Even if Mark Cavendish won 13 times this season, this is not enough to team boss Patrick Lefevere. Indeed, after to have missed his second chance for a sprint victory at the Tour de France in Amiens, the Etixx-Quick Step rider has to prove that he is still the best. On Wednesday, Cav' finished 3rd, behind Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo). 

"He has to prove that he’s still the fastest sprinter on earth," Patrick Lefevere explained according to CyclingWeekly. "The Tour has so much publicity, he needs to win here, of course. Let’s not be silly, he has to win here. First for himself, but for the team, as well."

This season, Cavendish won the overall in the Dubai Tour (+ two stage wins), Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Clasica de Almeria, four stage wins in the Tour of California, three stage wins in the Tour of Turkey and one stage win in the Tour de San Luis. "Impressed? No because I know Mark. I know his character, he’s a winner. In the Tour de Suisse, he was a little bit under the expectations, but I saw some of the British championships on TV, and there he was quite amazing. I’m not impressed, he’s a winner. He has 13 wins, there were many races that weren’t WorldTour, but winning is winning."

"The most important thing is to win the first [in the Tour], if you win the first, the second becomes easier because after one week, if you don’t win, the stress comes and you start to make little mistakes and you have to avoid this."

We have to know also that the British rider will be free at the end of the season. So, it is the time to negotiate a new contract. "It’s a matter of price, and it’s a matter of everything. Money is not everything, though,” added Lefevere. "We’re very happy and every year he was with us, the relationship with the team has increased, he felt more and more conformable in the team, he became more and more relaxed. He’s a star, he’s still a star, look to Twitter, where he has more than 900,000 followers. That says a lot."