Image 1 of 3 Mark Cavendish officially withdrew this morning from the Tour de France (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 2 of 3 Mark Cavendish leaning on the barriers after his stage 1 crash (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 3 Mark Cavendish and Simon Gerrans hit the ground (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Mark Cavendish is putting in three hours a day on the home trainer, keeping his legs in shape in hopes of returning to the peloton soon. He watches tv while working, but not the Tour de France, which he says he desperately misses.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep sprinter crashed in the sprint finale of the Tour de France’s first stage in Harrogate. He subsequently underwent surgery for his serious injuries, which included a separated shoulder and ruptured ligaments, and is expected to be out for six weeks.

Cavendish started training again last Monday, only five days after the surgery. “I don’t want to start again from scratch,” he told Het Nieuwsblad. “I do three daily one-hour sessions and watch an episode of the tv series ‘Game of Thrones’. I have already finished the first season and have three more to go.”

He watched part of the Tour while he was in hospital, “but when I was groggy from the medication.” Only two days after his crash and before the surgery, he planned to attend the London stage finish with friends, “but I walked out. I couldn’t stand it. I put so much effort into the Tour.”

“When I see the OPQS guys work ... I miss it so much. I need the Tour "

As for the crash, he said he did not cause it, “but I was the only one who could have prevented it.” He admits head-butting Simon Gerrans, but said that did not cause the crash. “It was caused when our pull rods came together, not because of my head.”

Still, he added, “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have done that. But I was not aggressive, like an untrained eye might think. I was trapped. In another race I would perhaps have resigned myself to the situation, but not in the Tour. I couldn’t. "