Mark Cavendish's hopes of winning Olympic gold suffered a fatal blow on Monday when he was not selected to represent Great Britain at the UCI Track World Championships.

Cavendish had hoped to ride Madison at this summer's Tokyo Games, but had to participate in international competitions beforehand in order to qualify.

Cavendish needed to compete in the World Cup Series or the World Championships to qualify for Tokyo, despite having competed in a series of track events over the winter to earn qualification points.

After missing the final World Cup race at the end of last month, he was excluded from the British squad for the World Championships, which was announced on Monday of this month.

"The World Championships in Berlin will be an important milestone for track athletes on their way to the Olympics. [Cavendish had teamed up with Bradley Wiggins in 2008 and had expressed a desire to run Madison in Tokyo, partly due to the event's return to the Olympics, after the two then world champions finished a disappointing eighth. Cavendish was the only member of the British national track team to leave Beijing without a medal, and although he won silver in the omnium at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he has had gold medal hopes ever since.

Cavendish, a three-time world champion in Madison, faced selection competition from athletes who focused on track events. Cavendish was ready to make the Pursuit team in Rio, but did not make the team this Olympic cycle.

"We want to have five athletes who can run Team Pursuit. So it's not a perfect scenario to have a specialist in Madison and no other athletes," coach Ian Dyer said in December.

Expected to ride Madison for Great Britain on the east side are Ethan Hayter and Ollie Wood, who won silver medals at the World Cup in Glasgow and Milton and competed in the team pursuit this winter.

Both athletes have been named to the seven-member Endurance delegation that will compete at the World Championships in Berlin, joining multiple Olympic champions Ed Clancy and Charlie Tanfield, who are key members of the Pursuit team. Kian Emadi, Mark Stewart, and Matt Walls were named to the Berlin Endurance delegation.

Elsewhere, the British team for the World Championships will be led by Laura and Jason Kenny, who have four and six Olympic gold medals respectively.

Laura Kenny is part of a strong women's endurance contingent that includes two riders who won the Olympic Pursuit title with her in Rio, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker, and Nair Evans, Eleanor Dickinson, and Josie Knight She is a member of the team. Jason Kenney is part of the men's sprint team along with former Olympic medalists Phil Hindes, Jack Carlin, and Ryan Owens. Katie Marchant leads the women's sprint delegation along with Lauren Bate and Sophie Capewell.