MARK CAVENDISH HAS refused to comment on Lance Armstrong’s expected doping confession and has claimed he may not even watch the interview.
Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is set for Thursday tonight, with the disgraced cyclist expected to confess to doping and using performance-enhancing drugs to win an unprecedented seven-consecutive Tour de France titles.
In October, Cavendish called on cyclists to confess if they had cheated but did not match those comments this week when asked about Armstrong’s rumoured declaration of guilt, while he later claimed he would be travelling to Argentina when the interview is broadcast.
“Yes there have been reports he has confessed doping but I don’t know because I haven’t seen any interviews yet and until then I can’t really comment on it,” Cavendish said.
Speaking at the presentation for his new team Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Cavendish revealed it had been a nervous experience moving from Team Sky.
“I was a bit nervous to come into the team at first and I did not really have an entourage of people with me as I was starting from zero and coming into a structure that has been here for many years,” Cavendish said. “I was nervous but I didn’t need to be because it is a great group of people and it feels easy to become friends with people and talk to them.
“They just love big racing, it is not a job for them it it a love and a passion and that is something I share.”
Having made his name in road cycling with HTC-Highroad and its previous guises including Team HTC Columbia, Cavendish spent last season with Sky but only won three stages in the Tour de France as the British-based team focused on Bradley Wiggins’ yellow-jersey campaign. But despite playing second fiddle to Wiggins last season, Cavendish seems confident he will not be overlooked as Quick Step’s main rider this year.
Cavendish and long-time Quick Step spearhead Tom Boonen are both sprinters but the former seems unconcerned by the latter’s position as the incumbent.
“I don’t know what Tom is doing but I am definitely preparing my season around the Tour de France and it is the 100th edition and the biggest goal for me every year,” Cavendish said.
“The Tour de France is the race that means the most to me in cycling and the race I have been most successful at and a race I want to try and go and be successful again there.
“I want to try and win some stages there and hopefully win the green jersey again, we have a got a team that can be strong and diverse.”
