Competitive Cycling Quotes

Second doesn't mean anything in cycling.

Chris Boardman was my first teammate and my first roommate. I saw him finish his career with an hour record and thought, 'Yeh, what a way to go out!'

Before the Olympics, there's always been a part of me that's wanted to write a book about Women's cycling because there isn't one out there and I think there's a lot to be said.

I'm not just a time triallist any more.

What I have learned about the sport of cycling is that you have to love it to do it because you're not going to retire off of it.

It's tough though because of the whole part about getting sponsors and people out to watch women's cycling. I think the only way that women can really work it is that we have to work our way more into these big grand tours that the men have like the Tour de Georgia, Tour of Utah, and Tour of California.

I rode for Maindy Flyers, a local kids' club from Cardiff. We started travelling across the country doing races, but Manchester was the first stage race I did.

I love cycling. I am going to keep racing as hard as I can until this body doesn't allow me to any more.

One of the reasons I'm so competitive - I mean, I'm not winning much anymore - at my age was because I always worked hard and because we have a level playing field. We don't have motorbikes in the peloton anymore.

From the time I was six years old, I wanted to be a BMX Racer and be the best.

I checked on the Internet this morning, and I realized that with five individual world titles, I was level with my elders Florian Rousseau and Arnaud Tournant, who were the sprint leaders in France when I started at the French Institute of Sports and taught me everything. I had the chance to overtake them, and I did it.

I think USA Cycling really needs to ride this wave and start looking at growing the sport. It's a tough one because cycling is such an endurance sport.

I'm lucky that mountian biking wasn't around when I was 20, because I wouldn't have won the Tour de France. It's my kind of sport - hard, individualistic, and not a lot of tactics.

I'm 28, and for the next six or seven years my goal is to try to fight for the yellow jersey. If I can win it once I would be chuffed to bits.

Both the velodrome and the Commonwealth swimming pool are open to the public and are frequently used by local schools and the local community. Over the last six years young people have been inspired to take up swimming and cycling more seriously; some of them are now coming through as Olympic champions or hopefuls.

I love track racing and I'm proud to be a British cyclist and proud to pull on the jersey to represent my country.

The Giro's difficult to predict for the points jersey because there are so many mountain-top finishes and there are as many points on offer for mountain stages as for sprints. It's really for the most consistent all-round rider and it's pretty difficult for me to win it.

Sooner or later a rider will emerge who will win more Tours. In every sport we have seen how the records eventually get broken and cycling is no exception.

I'm not trying to race the whole men's tour; I just want to race one time. If you know me, which most people on the World Cup do, they know that this is a legitimate goal of mine and not a publicity stunt.

Sometimes the hardest part of the stage is right at the beginning. The other teams will leave it to us to chase down a breakaway, and we can't allow a big group to go up the road - anything more than four riders is trouble.

The solo break or the small break, it's... one of the most glorious ways to win a bike race. It's pretty damn impressive in my mind.

I'd love to win Paris-Roubaix.

I come from a cycling background. I happened to be good at it; the opportunities came my way. It wasn't something I necessarily searched to be involved in; it wasn't a dream. I just had an opportunity which you couldn't refuse.

I am just this small-town Canberra girl that's taken riding a little kid's bike on dirt tracks to the highest level.

I never expected to compete at home in a UCI women's race - let alone as world champion.