Mark Cavendish fractures rib on Tirreno-Adriatico opener

Mark Cavendish has definitely had better starts to a season.

The 32-year-old Manxman withdrew from the Abu Dhabi Tour in February having sustained concussion and whiplash in a collision with a control car in the tour’s opening stage.

And now he has pulled out of the Tirreno-Adriatico in the opening team time trial with a fractured rib.

The former road race world champion crossed the line bloodied and battered after picking himself up from a crash. However, he completed the course outside of the permitted time limit and was pulled out of the race.

In a statement, Team Dimension Data said Cavendish “pretty hard at around 55km/h”. The statement added “an X-ray found that he has a fracture of the seventh rib on the right side.”