If somebody had told me as a kid that I would win 30 stages of the Tour de France I probably wouldn't have imagined it. I probably imagined I could do it - I don't lack confidence - but at the end of the day one Tour de France stage win can make a rider's career.

Mark Cavendish

Every rider trains their muscles but few train their brain.

When you win sprints, you're a great sprinter, but when you win a great one-day race, you've proved you're a great rider.

Mark Cavendish

Great You Win

In a sprint you make 100 decisions a second. What if X goes now and Y goes then? Should I take this gap or that one? You have to be sharp. Over time it becomes instinct.

Mark Cavendish

Time You What If

But you have to take asthma seriously. People do not realise the stress our bodies go under.

Mark Cavendish

You Us UN

I used to walk down a street and nobody would notice me. Now, I get stopped all the time; people saying, 'well done'. It makes me really, really proud to have done my bit to help make cycling a little bit more popular.

Mark Cavendish

Time Yin Would

I always go for broke. It's win or nothing for me.

Mark Cavendish

Win Ways Way

The other sprinters are big and powerful but I have different strengths. The first thing is my leg speed. Most guys sprint at 120 revolutions per minute but I sprint at 130-140: think of it like a smaller engine revving faster. My body is shorter too, so I can lean over the handlebars for a more aerodynamic profile: again, think a smaller engine but in an F1 car.

Mark Cavendish

Strength Power Car

I'm 100% a sprinter... an old school one, not one of these new guys that can climb and sprint.

Mark Cavendish

T Sprinter Sprint

Psychological edge is massive in sprinting.

Mark Cavendish

Tin T Sprinting

I'm fortunate in one way and I can take pride from the fact that I've consistently performed for 10 years, which is something that not many people can do. I've consistently stayed near the top for 10 years which is maybe something that is overlooked and taken for granted.

Mark Cavendish

Years Year Which

If you're winning bike races ahead of guys who're older than you then they're going to get upset. When some young guy appears from nowhere, some people who are slower assume they ride dangerously.

Mark Cavendish

Anger Young You

Sometimes it can be more tiring with the kids than on the bike but I'm absolutely loving it.

Mark Cavendish

Time Wit Tiring

Crashes are the worst thing because your wounds stick to you, so you are sweating into your road rash all day and when you try to sleep your wounds are sticking to the bed sheets. It is part of the job and we know the risks.

Mark Cavendish

Art Your You

I think an Olympic medal is the only thing missing from what I can physically achieve as a cyclist. I can't win the Tour de France, but I've pretty much won everything else that I can within my physical realm, so that's the only thing missing.

Mark Cavendish

Won Within Wit

If you want a lot of endorsements then you'd pick the Olympics. But I've had a passion for the Tour since I was a kid. Let's put it this way: it would be harder to win a stage on the Tour de France so that would mean more. I'd take the Tour win first - but I'm aiming for both.

Mark Cavendish

Men Age You

You concentrate just on yourself. I can't wallow in anything, can't worry about what others are doing.

Mark Cavendish

Yourself Yours Your

I constantly do puzzle books. Smash through them. My iPad's full of them. Logic puzzles. Bridges. Slitherlink.

Mark Cavendish

Through Them Tan

Lance Armstrong won seven Tours, that's 147 days of racing, and he never had a puncture or a mechanical. You can really minimise your chances of a mistake if you do everything right.

Mark Cavendish

Chance Your You

At the end of the day I want to be the first rider across that finish line and I'll just find the quickest and easiest way to do it.

Mark Cavendish

Way Want Us

It's incredible the muscle damage you do in a sprint. You don't see it after the line, because we're smiling. But if you see the tent that we're in straight afterwards, you just collapse.

Mark Cavendish

War Age You

I like to have plans in place so I know what I am doing and when. Take nutrition. When I am on the bike I will start off eating solid food like rice cakes made with pistachios or energy bars. Then as the race goes on, halfway though I will switch to gels as they get into your system more quickly and they are easier to palate when you're tired.

Mark Cavendish

During the Tour you get tired, you get exhausted, you're in pain and you can get sick for a few days but still have to ride through it.

Mark Cavendish

I don't like being in London too long, because everybody's just looking straight forward, at nobody else. That freaks me out a little bit.

Mark Cavendish

I want to provide the best possible life for my daughter. I want her to be so proud of me. You know, I never rode just for myself. I did it for my team as well. But this feels different. This feels like I'm riding my heart out for her.

Mark Cavendish

The stronger you are as a unit, the more you can control a race. The strongest cyclist in the world isn't as strong as two guys, let alone nine.

Mark Cavendish

I never think: 'If I crash, I'm going to hurt myself.' I might think: 'If I crash, I'm not going to win.' Everything's about that finish line.

Mark Cavendish

I'm not as talented as others, but I have a determination and will that enable me to work a lot harder than anyone else.

Mark Cavendish

There's no emotion. I just see the gap and, instinctively, go for it.

Mark Cavendish

Sometimes the hardest part of the stage is right at the beginning. The other teams will leave it to us to chase down a breakaway, and we can't allow a big group to go up the road - anything more than four riders is trouble.

Mark Cavendish

When you're a young pro from an undeveloped country in road cycling then you're on the back foot.

Mark Cavendish

I have a fondness for junk food - it still calls me, sometimes.

Mark Cavendish

If I do a circuit, then after three laps I could tell you where all the potholes were.

Mark Cavendish

People's brains work differently. The brain is like a muscle and you have to train it, keep it active, keep active in races. I notice if I haven't raced for a while. It's hard to see things clearly so you have to relearn that.

Mark Cavendish

If somebody had told me as a kid that I would win 30 stages of the Tour de France I probably wouldn't have imagined it. I probably imagined I could do it - I don't lack confidence - but at the end of the day one Tour de France stage win can make a rider's career.

Mark Cavendish

The descents are quite fun - everybody has a sort of competition and tries to go for it and then you compare top speeds when you get to the bottom.

Mark Cavendish

You can only pre-plan stuff to a certain degree because there are so many variables - road conditions, weather conditions, mechanicals... You have an idea of whose wheel you want to be on.

Mark Cavendish

The Giro's difficult to predict for the points jersey because there are so many mountain-top finishes and there are as many points on offer for mountain stages as for sprints. It's really for the most consistent all-round rider and it's pretty difficult for me to win it.

Mark Cavendish

Track and road cycling are very different things. It is easy to look at them both as cycling but going from the road to the track is like asking Andy Murray to play squash: yes, it's a racket sport like tennis, but it's not the same.

Mark Cavendish

I have to cross the line first. Sometimes you can put it as a fear of losing, but actually it's an addiction to winning.

Mark Cavendish

Since we married, Peta's taken over a lot of my cooking and she's incredible. She'll do different meals for me and the kids, depending on my regime. If I name 10 ingredients she'll change the recipe every day.

Mark Cavendish

I think any professional athlete who says they stick to a strict diet and weigh their food out every time is either lying or they're sick.

Mark Cavendish

You can believe or you can doubt yourself. It's the difference between a gap being one metre late that you're gonna launch, then it's three seconds and you're sat on the wheel and you're about to lose.

Mark Cavendish

A lot of the riders end up in Monaco, but I don't need to be there for the tax purposes because I'm from the Isle of Man.

Mark Cavendish

I do want to race motorbikes when I retire.

Mark Cavendish

Everybody who rides a motorbike thinks they can ride MotoGP. Anybody who does a Gran Fondo thinks they can do pro cycling. Anyone who drives a Corsa thinks they can do Formula 1.

Mark Cavendish

The perception is that I've always made winning look easy. People think it's easy, but they don't see what's behind it, the time away from the family. The days spent climbing, training out in all weather, climbing but trying to keep the speed for the sprint.

Mark Cavendish

Cycling is unique in that in any other sport I'd be in a different weight category or discipline. What I do is a different sport to what Chris Froome does.

Mark Cavendish

All that matters is to be first across the line.

Mark Cavendish

The Olympics is where you see out of this world performances, isn't it?

Mark Cavendish

If you don't enjoy something you can't keep at it. That's the thing that sticks with me.

Mark Cavendish