• Tour de France

Green jersey winner Cavendish hails 'my best Tour yet'

Mark Cavendish enjoys his victory parade © Getty Images

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Mark Cavendish hailed his 'best Tour de France yet' after clinching the green jersey for the Tour's top sprinter following a fifth stage victory of the year in the final run to Paris on Sunday.

Cavendish started the day with a slim advantage over Jose Rojas in the sprint classification, but was once again led to a victory up the Champs Elysees - his third successive success on the Tour's final leg - by his HTC-Highroad team-mates to ensure he won the maillot vert, in the process becoming the first Brit to do so.

Having admitted that winning the jersey had long been an aim of his, Cavendish - whose 20 Tour stage wins now put him sixth on the all-time list - paid tribute to the hard work of his team to put him in the position to realise his ambitions.

"If you've seen how well my team rode then you'd know that I'm incredibly lucky that I've got such a group of guys around me," Cavendish said. "They've been committed to the cause of winning races and it's paid off.

"It's not as if we didn't put it all together and I can't stress how lucky I am. I get to wear this jersey. I get my name on the results board.

"Today was the perfect example of how well we ride. We didn't have to chase the break because Lars [Bak] was in the break but when he came back we were ready. With this team, I can't fail."

Asked whether he could nevertheless be set to ditch HTC-Highroad in order to join up with Team Sky, as has been heavily rumoured, the sprinter paused for almost a minute before saying cheerily: "No."

Cavendish has had more successful Tours in terms of stage victories - he won six in 2009 - but had always failed to top the sprinter's contest. The 26-year-old Manx rider is in no doubt finally wearing the green jersey automatically makes this Tour his best yet.

"This is absolutely my best Tour de France yet," he said. "Okay, I won six stages in 2009 but I didn't get the green jersey. I wanted it this year and I won five stages and the team got a sixth with Tony Martin and I've got the green jersey so this tops off any result beforehand.

"The green jersey is an objective I've had in mind for a long time. It's incredible to get it. This victory is nice ... because I've got the green jersey."

Despite his success, Cavendish is not letting his attention slip from other aims he now has for the rest of 2011, including the World Championships.

"I want to celebrate with the guys tonight but we have other objectives: the Tour of Spain before the Worlds at the end of the season," he said.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.