Mark Cavendish admits to missing out-of-competition drugs test

"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."

London 2012 Olympics: double Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele admits to lack of fitness after struggle in Edinburgh

The Ethiopian, who was competing in only his third race in two injury-plagued years, struggled from the start of the 3km race in Holyrood Park, which was won by Kenya’s world and Olympic 1500 metres champion, Asbel Kiprop, in 9  min 20 sec.

On a day of surprises, 19-year-old Aldershot athlete Jonny Hay enjoyed a stunning breakthrough to take second place in 9-25, one second ahead of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the Olympic 5,000m silver medallist.

Bekele finished in 9-42, a performance that will be an encouragement to Britain’s Mo Farah, who is training at high altitude in Kenya.

“The course was OK but my shape was not good,” Bekele said. “I am 50/50 and I was not confident before the race. But it’s a long time until the Olympics and it is too early to be in better shape.”

Irishwoman Fionnuala Britton, the European cross-country champion, was a runaway winner of the women’s 6km race in 21-32, with Britons Gemma Steel and Elle Baker second and third respectively.