MARK Cavendish claimed his first Tour De France success of 2011 yesterday (Wednesday).
He won the first stage of the tour which marked the 16th of his career.
Cavendish's victory came after a hotly disputed bunch sprint at the end of stage five from Carhaix to Cap Frehel ahead of Belgium's Philippe Gilbert and Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas.
He said: "I'm just passionate about my sport. I love to win and the team gave it everything today to make sure I could get to the line first.
"There are a lot of difficult finishes this year and not so many bunch sprints so I had to make sure I got this one - I had to be resilient.
"On top of that I've had some difficult starts to the big tours, that was only different in 2009, but that's just my character not something to get obsessed with.
"We put every other race on the backfoot to be sure we're in top condition for the tour and that paid off today - that's why we win."
Cavendish has now taken 26 Grand Tour stage wins, including two stages of the Giro in 2011, as well as 67 wins on the road since turning pro in 2007.
