Mark Cavendish to INEOS?

The critical situation of B&B Hotels, which seemed to be Mark Cavendish's team for next season, has been confirmed. B&B Hotels has given freedom to its cyclists to look for new teams. Rumours about Cavendish's possible destination point to INEOS Grenadiers, a team where the Isle of Man cyclist already rode in 2012, then still under the name of Team Sky.

B&B Hotels close to its final days while Mark Cavendish still hasn't announced his next team

A turbulent autumn for Mark Cavendish who, after his departure from QuickStep following disagreements with Patrick Levefere for not including him in the Tour de France team, still hasn't found a place for the 2023 season.

A few weeks ago Cavendish's pre-agreement with the French team B&B Hotels was confirmed, an open secret for some time. However, also during those days it became clear that B&B Hotels was having difficulties to close its new sponsors, having even exceeded the deadlines for the registration of teams with the UCI, a bad indicator for the future.

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Now, the situation seems to have reached its limit with the communication to the riders of the French squad indicating them that they are free to look for a team, a very difficult task at this stage of the year, with the squads of practically all the teams practically closed and the teams carrying out the first pre-season training camps.

Among the cyclists affected is Victor Koretzky, a mountain biker who in the last two seasons has combined MTB with the road in the ranks of the French team and who now, in a critical season for the classification in order to be able to compete in the XCO event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, finds himself without a team and with the need not only to find a place in another squad but to do so in one that allows him to continue combining both disciplines.

Obviously, this communication from B&B Hotels also means that the signing of Mark Cavendish will not be completed, which puts the British rider at the starting line with fewer and fewer alternatives to continue his successful career.

In any case, he has the advantage that a cyclist of Mark Cavendish's quality is a valuable asset, especially with the good performance he has shown in the last two seasons after the previous period in which he was on the verge of retirement due to a mononucleosis that he could not overcome. Then, it was Patrick Lefevere who rescued him for QuickStep, and the British rider responded by winning the highly desired green jersey of the Tour de France.

In recent days it has been rumoured that this time the rescue could come from the hand of Dave Brailsford to join the ranks of INEOS, a team that is no stranger to Mark Cavendish as he was part of Team Sky in 2012. Tthe British squad have avoided commenting on the matter.

The start of the 2023 season is imminent and at the moment everything is up in the air for Mark Cavendish who, at 37 years of age, was living a second youth, having won the Milan-Turin, a stage in the Giro d'Italia and the British Championship after a brilliant career.