Mark Cavendish set to race at Scheldeprijs despite retirement talk

Mark Cavendish is due to start at Scheldeprijs on Wednesday, a few days after suggesting he was retiring.

The 35-year-old gave a tearful interview to Belgian broadcaster Sporza after Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday but his season is not yet done.

Cavendish remains in the Bahrain-McLaren team for Scheldeprijs, the Flemish race he has won three times and scene of a breakthrough victory back in 2007.

And the Manxman is in line to ride more of the remaining classics, though there is increasing uncertainty over the fate of some of those races with Paris-Roubaix already cancelled and Tuesday's withdrawals from the Giro d'Italia illustrating the continuing dangers.

The route for Scheldeprijs this year has been revised due to restrictions brought about by the pandemic, with 10 laps of a 17.4km course around Schoten expected to make it even more favourable for the pure sprinters.

Cavendish's comments on Sunday came as the former world champion moves into the final months of the one-year deal he signed with Bahrain-McLaren in the winter.

Team principal Rod Ellingworth has said talks are ongoing with Cavendish and others, saying the roster for 2021 was not yet complete.

PA