycling. It doesn't help things at all.

Latest "rumours" have Renshaw going to Rabobank while Thor Hushovd is apparently joining BMC.

It's strange that no official confirmation has been made yet.

They may still be a surprise coming here.

philippe gilbert signs for bmc alongside cadel. great signing what a force for future tours

confirmed: Cavendish signs for Sky. Not much of a surprise, particularly after his win at the Worlds where the team, most of them at sky, all rode superbly for him. Will be interesting to see how Sky balances their two main stars Wiggins and Cav. Suspect it will be fairly easy next year with Cav going for the Olympics and Wiggo for the TdF, but in the years after that the TdF could be tricky...

Great news for british cycling. We are slowly becoming a force to be recognised.

MfC
Cav will still ride the Tour and be looking for stage wins - he might not go through to the finish though, so won't necessarily be hunting for the green jersey (depnds a bit on the dates the Tour finishes and the Olympic RR takes place).

The combination of a serious overall contender and a top sprinter in the same team has always been a difficult circle to square - Team Telekom came closest in the days of Ullrich and Zabel, but only because Jan was such a strong rider that he could do his turn at the front of the bunch in the last few km without it having much of a long-term impact on his performances inthe mountains and ITTs (indeed, Ullrich liked doing this, as it helped ride him into form).

One thing Sky must have learnt from this year's Vuelta is the need for one more climbing domestique to support Wiggins and Froome in the high mountains of the major tours - in the end Froome only lost the Vuelta because of the day he had to work for BW, and if one of their domestiques had been able to hang on for 5km more, this wouldn't have been needed. The problem is that you now need to balance this agaisnt the need for Cav to have a couple of strong men and a lead-out guy (Henderson could be superb at this, as he's probably even quicker than Renshaw), which puts huge pressure on guys like Geraint Thomas who can do both the flat domestique stuff and the mountains as far as the early part of the final climb.

I think the Cav to Sky move was almost inevitable, but I'm not convinced that it is really the best for all involved - time will tell.

Let's hope for the best and that the admin. and financing of the team is well distanced from the Dirty Digger's coterie.

Yes, I agree that Cav is probably going to ape Cipollini-next year anyway-and exit the Tour after getting some stage wins. ASO will take a dim view of that though...

Can't wait for 2012 already!

notice that Cavendish has won two stages of the Tour of Qatar this week (the only two he's contested), so I guess so far sky are doing a decent job. OK it's not the most prestigious event, but he's beaten a few decent sprinters (Boonen, Oss, Sagan). Definitely good signs for the year ahead.

Very good start.

2 stage wins - 0 hissy fits.

Wonder if he can keep it at a positive level this year.

Encouraging evidence of some early season form (which Cav lacked last year), but really none of the guys MfC lists should trouble Cav in a pure sprint - Boonen and Sagan are both excellent all rounder / power riders who can muster an effective sprint but in a TdF sprint you'd be expecting them to be in the lower reaches of the top 10. Oss is a sprinter, but one of the second level guys rather than the elite.

Hopefully though this early form might translate into a performance at San Remo - a race Cav is clearly suited to when in good form and when he has a bit of luck (i.e. not getting held up by a huge crash as last year).

The score gets closer as it's now:

Stage wins 2 - Hissy fits 1

4th overall Tour of Qatar for Boonen.