Mark Cavendish will miss the Tour de France again this year after being omitted from Bahrain-McLaren's team for the prestigious race.
Yellow Jersey hopeful Mikel Landa will lead Rod Ellingworth's eight-man squad for the delayed 2020 edition that begins on August 29, supported by Wout Poels, Pello Bilbao, Damiano Caruso, Rafael Valls, Marco Haller, Matej Mohoric and Sonny Colbrelli.
It is the second year in a row that former world road race champion and experienced Grand Tour campaigner Cavendish - who joined Bahrain-McLaren in December 2019 - will miss the Tour de France.
In 2019, the 35-year-old was not selected by Team Dimension Data.
Cavendish currently sits on 30 Tour de France stage wins and needs just four more to tie the record currently held by legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx.
After the news of Cavendish's omission emerged on Friday, he released a video via his official Twitter account in which he explained that he simply did not feel prepared for the Tour de France in 2020 after a lack of racing caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Simply put, I just don't feel ready I'm ready this year for the Tour de France," he said.
"It's the hardest parkour I've seen in my entire career, and I'm a rider that needs a lot of racing to get going and I just haven't had that this year with Covid-19.
"But at Bahrain-McLaren we do have an incredible GC contender with Mikel Landa and an incredibly strong team to support.
"I know I will be supporting the team from wherever I am.
"But I'm looking forward, I'm super excited for the rest of the year. We've got some good goals, some good races lined up and I'm looking forward to using it to build into a big year next year, too."
Earlier this week, Team Ineos - who have now signed British rider Adam Yates on a two-year deal - left both Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas out of their Tour de France lineup.
