On a friendship with former president George W. Bush: He's a personal friend, but we've all got the right not to agree with our friends.

Do it even if you shouldn't, do it becuase you want to, do it becuase it will make things better.

It gave me a chance to re-evaluate my life and my career. Cancer certainly gives things a new perspective. I would not have won the Tour de France if I had not had cancer. It gave me new strength and focus.

People refer to 'the good ol' days', but I don't know what they're talking about. As someone who's battled cancer, if I lived more than 20 years ago, I'd be a dead man.

The question was, which would the chemo kill first: the cancer or me?

Chasing records doesn't keep me on my bike. Happiness does.

But the fact is that I wouldn't have won even a single Tour de France without the lesson of illness. What it teaches is this: pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.