Former champion Mark Cavendish will not ride for Great Britain at this year’s UCI Road World Championships after failing to shake-off the shoulder injury which curtailed his Tour of Britain.
Cavendish collided with a parked car on stage six of this year’s race (see the video below) in a crash which forced the Manx Missile to abandon the race.
The 2011 world champion is the third big-name to drop out of the British team for this year’s race, with Chris Froome missing out because of the broken foot suffered at the Vuelta a Espana and Geraint Thomas pulling out due to fatigue.
It leaves the team without a stand-out leader on the Richmond course, but Ben Swift and Classics specialists Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe are all on the nine-man team.
Cavendish, 30, tweeted his disappointment at missing out on the race. He is expected to return for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour in October before ending his season.
Absolutely devastated to have to pull out of the #Richmond2015 World Champs next week due to my shoulder injury sustained last week.
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) September 18, 2015
