Mark Cavendish says goodbye to the 2014 Tour de France before the start of stage 2 after separating his shoulder(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish officially withdrew this morning from the Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish leaning on the barriers after his stage 1 crash(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish after his crash on stage 1(Image credit: AFP)
Mark Cavendish wins his first Tour stage for Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
“One thing is for sure, I would like to be at the start for the Tour of Britain for another chance to race in front of British fans again this year which holds lots of fond memories. My goal there will be to do the best I possibly can depending on the condition I'm in,” Cavendish said in a team press release.
After returning to racing at the Tour de l’Ain last week, Cavendish will have a short break before riding the three-day Tour du Poitou Charentes, which begins on August 26, and the Tour of Britain a week later. Cavendish was on the long-list for the Vuelta a España team, but was not on the nine-man roster announced on Monday. Missing the Grand Tour allows the Manxman, who is still suffering the effects of the crash, more time to recover.
“After the injury both myself and the team set a goal to get slowly back into a race environment at the Tour de l'Ain which I've now done. It was not an easy race for me because naturally my shoulder was still bothering me a little as it continues to get stronger each day,” he explained. “We will continue to monitor my condition week by week; as things stand it's impossible to know how I'll be feeling each week considering the severity of the injury and the accelerated recovery time.”
Cavendish crashed out on the first stage of the Tour de France, after he collided with Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) in the sprint. The incident resulted in a dislocated AC joint for the QuickStep rider. He was sent for surgery later that week and had hoped to make a quick recovery. He was back on the home trainer within two weeks of the incident, but getting back into racing will be a slower process.
“The team believe that Mark needs a further intermediate step, which will be the Poitou Charents, in order get some more competition kilometres into his legs and continue his progress of gradual re-entry into competition,” said directeur sportif Rolf Aldag. "Mark has proven that he's worked very hard since his crash at the Tour de France. After the short French stage race, the plan is for Mark to line up for the start of the Tour of Britain with the aim of definitively rediscovering his race feeling by competing and trying to get good results."
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