Mark Cavendish and Cees Bol were spotted in Spain, working with the Astana Kazakstan team.

Astana's approach to Mark Cavendish was first reported last week by Cycling News, which then reported that an agreement had been reached on a deal involving Boll, who was also set to sign with the B&B Hotels team.

Currently, both Cavendish and Bol are in Altea in southeastern Spain, and witnesses report that both players are in the Astana camp; Cyclingnews reports that everything is in place for both players to take the pen and join the team's pre-season preparations.

The Spanish website Ciclo 21 reported that Cavendish was at the Altea hotel where Astana is holding its training camp on Tuesday (opens in new tab).

Cavendish was also spotted riding what appears to be the Willières bike used by the Astana team. Footage of passing riders taken from an on-bike camera (opens in new tab) shows Cavendish, a 34-time stage winner at the Tour de France, riding a Willières bike in Astana colors and a British Champion edition of Quick Step-Alfa vinyl. He appeared to be dressed in his own clothes.

As for Bol, the Dutch sprinter has already documented his training ride in southeastern Spain on his Strava account. According to his files, it appears that he was riding some of the climbs in the area at a similar time to the active riders in Astana.

Cavendish and Boll were left scrambling to find a team after the disappearance of the B&B Hotels team.

Cavendish was expected to break the Tour de France stage win record next summer and was expected to be the centerpiece of a French team that would attract major sponsors. Meanwhile, Boll had moved from DSM as a second sprinter and was seen as a possible candidate to make up the lead-out train.

Cavendish's options had looked thin since the team disbanded, but Astana's dismissal of Miguel Angel Lopez left an opening in the roster and budget. Manxman and Boll have the same agent and appear to have been packaged together. Having already reached the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) cap on the number of riders, Astana will reportedly drop one young Kazakhstan rider in the development team to make room.

"I called him and said if he's free we can talk. It's true he's 35 or 36, but what really matters is if he's willing to do it. I won the Olympics when I was almost 40," Astana manager Aleksandr Vinokurov told Cycling News.

"Astana never had a really big sprinter. We have always fought mainly in stage races.