Great Britain's Mark Cavendish has won his first Olympic medal by taking silver in the men's omnium at Rio 2016.

The 31-year-old ended his Games hoodoo at the third time of asking, having previously missed out at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

Cavendish was desperate to finish on the podium to complete a glittering career CV, with his campaign four years ago ending in a disappointing manner in the road race, while eight years ago he was the only British cycling member to return home without a medal.

There was no such disappointment for the Manx Missile this time around, though, as he held off the chasing pack to finally taste success.

A fifth-place finish for Cavendish in the road race ensured that he was right back in the hunt, lifting him up to second place overall in the omnium standings after four events.

Cavendish did enough in the flying lap and points race to finish above Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen, but could not get the better of Elia Viviani who took gold for Italy.

Britain now have 17 silver medals in Rio and 41 overall, placing them behind only China and USA in the standings in terms of the combined tally.