Mark Cavendish has described the Tour de France as “above the sport” as he underlined how special the event is.
Cavendish has a unique relationship with the Tour, having won a record-equalling 34 stages at cycling's most prestigious race, the same number as Belgian great Eddy Merckx.
He is expected to try and beat the record this year with new team Astana Qazaqstan, having been overlooked by Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl to race in the Tour last season.
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“It's crazy because you think you know cycling,” Cavendish told Eurosport pundit Adam Blythe about the Tour's significance.
“I explain to everybody who's never been at the Tour de France, you have amateurs that think they know cycling. But they can't have an idea of what it's like to ride as a professional, it’s another level.
“Then you have to go from professional to WorldTour, it’s an obvious step up. But you haven't just got to step up to the Tour de France, it’s above the sport
“You've got the 170 best bike riders in the world. None of them are really doing their first Grand Tour, none of them are really coming back from injury, none of them are using the Grand Tour to prepare.
“The consequences of winning and losing that race are so much greater than anything. So you have the 170 best, all at the peak of their fitness for that year, all with not just the cycling world’s eyes on them, but the world’s eyes looking at them. It’s pretty nuts, not even just in the racing.
“Everything around it is just bigger, the highs, the lows. It’s so special.”

'Don't rest on what you've done' - Cavendish on why his hunger remains

Cavendish’s first Tour stage victory came in 2008 and he has won four times on the Champs-Elysees, which is seen as the highlight for the sprinters each year.
He has become world champion, an Olympic medallist and taken several other stage wins at big races since then and at the age of 37, he is still widely considered as a threat among the sprinters.
Blythe told Cavendish: “For a lot of people, [given] your success and what they've had, they would have said, ‘brilliant, right that's it, I'm done’. But you're still here, you're still going.”
Cavendish responded: “I think I'm guilty of being the one that's put it to everybody else. Nobody kind of looks at what I've done because I've never kind of looked at what I've done. I always set a target, try to do it and then set another target.
“Of course, it set me up to be in this position that I can't really appreciate 161 wins because I have to keep winning, every year you have to get better. It's not just in cycling, it’s in every sport, it’s in life.”
Asked what made him say that, Cavendish continued: “You just do. You can’t rest.
“It's one thing I instil into my kids, don't rest on what you've done. Continue to strive forward. I will support my kids in whatever they do.
“The only thing I ask is commitment to improve and don't give up, 'don't give up' I think is the most important thing.”

WATCH - Every single one of Mark Cavendish's 34 Tour de France stage wins

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