Mark Cavendish is currently gearing up for the forthcoming Tour de France by tackling the mountains in the Tour of Switzerland this week.

The Manx Missile finished 58th in the opening stage of the race on Sunday.  

The first stage was a 4.77km individual prologue time trial around Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein on the Swiss border.  

The Astana Qazaqstan rider covered the distance in a time of five minutes 25 seconds.  

That was was 20 seconds down on the stage winner, Yves Lampaert of Soudal Quick-Step.   

Cav and Lampaert were team-mates when the Manxman was last with the Belgium team during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.  

Monday’s second stage was a 177km route from Vaduz to Regensdorf which contained two category two and one category three ascent, with several smaller climbs in between.   

The Manx rider crossed the finish line in 157th position, eight minutes down on the leading bunch led home by Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).  

Cavendish finished 130th in Tuesday’s third stage from Steinmaur to Ruschlikon. Three main climbs in the last quarter of the 161km route split the field and the stage was won by Thibau Nys of Lidl-Trek. 

A mountain-top finish to stage four of the Tour of Switzerland split the field to smithereens, with Cav coming home in 125th place. Torstein Traeen of Bahrain-Victorious outran Adan Yates (UAD) for the win. 

The Manx Missile is using the Swiss event to hone his climbing skills in preparation for the Tour de France which begins at the end of this month. 

Speaking to Cycling News, his Astana team manager Alexander Vinokourov said: ‘Mark is doing very well in training, but the first week of the Tour de France is already very mountainous, so we want him to be in as good a climbing shape as possible. 

‘We want the whole tour team to test themselves in that area. They’re in good health and motivated and that’s the most important thing. 

‘If they can over the climbs for the sprints, great. If not, then it’s training for the mountains. 

‘They’ve done a great training camp too, and in a few weeks’ time we’ll see the benefits of that.’ 

The Tour of Switzerland continues until this Sunday.  

Attention will then turn to the prestigious Tour de France which gets underway on Saturday, June 29. 

This year the grand depart takes place in Florence before two more complete stages in Italy.  

Stage four begins in Pinerolo in the northwest of the country before travelling across the border to Valloire in the French Alps. 

The TdF then continues until Sunday, July 21 when it concludes in Nice, as opposed to the traditional final stage into Paris because of the clash with the Olympics in the French capital.