Will Renshaw's return really make Cavendish untouchable?

The cycling off season, as short as it seems to be these days, can be just as fraught with danger for our favourite pro-cyclists as the harrowing descents of the Tour de France or the slippery cobbles of the Trouee d’Arenberg.

While they may be safe from the inherent danger of riding amid 200 other highly strung athletes in a tightly bunched peloton, they are not safe from their own mouths and the words that flow from them.

Take these words from Mark Cavendish for example, which appear in the latest edition of Procycling magazine.

“Right now I’m in the most luxurious position of any sprinter in the world.”

These are powerful, confident words spilling forth from the lips of one of the world’s most powerful and confident riders, and as such, are hard to argue against.

With Alessandro Petacchi in his corner and former teammate Mark Renshaw once again riding in his service, the Manx Missile has a lead out train of the highest calibre, one that he hopes will resurrect the kind of dominance he experienced at his old HTC squad.

He is especially excited about the return of Renshaw, once considered the very best of the pro-peloton’s lead out men, and it is easy to see why.

At HTC they were cycling’s equivalent to Torvill and Dean, nothing less than a perfect pairing that spearheaded HTC’s awesome sprint assaults. They worked well together with Cavendish having the utmost faith in his Aussie mate to guide him through the swirling, erratic maelstrom of the closing stages of a race.

Nowhere was their dominance more evident than on the Champs Elysees at the 2009 Tour de France. Cavendish, chasing his sixth stage win of the Tour, stuck gamely to Renshaw’s wheel as he entered the last corner at what can be legitimately described as true breakneck speed.

Even Cavendish was scared, but such was his trust in Renshaw, that he followed unquestioningly and the two swept to their most dominant display yet, finishing first and second with daylight third.

In short it was a perfect ride, a true ten out of ten, and one that must feature prominently in the dreams of both riders.

It is little wonder then that Cavendish was stoked when Renshaw, after a two-year separation from his former team leader, announced that he would once again be riding for the Manxman. After a troubled final year with Sky and a mixed 2013 with Omega Pharma Quickstep, it must have seemed like manna from heaven for Cav.

But has the dream of reigniting the old spark between the pair already begun to shatter? Will Cavendish’s pre-season proclamation fizzle to become just wishful thinking?

It’s only early days yet, but the performance, or lack there of, of Cavendish and his much hyped lead out train at last week’s Dubai Tour must have raised a few nervous eyebrows among Omega Pharma Quickstep’s power brokers.

The ‘Fab Two’, reunited for the first time, failed to impress although Renshaw did manage a second placing on the last stage after Cavendish collided with a bollard and dropped his chain. But mechanicals and misfortune aside, Cav and his offsider were nowhere to be seen for the rest of the race.

On the first road stage, a dead flat jaunt in and around Dubai, they appeared well placed within the group with about a kilometre to go, only to disappear without a trace, while a day later some short sharp hills before the finish soon put paid to Cav’s chances.

But just as at last year’s Tour de France, Cavendish and Omega Pharma Quickstep have had their pants pulled down by Marcel Kittel. The German Giant-Shimano rider sprinted to victory in each of Dubai’s three road stages and is fast become a real thorn in the side for Cavendish and his squad.

Which must pose the question – can you really recreate the past? Can Cav and Omega Pharma Quickstep become the next HTC?

One can just imagine Cavendish, all dapper and Gatsby like, frowning at the thought and exclaiming, “Recreate the past? Why of course you can old sport.”

Omega Pharma Quickstep must be hoping that the old chemistry will return, but even they appear to have some reservations. A statement by the team’s Sport and Development manager Rolf Aldag seems to indicate that the star trio of Petacchi, Renshaw and Cavendish won’t be given unlimited time to click.

Speaking in the same ‘Procycling’ article that contained Cavendish’s quote about being in a luxurious position, Aldag hints that change could be in the wind if the results don’t come.

“We will have them (Petacchi, Renshaw and Cavendish) together in Dubai, and then all three (of them) in the Volta ao Algarve and then Tirreno-Adriatico. After that we may start playing around a bit.”

Surely, if this is Omega’s ‘A’ team and the one they expect to carry the flag for them at the Tour de France, you would keep them together until July and not go playing around with the line-up.

Certainly, there needs to be contingency plans in place in case of mishap or injury, but by Aldag’s own admission, Cavendish’s lead out train wasn’t ready at last year’s Tour. The reason? Not enough time together.

“(We had) a lead out train that was still basically practising during the Tour de France and wasn’t that well welded together,” he told ‘Procycling’.

Playing around with this current line-up after next month’s Tirreno-Adriatico without giving it the time to settle seems to be asking for trouble. Even if the results aren’t coming, it would be highly surprising if Omega went to the Tour without either Renshaw or Petacchi, so why split them up?

Cavendish is still a super rider and, as usual, will feature prominently in the Tour’s sprints this July. But Kittel will take to the race with exactly the same goals – stage wins and lots of them – and given past results, will be confident that he can upstage his rival.

Cav is going to need all the help he can get if he is to reverse last year’s stage win count, so messing around with the Omega lead out train, even this far out from the Tour, could prove detrimental.

Let’s hope Omega know what they are doing because the prospect of Cavendish spearheading a full strength and functioning train against the might of Giant-Shimano and their rising star Kittel, will be mouth watering.

Cavendish is still the king of sprinters, but for perhaps the first time in his career, he has a serious challenger. His position might not be as luxurious as he first thought.