MARK CAVENDISH CONTINUES TO FIGHT ILLNESS

Cavendish ToB

Mark Cavendish finished off the back of the bunch at the GP Pino Cerami today as he continues to battle health problems. After a great start to his road season at the Etoile de Besseges, Cavendish has since been struggling to beat illness while continuing to race for T-Mobile, and in Pino Cerami he wasn?t able to hold on to the bunch of 50 on the final finishing circuit.

The 176km race, that is centred around Colfontaine in southern Belgium, was won by Luca Solari of team L.P.R.

Cavendish?s spring campaign, where he was meant to learn the ropes in the races of northern Europe, has been a constant battle with his health, seeing him through three courses of antibiotics, ?I?m not improving because I?m just trying to recover in between the races, so I can?t train,? he explained.

Cavendish rode The Three days of De Panne last week (although he didn?t qualify for the final time trial) and both the E3 Prijs and GP Waregem (two weeks ago) where he climbed off after 140 kilometres.

Cavendish now has two more races on the continent, the Scheldeprijs and GP de Denain, before four weeks of training, that he hopes will see him return to the kind of form he expected to be in. He heads out to Italy and will stay near British Cycling?s Olympic Academy base in Quarrata, after one final race of the spring, the Rutland Melton CiClE classic on April 29.

Cavendish will ride the Premier Calendar event in Isle of Man colours.

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.