Cavendish: "I'll try my best" to give Wiggins a winning send-off

Mark Cavendish says he will try his best to give Sir Bradley Wiggins a winning end to his career as the pair line up for the Six Days of Ghent which begin at the Belgian city’s ‘t Kuipke velodrome tonight.

Wiggins, aged 36, was born in the city and said earlier this year that this would be the final event of a career that has brought him five Olympic gold medals, seven world championship wins on the track and one on the road, and the overall victory at the 2012 Tour de France.

He and Cavendish won the world championship in the Madison in March this year in front of a home crowd at Lea Valley VeloPark – repeating their success of Manchester in 2008 – and earlier this month finished second in the Six Day London meet.

Cavendish told Sky Sports News: "I have been trying to concentrate on being good for Ghent. I didn't want to come to come to the last race and let him down or not be in better condition for it.”

Starting this evening, the action continues until the weekend, and Cavendish went on: "As we get closer to Sunday I might get a bit emotional but at the minute we are just trying to concentrate on the racing."

Cavendish insists that he and Wiggins are targeting victory in Flanders this week.

He said: "We have both been training hard. We both want to win. We have made no secrets about that but there are other strong competitors here.

"Ghent is the most historical and the most special of all the six days. It is the one that everyone wants to win.

"It is not going to be easy. I tried two years ago with Iljo Keisse and I was second so we'll see what happens and I will just try my best," he added.

Competition will be led by defending champion Keisse – Cavendish partnered his then Etixx-Quick Step team mate at the 2014 edition of the event – who this year teams up with Olympic omnium champion, Team Sky’s Elia Viviani.

Also riding are the Belgian pairing of Kenny De Ketele and Moreno De Pauw, who snatched victory at Six Day London from Cavendish and Wiggins in the very last race.

There’s a second British pair racing, too – Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood.

Wiggins himself was in action in Ghent last weekend as more than 6,000 fans packed the velodrome to bid farewell to three-time Tour of Flanders winner and Olympic Time Trial champion Fanian Cancellara in his final event before retiring.

> Cancellara beats Sir Bradley Wiggins in his last ever race (+ video)

Six Days of Ghent official website