Will Mark Cavendish be at the Tour de France and can he still still win stages?
Lefevere added: "I understand his point of view. Mark joined our team at 35 years of age and at the last minute. At that time, the Tour was out of the question. He signed a minimum contract because we had minimal expectations." Lefevere mused that Cavendishs contract could be extended on better terms prior to the Tour. This has been taken in some quarters to mean that Cavendish is on a UCI minimum salary, and would not countenance going to the Tour unless he had a new deal. It seems more likely Lefevere was simply using a figure of speech about a 'minimum contract' as there is no chance Cavendish is on the UCI minimum salary (some 40,000 euros). Either way, there is not thought to be anything to stop Cavendish going to the Tour if he is selected. And he certainly wouldnt say no if asked, new contract or no new contract. Pressure  Cavendish does not enjoy all the hype over the Tour; the talk of whether or not he will go. And if he does whether or not he can add to his 30 Tour stage wins. He consistently bats it away and tries not to engage. "I dont know. At the end of the day, its all talk," Cavendish said after his win on Sunday, adding graciously that it was important to see the status of Bennett, the reigning green jersey holder, before discussing his own ambitions. "The reason the whole Tour de France came up  I didnt mention it and Patrick didnt mention it  I won in Tour of Turkey and all of a sudden the media started talking about it. This is a thing that happens a lot. I never started that, it was the media that started that, and all of a sudden, its like, Im going for it. Its the same with this. Its you guys [the media] that started whether or not I should go to the Tour de France."