The eyes of the cycling world will be on the battle for the first yellow jersey of the 101st Tour de France today, with a sprint finish expected in Harrogate.

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) will do battle on Parliament Street, in a high-octane finish in front of the packed Yorkshire crowds.

But behind each of them is a well-oiled, well-drilled sprint train, and for Cavendish it has meant a reunion with former lead-out man Mark Renshaw this year.

The last time the two started the Tour as team-mates, at HTC-Highroad, Cavendish went on to win the green jersey.

Now, it is a jersey of a different kind up for grabs – one of the only ones Cavendish is yet to have won in his glittering career.

But Renshaw, who alongside Tony Martin and veteran sprinter Alessandro Petacchi forms part of the phenomenal sprint train supporting Cavendish, is confident the Manxman is in good form.

He told RCUK: “I feel good, I’ve had a good season to date and have had a couple of easy rest days before the Tour to freshen up and I think everything looks good.

“It’s been good being back with Mark Cavendish so far. Our start to the season was not perfect and it took a few races to get rolling together.

“Also Cav’s level of fitness has increased through the year, building for the Tour de France, and if you look at him now he’s fit, healthy and I think he’s got the legs to do something again.”

The arrival of Petacchi towards the end of last season, after Cavendish’s sprint train had misfired at the Tour de France, has been a productive one so far.

A sprinting great in his own right, the Italian’s experience has brought the Manx Missile some emphatic victories, not least at the Tour of Britain and Tirreno-Adriatico.

But with the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team built not only around Mark Cavendish, but GC man Michal Kwiatkowski too, Renshaw believes comparisons with the great HTC lead-out are difficult to draw.

“It’s good having Alessandro Petacchi in the team,” he admitted. “He’s more experienced than me in terms of being a professional but I’ve probably got more experience than him in the lead out.

“He’s a classy sprinter, one of the best ever, so he has a lot of input and so do I. I think with us three, Cav included, we’ll have a good plan.

“It’s hard to say if it’s a better team to HTC in 2011, it’s a different team. We come here also with Kwiatkowski so we have some different objectives, it’s not solely for Mark Cavendish.

“But the guys here are committed to helping so I think we’ll see all eight guys pulling hard for Cav.”

An experienced lead-out man, Renshaw believes the knowledge of himself, Petacchi and Cavendish combined will be of great benefit in Harrogate and throughout the Tour.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s team selection did see the omission of Gert Steegmans, but Renshaw believes with a settled line-up, the Belgian super team are capable of getting the results expected.

“Most importantly, in working out the sprint train, is to get the riders and that’s always difficult for the management,” he explained.

“There’s always some surprise in the Tour team and once we know the riders then we can form the train, and we have a lot of years’ experience now.

“My input, along with the other guys, will hopefully see us working out a good plan now.”

As for the finish on Parliament Street, the Australian admits the final straight – which features an uphill section before levelling out – could be a tricky one.

However, with the three best sprint trains in the business going wheel-to-wheel, Renshaw is expecting a sprint finish with the rider most able to get through the Yorkshire Dales the one to profit.

“Lotto-Belisol and Giant-Shimano are the main two teams, and we’ll be looking out for them,” he said. “Combined with us it’s the top three teams and the strongest lead-outs here.

“We’ve reconned the last 25 kilometres and it looks like a fairly basic run-in but with a difficult finish with the slight uphill.

“It’s going to be hard to judge but it will be the guy with the best legs who will win, and I think it’s going to be really interesting to see.”