Astana Kazakstan has split its leaders Alexey Lutsenko and Mark Cavendish for the May race. The Kazakh climber will take on the Giro d'Italia, while Mark will prepare for the final Tour de France in Hungary.

Cavendish will start the Tour de Honliere instead of the Giro, looking to overtake Eddy Merckx for his 35th stage win to become the sole leader.

The five-day Tour de Hongrye usually offers multiple sprint opportunities and is an ideal competition for the Manxman, who has been plagued by poor health and has not won since February's Tour of Colombia, to find his best form.

Cavendish was unable to compete in the sprints at last week's Tour of Turkey because many of the stages were hilly. The closest Cavendish came to success was on stage 7, when mechanical problems prevented him from completing the Astana Kazakstan leadout.

Lutsenko, in his second Giro appearance, led an Astana team that included Italian national champion Simone Velasco, former Giro stage winner Lorenzo Fortunato, and Max Kanter, who won his first pro win at the Tour of Turkey.

The Kazakh national champion missed his last race due to illness after the first stage of the Tour de Romandie, but in 2024 he won the overall and a stage at the Giro d'Abruzzo and finished in the top 10 at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, strong showing.

If Lutsenko wins a stage, he would follow up his 2020 Tour and 2017 Vuelta with a Grand Tour win.

Also facing Cavendish in Hungary will be top sprinters Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco Alura), Arvid de Klein (Tudor), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe), Elia Viviani ( Ineos Grenadier).

Perhaps the most interesting name on the start list is Peter Sagan. He is returning to road racing after retiring from the sport at the end of 2023; three-time world champion Peter Sagan will ride for the Continental team Pierre Baguette Cycling, of which his brother Yulai Sagan is sport director.

Sagan suffered a tachycardia attack while racing in Spain with the Specialized Factory Racing mountain bike team and underwent two heart surgeries and had a heart recording device implanted in 2024 His ambition for 2024 is to qualify for the Paris Olympics in the MTB cross country competition to qualify for the Paris Olympics in the MTB cross-country event.

The Slovakian-born Cavendish has been one of Cavendish's key rivals throughout his career, often facing off against Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel in the Tour de France.