I rode, and I rode, and I rode. I rode like I had never ridden, punishing my body up and down every hill I could find. I rode when no one else would ride.

The way you live your life, the perspective you select, is a choice you make every single day when you wake up. It's yours to decide.

I wanted to win the Tour de France. And when I won it once, I wanted to do it again, and again, and again, it just kept going. So there wasn't another competitive environment.

Through my illness I learned rejection. I was written off. That was the moment I thought, Okay, game on. No prisoners. Everybody's going down.

I don't think history is stupid.History ultimately rectifies a lot of these things. If you had to ask me what I think happens in 50 years, I don't think it sits empty in 50 years. Maybe somebody else's name is there. But you can't leave it empty.

I don't need a field of a thousand people. Anybody can tell you that whoever needs help, I'm happy to help.

I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.