Mark Cavendish will miss the Tour of Britain after it was announced he will compete in the Tour of Missouri, which takes place at the same time.

The 23-year-old Manxman, who romped to four stage victories in this year's Tour de France, was confirmed for the event with Colombia team-mate Michael Rogers.

Meanwhie Cavendish pulled out of the Tour of Ireland on yesterday's final stage with, according to the tour's website, his job for the week already done after winning the first three stages.

He injured his hip in a crash on stage three on Friday then finished over eight minutes behind winner Russell Downing on Saturday's fourth stage.

There was good news for the Columbia team as Italian Marco Pinotti claimed victory on the final stage and won the tour outright, securing the yellow jersey Cav had held for three days.

While he did join in the celebrations at the finish, the Laxey rider was caught out by St Patrick's Hill and climbed off with one lap to go, just as Pinotti was making his decisive push for glory.

Downing took the green jersey and Simon Clarke the white jersey for the best young rider, both of which Cav had also held earlier in the tour.

(Picture: Mark Cavendish winning Friday's third stage of the Tour of Ireland, courtesy of tourofireland.ie)