Congratulations to Sky and Cavendish. While most had stopped caring about their mating dance long before Worlds, they had a few more sequals in the bag that rival Police Academy 34 and 35 for worst scripts ever.
Cav may have a new agent looking for new money based on a new rainbow jersey, the problem with threatening not to sign is that you need to have new alternatives. With all teams full or out of money, there aren’t many believable alternatives.
Furthermore, if his new agents have any brains, they will know that Cav riding for Sky is a gold mine. Cav riding for Quickstep is, well, something funny related to wood (given that Quickstep makes floorboards) – Please send in your favorite expressions with wood that could make this paragraph a lot more hilarious.
I just realized Cavendish is an anagram for “dive ‘n cash”. Actually, there are much, much worse anagrams to be made with his name, but I digress.
Cav also faces the problem I’d like to call “a mild form of cycling conflict of interest” (meaning we’ve seen much worse). The guy who wants to sign him for Sky is also the guy who has to select him for the Olympics next year. Isn’t that swell. Now before you think Sky could use that as leverage, threats of non-selection for the national team may work with the minions but of course it doesn’t work with Cav.
Punishing Cav for not signing with Sky by not selecting him for London 2012 is the sort of sports official harakiri nobody has the stomach for. The whole nation expects a Cavendish Gold, British Cycling funding is based on Olympic medals won, and now that the course has been tailor-made for Cavendish, they have no choice but to take him there and work their asses off for his victory.
So neither side has real leverage, which made the stand-off rather funny. So maybe Sky threw in a few extra bucks, everybody kissed and made up and can we please, Please, PLEASE get that friggin press release about the Cav signing now?
By the way, no need to feel sorry for Sky, after all that’s the team that made offers to riders still under contract with other teams and in general broke all the rules in the book. Without punishment of course.
I am not sure if I’ll be able to write much this week, it’s rather busy, but if not then definitely next week I will pick up the minimum wage and biological passport issues. Don’t let my erratic posting schedule fool you, subscribe here.
gerard.cc 
October 10, 2011 at 19:44
Bmc is also that kind of team who breaks the rules !
October 10, 2011 at 20:23
As are Leopard and Greenedge. As far as I am aware, only signing contracts before August is against the rules.
October 10, 2011 at 23:26
There are plenty of other things against the rules. Such as offering a rider from another team a contract for a year for which he already has one (i.e. a 2010 contract for a guy who has already signed a 2-year contract in 2009).
October 10, 2011 at 20:36
Some rules are written, others don’t ! But in the facts how things are done nowadays you are right. #usetcoutumes
October 11, 2011 at 06:08
superb….
October 11, 2011 at 13:17
Are Cav and Sky negotiating in public? Are they making claim and counter-claim about each other’s positions through the media? Are bloggers and journalists just waiting patiently for a press-release, trying their very hardest to get on with their own lives and ignore what they see as a perfectly ordinary contractual negotiation, while the two parties jump up an down saying look at me, look at me?
Or is there more or less radio silence from Cav and Sky (other than a very mild comment from Brailsford, confirming what everyone knew – that that negotiations are ongoing, but not signed), while the blogosphere engages in feverish speculation/rumour/conjecture, before getting mardy that the negotiations are taking too long and are ‘boring’, so they might as well be concluded immediately to satisfy a bunch of random internet stranger’s self-defined attention spans?
No offence but, to stretch your metaphor, I think what you actually want would be the complete opposite of Cav and Sky ‘getting a room’ – rather you want a web cam installed in the metaphorical bedroom they’re negotiating in with the ‘money shot’ going out live on Skype.
October 11, 2011 at 17:07
Completely agree Tim. Yes, the negotiations have been drawn out, but I think Sky and Cavendish have done well to be as discrete and professional as possible while they have been taking place. It’s the world’s media that has stirred up the story. Sky and Cav already have a room. The problem is the journalists and bloggers trying to spy through windows.
October 26, 2011 at 17:10
SKY…a Rupert Murdoch company. Rules? They don’t play by ’em. Get over it. I’m wondering if the current problems with phone-hacking and the spat between Rupert and James may affect the money spent on cycling? I realize the entire team budget’s just a few seconds income for these plutocrats…but?