Succeeding in sport is about how much practise you put in.

It's a risky business being a cyclist in the UK, there are a lot of people who really dislike us. It's the Jeremy Clarkson influence - we're hated on the roads. We just hope people realise we are just flesh and bones on two wheels.

I really love routine and so I've never found it a problem. I really enjoy it. I don't mind somebody organising what I have to do. I'm a creature of habit in some ways.

It really is all about believing in yourself: 80 per cent mental, 20 per cent physical.

I like to eat healthily anyway and I think I've become more disciplined now I've retired - because I'm such a creature of habit, I don't find it hard to do. I quite enjoy the challenge.

I don't think I really knew how fit I was when I was a kid. I rode with my dad quite long distances and I've been racing since the age of nine, so we did a lot of sport growing up. My earliest memories of my dad are watching him race, so it was inevitable when we were old enough that my brother and I would get on bikes.

When you see your male counterparts living a completely different lifestyle, I think it would be quite depressing! So no, it's not for me.