Mark Cavendish will build his 2017 campaign around the Tour de France after he and his team-mates proved they were "a force to be reckoned with" at this year's race.
The British star moved to Team Dimension Data last year as the South African-based outfit prepared for their first season in cycling's top flight, the WorldTour.
Some pundits wondered if moving to a relatively inexperienced team signalled the end for his time as a top-class sprinter but Cavendish provided an emphatic answer at this year's Tour de France, winning four stages, including the first at Normandy's Utah Beach.
That victory - over the rival many thought had stolen Cavendish's sprint crown, Germany's Marcel Kittel - earned the 31-year-old Manxman the only major jersey missing from his collection, the Tour's iconic leader's maillot jaune.
Speaking to Press Association Sport, Cavendish said: "I get the biggest smile thinking about the first stage of the Tour de France - being in yellow, it's just the best memory.
"My family was all there, I felt incredible that day and the team rode phenomenally. It was perfect.
"One stage win at the Tour can make a rider's career but that was something else, especially with the group we had. We proved we are a force to be reckoned with."
As expected, Cavendish gave up the yellow jersey when Peter Sagan won stage two but he was not done, winning stages three, six and 14 to underline a return to the top of the sprinting tree.
Those victories took him into second place on the Tour's all-time stage wins list on 30, just four behind the great Eddy Merckx, and there could have been one more in Paris, where he has won four times before, if he had not quit the race early to prepare for his second major target of the season, a gold medal at Rio 2016.
Cavendish came up just short there, taking a silver behind Italy's Elia Viviani in track cycling's multi-discipline omnium, but this was still a significant achievement for a rider who had hardly raced on the boards between 2008 and the start of 2016.
Balancing his commitments to his team on the road with a desire to win an Olympic medal for his country was the central theme of 2016 for Cavendish, and 10 road wins, a yellow jersey, an Olympic silver and a world madison title with Sir Bradley Wiggins represent a job very well done, although he is not so sure.
"I'm a winner and in Rio, well, I didn't win," he explained.
"But I did the best I could under the circumstances and Elia is probably the best omnium rider in the world, so it's not like he was lucky. I gave it my best and I'm fiercely proud to have been part of Great Britain's most successful Olympics. To be part of that meant a lot."
There was also a near miss in Qatar in October when he went left instead of right in a bunch sprint and finished just behind Sagan at the world road race championships. A great season was almost one of the greatest seasons.
Looking ahead to 2017, though, Cavendish is thinking only about the road, starting with a trio of flat races in the Arabian Desert - Dubai, Qatar and Abu Dhabi - that have been happy hunting grounds in the past.
After that, the European season starts and Cavendish would love another crack at Milan-San Remo, the longest classic on the calendar that he memorably won by an inch in 2009. There may also be outings in northern Europe's cobbled classics, either to win or in support of team-mates such as Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen.
But his real focus will be France.
"The season will be based around July and being successful at the Tour - we want to back up what we did this year, show that it wasn't luck and I am sure we will," said Cavendish.
"We've brought some great riders in and we are riding for a cause. Everybody on the team feels that and I am super keen on raising its profile."
This is a reference to the Qhubeka charity that distributes new bikes to disadvantaged communities in rural South Africa. To date, Team Dimension Data's support has delivered 5,602 bikes to youngsters, as well as training mechanics to service those bikes.
Cavendish was speaking shortly after returning from a team get-together ahead of next season and the trip included a visit to a community near Stellenbosch.
"You can talk about charity but it's not until you experience it on a personal level that you get that feeling of satisfaction - it's phenomenal," he explained.
"Each of us sponsored a child and I got to hand over a bike to a 12-year-old girl called Meagan in a place called Kylemore. The joy on her face, it's hard to put into words, it was probably the first thing she's owned in her life."
With children of his own now and a wider perspective on life, it is possible to say the ultra-competitive Cavendish is starting to mellow - but only slightly.
"I will not be riding my bike on Christmas Day. That is ridiculous. Most pros do it so they can put it on Instagram," he said.
"I will just ride twice as far on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day."
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