Mark Cavendish devastated after missing out on Tour de France selection

The decision has come as a shock for the 34-year-old Cavendish, who has been plagued by the Epstein-Barr virus in recent years but believed he had done all that was asked of him to prove his fitness and felt in himself that he was in the sort of form which saw him win four stages in 2016.

Cavendish took to Twitter to express his disappointment, saying: “Well what can I say? I’m absolutely heart-broken by the decision that means I won’t be @letour this year.

“As I have done for my entire career, I targeted a specific time to be at peak form. This has pretty much always resulted in me hitting my goals or coming damn close.

“After a long, difficult fight back from trying to compete for the whole of last season with Epstein Barr Virus and after following a specific training program to peak in July, I feel I was in the perfect place.

“Nevertheless, I truly came to @teamdidata with the purpose of making a difference, by mobilising entire communities in Africa with bicycles through our incredible charity @Quebuka.

“Though I won’t be there, as always I’ll be supporting my teammates with all I have, wishing them safety and success in France and hoping we can get even more children on bicycles. Thank you all for your support.”

Cavendish raced in the British national road race on Sunday, finishing 22nd, after completing an altitude camp in Austria last week which was a specific part of his preparation for the Tour.

Though Cavendish has been short of results on the road this season – his best so far a third place on stage three at the Tour of Turkey in April – the Manxman has deliberately limited his racing to focus on training blocks designed to bring him to peak form for the Tour.

The results of that were seemingly enough to persuade Aldag that Cavendish should head to Brussels this weekend, but not Ryder.

While Ryder has set a goal of transitioning the South African-registered team towards one capable of challenging in the general classification in the near future, the team’s best GC rider Louis Meintjes is also absent following a fractured wrist suffered in the Tour of California in May.

The team’s squad announcement did not mention Cavendish, but a later statement said: “Selection for our Tour squad was a highly-competitive process and one in which a panel weighed up the options provided to us not only by Mark but indeed all of our riders.

“As you’d expect among a selection panel, there were a number of different preferences of the final squad make up with our team principal, Doug Ryder, making the final decision on it.

“This selection is one the team believes will be best suited to meet the goals set out for the race.”

Cavendish joined Dimension Data in 2016 when the team stepped up to the WorldTour level, immediately injecting star power into the line-up of a team which rides to promote the Qhubeka charity, which distributes bikes in South Africa to improve access to work and education.

He won four stages in his first Tour de France for the team, but in 2017 his race ended early when he was involved in a crash with Peter Sagan on stage four.

In 2018, Cavendish could not manage a finish higher than eighth place, and subsequently learned he was still suffering from the Epstein-Barr virus, causing him to end his season in August to focus on making a recovery.

In October last year Cavendish signed a new one-year deal with the team which included a leadership role.

Cavendish’s 30 Tour stage wins leaves him four short of the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx.

Though he misses out, Cummings will be lining up in the Tour for the sixth time.

The breakaway specialist won the team’s first ever Tour stage, when they were still known as MTN-Qhubeka, in 2015 on Mandela Day, and claimed another 12 months later on stage seven of the 2016 Tour.

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