Mark Cavendish will miss the Commonwealth Games and RideLondon-Surrey Classic after Omega Pharma-QuickStep confirmed the Manx Missile requires surgery following his Tour de France crash.
Cavendish was forced to abandon the race after crashing in the finale of stage one in Harrogate and further examinations have confirmed all ligaments around the acromioclavicular joint were ruptured and the shoulder separated.
The 29-year-old will now undergo surgery to stabilise the joint on Wednesday (July 9), with the team expecting a recovery time of approximately six weeks.
“It’s worse than I was hoping but immediately after the crash I knew something was really wrong,” said Cavendish. “It is really painful, but at the moment all I can do is focus 100% of my effort on my recovery to be able to get back racing for Omega Pharma-QuickStep as quickly as possible.”
Cavendish was due to ride for the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where the Manxman would have started the road race (August 10) among the favourites having won the national title on a similar course in 2013. The former world champion was then due to contest the RideLondon-Surrey Classic on August 10.
Stage one of the 2014 Tour de France was won by Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), who went on to claim a second win in three days with victory in London. The race will now return to France for the remaining 18 stages.
