Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) has withdrawn from the Tour de Pollogne to focus on this weekend's Commonwealth Games.

The Manx sprinter completed five of the seven stages, but decided not to start stage 6.

He will now head to England for the Commonwealth Games Road Race on Saturday, where he will have the rare opportunity to represent the Isle of Man.

"I'm sorry to be leaving the race with the boys, but at the same time I'm looking forward to representing the Isle of Man at this great event.

Cavendish normally represents the United Kingdom in international competitions, but at the Commonwealth Games he will compete separately for the British nations and the Royal Dominions.

He will compete against Geraint Thomas (Wales) and Fred Wright (England) in the Sunday road race in Warwick.

The route consists of 10 laps of a 16-km circuit around the town, with no major climbs and only 130 m of elevation per lap, so Cavendish has a good chance of gold, but in this race without traditional team units, a group sprint is still a foregone conclusion far from a foregone conclusion.

Cavendish missed out on the Tour de France, returning to the Tour de Pollogne on Saturday for the first time since winning the British road race title at the end of June.

The 37-year-old, who was the Isle of Man flag bearer at the opening ceremony in Birmingham last Thursday, headed to Poland in a hurry for the World Tour stage race. Cavendish was not successful during the race, finishing eighth and tenth in the opening sprint.

Cavendish's schedule for the second half of the season has not yet been finalized. His contract is up and he will leave Quick-Step at the end of the year, but he is still in negotiations with several teams to continue racing for two more years and break the Tour de France stage victory record.