"I missed an out of competition test last April," confirmed Cavendish last night. "It was my mistake. I was with a film crew for the BBC and Giro d'Italia on Mount Etna. It was a simple, genuine administrative error.
"Of course I totally understand the importance of testing in sport. I was tested by the UCI a couple of weeks before that and twice in the fortnight after, and had around 60 tests in all last year. It's part of the job and it's my job to make sure I don't miss another."
Cavendish, who has been a strong campaigner for the need of frequent out of competition testing no matter how inconvenient to the 'athlete, has recently added the vastly experienced GB Olympian Rob Hayles to his back-up team to help oversee the logistics of what will be an incredibly busy and challenging year.
Double checking that Cavendish's whereabouts is updated daily, and sometimes twice a day with WADA and UCI will be among Hayles tasks and with Cavendish and his partner Peta Todd expecting their first child sometime April, that could become extremely relevant if he suddenly has to leave a race or training camp midway through. The minimum requirement is for the testers to know his whereabouts for one nominated hour between 6am and 11pm each day.
Meanwhile Dave Brailsford - both the Team Principal at Sky and the Performance Director at GB cycling - is totally supportive of his rider: "There is absolutely no doubt about Mark's integrity," insisted Brailsford. "I am totally satisfied that he made a genuine mistake. He is tested regularly and is a powerful advocate for testing and ensuring that sport is clean."
