Losing and dying: it's the same thing.

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

Nobody needs to cry for me. I'm going to be great.

I don't think anybody else from my generation had federal agents standing at their door with a badge and a gun, saying: 'You are going to answer my questions'.

When you know your not going to die, you have to ask yourself... What's the highest and best use for myself.

There were something like 50 good, arduous climbs around Nice, solid inclines of ten miles or more. The trick was not to climb every once in awhile, but to climb repeatedly. I would do three different climbs in one day, over the course of a six- or seven-hour ride. A 12 mile climb took about an hour, so that tells you what my days were like.

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.