Mark Cavendish on Milano-Sanremo absence: "No-one from the team talked to me about it"

Mark Cavendish will not take to the start of Milano-Sanremo, the race he won in 2009, as the team will be focusing their lineup on different riders. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl were set to head to the Italian classic with the goal of making a hard race for Julian Alaphilippe, but the World champion is ill and has been replaced with Fabio Jakobsen.

“You’ll have to ask the team. No-one from the team talked to me about it, so I don’t know, I don’t know. Obviously, I have won it. I’d like to do it, but nobody talked to me so..." Cavendish said after his win in Milano - Torino. After lacking the form at Tirreno-Adriatico it became clear he was not an option for the race, however Fabio Jakobsen will be given a chance as Alaphilippe was sidelined. The Belgian teams is taking a very strong team with several options, Jakobsen and Ballerini being the main cards to play.

With Cavendish out of the picture for the race, he had focused on what he achieved yesterday in what was his third win of the season: “I’m really happy; back with Michael Mørkøv again… It’s dialed, that team. For a one-day race you have to be dialed, there’s only one opportunity. They send most of the sprint team with Fabio all year. So there’s a solid base of a sprint team for me here, and you’ve seen it’s incredible, I’m super happy. It’s the first time I raced Milano-Torino and I’m happy.”