Media Isle of Man’s John Watterson interviews Sir Mark Cavendish after his special homecoming event in the Isle of Man
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00:00Q. You could say it started here but certainly it started in the Isle of Man. Did you ever
00:06realise or even dream of some of the success you've achieved?
00:11I definitely dreamed of it, yeah. I worked hard to make it happen. I think that's the
00:16only thing that gets you what you want, is working hard and belief and never give up.
00:22From a first national jersey at 14 to national championships locally and then moving on,
00:31you won the Ireland Games in 1993, Melbourne in 2006 and it just goes on and then into
00:39the Tour and Giro and the Vuelta. You've won at every level really. World Championship
00:462-11. What a career. You must be really proud of yourself.
00:50It's been great. It's been a great journey, mate.
00:53Is there anything you would have changed?
00:56No, not really, no. I'm very happy, yeah.
01:00You've not quite finished yet because you've got a race in Singapore to come up in November.
01:06Yeah, I've got a few more races this year.
01:09No Tour of Britain, no.
01:11I don't know what I'm doing yet. Just here, back here now and see what the next weeks
01:17and months have.
01:18It's a possibility, maybe.
01:21Yeah, maybe. I don't know.
01:24This year, a lot of pressure on you after last year's disappointment. Going into it,
01:28you must have been apprehensive, nervous but also quite excited. At least you got a chance
01:34to say thank you and goodbye to all your fans on the Tour.
01:38No, it was nice, yeah. It's just the job, mate. It was nice. It was a big decision to
01:44carry on. I'm happy I did. I had a great team around me, Astana Kazakhstan, a team
01:49that I call family. I got to ride my bike as a job for at least another year anyway.
02:01Yeah, I'm lucky, I guess.
02:02Yeah, Kazakhstan, Astana's team have been so good for the last two years for you to
02:08give you that chance again, which you may have lost at one stage. You may have thought
02:11you'd lost at one stage. To come back and achieve that goal, which I don't know what
02:18chances you thought you had. I'm sure you thought you had a good chance, but at the
02:21end of the day, it was a tough task and you did it.
02:27The work you put in is the result you get out of it. I've always said that. It's the
02:30same when it's down here. You ride your bike more laps around here, you're going to win
02:35more around here. You ride your bike more when you're riding the Tour de France, you're
02:39going to win at the Tour de France.
02:41So today, Mark, what a turnout today. I've never seen anything like this in my time
02:45covering sport in Ireland. That goes back a long time. I've never seen such a turnout.
02:50Of all ages, young children, and you enjoyed giving them high fives and all that at the
02:55end. It was a great day.
02:56That was really nice. It was a really, really beautiful reception. It really made me happy.
03:01What made me happy was to see so many kids out riding. They weren't like, okay, I love
03:06racing. I'm a racer. I love seeing kids race. What I love more than that is seeing people,
03:12not just kids, but people just enjoying riding a bicycle. I still love riding a bicycle.
03:18Even if it's one lap around here, if it's 100 kilometres, if you see smiles on faces
03:24while pedalling, it's a job well done as a professional to know that as a sportsperson,
03:32you can inspire people to love and do what you do as well.
03:37One last question. Any plans for the future?
03:41I'm racing now, like you said. I'm sure my family will see what happens.
03:47Looking forward to 2025 and on?
03:50Yes, I'll speak to my family, speak to my team and see what the future brings.
03:56So, Mark, congratulations and a big thank you.
03:59Thank you very much, mate.
04:01Cheers, Mark.
04:01Will you sign one thing for me?