Cavendish gets bid for gold underway

Mark Cavendish began his bid to claim Great Britain’s first Olympic gold of the London 2012 Games today, while Irish hopes rested on Nicholas Roche, Daniel Martin and David McCann.

Cavendish, the world champion and winner of 23 Tour de France stages, was described as “the fastest man in the world” by Bradley Wiggins as the team were introduced to rapturous applause from spectators on The Mall ahead of the 250-kilometre road race into Surrey.