Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) has described the atmosphere in Yorkshire ahead of Saturday’s Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de France and the support he’s received on his visits to the county as “phenomenal”.
The former world road race champion and Tour de France green jersey winner will lead the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team, and will start the opening stage with the knowledge that victory in his mother’s home town of Harrogate will allow him to pull on the yellow jersey of race leader for the first time in his career.
But speaking at a press conference today in Leeds, Cavendish repeatedly stated that his Belgian team – one that includes world time trial champion, Tony Martin, and Paris-Roubaix winner, Niki Terpstra – will seek success throughout the three-week race.
“It’s incredible that for the second time in my career the UK has got the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, the biggest bike ace in the world. The first days are in Yorkshire, and [to have] the first stage in my mother’s home town is really exciting,” he said.
“When I came some weeks ago to look at the courses, the vibe for the Grand Départ was phenomenal. It was something like I’d never seen. People who’d ridden the Tour de France when it started in 2007 in London still talk of that as being exceptional. I’m sure Yorkshire’s going to out do that.
“Everything I’ve seen, the support from people – people who know about bike racing, people who don’t know about bike racing – has been absolutely tremendous. I think everybody here won’t be able to anticipate how big it’s going to be at the weekend, and I’m fully looking forward to savouring it.”
Cavendish added that he would have liked more British riders to have been selected for the race, naming Sir Bradley Wiggins and David Millar, both whom failed to gain the nod from their teams, Sky and Garmin-Sharp respectively.
The Manxman repeatedly talked up the quality of his squad, which also includes Michal Kwiatkoswki, the 24-year-old Polish time trial champion, who has already won the Volta ao Algrave and Strade Bianche this season.
Terpstra, winner of the l’enfer du Nord in April, played down his chances of victory on the cobbled fifth stage of the Tour, from Ypres to Arenberg, insisting that a parcours with eight cobbled secteurs could not be compared to one with 26.
The Dutchman’s success this season has typified the approach of his Belgian employers to attempt to win every race they enter, and Cavendish insisted that the Tour would be no different.
“We’ve been super successful already this season across the board and we’ve put together a strong team for the Tour de France, hopefully in the best condition possible to do well throughout the three weeks,” he said.
