Being himself one of the best sprinters of his times, Tom Steels believes that despite the fact that Mark Cavendish and his Omega Pharma-Quick Step lead-out train, significantly boosted by the arrival of Alessandro Petacchi and Mark Renshaw need more time to coordinate their efforts, Manxman is still the best sprinter in the world.

Cavendish currently participates in the Volta ao Algarve and he certainly wishes to claim his first victory of the 2014 season after a deliberately low-key performance in the opening Tour de San Luis and his affair in sprinter-friendly Dubai marred by wrong positioning in the sprints, bad luck and some exceptional form of Marcel Kittel, described as his main contender after his respectable performances at last year’s Tour the France.

Considering this combination of factors as a satisfying excuse, Steels seems convinced that Cavendish is exactly where he should be in this part of the season and it’s only a case of little details falling into right places.

“Mark is in good form and he’s really improving. Everyone always says that they need an extra race to get ready but Mark is there. At the moment Kittel is flying and he’s a good rider but Mark is getting better. It’s all about getting into a flow though and there’s still no doubt from me that Cavendish is still the fastest one,” Steels told Cyclingnews.

Being one of the fastest sprinters of his generation, Steels explains how difficult and important it is to get the lead-out train working correctly, so that the sprinter can rely on their own tactical decisions. He also emphasizes that considering the results achieved by the Manxman last year, particularly no less that 20 victories in the season, there are no reasons to think that he won’t be in shape when he would need it most.

“He’s always performing when he needs to. He won 20 races last year and you can’t do that if you don’t respect your own abilities and work hard,” Steels added.

“Everyone on the team respects Cavendish. In cycling it’s about whether you perform or not and with Cavendish everyone on the team works for him and really rides for him. He’s a leader and we’re committed to him, always.”

“With the leadout everyone has their own qualities and when you bring them together with two or three guys everything has to be right so there’s no second option or second chance. We have to put Cavendish in the right position in order to win and that process takes times. Every race is different and there’s never one clear line. It’s chaotic, there’s a big fight, but we need them to have confidence in each other.”

Not playing down the respectable victories obtained by Kittel in Dubai, Steels one more times emphasizes how factors like bad luck and some misunderstandings between Omega Pharma-Quick Step main lead-out men affected the final results.

He believes, however, that even though the theoretically unmatchable combination of Petacchi and Renshaw needs time to build the trust and common understanding as they are completely different riders, with different personalities and their own ways of getting into the position, he saw some very positives signs while observing how the duo was cooperating together in Dubai.

“You have to look at things in the long term and not just over three days. Mark had some bad luck in Dubai as well so we’ll have to wait for the other races. But what I’ve seen between how Petacchi and Renshaw have ridden together has pleased me.”

“I think they [Renshaw and Petacchi] can swap but they’re both high quality riders. The main thing is that Renshaw and Petacchi haven’t ridden together before this year. They’re different riders with different characters and styles to get into position. It’s also new work for Petacchi but what we’ve seen at the end of last year and this year is that he uses his racing brain so well. He has so much intelligence.”

“I had Zanini for a while and he was the best. He was so good I could follow him blindly. I never questioned him or his tactics and that saved me a lot energy. Mark Cavendish knows he has to do the same thing with his guys and it will come.”