David Millar Quotes

My epiphany came in that police cell: I realized I was about to lose everything and it didn't bother me, not in the slightest. I'd come to hate cycling because I blamed it for the lie I was living.

To be brutally honest, it's simple economics. If they want to come into cycling, sponsors need to know the team they are funding is clean, otherwise the risk is just too great.

In Italy it's full-on stardom when you're a cyclist - eating in restaurants for free, it's great.

Cycling is based so much on form, on aesthetics, on class - the way you carry yourself on the bike, the sort of technique you have.

But human nature dictates that there will always be cheaters. That's inevitable. Where there's money involved and glory, there are going to be people that cheat, and there will always be ways to cheat.

Often the best guys are just those that can suffer longer, who don't give up. And it's so easy to give up, when you're on a mountain and it's really hurting. We go through a lot physically.

I'll go [racing] until my body won't let me any more. Someone said to me: "The day you stop, you won't be able to get back on the same way as when you did as a pro." I want to delay that kiss goodbye as long as possible.

There will always be cheaters. It is human nature. It will never be 100 percent clean, in any sport.

I shave my legs twice a week. It's hard the first time you do it. But I'm very lazy. For a team photo in December I just did the fronts.

I think cycling has always had a tradition of being a bit dapper, especially back in the day.

I've been proud to be national champion. I've really enjoyed it. I have very little opportunity to remind people that I'm British and it's a nice way of staying in touch. I'm going to defend it fiercely. I want to keep it.

I've been proud to be national champion.

Cycling is such a stupid sport. Next time you are in a car travelling at 40mph think about jumping out - naked. That's what it's like when we crash.

I was awarded 'Most Aggressive Rider of the Day', generally given to the most spectacular loser of the day.

Survival is the main objective. There are going to be some awful days, I know that from my background in the sport.

I might have changed, but that did not mean the sport had.

If you're not at the front, you're not in the race.

I like my hands. Which is lucky as I have to spend all day looking at them on the handlebars.

I'm an accumulation of every single thing I've done, good and bad.

The manner in which one loses the battle can sometimes outshine the victory.

The first time I rode a bike I was four or five. I crashed into the back of a car.

Now there are two or three teams who are very ethical in their outlook who have opened up the economic benefits and that is probably going to be a turning point in the sport.

It seemed romantic but also tragic - people would be winning but then lose it all, or crash but fight on, break bones but get back on their bikes and try to finish. Just getting to the end was seen as an achievement in itself.

People do make mistakes and I think they should be punished. But they should be forgiven and given the opportunity for a second chance. We are human beings.

I had grown used to getting a pat on the back and being told after a good result: 'Well done, David - you should be happy, you're the first clean rider.