• Cycling

Cavendish withdraws from Gent-Wevelgem

ESPN staff
March 29, 2014
Mark Cavendish said he started to feel ill in midweek © AP
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Mark Cavendish is out of Sunday's Gent-Wevelgem race in Belgium after picking up a viral infection.

Cavendish, who finished fifth in the Milan-San Remo run last weekend, said he started to feel ill on Wednesday and withdrew late on Friday.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider said: "I went out on my bike but after an hour I had muscle pain and couldn't keep going.

"I'm disappointed. It is a race I've never won but there's nothing to do now other than recover."

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas will feature in Sunday's 200 kilometre race, having finished third in E3 Harelbeke.

Fellow Britons David Millar (Garmin), Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard (both Team Sky), Scott Thwaites and Jonathan McEvoy (both Team NetApp Endura) are also competing in the second of seven one-day 'Spring Classic' races.

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