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SOUNDBITE: (English) Mark Cavendish, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step (Q: You’ve won 23 stages on the Tour de France in your career, what are you targeting this year?) “Obviously I want to win as much as possible, you can’t set a number of stages on a Tour de France, one stage in a riders career makes a riders career. It’s not just a hobby, it’s the Tour de France, it’s one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. I’ll go try my best and win as much as possible and see what comes from that.”
(Q: Having won your national championship, how pleased are you with your form going into the Tour de France on Saturday?) “I am really happy, it was a bit unexpected to win the British Championships, you know, but I rode it to look at the course for next years Commonwealth Games. No I seemed to be going well yesterday, it was a long day, 180 kilometres in a small group . But yeah I am super excited, I’m really excited to wear the national champions jersey in the Tour de France next week.”
(Q: The first stage in the Tour de France on Corsica is set up for a sprinter, what would it mean to you to wear the leaders yellow jersey?) “I’ve worn the leaders jersey in the Giro d’Italia before, I worn the leaders jersey in the Vuelta Espana and the only one I haven’t is the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. So it’s obvious I can’t win it in Paris but to wear it once in my career would be special and Saturday provides the first sprinters opportunity since the 1960′s so it’s an opportunity I have to grab with both hands. And it’s not guaranteed, there are a lot of strong contenders there, but we’re there with a good team and we’ll be fighting for that first stage.”
