Twenty-plus-year career, 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case.

If you're trying to hide something, you wouldn't keep getting away with it for 10 years. Nobody is that clever.

It's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.

The day it all changed. The day I stated never to take anything for granted. The day I learned to take charge of my life. It was the day I was diagnosed with cancer.

You can teach someone how to control their strength, but you can't teach them to be strong.

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.

The ban is completely out of my hands. And I think in most people's minds, even if it's unrealistic to them, it's one that I left myself with no choice on.