Mark Cavendish – “We were able to finish it off...”

“I’ve always said that I wanted to win on the Champs-Elysées. Every sprinter dreams of putting their hands up in the air as they cross that line, seeing the Arc de Triomphe in the foreground and it’s an amazing feeling to do so. It didn’t disappoint at all.
“I am going to do a few criteriums in the coming days but I truly am exhausted. It was a close competition in the green jersey competition and my team rode perfectly so it will be a great relief to celebrate with them tonight before I think about having a break. For Mark [Renshaw] to get second as well, is the perfect way to end this Tour.
“I don’t care about that the statistics say that no other rider has won six stages in their second attempt at the Tour; I don’t think anyone else had had the sort of team that I’ve had this year. It’s not me winning it, it’s the team and we’ll have a good celebration and then we all deserve a good rest.
“We saw a perfect George Hincapie today. He was in an incident yesterday and was in a lot of pain here on the cobbles of the Champs-Elysées but he went so, so hard under the ‘flamme rouge’ – he was just so fast that no one else could do anything… it showed too because otherwise we wouldn’t have got first and second.
“No one was willing to work with us the whole time. It left to us and the whole team rode and rode and rode and we were able to finish it off.
“It’s been an amazing Tour for British cycling. Bradley [Wiggins] did an incredible job; he’s been consistent throughout even though it’s his first time he’s really contended the GC and I’m really proud of him. We can both go home with our heads held high.
“Tonight I just want to be with my team-mates. We’ve been through a lot at this Tour, we’ve shared a lot of emotions, and had a lot of special moments so to finish it off well tonight will be perfect.”