But, listen, Eddie Merkyx would have won six Tours if he hadn't been punched.

During our lives...we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope.

How many times do I have to say it? … Well, it can't be any clearer than 'I've never taken drugs.'

Suffering, I was beginning to think, was essential to a good life, and as inextricable from such a life as bliss. It’s a great enhancer. It might last a minute, but eventually it subsides, and when it does, something else takes its place, and maybe that thing is a great space. For happiness. Each time I encountered suffering, I believed that I grew, and further defined my capacities – not just my physical ones, but my interior ones as well, for contentment, friendship, or any other human experience.

Truth is, a triathlete won the Tour de France seven times.

I love this race from the very depths of my heart. It gives me motivation and it transcendsme like nothing else in the world.

A boo is a lot louder than a cheer.