Mark Cavendish abandons World Championships 2021 road race

Mark Cavendish has abandoned the World Championships 2021 road race.

The British sprinting superstar was the most experienced rider in the eight rider GB squad racing in Flanders, helping to guide the line-up of young stars, which includes Tom Pidcock and Ethan Hayter.

Cavendish rode the opening 100km of the brutal 268km-long men’s race race in Flanders, before he was seen leaving the circuit to head towards the team buses, after a thrilling start to the event. 

Just a day after the 10-year anniversary of his own World Championships victory in Copenhagen, Cavendish lined up in a phenomenally strong British squad for this year’s Worlds, which mixed the experience of Cavendish, Luke Rowe and Ben Swift with the youth and power of Pidcock, Hayter, and Connor Swift. 

Tom Pidcock is expected to be the chosen leader for the British team, but Ethan Hayter has also been in remarkable form this season. 

Speaking before the race, Hayter said: “Everyone knows, I think, Tom's the leader here, but it's gonna be really exciting." 

He added: “Obviously, if the race is right for Cav, he's shown he's one of the fastest guys in the world. So we'll see how the race unfolds because it's unknown, it's hard circuits and it just depends how [our rivals] race, how early the race starts, and how that works.” 

>>> How to watch the Flanders 2021 World Championships road races: Live stream the brutal Belgian race

The men’s road race exploded into life surprisingly early, as the French team kicked off an attack from the peloton 180km from the finish, which was followed by a potential winner Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), and Magnus Cort of Denmark.

That move set up a fascinating chase as the Italian team tried to keep that group in check, before the favourites all came back together just over 100km from the finish.