Quotes from Geraint Thomas

In a stage race, you can have bad luck or make a mistake, and it's not the end of the race. You have more opportunities.

I just love riding my bike - no more so than at home in Cardiff and in South Wales on the roads where I started out, riding with my mates who I grew up with.

It's hard to put into words, really, how proud I am and great it is to represent Wales because, in cycling, it's a little-known country, so it's nice to put it on the map.

I'm a big fan of Anthony Joshua.

I am not really superstitious - I get ready in the same order pretty much every day. I'm afraid I'm a bit boring like that.

When you're eating salad and quinoa while training, all you want is a burger. In the cycling season, when I'm doing 30-odd hours of exercise a week, I'm dreaming of burgers and curries that I'll have at the end of the season.

Of course you want a better culture of cycling in the U.K. Better roads. More respect.

I don't mind it when people come up to me and say, 'Well done.' That's lovely. The bit that's weird is stuff like... I've had a load of eBay people hounding me. Just sort of getting you to sign stuff which they can then sell.

I regret not paying a bit more attention to Welsh lessons at school. My Welsh is pretty ropey, as back at my school, people didn't take Welsh lessons seriously. My dad can speak it, so I wish he'd taught me some growing up.

Everyone in the world of cycling knows how much it is a team sport as well as individual. It's just amazing to be a part of.

My wife, she puts up with a lot: we're training hard, you're tired, you're not eating a lot, so you get a bit grumpy, so she does put up with a lot - fair play.

Winning that team-pursuit Olympic gold medal was unbelievable.

I have come to see what the Tour is about, and it has been harder than I imagined. You don't realise what it is like until you actually compete.

In Britain, we have this attitude that people are one-hit wonders. If it proves that way, I'd rather have had that one hit than not at all.

You will have ups and downs - but believe anything is possible. With hard work, it can come off.

You get into such a routine of trying so hard each day and racing between 180 and 220 km., and as soon as you stop, it's weird, but you start to seize up. So it's easier if you keep the body ticking over. You just feel better for it come race day.

I've put on a helmet more times than I've buckled a seatbelt.

I get moody when I'm tired or hungry. My missus says I get moody... but not with other people. But I can get grumpy.

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 was fortunate to be born when I was. There's been a massive rise in British cycling since I joined the junior programme when I was 17. It all started in 2004 when Chris Hoy won gold for the 1 km. time trial in Athens; when one person starts doing well, they take everyone with them.

I miss the BBC when I'm away. I'm away so much that it's a pleasure just walking back through the door and sitting on the sofa to watch some rubbish TV.

I like riding for five or six hours, then sitting on the sofa staring at the TV. It's my normal.

Brits love an underdog, don't they?

Life's not fair, I guess.