Cavendish needs big wins ahead of new contract says team boss Patrick Lefevere

Etixx - Quick-Step manager, Patrick Lefevere, has warned Mark Cavendish that big wins are needed ahead of his next contract. The British rider is in the final year of a three-year deal, but while he has already picked up five wins this season, Lefevere says his value will be decided by his performance in bigger races.

Lefevere told Cyclingnews that contract negotiations wouldn’t begin until later in the season.

“I don’t speak to riders in January or February. Everyone likes Mark, he likes the team but it’s about money and it’s about winning.

“He’s been winning a lot this year but things really start with Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo and Gent-Wevelgem. After that we’ll maybe start speaking but we can’t hide the fact that the Tour de France is also really important.”

Cavendish famously crashed out on the first stage of last year’s Tour, but he has also seen his rival, Marcel Kittel, rise to greater prominence in recent years. Lefevere is keen to see Cavendish regain his crown as the peloton’s preeminent sprinter.

“If Mark is beaten five times by Kittel then we’ll have another discussion. He’s a really popular rider, he’s a star, but if you don’t win then your star starts to fade. We’re professionals, I’m a professional, he’s a professional and we have to sit down as grown ups and speak. But it’s too early to speak about this.”

Etixx – Quick-Step are also considering whether to sign Colombia's Fernando Gaviria who twice outsprinted Cavendish at the Tour de San Luis earlier in the year.

“He’s coming to us after the weekend to do some tests. He’s in Paris to do the track World Championships and then from there he’ll come to Kortrijk. We’ll have a talk, do some tests and then he will return to Colombia. We’ll try to sign him if the tests are good but we’ll of course respect his plans for the Olympics.”

In contrast, it is Cavendish’s commitments with Etixx – Quick-Step which appear to have put paid to his own chances of competing in Rio. The 29-year-old had expressed the hope that he might ride the omnium and took part in both the Ghent and Zurich six-day races this winter. However, riders are obliged to qualify for the Olympic track events through points amassed in certain competitions in the two years leading up to the Games and Cavendish’s road schedule makes this all but impossible.

"The UCI has segregated track and road cycling completely," he said. "So you have to do what Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing and quit road cycling to be able to qualify for it.”