Cavendish thrilled with 2016 season

'Manx Missile' Cavendish faced one of the busiest years of his career in 2016, targeting the Tour de France and Olympic Games, as well as the World Championships on both the track and road. After winning the World Madison title in March alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins, the 31-year-old wore the yellow jersey for the first time at Le Tour and won four stages to take his total to 30, leaving him just four behind the all-time record of Eddy Merckx. Cavendish retired early from Le Tour to focus on his preparations for the Olympic Games, where he went on to win a silver medal in the men's Omnium, before adding World road silver earlier this month. "I'm very happy with the season. I had some big targets this year and I achieved them or came very close," he said. "Ideally I would like to win everything I do - that's my nature - but I gave my best." And while ten road wins is the lowest annual return of his professional career, Cavendish is quick to point out he has ridden only 71 days on the road, his lowest in nine years. "If you look at the percentage of win conversions, it's actually pretty big. If I win 15 races and I do 90 days of racing, that's one in six races I win. Whereas if I only do 60 days of racing and I win 10, I still win one in six days of racing. "The more you race, the more you win, but I didn't race that much this year, but I'm still happy with how it has gone. And to think, second in the Olympics and second in the worlds is not so bad." Next up for Cavendish is competing at the London and Ghent Six Day events, but while next season looks to be a much quieter affair with no Olympics or World Championships on the agenda, preparations are in full swing for another busy year on the bike. "Next year is not necessarily going to be quieter because I will just be doing more road racing," he said. "I owe the team a lot from what I have missed this year. It's just not going to have the demands of both road and track cycling. "Those demands are going to be a lot easier, but it's still going to be a big old year."

Sportsbeat 2016