Mark Cavendish is having a big year.

The Manx Missile rode himself to a rainbow jersey and a first track world title since 2008 after returning to the velodrome with team mate Sir Bradley Wiggins and winning the world championship Madison race in London.

Cavendish then went on to win his first ever Tour de France yellow jersey when he won the opening stage of the 2016 grand tour.

He followed that up with a further three stage victories, taking him to a total of 30 career stage wins on the Tour de France; overtaking Bernard Hinault and only four behind current record holder, the great Eddie Merckx.

 

Cavendish left the 2016 Tour on the second rest day in order to prepare for Rio, where he will represent Team GB in the track cycling omnium, and says he is feeling ready for his third Olympic outing.

“I’m feeling good,” he said.

“Morale is high after the Tour de France and it's good to be with the squad getting ready and just see how my track legs play out in the next week after doing the road for a bit.”

Now entering his third Olympiad, Cavendish is determined to make a success of his opportunity in Rio, after being frustrated in the London road race and returning from Beijing as the only member of the track team without a medal.

“I'm not going to just mill about,” he said.

“I'd like to win, I've put a lot into this - people around me have put a lot into this.

“Ultimately, I'd like to come home with a medal from Rio.”

Cavendish is aware that he will face tough opposition in his quest to bring home an Olympic medal.

“It's such a strong competition now the omnium; it's got some of the best bike riders in the world – all the guys who were there in the world championships in London.

“You've got Elia Viviani, Fernando Gaviria, Roger Kluge, Glenn O'Shea, and Lasse Norman Hansen who won in London. It's a list of hitters doing it.

“It's a shame there's not more events because I couldn't have picked a more star-studded group to try and compete against here on the track.

Despite the stiff competition, Cavendish insisted he was excited to race the best track endurance riders in the world.

“It makes for good racing and actually, the stronger the guys and more aggressive the racing, that suits how I race anyway,” he said.

“I'm looking forward to it; I'm not going to think about the other guys and what they've been doing. I'm just concentrating on my own preparation and then go out and do my best.”

The 31-year-old spoke passionately about what it means to him to represent his country at the Olympics for the third time: “I'm proud to be British, I'm proud to represent the flag I was born under and the Olympics are the pinnacle of that.

“So it's a big moment for me, it's something that comes round every four years and it's something that's different.

“It's not my job to do this; my job is to ride on the road, to do the Tour, be a moving billboard really.

“This provides something a little more personal, a little bit more... it's for the love and the pride of something.”

Despite representing Great Britain in Beijing and London, Cavendish has felt the benefits of attending an Olympic holding camp for the very first time.

“In 2008 I did the Tour and by the time I finished, they had already gone to Beijing so I went up and trained with the Paralympians in Manchester - that was my holding camp and then I flew out to Beijing a few days before the event.

“And then London obviously, we only finished the Tour five days before so we went straight to Surrey and stayed out of the village out there.

“So this is my first time at holding camp and it's actually great. Although it is a kind of training camp, you still have the feeling it's on a countdown to something.

“The nice part of that is living with my team-mates; guys who have grown up together. Me and Ed have been racing since we were 14 together and Brad's like my big brother.

 “Living in that environment, getting prepared for the same event with each other, that's what makes it special,” he said.

“That's why camps like this one are so useful as well to get that team spirit as high as possible.

“You're not trying to get the most out of yourself, it's like being looked after, ready to go and then perform in Rio.”