Mark Cavendish to skip European Championships road race on doctor's orders

Mark Cavendish will not race the European Championships men's road race on Sunday August 12, following advice from his medical team.

The sprinter - who was eliminated from the Tour de France after missing the time cut on stage 11 - was down to race the event in Glasgow, Scotland but British Cycling has confirmed his withdrawal.

In a press release, issued on Thursday August 9, British Cycling explained: "Cavendish... has worked tirelessly over recent months to recover from a challenging period of both illness and injury in order to compete at a number of key season races.

"Subsequently on the back of such an intensive period and to aid his recovery, his medical team felt it would be beneficial for him to withdraw from the race in Glasgow."

The 2018 season has not been kind to the Manxman, who abandoned the Abu Dhabi Tour after a crash in the neutralised zone, caused by an official car. He was eliminated from Tirreno-Adriatico after a crash in the time trial, which resulted in a broken rib and he crashed again at Milan-San Remo.

At July's RideLondon-Surrey Classic road race, Cavendish rolled in 12th, behind winner Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Cavendish said: “It’s incredibly disappointing to have to withdraw from the Great Britain Cycling Team competing in Glasgow. Being selected to compete for my country is a huge honour and I had been looking forward to racing with the team.

“However, 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.

“I wish the entire team all the very best for the race and I’ll be cheering on with the rest of the country.”

Stepping up to replace the Dimension Data rider will be Mark Christian.

“Obviously, this is disappointing for Mark, the team and his fans but it’s the right decision. Mark’s pride and passion for representing his country is always apparent and we know how much he was looking forward to the race," said British Cycling performance director Stephen Park.

“I’d like to thank Mark Christian for stepping in to the team at short notice, and I’m looking forward to seeing our strong squad take on the men’s road race this Sunday,” he added.