Mark Cavendish to make long awaited return at Tour of Slovenia

Mark Cavendish is to race at this month's Tour of Slovenia - his first outing in three months the race organiser has posted on its website.

The Dimension Data rider was struggling with an ankle injury after the season's opening Monument, and then was diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis – more commonly referred to as glandular fever - after a routine blood test

Cavendish hasn't raced since but has now added the Tour of Slovenia to his race programme. The four-day race begins on June 15 and there are three stages that will be targeted by the sprinters.

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The recently-turned 32-year-old is also racing the British National Championships on June 25 which take place in his home island of the Isle of Man.

Fellow Brit Steve Cummings, who was severely injured in a crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, is also named in the line-up.

Like Cummings, Cavendish is hoping to race the Tour de France, but if he does take to the start line in Düsseldorf on July 1, he will do so having only raced at most five times since mid-March.

Rolf Aldag, Dimension Data's sports director, said last month that Cavendish had been training again but that the team were reluctant to rush him back.

"He has to be very careful about training, not training too much. It’s small steps – after each training session we see how he feels,” Aldag explained.

"Every day, he does a questionnaire indicating how he slept, how he feels, whether he is tired, and each time he has to indicate on a scale what his feelings are with each of those questions. He also receives regular blood tests to check his values.”

Team Dimension Data line-up for Tour of Slovenia

Mark Cavendish

Bernhard Eisel

Ryan Gibbons

Mark Renshaw

Nathan Haas

Jacques Willem Janse Van Rensburg

Kristian Sbaragli

Stephen Cummings