The 27-year-old from the Isle of Man expressed a desire to move on 12 months into a three-year contract, believing Team Sky's stated ambitions and his own no longer matched.

The Belgian team plan to make the Briton who has won 23 Tour de France stages their Grand Tour leader and prioritise further stage successes.

Earlier this week Cavendish was preparing for a second season with Team Sky after protracted talks over an early termination broke down, but now the Manxman will get his wish to move on.

A statement from the team read: "Mark Cavendish is to leave Team Sky to join Belgian team Omega Pharma-QuickStep ahead of the 2013 season."

Omega Pharma-QuickStep have long been favourites for Cavendish's signature and a place was made vacant on their roster when Levi Leipheimer was sacked for his role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

The Belgian squad and their sporting director Brian Holm, who worked with Cavendish at HTC-Highroad, have the desire and capability to further his ambitions.

Cavendish has a desire and capability to further his ambitions with Omega Pharma-QuickStep next season

Cavendish had been loyal but increasingly frustrated figure at Team Sky, whose July win in the French event with Bradley Wiggins heightened their desire to target overall victory in all three Grand Tours.

Cavendish won the world title in September 2011 and joined Team Sky a few weeks later after leaving the disbanding HTC-Highroad team, which he led and where he won 20 Tour stages in four editions of the fabled race.

He also won the 2009 Milan-San Remo Classic.

Cavendish signed for Team Sky, featuring many friends and colleagues from the British Cycling system he came through, believing it would be possible to challenge for overall glory and the points classification's green jersey at the Tour, a prize he won in 2011.

Wiggins was the undisputed leader in July, with Cavendish's aims an afterthought, and became the first British winner of the yellow jersey.

With the Tour won, Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford said Cavendish, who is fourth on the Tour's list of all-time stage winners behind leader Eddy Merckx on 34, could leave or stay.

The British Cycling performance director said in July: "He is a prolific British winner and on the one hand we would love to have a prolific British winner on the team.

"We will still be a GC [general classification] team and if he felt, or if it was felt, that he would like a dedicated team around him, then he is quite within his rights to want to do that.

"We wouldn't fall out about it, there wouldn't be an issue about it, but we are very proud to have him on Team Sky, he is a fantastic champion and long may that continue."

Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford described Cavendish as a "prolific British winner"

Cavendish, who was disappointed after missing out with another major objective in 2012, the Olympic Games road race, broke his silence on the matter on the eve of the Tour of Britain.

He said: "I have seen some stuff about a release fee but I don't think Dave would do that.

"I hope that is just a bit of speculation [about the fee] and everything can work out amicably for everybody."

Cavendish won the final stage of the Tour of Britain to Guildford, his 15th success of the season in what would prove to be his last race in a Team Sky jersey before switching squads for 2013.

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