Mark Cavendish returns from illness to race Tour of Türkiye

Mark Cavendish has been confirmed as part of Astana Qazaqstan's squad for the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye.

Cavendish has not raced since pulling out of Milano-Turino in March. The full Astana squad for the Tour of Türkiye also includes Davide Ballerini, Max Kanter, Harold Martín López, Vadim Pronskiy, Rüdiger Selig, and Nicolas Vinokurov.

The race runs April 21-28 and offers Cavendish a route back into competition following a disappointing few months that were effected by illness.

The British rider is also set to race the Tour de Hongrie in May as he builds up for the Tour de France, where he will hope to win a record-setting 35th Tour stage win.

Cavendish has centred his entire season around the Tour de France in July, where he will aim to become the outright record leader in stage wins. He is currently tied with Eddy Merckx on 34.

The veteran sprinter came close to winning his 35th stage win last year but narrowly missed out before crashing out of the race. He then decided to row back on his initial plans to retire by extended his contract for one more season at Astana.

He started this year brightly, with a stage win at the Tour Colombia but he failed to win a stage at the UAE Tour before pulling out of the race with light fever symptoms.

He finished outside of the time limit on a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and then started Milano-Torino complaining of cold-like symptoms. He was scheduled to race Scheldeprijs earlier this month the but the Belgian race was removed from the rider's calendar a couple of days out from the event.

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