quotes

You just keep putting in the work every season.

It’s been often been fun, it’s often been painful but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Robbie McEwen ends his 17 year career as a pro cyclist – Cycling News.  Photo from Cycling Tips.

I came to the halfway point and I saw 16:09, and I saw again that 16:10 was the best time, and I thought, Oh, I’m the second fastest. And I know I’m good on the way back with a little bit more wind. Of course then I get my diesel engine to work, and I thought, You know what, just go, just throw it out.

I felt good, but I surprised myself a little bit too. It’s makes me happy. It’s no big secret that I’m getting a little bit older. So that’s a good feeling, you can say, Hey you know what, the age doesn’t got me yet.

Jens Voigt after placing 2nd on stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California – Cycling News.  Photo from SteepHill.

I didn’t think I would get another victory. But after the last climb my teammate Daniel Oss said, ‘We win another stage today.’ I said ‘I don’t think so.’ After he said this, inside me I said yeah, OK we will try, and we did.  Now we are very happy and thank you for all my team.

Today we said before the stage, three is good, another one is better. The team was tired, and today we don’t want to work for the win. If someone was going to take over the general classification it didn’t matter to us.

I like California, I like America. Maybe next year I come another time and win another stage. Maybe this is not the record.

Peter Sagan post stage 4, Amgen Tour of California – Cycling News.  Photo from SteepHill.

There were times when I really thought we were on the plane home.  I mean, I will never give up, if I’m out of time, I’m out of time. But it was tough. I told Cav twice just to keep thinking about [his daughter] Delilah.  Yesterday he was on his hands and knees, and then he crashed as well, he was tired.

And I was like ‘that’s it, we’re not going to make it’. There were these long, long roads into a headwind and I was just giving it everything and I was like ‘just keep going.’  Then Jez [Jeremy Hunt] came back [from the bunch] and I was thinking ‘if he’s come back, that’s three of us going to go home.’

But Cav was recovering really well, he was on the wheel for 20k and then he started dropping me because I was empty. And I just killed myself trying to get through on the last part.  It was one of those Giro stages you just hate. All those small ramps [climbs], they were real bastards.  As soon as you lost contact with the bunch, it became a day that was never-ending.  For the last 20k I couldn’t see any more. I don’t know what I had, a heat-stroke. Then I had an asthma attack afterwards and I was lying [horizontal] on the bus for 30 minutes.

Bernhard Eisel speaking post stage 6, Giro d’Italia – Cycling News.  Photo from Velo Peloton.

Ouch! Crashing at 75kph isn’t nice! Nor is seeing Roberto Ferrari’s manoeuvre.  Apparently Roberto Ferrari has said to journalists, when asked about the incident, that he can’t see what happens behind him & doesn’t care.

Mark Cavendish after being taken out by Roberto Ferrari, stage 3 of the 2012 Giro d’Italia – Cycling News.  Photo from L’aérodynamique

I’ve had to work very hard to come back to the level I had the day of my accident. I had a broken hip. Only at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco one month ago, I felt myself competitive again, but the delay was normal: three months off the bike means nine months for the recovery.  Here we are. I resume the Giro with the goal I couldn’t reach last year: the closing individual time trial in Milan in three weeks time.

Marco Pinotti – Cycling News.  Spoken like a true machine.

…nine riders out of ten in the peloton don’t like me.  One day on the 2006 Tour, Tom Boonen, who was reigning world champion, was near the front, slowing things a little.  At the moment I launched my attack, he hit me hard on the back. I stopped, he yelled at me and I said to him: ‘You can shout if you like, but don’t touch me.’ I was the small French guy he could hit because I’m thirty centimetres smaller than him.

Thomas Voeckler – Cycling News.  Photo from SteepHill.

Last year, I won four straight races (Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège). This time none. This is sport…

Philippe Gilbert speaking about his season so far – RTBF, Tenspeed Hero.  At least he’s honest.  Tough to say if Gilbert will have any wins this season, after all, anything can happen in cycling.

Luca didn’t have to instruct me to break away today.  I had the balls to do it.

Leonardo Giordani after stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia, 2011 – Cycling News.  Photo from Ciclismo Espresso.

The climb was so hard that I had to use the 34×29 and only in view of the GPM I switched to the 34×27. With the team we were able to control the situation and when I left, I immediately made a difference.

Domenico Pozzovivo post stage 3, Giro del Trentino – Velonation.  Photo from SteepHill.