Cavendish quits Tour de France to focus on Rio

Adding his input, Team Principle Douglas Ryder who will be part of Team South Africa at the Rio Olympics in a managerial/coaching capacity, said: “Mark raced an incredible Tour de France, winning four stages and extending his palmarès to 30 stage wins at the Grand Boucle”.

“After the heat and intensity of the previous stages, we analysed my fatigue levels and decided I’m at a point that would have a detrimental effect on my other big goal for the year, the Olympic Games”, Cavendish said on the team’s website. He won stages one, three, six and 14 of this year’s Tour de France, and actually wore the leader’s yellow jersey for a while.

Per Cycling Weekly’s Gregor Brown, Cavendish previously denied there were plans for him to leave the Tour during the final rest day.

Nairo Quintana is expected to be at his best for the final week of the Tour de France, which feature four stages in the Alps, but Chris Froome says he has never been better going into a grand tour decider. Cavendish sitting out the final stage on the Champs-Élysées means he will not contest the stage in Paris where he won four years in a row between 2009 and 2012.

“Last year he made up a lot of time in the final week, and I expect he’s gonna to be one of the main guys putting us under pressure these next few days”, said Froome, who is much less anxious by his compatriot, the 23-year-old Yates.

While he’s still largely unknown outside his native Netherlands and cycling circles, Mollema is shaping up as the top challenger to defending champion and race leader Chris Froome.

The yellow jersey wearer is now one minute 47 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Bauke Mollema.

Colombian Quintana, who is two minutes and 59 seconds behind Froome, praised Team Sky as “really strong”.

Speaking from his hotel in Switzerland on the second and final Tour rest day Tuesday, the 31-year-old Briton claimed to be as determined as ever to succeed.

The Tour resumes on Wednesday with a 184.5km 17th stage ending with a summit finish at Finhaut-Emosson.