Mark Cavendish: joining Sky was a 'mistake' he won't make again

Mark Cavendish explained that he will not make the mistake of joining another team like Sky when his contract expires at the end of 2015.

"I made that mistake before," Cavendish told Belgium's Het Nieuwsblad newspaper. "I want to stay with Etixx-QuickStep. I love it.

Cavendish terminated his contract with Sky early, after one year of a three-year deal, to join Belgium's Omega Pharma-QuickStep in 2013. He now has some of the same staff and cyclists around him as he did with HTC-Highroad, including Sport and Development Manager Rolf Aldag and lead-out man Mark Renshaw.

“It's like in HTC [Highroad]: one big family,” Cavendish continued. “Nobody likes to leave his family behind, but being with this team away from home is a pleasure."

Mark Cavendish takes first win of 2015 at Tour de San Luis

Mark Cavendish took the bunch sprint on the final stage of the 2015 Tour de San Luis in Argentina as

With Highroad, from 2007 to 2011, he achieved his greatest wins: Milan-San Remo, the World Championships and the Tour de France's points classification. He left the team only when owner Bob Stapleton was unable to secure a new sponsor for the 2012 season.

Sky's focus was more on Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the Tour de France than helping Cavendish win sprints. Cavendish explained in interviews at the time that he felt that he had to leave.

"My contract's going to expire this year, but I'm not worried about it," Cavendish added. "When it's time, I'll sit down at the table with [General Manager Patrick] Lefevere and we'll talk."

Cavendish won his first race of the 2015 season on Sunday when he sprinted to victory in stage seven of the Tour de San Luis. He beat 20-year-old Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who won head-to-head matches with Cavendish in the race's first two sprints.

His next race is the Dubai Tour, February 4 to 7.