Mark Cavendish Quotes

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Mark Cavendish

Profession : Cyclist

Birth : May 21, 1985

It's my job. It's not a hobby, it's how I put food on the table for my family. I have to be on a bike.

Mark Cavendish

I have a house in a small town in Tuscany where everybody knows and looks out for each other. That's a similar mentality to on the Isle of Man.

Mark Cavendish

One thing I do get aggravated by is people shouting with frustration if they get pushed and shoved in sprints. I don't push and shove anyone, but I don't care if somebody does it to me.

Mark Cavendish

The Tour de France is ridiculously hard.

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

All that matters is to be first across the line.

Mark Cavendish

Once you can accept that you have a mental illness, that is when you can work on 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

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

Mark Cavendish

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

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

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

Yorkshire is a hard place to ride a bike.

Mark Cavendish

The beautiful thing about cycling is that it is so accessible and that pleased me when I was younger because you felt like you could almost touch the athletes.

Mark Cavendish

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

Mark Cavendish

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

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

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

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

What keeps athletes going is the optimism we are going to be able to compete again.

Mark Cavendish