Sprinter reflects on Tour de France glory and winning the green jersey
After winning the green jersey in this year’s Tour de France, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) spent a week racing the traditional post Tour criteriums in Holland and Belgium. From there the Manx Missile took some time out to recuperate with family before returning to the spotlight this week in an interview with the BBC.
During the interview, Cavendish spoke openly about his confidence in cycling and how the sport is being cleaned up compared to other sports.
“If you put the money and time into catching those cheats, you’ll catch them and cycling does it. The fact that people are getting caught means that cycling is a clean sport in my opinion,” he said.
“It could be easy and it is easy to sweep things under the carpet. Cycling did it many many years ago, other sports are doing it now, they sweep it under the carpet to preserve the name of the sport.”
The star sprinter went on to say that people can easily call him a cheat because he is so “dominant in a sprint”, but confidently stated his anti doping stance.
With a total of twenty Tour de France stage wins to his name, the 26 year old is now sixth on the list of most stages won in the French race in history. He said that part of the reason he is so successful there is because he is so motivated to perform in the event.
“For me that race is everything. It is the biggest bike race in the world but there’s something about that race that just means so much to me more than anything else,” he enthused. “Every other race goes on the back foot to be the best at the Tour de France. Part of it is the position I am in as the dominant sprinter in cycling; I have to perform there. Not just cycling fans but the whole world is watching.”
Despite winning more stages than anyone else in the race the past four years, this year was the first time he took the green jersey for the most sprint points in the race. He told the reporter that he’ll be going back for more green jerseys and again commented on his love for the race.
“As a rider you just feel the greatness of it, the massiveness of this race. I thrive off it. A lot of people it can crack under it…after three days you are already on your hands and knees.
“I was asking myself this year, in some other races I can’t really suffer, if there is a mountain at the end that I can probably get over and win and I crack mentally. I asked myself why can’t I do it but at the Tour I can and it’s because I am scared to [not win], you suffer so much at the Tour de France.”
There has been no word on the future of Cavendish’s current team HTC-Highroad, as the mobile phone manufacturer’s sponsorship of the team ends this year. The Briton is rumoured to join team SkyProcycling for next season, but this has not been confirmed as yet. He said this week that he had made up his mind on where he would compete in 2012, but didn’t want to reveal the name at this point in time.
Cavendish has listed next year’s Tour de France and the Olympic Games in London as major goals for the season.