Even though he's "not that good" of a rider, Mark Cavendish plans to lead the 2013 Tour de France. Photo: Bettini

 British rider Mark Cavendish said in an interview published on Monday that he hopes to end the opening stage of next year's 100th Tour de France in the race leader's coveted yellow jersey.

   "I've worn the leader's jersey in the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, so it would be nice to complete the set," the former world champion, who at the end of this season leaves Team Sky for Omega Pharma-Quickstep, told The Times newspaper.

   Cavendish, 27, has won 23 stages on the Tour de France and will wear the Belgian team's colours when cycling's most celebrated race visits the Mediterranean island of Corsica for the first time next year. The flat 212km run from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia on June 29 is seen as perfect for sprinters such as Cavendish, who in 2011 was the world road race champion and has won the final Tour stage on the Champs Elysees for the last four years in succession.

   Cavendish told the daily that next year's Tour will show "every good aspect" of cycling, which is battling to recover from the fall-out of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal that has shattered its reputation. The Isle of Man rider, however, echoed the views of his current team-mate and compatriot, 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, by saying it was unfair to imply that all professional cyclists took banned substances.

   "Since I turned pro, I've not seen anything that suggests it's (cycling's) not clean. I'm riding clean and winning the biggest bike races in the world and I'm actually not that good," he was quoted as saying. "So, if I'm winning clean then people can't be cheating," he said, adding that any current rider who doped would now be found out.