Mark Cavendish is set to ride the Arctic Race of Norway stage race starting August 16, just four days after he was meant to ride the European Championships road race.
Cavendish pulled out of the European Championships road race in Glasgow on Sunday on medical advice. The Manxman said on Thursday morning that “given what’s been a challenging few months in terms of aiming to sufficiently recover from some unfortunate injuries in time to compete, I’ve been advised that at this stage the best thing is for me to withdraw from Sunday’s race.”
The 33-year-old has had a tumultuous year. He abandoned the Abu Dhabi Tour after a crash in the neutralised zone aused by an official car and was eliminated from Tirreno-Adriatico after a crash in the team time trial, before crashing again at Milan-San Remo.
He was then eliminated from the Tour de France after missing the time cut on stage 11 to La Rosière. He returned to racing at the RideLondon-Surrey Classic at the end of July, but could only manage a 12th place finish in miserable weather conditions.
Cavendish nor Dimension Data have confirmed his participation in the Norwegian race, but race organisers announced on Thursday that he will be at the start of the four day race.
The Arctic Race of Norway only features two potential sprint stages, with Cavendish set to face competition from the likes of Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), both of whom just complete the Tour de France in July.
