Mark Cavendish felt winning the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday made up for Etixx-QuickStep's disastrous defeat at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday.

The 29-year-old claimed his sixth victory of the season in Belgium, 24 hours after Etixx-QuickStep had lost out to Team Sky despite outnumbering eventual winner Ian Stannard three to one in the final group of four.

Cavendish, who becomes the first Briton to win the event, sprinted to beat Katusha's Alexander Kristoff into second and finished ahead of Sky's Elia Viviani in third to start the opening weekend of the classics with a win.

A time of 4.28.56 was enough to triumph over the 193km course.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Cavendish, who has a house in Ongar, said: "Especially after the unfortunate result of yesterday, it was nice to get a win today on the classics opening weekend. The lads were super-good.

"Everyone turned their eyes to today and it was a good atmosphere from before the race all the way to the finish line."

He added: "I knew it was going to be hard but I have been going good all year and the team looked after me superb today, so I am super-proud to get this victory for Etixx-QuickStep on the opening weekend [of the classics]."

Team Sky controlled the peloton ahead of the final 10km but when BMC Racing's Philippe Gilbert attacked with just under 5km remaining and built a ten-second lead, other teams came forward to assist the chase.

Katusha's Kristoff and Etixx's Cavendish helped bring the Belgian back with 700m remaining; Kristoff launching the first dash for the line. However, hot on his tail, Cavendish overtook the Norwegian in the final 150m to secure the win.

Cavendish enthused: "Because there was a headwind in the last corner, we used our guys too early. We were really quite far behind. Tom [Boonen, Cavendish's Etixx-QuickStep team-mate] went to go but I had already left him to go on to Kristoff’s wheel. I thought it was better to follow Kristoff. I know him and their team has been going good this year."

Next up for the 'Manx Missile' will be the seven-day Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatico, which runs from March 11-17. But Cavendish said his main aim is the one-day class Milan-San Remo, which he will be looking to win for the second time.

He stated: "I would like to do well. I have been training all winter for it. It’s the Milan-San Remo I grew up watching and dreaming of, so I would like to go and give it a crack.

"We have got a strong team for all outcomes. We have got (Michal) Kwiatkowski and (Zdenek) Stybar is flying, so we just work hard towards then and hopefully Etixx-QuickStep can come away with a win."