Mark Cavendish will take an indefinite break from cycling in order to recover from illness after being diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus, his team have announced.
The 33-year-old has taken 30 Tour de France stage wins in his illustrious career – putting him just four victories behind record-holder Eddy Merckx – but he was eliminated from this year’s Tour on the 11th stage as he failed to finish within the accepted time limit.
It proved to be the first sign that Cavendish was not at peak fitness, with the Isle of Man cyclist not only failing to win any of this year’s stages but also failing to get himself in the mix in the sprint finishes.
Team Dimension Data said that “the medical results have indicated too that Cavendish will also have been unknowingly training and racing with EBV over recent months”, which could explain his performances in France last month.
In a joint-statement released by Team Dimension Data, Cavendish said: “This season I’ve not felt physically myself and despite showing good numbers on the bike I have felt that there’s been something not right.
“Given this and on the back of these medical results, I’m glad to now finally have some clarity as to why I haven’t been able to perform at my optimum level during this time.
“Having received expert medical advice as a result of the findings I’ve been advised to take a period of total rest in order to fully recover.
“I’m now looking forward to taking the time necessary in order to get back to 100% fitness before then returning to racing again at peak physical condition.
“I’d like to thank everyone for the incredible support I’ve received and I look forward to seeing you all out on the road again soon.”
EBV is an illness associated with fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes in the neck and sometimes an enlarged spleen, and Cavendish was first diagnosed with it in April 2017 when he missed two months before returning for the Tour of Slovakia.
Olympic silver medallist Cavendish has endured a difficult run since starring in the omnium at Rio 2016, having broken his collar bone in last year’s Tour de France and suffering two crashes in March this year that forced him to miss April’s Commonwealth Games, before early elimination at Le Tour in the summer.
