After being granted a WolrdTour license for 2016, Dimesion Data’s star rider Mark Cavendish has said that he joined the team as he believes it has the capacity to not just exist at the top level of cycling, but to be one of the very best teams in the sport.

“I see the forward trajectory of the team. It has got incredible roots and an incredible story. In all honesty, I see it becoming the biggest team in professional cycling in a few years,” Cavendish told Cape Talk radio show.

“What Doug Ryder has done, taking it technically from a club team in South African to being, well, being one of the fans’ favourite teams in the world and one of the biggest teams in the world. It’s a pretty big thing, with big ambition and something that has been realised. To see what they do on the bike and off the bike makes it attractive to any professional bike rider no matter what their status is.”

Cavendish has ridden for great teams his entire career, with his HTC-Highroad team being the best in the sprinting business for years, before he joined Sky and won three stages in the Rainbow jersey at the Tour, while helping Bradley Wiggins win the GC. Just before Dimension Data, he spent three years at Classics giants Etixx-QuickStep, helping the team to top the win chart in pro cycling in each year he rode at the Belgian squad.