When you get second place, you say 'I could have won it here, I could have won it there.' When you win, you never say anything; it's finished.

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

Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made.

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

The key is being able to endure psychologically. When you're not riding well, you think, why suffer? Why push yourself for four or five hours? The mountains are the pinnacle of suffering

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

The problem with being a Tour de France winner is you always have that feeling of disappointment if you don't win again. That's the curse of the Tour de France.