Mark Cavendish‘s bid for selection to ride the omnium event at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro received a boost over the weekend after he swept to a win in the discipline at the Panevežys 2016 in Lithuania.
The 31-year-old Manxman was part of Great Britain’s line-up at the international event, and contested the six-round omnium alongside Kian Emadi.
The two British riders dominated proceedings, with Cavendish winning the individual pursuit and elimination rounds. Emadi then won the kilometre time trial and flying lap rounds, utilising his experience and power as a former GB track sprinter.
Good weekend in Lithuania with @TeamGB. Happy with first place in the omnium with some decent results. pic.twitter.com/sd9dGy1r9m
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) June 6, 2016
Cavendish and Emadi then went into the final round tied on points – but Emadi failed to finish the points race and was docked 80 points. Cavendish went on to convincingly win the round, and take the overall victory.
Cavendish finished ahead of Swiss pair Gaël Suter and Olivier Beer. Emadi finished in ninth.
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“Good weekend in Lithuania with @TeamGB,” Cavendish said on Twitter. “Happy with first place in the omnium with some decent results.”
Team GB has yet to announce its final selection of riders for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which take place over August 5-21.
As a road sprinter, Cavendish has an enviable list of victories, including the road race world championships title, 26 Tour de France stages, the Tour green jersey and many others. On the track, he is the current Madison world champion alongside Bradley Wiggins. He placed sixth in the omnium at the Track World Championships.
An Olympic medal is perhaps the one significant result missing from his long list of achievements.
