Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Every race is a war. Every race is a fight. If you don't go into every event with that belief, you will never achieve your goals.
Cycling is part of me, it's who I am. When you get injured, your whole identity is taken away from you, you're no longer yourself.
Life is too brief and too rich to tiptoe through half-heartedly, rather than galloping at it with whooping excitement and ambition.
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.
The supporters...It is true that they are dangerous when they run close to the riders. From there to throwing a punch. That is a step.
Adventure is just about doing something you’ve never done— doing it with enthusiasm and curiosity: doing something difficult with passion.
I think we all want to successfully push back the aging process, to deny the aging process. Who among us says, 'Yippee, I'm getting older'?
Being injured is quite an awkward situation to be in mentally. Physically, it's quite good to have a bit of a rest, but mentally it's hell.
If you're not terrified, you're not going to win. You have to ride right up to the edge of control and not make any mistakes that cost you time.
You 'mustn't' nothing in your life. I don't 'must' nothing in the life, just die. It's important, yeah, but I have also a future in front of me.
I am a family man, and I have to find my priorities. During the season, it is to race. During the off-season, it is to spend time with my family.
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!'
I always travel with my bike and it has become a little more difficult to do it nowadays, but I stick it in 3,5 by 6-foot case and wheel that thing in.
From my conversations with Lance Armstrong and experiences with Lance and the team I am aware that Lance used blood transfusions from 2001 through 2005.
I like to sit down, relax, have a cup of coffee on the terrace and read a book. I like to travel the world - and I'm lucky to see so much through cycling.
I had a great career. I have no reason to complain. It's the way it goes in nature. You slow down. And I believe I lasted a lot longer than a lot of people.
I was not using the gears I usually do for time trials - it was either hard [gear] to pedal, or really low [gear] to pedal; [that] was something special of today.
If you want to make real money, do something that scares the crap out of 99% of the population, and only one person in a couple of hundred is physically capable of.
I believe BMX has shaped me into who I am today, so if this journey never would have begun, then who knows the person I would be or what I would be doing with my life.
My life, since I was 12-years-old, has revolved around some sort of sport, mainly cycling, so when I'm unable to ride my bike I just don't know what to do with myself.
For me the best part about the racing is to let all your aggression - whatever you've got inside you - out on the bike and just attack everything at all possible times.
I could kill Vino for all this doping crap. Strangle him slowly with piano wire just like they do in the Italian gangster movies. I bet I could get Aru to buy the wire.
I want to be remembered as somebody working hard, walking straight in life, most of the time, and just being a down-to-earth person, being loyal and being indestructible.
The true value of communication is often not so much what you say to each other but the simple, powerful fact that you care enough to say something to each other so often.
I'd like to throw Betsey Andreu and Travis Tygart in a wood-chipper. That would be my idea of a good time. Maybe I could get George to come over and help me clean up after.
I gave it everything in the last 20 minutes. I knew that I still had the energy, that I was ahead of the mark. I felt euphoric — it was the last 20 minutes of my sporting career.
Cycling is an endurance sport. You lose your fast-twitch ability as you age, but your endurance peaks when you hit 30. I don't think I really started feeling my age until around 40.
...the disqualification is unjust, I understand his reaction. You must understand the riders at certain moments (like climbing an 18% hill) they are stressed and they can react rashly.
No two situations are identical, but with years of experience you can usually find a comparison to something you did before, which shortens the process of deciding how to approach a job.
You get a feeling on certain trails, when you're reacting like you and your machine are just one thing. It's the feeling of physical exertion and speed and technique all wrapped into one.
I don't want to have that one year too much, where people actually, behind my back, start smiling at me and pointing fingers at me and go, 'Ah, look, that's Jensie. No, he's not good anymore.'
It is the passion inside me that means I keep going. I love what I do, and I think I am lucky to do it. When I am riding a quiet country road, I hear the birds singing and think, 'I am in my office now.'
There are too many factors you have to take into account that you have no control over...The most important factor you can keep in your own hands is yourself. I always placed the greatest emphasis on that.
It is exactly the unattainability, which differentiates a dream from a goal: Goals are reachable, when you fight for them. Dreams are not. Athletes shouldn't dream, but set goals for themselves and fight for them.
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.
I'm kind of well-known in Holland, which is nice. But in Holland, we're down to earth; there are no paparazzi in my garden and no autograph hunters at the door. We have 'Strictly Come Dancing,' but I've not been asked.
I was always fast riding bikes with my brother who got me on a bike. There was little to do so I ended up riding everywhere. It was both my transportation, entertainment, and a good way perhaps to make a living I hope.
Mental hospitals are great for horror movies because they're already scary even without the horror or supernatural elements. This is a place where you can play with the ideas of one's sanity, what's real and what's not.
I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailleur? We are getting soft... As for me, give me a fixed gear!
I liked the idea that if something horrible was happening to one of the characters in the mental hospital, no one would believe them. The staff would just chalk it up to them being crazy. So it gives me a lot to work with.
I don't have the ideal body type for BMX, but just with anything, you have your pros and your cons. And being small kind of allows me to maneuver through the other bigger riders and make passes they couldn't necessarily make.
All of a sudden, if I can't go cycling, I have to do something else for five hours - I can't do anything for five hours! It just means sitting at home trying to work out something to do. It's just not me, it doesn't feel right.
I'm not one of those guys that sits and studies all the stages to see what's gonna be my sort of thing. I sort of play in the moment. Everything is split-second decisions, and I try and make the best out of every possible situation.
I like the sprints so much because it's very explosive, very aggressive, and quite physical sometimes as well. On top of that you've got the speed, so it's a big adrenaline rush coming into the sprints all the time. I love that bit!
Imagine someone telling you that by taking a certain drug you could win a single event and be three times richer, famous for life in your country-and it won't hurt anyone. What would you say? There's a wide range of ethics among the riders.
My English is perfect. I just like to say garbled nonsense to throw people off and keep them from bothering me. Cryptic is cool and it just adds to my mystique. I mean, Cancellara says some wacky stuff in English and nobody makes fun of him.
There can be crowd issues everywhere in cycling. But it's a good thing for cycling that it's so accessible for spectators. That's why it's so popular - because fans can get close to the road and the race. But you also have to be aware of the dangers.
I hope I am allowed to say that the reason I am popular is because of the way I am, the way I race, and the way I talk. I am just the old-fashioned, reliable guy, and people always know I am after one thing: 'There is Jens. He will go in the breakaway.'
Sometimes all you need is to climb a simple hill, to spend time staring at an empty horizon, to jump into a cold river or sleep under the stars, or perhaps share a whisky at a small country inn in order to remind yourself what matters most to you in life.
I love attacking and racing aggressively, and obviously it's a big bonus when you're making an attack and you look around and you see the guys making faces because they're in pain, that just gives you that extra little percent to make them hurt even more.