Mark Cavendish's 2024 Tour de France squad 'miles ahead' of 2023, says Mark Renshaw

With Vasilis Anastopoulos as his coach, Michael Mørkøv as his final man, and Davide Ballerini in the lead-out, Mark Cavendish's supporting crew for the 2024 Tour de France has the look of a greatest hits album, and sports director Mark Renshaw believes his Astana Qazaqstan team is night and day from the one that rode the Tour this year.

"It's miles ahead," says Renshaw as he sits down with GCN at Astana Qazaqstan's winter training camp in Altea, Spain.

"Having Mørkøv with his experience, having Ballerini, Cees Bol, Alexey Lutsenko - he made a good difference at the end of the Tour last year for Cees Bol - Yevgeniy Federov... we have some really strong riders who are morphing into more experienced riders."

Read more: 'Knowing I was valued is biggest factor in not retiring' says Mark Cavendish

The team is one in which Renshaw is relishing getting the opportunity to work full-time, after initially acting as a sprinting consultant for the squad at this year's Tour. Although Cavendish's early departure from the race left Astana empty-handed, Renshaw's impact left an impression and he has joined as a sports director for 2024.

Having served as a lead-out rider for Cavendish with HTC-Highroad, Quick-Step and Dimension Data, delivering him to numerous wins iover the course of a decade, Renshaw is better placed than anyone to explain the importance of having a proven lead-out rider in Mørkøv on the team.

"Having Mørkøv there lifts everybody, because when you’re a good sprinter and you have a good lead-out, it really puts the pressure to deliver, because nine times out of 10, Mørkøv is going to put him in the perfect position," says Renshaw.

"There’s no excuse, you’ve been delivered a straight view of the line and there’s no one impeding you, so you have to step up. Riders will lift with that."

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Davide Ballerini (left) and Michael Mørkøv are two riders that Mark Cavendish (right) trusts to guide him to success - and rightly so

Both Mørkøv and Ballerini were in Quick-Step's imperious lead-out train that helped Cavendish to win four stages of the 2021 Tour de France, the race in which the Manxman made his unexpected return to winning ways on the sport's grandest stage.

Now level with Eddy Merckx on 34 Tour de France stage victories, there can be real optimism that Cavendish can surpass the great Belgian in 2024. Not only have Astana Qazaqstan assembled a winning team of old around the sprinter, but the 38-year-old already showed at this year's race that age is no barrier to his competitiveness against the likes of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Read more: Opinion: Astana Qazaqstan's faith in Mark Cavendish will pay off at the Tour de France

Three years Cavendish's senior, Renshaw will now try to guide his old friend to history-making success from the team car rather than his wheel, but his face lights up when asked what it would mean to help his former teammate to win number 35 next July.

"I delivered him 18-odd times already," Renshaw says, referring to their era-defining exploits. "So to be in a different role and helping would be amazing."

Max Kanter to lead Astana Qazaqstan at Tour Down Under

Of course, 2024 will not all be about Cavendish for Renshaw and Astana Qazaqstan, and in the squad team boss Alexandr Vinokourov has assembled, there is much for the Australian to look forward to in his first year as a full-time staff member.

Alongside the additions of Ballerini and Mørkøv, Astana Qazaqstan have also invested in Rüdiger Selig from Lotto Dstny and Max Kanter from Movistar. The two Germans have already started to build their rapport with one another in training, and in their blossoming partnership, Renshaw sees the opportunity for Kanter to win his first pro race in 2024.

"They’re going to work really well together. Max is at a stage in his career where he needs to win races, he’s been seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths… but now he needs to win races. So that pressure for him will lift up his form."

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Max Kanter never really made his mark with Movistar, but at age 26, still has time to find his maiden pro win

Riding for Sunweb at the 2020 Vuelta a España, Kanter looked to be on the cusp of his breakthrough as a frontline sprinter, but three podiums left the German empty-handed and now, aged 26, Kanter has suffered two disappointing seasons with Movistar. In the upcoming Tour Down Under, however, he will have his first opportunity to repay the faith shown in him by his new suitors.

"At one point today, we had [Gleb] Syritsa, Kanter, Cavendish all going full gas. It takes me back but it also scares the shit out of me, there’s so much investment in this talent and they’re laying it all on the line in training," Renshaw admits.

Town sign sprints are said to have been popular within the Astana ranks.

"But this kind of situation is going to put you on the front foot for January. So when Max goes to the Tour Down Under, he’s already had to make quick-thinking decisions, they’re racing out on the streets."

Read more: Stuart O’Grady expecting an ‘epic finale’ at Tour Down Under

Renshaw sees plenty of potential winners in Astana Qazaqstan's squad for next season

Through talismans such as Vincenzo Nibali, Miguel Ángel López and Fabio Aru, Astana were never short of wins throughout the 2010s, but the last few seasons have been a struggle for the Kazakh side and, until the arrival of Cavendish, had seen them missing a clear identity.

Astana Qazaqstan will end 2023 a lowly 20th place in the UCI's team rankings, below ProTeams Lotto Dstny (9th) and Israel-Premier Tech (16th), but Renshaw believes that his team can finish "anywhere between the top 10-15 teams in the WorldTour" next season.

"Ten to 15 victories is achievable, and I'd like to say multiple wins at the Tour de France and other WorldTour one-day races," he says. "I think if our top-10 riders combined with the other top-10 riders from the other teams, they’re as good. We don't have the depth of some teams, but our top-10 riders go head to head with some of the other teams, no problem."

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Mark Renshaw: 'After Cavendish went home from the Tour, I had the opportunity to work with Cees Bol, and that made me really excited'

Rather than solely relying on established pros such as Cavendish and Lutsenko for wins, Renshaw is keen to highlight Bol, Syritsa and Ballerini as three riders who could all grasp the chance when opportunities fall their way.

"Gleb Syritsa is just an absolute machine," he says of the 23-year-old Russian. "You see him and he just looks powerful and strong, now we just need to put him in clear air and that’s all he needs to do.

"Cees is quick enough and good enough to win in races leading up [to the Grand Tours], Ballerini in the Classics, we really have lots of avenues we are chasing now."

Renshaw keen to share valuable experience as family green light his return to Europe

Renshaw had been away from professional cycling - bar the odd commentary appearance - since he hung up his cleats in 2019, but the Australian and his family decided the time was right to throw himself back into a full-time job following the success of his short spell with Astana at this year's Tour.

"Obviously, Cavendish really wanted me to help, especially at this year’s Tour because he was new to the team," Renshaw says. "He’d only been here a few months and he needed somebody from which he could trust the decisions. I think I really brought some big steps forward to the team as far as analysing and preparing for sprints."

Renshaw admits, however, that it is "harder than ever" to leave his family, which includes his wife Kristina, and three children. From staying in Australia for three years without travelling, to visiting Europe three times in the past five months, Renshaw's new position has taken some adjusting to.

Read more: Homesickness, solo parenting and changed perspectives - the experience of fatherhood as a professional cyclist

But even more so than her acceptance of the new circumstances, Kristina's encouragement and blessing for a full-time return to the industry has been essential for Renshaw.

"The decision was, I had this opportunity to come back in, and I really wanted to share some of my experience and knowledge. My wife saw my face on the first stage of the Tour de France and said, ‘yeah, you’re meant to be back in there.’

"I did some commentary with SBS for the Giro and Vuelta, and that made me happy, but now being back on the ground, it is another level."

For well over an hour in Spain, Renshaw made his rounds speaking to the entourage of press who had gathered in the team's hotel. If his warm smile, generosity of time and introspective answers are anything to go by, the Australian will be a welcome returnee to the European fold in 2024.

Add on his palmarès, ambitions and know-how, and it seems clear that Astana Qazaqstan are going to be the gleeful beneficiaries of his presence soon enough.