Rio Olympics 2016: Mark Cavendish wins silver in the Men’s Omnium to complete his remarkable medal haul
MARK CAVENDISH has finally completed his medal haul by winning silver in the Men's Omnium at the Rio Olympics.
In a tense final event, Cavendish duelled for 160 laps with Italian's Elia Viviani and Lasse Norman Hanssen before finally pipping the Danish rider to second to win Britain's 17th silver and 41st medal in total.
As the most successful road man sprinter of all-time, Cavendish had already earned the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France, had 30 Tour de France stage victories, won gold in the Commonwealth Games and has now completed his dream of becoming an all-round cyclist by winning silver in the Olympics.
Despite crashing, Italian Elia Viviani claimed gold with a faultless race with Dane Lasse Norman Hansen winning bronze.
Unlike Viviani, there was no big celebration from Cavendish and even a sense of disappointment from the man himself that he didn't claim gold but it was a magnificent achievement in a gruelling race from the 31-year-old.
Viviani ended the race with a total of 207 points with Cavendish finishing on 194.
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But the race wasn't without controversy and injury. South Korean rider Park-Sang hoon collided into the back of Cavendish half way through the race and tumbled off his bike at high speeds.
His bike flew across the track which sent Viviani crashing to the ground along with Australian rider Glenn O'Shea.
Unbelievably Viviani was able to continue with a ripped jersey but it wasn't such good news for Sang hoon who took a heavy fall and was taken away on a stretcher to a standing ovation.
Cavendish's medal adds the Team GB's remarkable success in cycling to go alongside Bradley Wiggins' gold in the men's team pursuit and Jason Kenny's achievements in Rio.