Mark Cavendish will not race Milan-San Remo in his final season as a professional cyclist. If this information is confirmed, the Astana Qazaqstan Team sprinter, who secured victory in “La Primavera” in 2009, will not line up in Milan anymore, concluding a long and successful career.
Reliable sources from La Gazzetta dello Sport report on the initial part of Mark Cavendish’s spring program. The British cyclist, now 38 years old, originally planned to conclude his cycling career at the end of 2023.
However, after an accident that forced him to abandon the Tour de France, the team manager, Alexander Vinokourov, managed to persuade him to continue for one more year, aiming for the record of 35 stage victories in the Tour de France.
Since December, it has been clear that Cavendish would start his season in Colombia, with the expectation of leading the sprint for the Astana Qazaqstan Team in the subsequent UAE Tour. In March, he will have to decide between participating in Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice, with La Gazzetta suggesting that Cavendish is inclined to choose the Italian competition.
Although Tirreno-Adriatico is typically seen as an ideal preparation for Milan-San Remo, the first monument of the year, Cavendish seems likely to be absent from that race. In the previous year, La Primavera was particularly challenging for him, with Cavendish finishing in the 150th position.