The Tour has changed, and I can't make up my mind if it's changed for the better or worse.

If we went to the Tour, I'd have to think, what would our purpose be? Would it be to win the Tour de France? I'm not sure I want that pressure.

I was born in Belgium, but we moved to Kilburn when I was one, so 'Time Out' has always been in the background of my life.

The 2012 Olympics is a fantastic incentive for everyone to help leave a sporting legacy and show that Britain is truly a great sporting nation.

Growing up, the news agents round my way in Kilburn all had 'Time Out' on their shopfronts. The logo is a London icon.

I began cycling round the Serpentine because it was the only closed route in London where I could ride traffic-free.

You can plan physically to try to win the Tour, but I could never plan for what was going to happen after it.

I'd love to win Paris-Roubaix.

I feel like I was born to ride the track.

My dad was a professional track racer. It's in my genes, and my first memories as a baby were in a velodrome.

That period afterwards, just hating being the winner of the Tour de France, hating cycling, hating the media for asking me questions about Lance Armstrong.

I'm not just a time triallist any more.

I've become more of a climber now - who still keeps that time trial as strong as ever. It gives me such self-belief. I feel a different athlete.

I feel a different person in a lot of ways. I feel much more professional and dedicated to my trade than I used to be. I appreciate this ability I've got - and don't take it for granted any more. That fits every aspect of my life now.

I've got an opportunity that not many people have - to be the leader of Team Sky as I enter the prime years of my career.

Usually, the great thing about cycling is that anybody can watch it; it's very accessible.

You train all year for the physical aspect of cycling, but you can't plan for what comes next. You're still the same person. External perceptions might change, but inside, you're the same.

Working-class people don't tend to be wooed by celebrity.

You think if you win the Olympics, you'll become a millionaire overnight. But I was still scraping the barrel, looking down the back of the settee for pound coins to buy a pint of milk.

You take for granted that you can walk. You do it every day, and then suddenly you can't walk, and you have to remember, 'How did I get out of this chair and start walking in the first place?'

I didn't like doing team presentations at races, being introduced as the winner of the Tour. I felt quite embarrassed by it.

When I did win the Tour, I felt I was feted more in the U.K. for being an Olympic gold medallist... Then I come back to Europe to race, and they're not interested in the Olympic gold; it's about being the winner of the Tour de France - here he is.

You know what? I've won the Tour de France, and now I feel ready to talk about it.

I'm not really a computer man, to be honest. I check my emails every couple of weeks.

I've always shied away from computers, the Internet and all that. I'm a bit more traditional, really - pick up a newspaper, pick up a phone.

I've got a EC3-35 Gibson, which is pretty cherished. I've got a vintage Reichenbacker 330 in fireglow, which is the other one I look after and don't let the kids touch.

One of my all-time favourite guitarists is, in fact, a bassist - John Entwistle from The Who. He's one of my all-time favourites, the way he kind of expanded. I mean, he could have been a lead guitarist and been one of the best guitarists in the world. He wasn't even bass player; he was a bass guitarist, and he took the bass to another level.

I was a fan of Lance Armstrong, and I remember watching him win the Worlds in '93 in Oslo.

I think my wife has struggled a bit because of how obsessive I get with what I eat and stuff.

It's difficult, and it's an incredibly fine balance between getting your weight right down and being anorexic.

I don't make predictions. I know what I can do, and I try not to think too far ahead.

I may never get back to the track. The problem was that I was dominating my event, and the winning became slightly boring. I wanted new challenges, and I've got that on the road.

I had a small investment in Twofold, following guidance from my professional advisers. I had, however, claimed no tax relief of any amount in regard to this investment. Given the concerns raised about it, I have now instructed my advisors to withdraw me from the scheme with immediate effect.

If I'm going to Kilburn, I get on a bus.

I take my kids to school. It's what keeps you normal.

Not having my father around has made me a better person.

If I can win the Tour de France, there is hope for everybody.

I always found that the more extreme and the more eccentric I was, that's what would separate me. I always felt that I needed that separation; otherwise, I'd just be like everybody else.

I just felt that if the team is doing seven hours, I'd want to do eight. I'd always need to do more. I knew that would make me better than everybody else.

Things change; your priorities change in life. So I'd never think of riding 100 miles on Christmas Day now, because I've got two kids, and it's selfish.

Everything I achieve affects my family as well, and suddenly, my kids' dad became the most famous man in the country for a couple of weeks.

Sir Wiggo sounds nice.

It's really incredible to win an Olympic Gold in your home city.

I was a bit of a loner at school because I was into what I was into, that sort of scene; that is where the whole mod thing started, when I was 14-15.

I went to see Ocean Colour Scene at Shepherds Bush and and felt part of something. They paved the way for me.

Early Nineties - that was what it was all about: how people dressed on the terraces.

In sport, you just have to take what you can get.

When you get into the final week of the Tour de France, it becomes a different kind of race. As the distance and the fatigue really tell, that is when it becomes a proper test of everyone's fitness.

I said at the start of the race that the Tour is about being good for 21 days, being consistent every day, not having super days and bad days.

You speak to the press at the Tour every day, but most often in a negative sense. Ninety per cent of the questions you are asked in the post-race press conferences are challenging or provocative, so you have to justify yourself; you have to try to give the right answers about every topic across the board.