WORLD OF SPORT

MARK CAVENDISH will get the chance to break Eddy Merckx’s Tour de France stage-win record after agreeing to ride for Astana Qazaqstan this season.

The British sprinter, 37, has been without a team since leaving Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, who did not select him for last year’s Tour.

Cavendish will be eyeing this summer’s race in France, where he needs to win one stage to break Merckx’s long-standing record of 34 victories.

‘I am really excited for this adventure,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to being part of a successful team.’

DAVID COVERDALE

FORMULA ONE will leave a four-week hole in its calendar this coming season after rejecting Chinese Grand Prix organisers’ plea to be handed their slot back. The Shanghai race, scheduled for April 16, was dropped last month due to Covid travel restrictions. When China later relaxed its hard-line policies, talks over reinstating the event began, but it was called off yesterday. Portimao, in the Algarve region of Portugal, was the leading candidate to fill the void, but was turned down on the basis it would have been too difficult to divert freight and personnel there from Australia. There will be a break between Australia on April 2 and Azerbaijan on April 30.

JONATHAN McEVOY

JOCKEY Hollie Doyle will see a specialist to discover the extent of an arm injury she suffered in a fall at Wolverhampton on Monday. The record-breaking jockey was riding the Archie Watson-trained 4-7 favourite The Perfect Crown at Dunstall Park when her mount broke down on the home bend. Doyle did not take up her rides at Kempton yesterday. Today’s meeting at Newbury has been cancelled because of a frozen track and Plumpton must pass an inspection at 8.30am.