Cavendish returns to racing at Tour de Pologne

Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) has been confirmed as one of the numerous sprinters taking part in this year’s Tour de Pologne.

Cavendish has not raced since taking the British National Championships in June and then missing out on the Tour de France following his non-selection by his current squad, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl.

Since then it’s emerged that Cavendish will not continue with the Belgian squad in 2023, although it’s yet to be discovered where he might race next season.

So far this season, Cavendish has taken five wins, including a stage of the Giro d’Italia and a stage of the UAE Tour.

In a QuickStep-AlphaVinyl press release, sports director Geert Van Bondt commented on the team’s approach to the seven day stage race, saying that Cavendish would have Bert van Lerberghe, Zdenek Stybar and Josef Cerny as support, while Mauro Schmid and Mauri Vansevenant could go for the overall. Meanwhile, Rémi Cavagna will be looking to repeat his victory in last year’s Tour de Pologne time trial on stage 6.

Cavendish has raced twice previously in the Tour de Pologne, with his best result a sixth place on a stage in 2019, and he will form part of a formidable line-up of sprinters in this year’s event. These also include Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ),  Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe).