Richard Mille: The cycling world is buzzing about the idea of you matching Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. Do you think it’s possible?

Mark Cavendish: You know, the idea of matching Eddy’s record was never something I mentioned. It was something that the British media has come up with. People were watching us because we were winning, but the British public kept asking: “If you win five or six stages, why aren’t you winning the Tour de France?” So, the British cycling media had to explain how the Tour works and they also needed to explain what it was that I did. What I was known for was winning stages. I would never, ever underestimate the significance of winning even one stage. That is the highlight of most professional cyclist’s careers. It is disrespectful not to see the incredible work that goes into achieving a single stage win, not just for an individual but for a team. And every stage win for me has been something very special. I always say, if I’m only ever good enough to win one more stage, then so be it. But then last year when I hit 30 stages, I said: “Blimey, I’m four stages from the record.” The thing is, physiologically I could never win the Tour de France, with my body morphology I could never compete in the mountains with the best climbers. But you have to find a way to keep yourself motivated to constantly find the target in front of you.

Richard Mille: Do you feel that this year because of how you went out of the Tour [with Peter Sagan taking Cavendish down], the injury and the controversy and the fact that you didn’t have any opportunity at the Tour de France, it gives you more motivation to win next year?

Mark Cavendish: Had I gone to the Tour and been dropped the first day, then dropped the second day and then crashed on the third then I might have said to myself: “Maybe it’s time to stop for this edition.” The fact is that leading up to the Tour I was sick, really sick and the only thing that got me through my sickness was the thought of the Tour de France. Originally, I was out for six weeks and, when I started to recover, I only had two months to get in shape. I went out super hard the first three days, knowing it was the worst thing I could possibly do. And I just killed myself. I ended up spending two more weeks in bed.

I had to force myself to take it easy. Four hours in the morning, two hours at home and then four more hours in the evening. Normally I would do rides of six or seven hours at a time. But I had to halve this so as not to build the same fatigue. And the whole time all I could think of was the Tour, the Tour, the Tour! Then, going out the way I did was disappointing. But maybe it happened for a reason because I got the hunger back stronger and I want to win more than ever.