Cavendish is to ride in Giro d’Italia
MARK Cavendish has been confirmed to lead the QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl squad at the Giro d’Italia in a move which suggests he could miss this summer’s Tour de France.
Cavendish, 37 this month, won four stages at the Tour last year to move level with Eddy Merckx’s alltime record of 34 stage victories.
Yet even after he signed a one-year contract extension to continue his career it was clear he would face competition to return to the race this season.
QuickStep’s other primary sprinter Fabio Jakobsen is expected to target the Tour, although it is worth noting Cavendish was not in line to race in France last summer but made the most of an opportunity handed to him when then team-mate Sam Bennett succumbed to a knee injury.
This will be the first time Cavendish has raced the Italian Grand Tour since 2013.
However, he has a proud record in the Giro - having won 15 stages in the five editions he has raced, winning the points classification in 2013 and wearing the leader’s pink jersey on four days.
He will have a strong support squad with him in Italy, including his expert lead-out man Michael Morkov and fellow Brit James Knox.
The team’s sports director Davide Bramati said: “We go to the Giro d’Italia with a lot of motivation.
“We have a good team at the start, with Mark as our man for the flat.
“He has won a lot of stages at the Giro and he can rely on many strong riders to support and guide him in the hectic bunch sprints.
“For the other stages, we’ll just take it one day at a time, fight for every opportunity and then see what we can do.”