When you get second place, you say 'I could have won it here, I could have won it there.' When you win, you never say anything; it's finished.

There is no pill, no drug, that can do for you what one hour of exercise can.

Seattle is very similar to Minneapolis. I like the culture; I like the people. I raced a bike and won a national championship on Lake Washington in 1977, so I've had a connection there for a long time.

You don't suffer, kill yourself and take the risks I take just for money. I love bike racing.

I'm more optimistic about cycling right now than I've ever been.

It is cycling as a professional sport that represents the problem. It can transform someone into a liar.

I love downtown Seattle. It's a city that has all of the outdoor activities and is still a very cosmopolitan city.

There are few things that you can't do as long as you are willing to apply yourself.

Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made. Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made.

I know it is possible to win the Tour without taking anything.

Testing, we will never do enough of it.

Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time.

I want to tell the world of cycling to please join me in telling Pat McQuaid to resign. I have never seen such an abuse of power in cycling's history -- resign, Pat, if you love cycling. Resign even if you hate the sport.

The physical demands of cycling is that it actually lowers your immune system, and you expose yourself to a tremendous amount of elements -- so certain people might get a chronic overload and develop, say, bad asthma.

If people really want to clean the sport of cycling up, all you have to do is put your money where your mouth is.

I guess I'm a semi-retired person. I work out of my house. I'm a skier in the winter -- downhill and cross country. I have a place in Montana for the down-hilling.

I know too that we Americans like to think of ourselves as cleaner than clean, a healthy nation who would never take anything when a recent poll suggested that 65 per cent of the population would risk dying in 10 years if they would be guaranteed Olympic gold.

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying.

I rode in a nine-day charity ride recently, averaged 43km a day and still finished in the lead group. I'm 38, not quite finished yet.

Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made.