It’s been two months since Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) crashed out of the 2023 Tour de France and had to abandon his pursuit of a record 35th stage victory, but the Manxman’s road to recovery is close to ending. Cyclingnews understands his return will come at next month’s Tour of Turkey, Oct 8-15.
Cavendish had great memories from Turkey, having won there in 2021 after a three-year drought, ahead of equalling Eddy Merckx’s stage win record at that year’s Tour de France when he won four times. Cavendish also shares the stage win record at the Tour of Turkey with now-retired sprinter Andre Greipel, both with 11 victories.
The 2023 Tour of Turkey was postponed from its typical April slot on the calendar to October due to the major earthquake that hit the country, and neighbouring Syria, in February, which also required the Tour of Antalya to be cancelled.
Race organisers announced Cavendish’s return on their Instagram in August with fellow top sprinters Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) also expected to start.
Surgery was required for Cavendish's broken collarbone suffered on stage 8 of the Tour and put him out of training on the road for an extended period with previous injuries affecting the length of his recovery. However, the sprinter is now back training on the road.
Cavendish was most recently spotted riding with former teammate Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), and Cameron Wurf (Ineos Grenadiers), on the four-time Tour winner’s Instagram page earlier this week.
He’s also been seen riding around Éze and up the Col de la Madone in a group with former pro rider George Hincapie as Cavendish continued a long-awaited return to racing with questions over his scheduled retirement still unanswered.
Cavendish announced the 2023 season would be his last during the Giro d’Italia before taking an incredible victory on stage 21, but the disappointment of the Tour raised considerable speculation that he would continue for another year with Astana Qazaqstan to chase the fairytale finale.
His team have stated their desire to extend his career for another year, with team manager Alexander Vinokourov leading the charge for Cavendish to sign a contract for the 2024 season and try to win a record 35th stage at the Tour de France, but little news has come from the Brit himself.
The Kazakh team added Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe), Max Kanter (Movistar) and a member of Cavendish’s stellar 2021 Tour de France leadout train, Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep), and hoped to bolster the leadout to persuade Cavendish to stay for another year.
Throughout 2023, Cavendish had little help in sprints with Cees Bol often having to try and pilot the Manxman into another team's train at the Tour instead of fully leading him out. But with the aforementioned trio, they could have a more prominent train to help the Brit should he decide to stay in the professional ranks for another season.
