Mark Cavendish – “It's humbling actually...”

“It’s been incredibly tough to just survive these mountains. I thought I was climbing well. I lost so much weight before this Tour de France but I just can’t seem to get the power out. I can’t get settled on the climb and it’s frustrating but I’ve got an incredible group of guys around me. If they’re not riding on the front, if they’re not leading me out, they could be having an easy day in the ‘grupetto’ but they’re dropping behind and towing me back when I’m dropped. I’m incredibly lucky to have them around.
“It’s not hard for me to switch gears when I go from the mountains to the sprint stage because I can smell the finish line. And so that’s okay.
“It is funny though because we were watching Twitter this morning and Cadel was saying, ‘Now the Tour starts...’ and I was like, ‘I am absolutely on my knees...!’ and he’s saying that. It’s humbling actually.
“I believe I’m the best finisher of the job but I’m always in the best position to do that. You see that when I’m not in the best position, I don’t always win but my team does an incredible job to put me in this position and it’s hard for me to lose really.”