Mark Cavendish's chances of competing in the track race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are fading due to serious competition from other competitors and limited opportunities to earn enough ranking points to qualify.

Cavendish had the best season of his career in 2016, combining road and track racing at great cost. He won four stages at the Tour de France, wore the yellow jersey for a day after winning the opening stage, and competed for the win in the omnium event at the Rio Olympics. Only Italy's Elia Viviani was stronger, and Cavendish won the silver medal.

Cavendish has been plagued by the Epstein-Barr virus for the past few years, but is using the track to return to his best form.

Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins finished 9th in Madison at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but that event was cut from the next two Olympics. It will be reinstated in Tokyo. However, British Cycling head coach Ian Dyer explained why it will be more difficult than ever for Cavendish to compete in Tokyo.

Cavendish recently competed in Six Day London and the Ghent Six, and on Saturday he will compete in the 70.3 Ironman Triathlon relay in Bahrain with runner Mo Farah and swimmer Chloe McCardell. He is weaving training and racing together in preparation for the 2020 season.

"The door is open, but it's very difficult to carve out an opportunity at this point," Dyer told the PA news agency, explaining that while a spot on the Olympic team is very tight due to IOC quotas, Cavendish will compete in Madison as part of the Team Pursuit quintet. He explained that he would be competing in Madison as part of the Team Pursuit quintet.

Ethan Hayter and Ollie Wood won silver medals at the Glasgow World Cup in Madison. They and the strong young British track team are expected to form a quintet with anchorman and veteran Ed Clancy.

Cavendish's biggest barrier to competing in Madison is Great Britain's emphasis on team pursuit and the expectation of another gold medal.

"If we are going to go halfway around the world with only five riders, we want to be ready for both Pursuit and bunch racing.

"We want to make sure we have five riders who can run Team Pursuit, so having just the Madison specialist and no other riders is not a perfect scenario. If one of the other riders breaks down, we're in big trouble."

"We're not sure if we'll have enough riders to run the team Pursuit.

However, this feedback did not seem to deter Cavendish.

The new Bahrain McLaren team, led by former British Cycling coach Rod Ellingworth, supports Cavendish's Olympic ambitions, but he must balance road racing and track training. Cavendish is also eager to return to the Tour de France after being ruled out of the 2019 Tour de France while with Dimension Data. However, the sport's biggest road race coincides with his final track training for Tokyo.

Dyer explained that Cavendish, despite being a three-time Madison world champion, also needs at least 250 qualifying points.

"He needs to get 250 points (to qualify) and he needs to do events that count within the cycle, like the World Cup and the World Championships. The opportunities are coming thick and fast."

The Hong Kong World Cup was held last weekend, and three more events are scheduled this winter. Cambridge, New Zealand and Brisbane, Australia this month, followed by Milton, Canada in January and the World Championships in Berlin in February.

"I'm not going to do Madison on my own, so logistically it's still a possibility, but at this point the chances seem to be diminishing," Dyer said.