The Tour de France is a wicked sport in the way that it's not just man against man or woman against woman; it's not flesh against flesh. It's flesh against machine.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you see it from the outside, then you see just how great the Tour de France is.
When you get into the final week of the Tour de France, it becomes a different kind of race. As the distance and the fatigue really tell, that is when it becomes a proper test of everyone's fitness.
It's all well and good having a women's Tour de France - which I think we need and I think we should have. But I think we should slowly build it in and not just go 'Bam!' with three weeks over the same course and same length of time as the men's.
You know what? I've won the Tour de France, and now I feel ready to talk about it.
If we went to the Tour, I'd have to think, what would our purpose be? Would it be to win the Tour de France? I'm not sure I want that pressure.
The Tour de France would make a great movie. Drugs, corruption, political chicanery, guys risking their lives - everything you need for a great sports drama.
I'd love to follow the Tour de France one day. It's a really exciting spectacle. I've only seen it once as it was coming into Paris and that was very exciting for me. I have memories of that.
I can train harder and put myself through more punishing efforts now than I used to do, having done the Tour de France, and come off the road now.
When you're the oldest rider at the Tour de France, you really feel it.
I think everyone lifts themselves that little bit extra for the Tour de France, being the pinnacle of our cycling calendar.
No opposing quotes found.