Mark Cavendish targets quick return from injury in Tour de France pile-up

Mark Cavendish hopes he will race again this season after his controversial early exit from the Tour de France.

Cavendish was knocked into the barriers by Peter Sagan during a wild finish to Tuesday's fourth stage, an incident that left him with a fractured shoulder and saw Sagan thrown out of the race.

The crash was all the more gutting for Cavendish, who had fought hard to even make it to the start line on Saturday after a lengthy battle with the Epstein-Barr virus.

"At least it doesn't require surgery which is good," the Team Dimension Data sprinter told ITV4.

"To be honest, at least I know I can kind of train on it, which is better than if I was ill again. I am on the turbo trainer for the next few weeks."

Should his recovery go well Cavendish could target the Tour of Britain, which starts on September 3 and includes a number of stages that would suit his style of racing.

Cavendish was obviously upset at the manner of his exit from the Tour, during which he had hoped to add to his 30 stage wins and close on Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34.

Sagan visited Cavendish before he went to hospital on Tuesday evening and the Manxman revealed there had been further contact later on, after the world champion had been expelled from the Tour.

"Peter called me last night," Cavendish added. "I didn't get back from the hospital until gone 11. I had a message from Peter on my phone. We have a good relationship, we spoke on the phone last night.

"You think it was honourable that he came over and apologised, and then he called me to see how I was in the evening. Like I said, I have no bad feelings towards Peter."