Tour Of Turkey For Cavendish

16 April 2015 11:15

Mark Cavendish will compete in the Tour Of Turkey from April 26th to May 3rd, race organisers have confirmed.

The Etixx Quick Step rider is using the race as part of his preparations for the 2015 Tour De France whose Grand Depart this year is in the Dutch City of Utrecht.

"I'm looking forward to this important part of my season," Cavendish said. "Together with the team we decided to go with the same program as last year.

"Last year it was a successful period for me with victories at Tour of Turkey, Tour of California and Tour de Suisse.

"I also went into Le Tour with really good feelings. Unfortunately, I crashed in the first stage and my race was over in a second."

This programme of races will mean that Cavendish will not be in the first Grand Tour of the season - the Giro D'Italia and speaking about missing this race, he said: "Of course, it's a pity. I don't like to miss the Giro, which is a key race that helped me build up my career.

"I have great memories of that race and I hope to go back to the Giro in the future and do well again. But this year I want to focus on getting the best possible preparation for Le Tour de France, going into the races to return to the high level of performance I had at the beginning of the year.”

Source: DSG