Mark Cavendish 2nd in Omnium after winning Madison with Sir Bradley Wiggins

Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins rolled the clock back seven years at the Revolution Series in Derby yesterday as they won the Madison – the event in which the pair became world champions in 2008.

The event was one of the highlights of three days of racing in which qualification points for next year’s Olympics in Rio were on offer.

The Madison no longer forms part of the programme – Wiggins and Cavendish rode it in Beijing in 2008 but finished out of the medals – but Cavendish is hopeful of riding the Madison in Brazil.

He also rode that event in Derby this weekend, but came second to former world champion Ed Clancy, who won a bronze medal in it at London 2012.

A change in the scoring system means that riders now amass points throughout the six events and try to score as many as possible, as opposed to the previous system which saw them try to accrue as few as possible, with one point awarded for finishing first in an event, two for second and so on.

Cavendish has said he would like to ride the Omnium in Rio, but with only one rider per country in each individual Olympic track event since London 2012, he faces stiff competition from Clancy, although the latter was in conciliatory mood after his win this weekend.

“It’s good to win but Cav has had eight days’ preparation, I’ve had eight years,” said the 30-year-old Yorkshireman, quoted in The Guardian.

“My main focus is the team pursuit and making it three golds in a row but I’ll be very much fighting for the omnium place. I think we want the best for each other and for the best rider to go.”

Cavendish had started the last event, the 40km points race, 20 points behind his rival and Clancy followed his every move to maintain a lead of 18 points at the end of the race.

“Given the track time I’ve had, I’m really happy with where I’m at, to finish second behind an Olympic medallist is all right,” reflected Cavendish.

“There’s no soreness and I’m very encouraged, given the last omnium I did was as a schoolboy.

“It’d be nice to have an Olympic medal, just to stop people banging on about it,” he added.

In the Madison, Wiggins and Cavendish won by 11 points from the Belgian pairing of Kenny De Ketele and Moreno De Pauw.

Wiggins said afterwards: “It’s taken time to get my head around the fact I’m not a road rider any more but bike riding is bike riding at the end of the day; head down, arse up, there isn’t much to it, really.”

Other highlights from yesterday’s racing included women’s Olympic Omnium champion Laura Trott holding off the challenge from Belgium’s Julien D’Hoore to win that event, and Jason Kenny – gold medallist in the team and individual sprints in London – winning the kierin.

The Revolution Series resumes on 24th October in Manchester, and tickets are available here.