Team Sky would let Cavendish leave

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18949125

Would Cavendish leave? I reckon he could. Been part of the history this season, might want to aim for Eddy Mercx's 34 stage wins in the TDF. 23 for Cavendish so far, so with a team dedicated to him, he could definately do it

If Sky's strategy is to go after the GC next year, with Froome or Wiggins, which they have already stated is there intention then I expect to see Cav leave. With the course expected to be brutal next year in terms of mountain stages with it being the 100th TdF, there is no way Sky will be wasting any domestiques on Cav. They will all be gunning towards getting Froome or Wiggo to Paris in yellow. He has a great chance of breaking Merckx's record which would really cement him in the pantheon of cycling greats and if he has the chance to get there, and his best chance is away from Team Sky I say go for it. You only get one shot and being the best you can be, so don't waste years of your career!

Also, I do wonder if Brailsford feels he owes Cave for Beijing where Cav was the only one of our 13 man squad not to get a track medal because he was paired with a shattered Wiggo who had already won Pursuit and Team Pursuit gold, and to say Cav was annoyed would be an understatement, he only started talking to Wiggins again a few years ago, so I think Brailsford might feel that he owes Cav one and so won't be a stickler in keeping him to his contract.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say the main reason they may be willing to release Cav is that Froome is performing so well. With Wiggins and Froome they can credibly compete in the GC of all 3GTs. This year Cav was team leader for the Giro, and that probably went a fair way towards making up for him missing out on his usual role at the Tour. At the time they signed Cav (can't remember exactly when it was) Froome was still a bit of an unknown quantity and even though he put in a fantastic shift in the Vuelta it would have been of limited value if he hadn't shown that level of consistency again and it proved a one off.

They cannot now support Cav as a team leader, so it makes sense for him to move on. Irrespective of whether or not Brailsford thinks he owes him one, the commercial interest of Sky would probably dictate that. Sky will be guaranteed good coverage if they can get someone in the yellow/prink/whatever jersey, but there may be more people tuning in and seeing coverage that if there are Brits competing for both the GC and points.