Mark Cavendish has been selected to ride in the Tour de France after proving his fitness in the weekend’s British Road Race Championships.

The Manx Missile’s chances of adding to his 30 Le Tour stage wins looked slim after being diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus in April.

However, an outing at the Tour of Slovenia earlier this month plus a solid showing during Sunday’s road race on home soil, has seen Cav named in Team Dimension Data’s nine-strong squad.

Steve Cummings, who completed a British time trial and road race double on the island over the weekend, is also named in the team alongside Cavendish’s regular lead-out men Bernie Eisel and Mark Renshaw.Cav said: 'If I am being totally honest, had this not been the Tour de France we may have collectively taken a different approach with regards to my inclusion.''But I feel that I owe it to myself, the team, our sponsors and most importantly to the Tour itself given its history and everything that it stands for - as well as the emotional attachment I have for it - to give it my best and to put everything I have into trying to help the team.'The Tour de France starts this Saturday, July 1.

Loads more from the British Championships in Tuesday’s Examiner.