Having forged a friendship through hours of training in Italy together since 2006, Mark Cavendish finally got what he wanted when close friend Fabio Sabatini signed for Etixx-Quickstep this offseason.

Sabatini is the perfect rider for the team, with his ability as a leadout man and also to ride well in the classics, which Etixx-QuickStep specialises in. he has already shown what he can do, after helping Cavendish win the final stage of the Tour de San Luis.

“Mark tried to get me on his team a couple of times. The first time was when he went to Sky in 2012 but it wasn’t possible back then,” Sabatini told Cyclingnews at the Tour de San Luis, his first race in the black jersey of Etixx-QuickStep. “Now it’s happened and I’m very happy that we’re on the same team. He’s a great leader and he’s a great person, with a lovely family.”

Sabatini has already worked with good sprinters like Peter Sagan and Elia Viviani at his old team Cannondale. He looks to being part of a leadout train rather than being the only man on the team designated to leadout the sprinter like he was at Cannondale.

“At Cannondale I covered a few different roles because there wasn’t really a lead-out train per se, it was usually just me working for Sagan or Viviani,” Sabatini said. “It was very difficult to do the job properly really, but on this team it feels like everything is perfect because all the elements are so strong.”

While he acted as the leadout man for Cavendish in Argentina, it wont be his job in the rest of the season as he will operate further down the train, as Mark Renshaw resumes his task of leading our the Manx Missile.

“Obviously there’s a fundamental man missing from the train here and that’s Mark Renshaw,” Sabatini said. “When he’s in the team I’ll be the second last man, just before Renshaw, so he’ll be the one who’ll lead out Mark in the sprints.”