After being forced to miss Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne due to its cancellation, Mark Cavendish will return to competition in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.

Friday sees the start of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen which is a short Belgian stage race often used by some of the younger riders of the big teams to obtain personal glory in the wake of the big WorldTour races Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. Last year it was won by the young Belgian Julien Vermote (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) who secured his first victory by finishing second behind teammate Michal Kwiatkowski in the opening prologue and by taking the lead under torrential rain in the second and final stage.

This year the young riders may be forced into the background by the presence of the world's fastest sprinter. Mark Cavendish had his eyes firmly fixed on the first goal of his season, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. This race was, however, cancelled due to heavy snowfall, and this has left the Manxman short of races in view of the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico. Hence, the team has decided to include him in the roster for the Belgian stage race, and he will line up alongside defending champion Vermote.

"The race will be similar to last year's race, and last year we won with Vermote," Sport Director Tom Steels said. "We will try to defend his title this year. There will be a short prologue and then two stages. The most important stage will be the one on Sunday with the climb of Monteberg and Kemmel. Last year this stage was really difficult because of terrible weather conditions. On the team we will also have Mark Cavendish who decided together with the team to participate in the race after Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne was cancelled. The race will be perfect for Mark to prepare in the best way for Tirreno-Adriatico. We will count on a very strong group of riders for this race, including Niki Terpstra - who is in good condition - and Gert Steegmans, who will start working on setting up the sprint and his leadout with Mark. Our objectives are to try and win a stage and repeat the good GC results of 2012. We have the potential to do that."

With a short prologue and bonus seconds on the line in two stages often finishing in mass sprints, Cavendish has a great chance to secure his second stage race victory of the year after he dominated the Tour of Qatar with four stage victories on his way to overall glory. Should he fail, the team is loaded with strong time trialists who may use the short prologue as a springboard to success. In addition to Cavendish, Vermote and Terpstra, Frantisek Rabon and Belgian TT champion Kristof Vandewalle have in the past shown their worth against the clock.

OmegaPharma-QuickStep for Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen:

Dries Devenyns, Frantisek Rabon, Gert Steegmans, Iljo Keisse, Julien Vermote, Kristof Vandewalle, Mark Cavendish and Niki Terpstra