Mark Cavendish confident of Tour de France stage wins

Mark Cavendish is confident his new team can help him increase his record of 23 stage wins at the Tour de France.

The sprinter, 27, left Team Sky in the winter to join Omega Pharma-Quick Step and initially voiced disappointment with his new team-mates.

But after winning the Tour of Qatar and gaining several stage wins in other races, he says he is in good shape.

''I have had the most successful start to a year I have ever had in my career," he told BBC Sport.

"So I am very happy with where I am, very happy with the team and we have not even got to the Grand Tours yet.

"It is about having a balanced team that can win across all aspects.

"We are not going to go for the general classification, we will go for as many stages as possible and build a team around that

"There are always seven sprint stages in the Tour de France, for example, so I work around having my best form for July.

"We look at it closer to the time, there is nothing I can really do now apart from get my form good.''

Mark Cavendish was speaking at an event to promote the Help for Heroes charity.