Cavendish agrees to stay with Dimension Data

Mark Cavendish has an “agreement in principle” to remain with Team Dimension Data beyond this season, according to team manager Doug Ryder.

Cavendish was named yesterday as the focal point of the team’s squad for the Tour de France, as he seeks four more stage wins in the race to match Eddy Merckx’s alltime record of 34.

The 33-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the year, but Ryder is confident Cavendish will remain on board despite the team’s new “Vision 2020”, under which they will target the general classification in the near future.

“We’ve had lots of discussions,” Ryder told Press Association Sport. “Mark believes in himself and believes in his future and his career. We have told him we are 100 per cent committed to him and we would love him to be a part of our team for the future.

“We’ve had lots of conversations and Dimension Data is committed to him and he is very supportive of this team. Has pen been put to paper? No. Do we have an agreement in principle? Yes.”

Cavendish will be supported by plenty of familiar faces in France, with his long-time team-mate Mark Renshaw in the squad, alongside Edvald Boasson Hagen, Julien Vermote and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.

Serge Pauwels, winner of the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire and third in this year’s edition, is also included, but there is no place for Britain’s Steve Cummings, a stage winner in 2015 and 2016, after a first half of a season hampered by illness.