Mark Cavendish will join forces with fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh to race the London Six Day event at the end of October.
It will be Cavendish and Kennaugh's first appearance together at a pro Six Day event, with Cavendish joking on social media that it will be "two angry Manxmen together".
Despite being their first professional Six Day appearance together, it is far from the first time that the two riders have ridden together on the track.
The two frequently rode together in their formative years and have both been part of the Great Britain track set-up. Cavendish and Kennaugh won the 2008 Madison British national championship, and rode together in the Madison at the 2009 Track World Championships, where they finished sixth.
Peter Kennaugh and Mark Cavendish riding the Madison at the 2009 World Championships. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada
(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)
Having missed previous editions of the London Six due to team commitments, Kennaugh has found himself with available time to take part in the event after deciding to leave Team Sky and sign for Bora-Hansgrohe for 2018.
“I’ve wanted to do a pro Six Day for so long and looking at Six Day London in the last couple of years I really wanted to be there – but Team Sky always had an end-of-season get together on at the same time,” Kennaugh said.
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“But then this year, with moving teams, it’s given me the opportunity to do it and I’m really looking forward to it. I did a lot of Six Days as an Under-23 when I was on the British Cycling academy and have wanted to race a pro one ever since.”
Cavendish is still returning to full race fitness after crashing out of the Tour de France in July. He rode in the Tour of Britain, and recently placed sixth at the Grand Prix d'Isbergues in France but elected to miss the World Championships in Norway.
“To team up with Pete is going to be great fun, we go back a long way – I’ve already been chatting to him to talk tactics and to give him the low down," said Cavendish.
“Without doubt, we’re aiming for the win. It’s going to be tough racing over six days, but I don’t think either of us go into races thinking of anything other than how we can come out on top.”
Last year, Cavendish teamed up with Bradley Wiggins at the London Six, where the pair finished second overall behind Belgians Moreno de Pauw and Kenny de Ketele.
The 2017 London Six Day takes place at the Lee Valley VeloPark velodrome – venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games – over October 24-29.
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
