Image 1 of 5 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 2 of 5 Alejandro Valverde and Mark Cavendish greet each other ahead of the stage (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 3 of 5 Mark Cavendish eventually finished just outside the top ten (Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) Image 4 of 5 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 5 of 5 Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) at the start of stage 11 at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) is likely to miss this weekend's Milan-San Remo, Cyclingnews understands. The Dimension Data line-up for the first Monument of the season will only be finalised following the conclusion of Tirreno-Adriatico but Cavendish is unlikely to be one of the seven on the start line.

Cavendish has had a quiet start to the season as he has made his comeback to racing following a lengthy layoff at the end of last year due to a recurrence of Epstein Barr, which had also forced him out of a large part of the 2017 season.

The Manxman made his season debut at the Vuelta a San Juan in January, almost six months after his final race of 2018. The race gave him a chance to get back into the peloton with limited pressure on his shoulders and his best result was eighth on the opening day into Pocito.

Following San Juan, Cavendish went to the UAE Tour, where he finished 13th in the first of three sprint finishes, on stage 2. He went on to play a support role, leading out Reinardt Janse van Rensburg in the subsequent sprint stages.

Cavendish made his European debut at Paris-Nice just over a week ago. Though the parcours provided three clear opportunities for the sprinters, crosswinds in the opening two days meant that a bunch sprint did not come until the third day of racing.

However, Cavendish had already abandoned by then, climbing off midway through the second stage after two difficult days on the bike. His teammate Louis Meintjes also left the race on stage 2 after missing the time cut following a crash.