Mark Cavendish's struggles continue with another DNF at Milano-Torino

Mark Cavendish’s (Astana Qazaqstan) season took another blow on Wednesday with the British sprinter forced to abandon Milano-Torino.

The former race winner came into the Italian one-day event on the back of a disappointing outing at Tirreno-Adriatico where he failed to compete in any of the sprint stages and was then eliminated after missing the time cut on stage 5 to Valle Castellana.

The 38-year-old has centred his entire season around winning a record-setting 35th Tour de France stage – an aim he pursued after initially announcing his plans to retire at the end of last season.

At the start of Milan-Torino, the veteran sprinter spoke to the media, confirming that he wasn’t at 100% due to illness.

"Like many people, I’m a little bit sick now," he told Cycling Pro Net and Eurosport. 

"It’s okay and hopefully I can hang on today and in the next few days with the sickness. You know when you have a sore throat and stuff like that. The cold is coming, that’s for sure.

"We have a strong team here with Astana Qazaqstan. The parcours has changed a bit, it’s got some punchy climbs in the final. We have some puncheurs, like Lutsenko, and it’s perfect for him. We have all the scenarios covered and hopefully it works out,” he added.

It’s unclear at what point in the race Cavendish decided to abandon, with the race organisers taking to social media to confirm the news with around 60km left to race.

Cavendish began the season with a win, taking a stage in the Tour Colombia in February. He was off the pace at the UAE Tour later that month before abandoning due to a fever.

Tirreno-Adriatico represented his first European race but the WorldTour event was dominated by bad weather and punchy stages that caught out several sprinters.

Cavendish’s next outing is listed as Scheldeprijs in April. He has won the Belgian race three times but, having abandoned at Milan-Torino, there is a slight chance that the sprinter could alter his programme.