On the Tour, you live in a bubble - your team, the other riders, the press - so you don't know how it looks from outside.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Sir Wiggo sounds nice.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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