Media Isle of Man’s John Watterson interviews Sir Mark Cavendish after his special homecoming event in the Isle of Man
Media Isle of Man’s John Watterson interviews Sir Mark Cavendish after his special homecoming event in the Isle of Man
Transcript
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?