It's been confirmed Isle of Man cycling superstar Mark Cavendish is leaving Team Sky to join Belgian outfit Omega Pharma-Quick Step for the 2013 season.
The Manx Missile was frustrated the British team focused solely on Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France, but understood the need to chase the biggest prize in cycling - the yellow jersey.
Tim Glover reports:-
In 2011, Cav became World Champion and won the green jersey for sprinters at Le Tour.
With Sky concentrating their efforts on Wiggins winning the biggest race in the sport, Cav wasn't able to mount a realistic defence of his green jersey....but did still take three stage victories.
The 27 year old has won 23 stages at the Tour de France.
He has stated he would like to become the most successful stage rider in history at the event - Eddie Merckx won 34 during his career.
The Omega Pharma-Quick Step team is likely to be built around Mark Cavendish in much the same way as HTC-Highroad before it folded at the end of the 2011 campaign.
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