Patrick Lefevere has said while he was working towards having Mark Cavendish on his team next year, he ultimately doe not need the British rider in the Deceuninck-QuickStep line-up in 2022.
And while Cavendish wants to race next year, he is also using the current contract negotiations to hammer out a role for himself on the management side of the team from 2023, after he stops racing.
However, Lefevere says while Cavendish wants to switch to the team's staff after an envisaged final year in the peloton next season, he does not feel the need to pay him them if he is still learning how to be a manager.
His unease about agreeing to pay Cavendish a salary in 2023 was expressed in an interview in Belgium yesterday, the same day it emerged Lefevere declined to pay Cavendish any salary at all to sign for the team for 2021.
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“This situation is getting on my nerves. It goes on too long. I hope we'll finally get it this weekend," Lefevere said of his hopes the contract talks would be resolved this weekend.
"We will see each other, and he will constantly, when he meets someone from the team, ask if he knows anything about our contract," he added in Het Laaste Nieuws.
"Mark says he has his value, but I also know the value of my team. In theory… it doesn't have to involve Cavendish at all. It has, among others, Fabio Jakobsen and Davide Ballerini is a fighter capable of fighting for victories in flat terrain."
Lefevere suggested a sticking point in the contract talks involved Cavendish's ideas for 2023, when he wants to join the management side of the team.
"When I ask him what he wants to do, he says he wants to watch me and learn," Lefevere said. "But do I have to pay someone to learn?"
