The omnium is unpredictable, but Cavendish made a good start and was in third overnight, a position he maintained after the fourth discipline, the one-kilometres time-trial.
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Italy’s Elia Viviani won gold with 207 points overall.
Viviani, on 178 points, leads Cavendish, who has 162, by 16 points with Danish defending champion Lasse Hansen – victor of the first two events yesterday but disastrously for him, the first man out of the elimination race – a further 10 points back on 152.
Laura Trott, who took her third Olympic gold in the team pursuit on Saturday, began her bid for a fourth with second place in the scratch race which opened the women’s omnium. But he dropped out first in the elimination race and was sixth going into Monday.
At the London world championships in March, Gaviria, Roger Kluge and Australian Glenn O’Shea all ended on 191 points in a nerve jangling finale, with Gaviria taking the title by virtue of having won two of the six elements.
He suffered in the individual pursuit, getting lapped by the flying Cavendish. But he repaired some of the damage in the elimination race where he survived to the final three.
“It’s a top field here, but now we’re in the battle”.
This is the ultimate track endurance test, cycling’s equivalent of a decathlon or heptathlon, pitting the world’s toughest track cyclists against each other in a multi-discipline two-day event.
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Points are awarded depending on where riders place in each event with the rider with the most points winning gold.
