Mark Cavendish

The Olympics is where you see out of this world performances, isn't it?

All that matters is to be first across the line.

The perception is that I've always made winning look easy. People think it's easy, but they don't see what's behind it, the time away from the family. The days spent climbing, training out in all weather, climbing but trying to keep the speed for the sprint.

I do want to race motorbikes when I retire.

A lot of the riders end up in Monaco, but I don't need to be there for the tax purposes because I'm from the Isle of Man.

It's my job. It's not a hobby, it's how I put food on the table for my family. I have to be on a bike.

You can believe or you can doubt yourself. It's the difference between a gap being one metre late that you're gonna launch, then it's three seconds and you're sat on the wheel and you're about to lose.

Sometimes it can be more tiring with the kids than on the bike but I'm absolutely loving it.

The other sprinters are big and powerful but I have different strengths. The first thing is my leg speed. Most guys sprint at 120 revolutions per minute but I sprint at 130-140: think of it like a smaller engine revving faster. My body is shorter too, so I can lean over the handlebars for a more aerodynamic profile: again, think a smaller engine but in an F1 car.

Since we married, Peta's taken over a lot of my cooking and she's incredible. She'll do different meals for me and the kids, depending on my regime. If I name 10 ingredients she'll change the recipe every day.

The Tour de France is ridiculously hard.

If you don't enjoy something you can't keep at it. That's the thing that sticks with me.

I want to win wherever I race, the team's invested a lot in me.

If somebody had told me as a kid that I would win 30 stages of the Tour de France I probably wouldn't have imagined it. I probably imagined I could do it - I don't lack confidence - but at the end of the day one Tour de France stage win can make a rider's career.

I have to cross the line first. Sometimes you can put it as a fear of losing, but actually it's an addiction to winning.

You can only pre-plan stuff to a certain degree because there are so many variables - road conditions, weather conditions, mechanicals... You have an idea of whose wheel you want to be on.

People's brains work differently. The brain is like a muscle and you have to train it, keep it active, keep active in races. I notice if I haven't raced for a while. It's hard to see things clearly so you have to relearn that.

If you're winning bike races ahead of guys who're older than you then they're going to get upset. When some young guy appears from nowhere, some people who are slower assume they ride dangerously.

At the end of the day I want to be the first rider across that finish line and I'll just find the quickest and easiest way to do it.

My job in the Tour is to get the sponsor's logo in the most prominent place.