Brit Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) believes that the training he has done will allow him easily to beat his rivals this July and take Tour de France's green jersey for the first time.
"I know if I do the work then I'll win it. I'm not being arrogant, I'm sat here with pretty slumped shoulders, stating the fact that I know I'll do what's right to win it. I know physically no one can match me," Cavendish told The Guardian.
"We've got the best guys on the team to support me to do it. It's illogical to say I shouldn't be the favourite for it."
The 24-year-old sprinter from the Isle of Man won four stages in 2008 and six last year. He is convinced that nothing will go wrong this season for the most prestigious jersey a sprinter can win.
"Lance Armstrong won seven Tours, that's 147 days of racing, and he never had a puncture or a mechanical. You can really minimise your chances of a mistake if you do everything right.
"One guy said I had OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder], but I'm just meticulous. It's like when I'm cooking I cut everything up, prepare it all in bowls – you know like how they do in TV? Well, that's minimising the risk of failure, I'm not going to burn something because I'm cutting something up. If you can put all your ingredients in bowls beforehand you're not going to f**k up. That's what I'm like when I'm competing."
Cavendish lost his chance to win the green jersey last year in stage 14's sprint to Besançon. After a complaint by rival Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam), judges re-examined the sprint and ruled Cavendish guilty of "irregular sprinting," or blocking Hushovd. They regulated him to the back of the group, which meant that instead of Cavendish gaining one point on Hushovd he lost 13.
"The decision last year, that's got to be one of the worst sports decisions in history – it's up there with Maradona's handball at the [1986] World Cup. One of the worst decisions in sports history."
After a slow start this year due to tooth problems, Cavendish is ready to revenge the decision. He won a stage last month and is now in Italy preparing for the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of California.