Omega Pharma-Quick Step have announced that Mark Cavendish will ride in the Tour of Britain.
The Belgian based team have confirmed that the Manx Missile will ride in the Tour du Poitou Charentes from August 26-29, followed by the Tour of Britain, September 7-14.
The Tour which starts in Liverpool could be his final race of the season unless he is selected for World Championships on September 28th in Spain or the Giro di Lombardia starting on October 5th.
“Mark has proven that he’s worked very hard since his crash at the Tour de France,” said OPQS Development Manager Rolf Aldag. “Just six weeks after his injury, he took part in the Tour de l’Ain and worked as an important supporting rider to his teammates, even though obviously he is understandably not yet back to 100 percent condition. We really appreciated Mark’s behaviour and his desire to get back into racing as soon as possible.
"Now the team believes that Mark needs a further intermediate step, which will be the Poitou Charents, in order get some more competition kilometers into his legs and continue his progress of gradual reentry into competition. After the short French stage race, the plan is for Mark to line up for the start of the Tour of Britain with the aim of definitively rediscovering his race feeling by competing and trying to get good results.”