Mark Cavendish has agreed to a one-year contract renewal and will remain with the Belgian WorldTour team for the 2022 season, Quick Step announced today.

Cavendish, who made a stunning comeback in this year's Tour de France, winning four stages and the green jersey, was expected to sign a contract after the recent Ghent Six. However, he suffered a major crash on the last day of the race and needed several weeks of rest to recover from broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Team manager Patrick Lefebvre, who prioritized Cavendish's health over a contract, revealed last week that an agreement had been reached and Cavendish was headed to Spain for the team's December training camp.

"I am very proud and happy to have agreed to a new contract with Deceuninck-QuickStep," Cavendish said in a statement released by the team.

"When I came to this team a year ago, I did not hide my admiration for what this team is doing and my joy to be back here. From the moment I first arrived here, I knew that there was a unique sense of family on this team, a culture that has remained to this day. [The] last 12 months have been phenomenal and the support I've had from the team and the staff has been very emotional. I am really looking forward to creating special memories together over the next 12 months."

After a difficult few years battling Epstein-Barr syndrome and depression while with the Dimension Data team, Cavendish decided to race for a second time with Quick Step for 2021. 2020 was a more consistent year with Bahrain-Merida. He showed, but did not receive an offer for 2021.

Eager to return to the team, he helped find sponsors to cover his base salary. He then helped win the Tour de Turkey and proved his worth when Sam Bennett was unable to compete in the Tour de France.

His return to the Tour was a miraculous three weeks, winning four sprint stages and the green points jersey, tying the stage victory record held by Eddy Merckx.

Lefebvre said in September that he and Cavendish had reached an agreement on wages and bonuses, but remained deadlocked on the Manxman's desire to transition to a management position after his career was over.

"Mark Cavendish thinks his image is valuable, but I also think the team's image. 'When I ask him what he wants to do, he says he wants to learn by watching me. But do I need to pay someone to learn?

Lefebvre indicated last week that this last aspect has been resolved, but did not say whether he would mentor or hire Cavendish after his racing career ends. The announcement from Quick Step also did not say whether Cavendish will retire after the 2022 season or what his post-career plans are with the team. He focused on praising Cavendish's team spirit when his 2022 contract was finalized.

"The whole world saw what he did this year. But what they didn't see was the way he spoke, led, and encouraged everyone on the team. [He can cross the line with his hands in the air, but he's also the first to acknowledge the work of the team. We are more than happy to continue our story with Mark for one more year."

Heading into 2022, Cavendish has won 156 races in his 16-year professional career, including the world title in Copenhagen in 2011 with HTC-Highroad and three Grand Tours, as well as Milan-San Remo, where he debuted in 2009 He has won stages in all of them.

He has 34 Tour de France victories, but it remains to be seen whether he will be part of the Dečuninck-Quick-Step team for the 2022 race. The team lost Sam Bennett and Alvaro Hodeg over the winter, but Fabio Jacobsen has almost fully recovered from his terrible crash at the 2020 Tour de Pollogne, winning three stages at the Vuelta a España.

In addition to Bennett and Hodeg, Shane Archibald, Joan Almeida, and Ian Garrison join the drop list, and Cavendish's contract extension completes the Belgian team's roster for the 2022 season.

The team renewed the contracts of Louis Verweke (Alpecin Phoenix), Mauro Schmidt (Qhubeka NextHash), and neo pros Ethan Vernon, Stan Van Trijt, and Martin Svrcek, plus a number of other key riders .