Worrying signs for Mark Cavendish's Tour de France plans: "We don't know when Mark can and will race again"

Mark Cavendish managed to win a sprint stage at the Tour Colombia early in the year but has since not had a good time. The Manxman has not been able to be quite competitive since, and this spring has been far from successful, with illness now taking him out of competition.

“It was impossible to start, but it is nothing special. We don't know when Mark can and will race again. The best thing now is to make a full recovery," team DS Stefano Zanini shared with GCN. Cavendish was planned to start the Classic Brugge-De Panne but was a late absence, the Kazakh team did not lineup in the Belgian race and it is unknown when he will now.

The Tour de France is still months away, but it was a worrying set of performances at Tirreno-Adriatico where he was not present in any of the sprints; whilst at the UAE Tour he was only contesting for a result in one of them - where he ultimately finished 17th.

After not completing Milano-Torino he also did not start De Panne. Next on his schedule is Gent-Wevelgem but it is unlikely that in his current form he will start the race; and early April's Scheldeprijs is an important race for a comeback but at the time being there is no certainty that he will be present.