Tour de France: Mark Cavendish vows ‘I’ll win again’ at Grand Tour despite Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl omission in 2022
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Published 18/07/2022 at 19:19 GMT
Mark Cavendish’s 2022 omission from the Tour de France has been well documented, but the 37-year-old remains confident of returning in the future in his bid to hold the outright stage record of 34 wins that he currently shares with Eddy Merckx. Stream the Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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A bullish Mark Cavendish believes he will break the Tour de France stage record despite being overlooked by Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl this year.
The team favoured sprinter Fabio Jakobsen for the 2022 edition, delaying Cavendish’s hopes of passing the record of 34 stage wins that he shares with Eddy Merckx.
Now 37, there have been doubts over whether Cavendish will get another chance to race at the Tour, but the “Manx Missile” has no retirement plans and is confident he will get another shot amid Bradley Wiggins' belief that teams will be looking to sign him.
"I know I'll win again,” Cavendish, who is set to leave Quick-Step, told BBC. "It is what it is, obviously I'd love to do it, I've always built my whole career around it.
"But I'm a professional at the end of the day, I ride for a team, there's 30 riders on the team… you've ultimately got to take the emotion out of it, and look at it as a kind of a job I guess.
"The only thing I regret is that I know I was in the form to win there. I'm in my best form for easily a decade, you know? And it's kind of like when you think that's gone to waste a bit, that can be hard," he said.
"But I was able to win the British Championships the week before, so there's kind of a silver lining in that one.
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"I don't see myself retiring, I think as long as I know I'll win then I'll carry on my career. And I know I'll win so I'll carry on my career, and hopefully get to win there again."
Cavendish recently finished eighth in Sunday's Gran Fondo Isle of Man, and is now gearing up to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he will be the flagbearer for Isle of Man at the opening ceremony.
"The biggest factor for sure is that I get to race with my mates. That's pretty special,” he added, with 13 riders competing for Isle of Man in the cycling.
"We can go from this small island with, not just having a rider that's a favourite, but a team that's going to be one of the strongest teams in the race. That's super exciting."
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Stream the Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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