The hottest ticket at the Track World Championships was to see Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish ride together in the madison and no one left disappointed.
In spite of Cavendish falling off his bike, the pair were crowned champions in a performance that has surprising significance when it comes to deciding whether both athletes make the cut for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Wiggins did not even realise his team-mate had crashed so euphoric was the whole occasion.
British Cycling was particularly happy as the potential controversy over track cyclist selection for this summer’s Games suddenly looks less tricky to negotiate. While Wiggins had underlined here that he is an asset to the team pursuit, Cavendish had looked less comfortable until the mesmeric, thrilling madison ride in tandem with Wiggins.
The Lee Valley VeloPark rocked as the PA system blared out The Boys are Back in Town and Wiggins celebrated as wildly as he has for any of his many triumphs. It was a fairytale way for Wiggins to mark his last elite race at the London velodrome and was the 35-year-old’s seventh world title on the track and Cavendish’s third.
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Tickets for the madison, which is not even an Olympic event, sold out quicker than for any other discipline with the public desperate to see two greats reunited in the discipline which caused the pair such anguish at the Beijing Olympics.
Eight years ago a tired Wiggins could do little to help Cavendish and he left as the only British track cyclist not to win an Olympic medal in spite of his success at the world championships the same year.
“We won our first world title together before either of us had won a stage of the Tour de France, eight years ago in 2008,” said Wiggins. “Since then, in those eight years, we went on to conquer the world and now we’ve come full circle. We’re like Barack Obama, we’ve had a good Presidency!”
The madison gold medal was a crowd pleaser but it also has wider repercussions for Cavendish whose championships had been, until that dramatic victory, underwhelming.
As the 30-year-old completed the arduous omnium in sixth place, at times appearing uncomfortable at the demands of the track, it seemed implausible that he will be selected for Rio — particularly as British Cycling had told him he had to win a medal here in the omnium in order to be picked for that event in Rio.
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However, Shane Sutton, British Cycling’s technical director, remains convinced that if Cavendish is prepared to commit to winning gold in Rio, he would not dilute the team overall by taking one of the coveted and competitive team pursuit slots. In stark terms, whoever Sutton picks for the omnium will automatically be part of the pursuit team and competition for places is intense.
Cavendish, though, still has to prove that the Games are his priority and if he wants to fill the gap on his CV and win an Olympic title then the Manxman will have to sacrifice the final stages of the Tour de France, according to Sutton.
“If he wants to medal,” Sutton said, “he’s well aware that he probably wouldn’t be going to Paris. Cav won’t do three weeks of the Tour. Cav’s bought into the plan.”
There is a suspicion that Sutton is slightly blinded by Cavendish’s star status as one of best sprinters of his generation having won 26 stages of the Tour and that he is overlooking the fact that Cavendish has put in very little time on the track since 2008 and could, therefore, possibly undermine Team GB’s efforts, led by Wiggins, to win the pursuit in Rio. Sutton, though, categorically rejects such claims.
Britain’s honours board
“ I have total confidence that Cav can do the job in TP [the team pursuit], he said. “I’ve always believed that. I don’t think that comes into question for me.
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“A lot of people say, ‘Are you diluting your TP medal opportunity?’ I don’t believe that at all. I believe Cav’s, from years and years ago, a very good little TP-er and when he’s on form I’m sure he can pull his weight. I haven’t got any problems in that area at all.
“It’s just a matter of sitting down with Cav and saying, ‘Are we going to do this? Do you want to put yourself forward?’ and then the selection panel will come together.
“I know it sounds like I’m avoiding the question, ‘Is he going?’ But I can’t tell you at this moment in time.’”
Cavendish will meet with Sutton next week to discuss his Olympic schedule but refused to accept that he put in a disappointing shift in the omnium.
“I was zippy in the omnium,” he said when it was suggested he had at last woken up to the demands of the track.
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Britain ride tall in the saddle
Final medals table
G S B Total
Great Britain 5 1 3 9
Germany 3 2 2 7
Australia 2 2 1 5
Russia 2 0 1 3
China 1 1 0 2
New Zealand 1 1 0 2
Poland 1 1 0 2
Spain 1 0 1 2
United States 1 0 1 2
Colombia 1 0 0 1
Britain’s record in Track World Championships
2013 (Minsk): The highest ranked team with five golds, two silvers and two bronze medals
2014 (Cali): Fourth (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
2015 (Paris): Tenth (3 silver)
2016 (London): Top the table with five golds, one silver and three bronze