Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time.

Even good people are obliged to deceive.

There is no pill, no drug, that can do for you what one hour of exercise can.

It doesn't get any easier; you just get faster.

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle, it's not going to be satisfying.

You don't suffer, kill yourself and take the risks I take just for money. I love bike racing.

I know too that we Americans like to think of ourselves as cleaner than clean, a healthy nation who would never take anything when a recent poll suggested that 65 per cent of the population would risk dying in 10 years if they would be guaranteed Olympic gold.