Mark Cavendish will team up with former teammate Iljo Caisse in next week's Ghent Six, hoping to improve on his second place finish last week at the London Six Day.

Keisse has yet to run on the track this winter, but is ready to test the elbow he injured in a crash at Paris-Roubaix earlier this year by using a Madison hand sling at the famous Kuipke velodrome.

The Belgian is a seven-time Ghent Six winner and raced as Cavendish's partner in 2014, finishing second overall behind Belgians Jasper De Baiste and Kenny De Ketele. Cavendish and Caisse were also Quick-Step road teammates for three seasons between 2013 and 2015.

The 36-year-old Casey teamed up with Italian Elia Viviani last year to win his seventh title. This Viviani, along with partner Simone Consonni, was the player who defeated Cavendish and his partner Owain Doull in London. Cavendish, meanwhile, won the Ghent crown in 2016 with Bradley Wiggins, while Caisse and Viviani were relegated to third place that year.

"Cavendish is ready for Ghent," Keisse told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad on Tuesday. After London, he is eager to shine."

"I'm a little less enthusiastic myself, but that's because I haven't been on the track yet this year and I hit my elbow hard in Paris-Roubaix (in April). That injury took longer to recover from than I thought it would, and even though I've recovered, using it on the track is another matter."

"I have to launch that little Brit a lot every night." It's a big strain on the joints, but you just have to hope for the best."

The 2019 Ghent Six will take place November 12-17, and in addition to the regular race program, on the afternoon of the last day, world time record holder Victor Kampenaerts will be the first to set the world record, set by Dirk Baerts in 1981 when he attempt to break the track's long-standing 5,000-meter record of 6 hours, 13 minutes and 56 seconds, set by Dirk Baerts in 1981.

Campenaerts will leave his current team, Lotto Soudal, after this season to join Dimension Data, which will be known as Team NTT in 2020.