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?

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