Mark Cavendish skips pre-Tour of Qatar training ride

From Team Sky:

As reported in the cycling press, Mark Cavendish sat out Team Sky’s training ride as a precautionary measure on Saturday morning ahead of his competitive team debut at the Tour of Qatar.

The world road race champion, 26, began to feel ill on his flight from London Heathrow to Doha on Friday evening and after consulting with the team’s medical staff it was decided that the best course of action would be for him to rest up ahead of the race’s commencement on Sunday.

Team Sky’s Race Coach Rod Ellingworth said:

“Obviously it’s disappointing that Mark has fallen ill the day before his Team Sky debut. He felt fine when he boarded the plane last night but wasn’t 100% when he got off it.

“The team doctor assessed him last night, and again this morning, and everyone felt it was in his best interests not to ride with the others. Since then he’s been recovering in his hotel room and we’re doing everything we can to get him back on his feet again.

“He’s really frustrated that he’s come down with this because he’s in great shape condition-wise and was looking to hit the ground running here in Qatar.

“We’re still confident he will start the race but we’ll continue to monitor his health for the rest of today and make a decision on whether he will start the race at 10am local time on Sunday morning.”