Mark Cavendish selected for Tour de France

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The Dimension Data team has confirmed that Mark Cavendish will ride the 2017 Tour de France.

The Manxman has battled glandular fever this spring but rode the British national road race championships on Sunday and has been named in the final nine-rider squad that will travel to Dusseldorf for the Grand Depart.

Also selected are double British national champion Stephen Cummings, who has recovered from a fractured collarbone and scapula, road captain Bernhard Eisel, lead out man Mark Renshaw, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Jaco Venter, Scott Thwaites and Serge Pauwels.

There is no place for the newly crowned Rwanda and Eritrea national time trial champions Adrien Niyonshuti and Mekseb Debesay but South African national champion Janse van Rensburg will fly the flag for Africa, alongside compatriot Venter. Thwaites and Venter both make their Tour de France debut, while 36-year-old Eisel rides his 12th.