2009 1ST

“THE MOST COMPLICATED PART WAS WHAT I LIVED THROUGH OFF THE BIKE”

The toughest part of this Tour was being in the team hotel [with Lance Armstrong, also pushing for the win, as a team-mate]. The tension inside the team wasn’t bad just in the Tour, either, it was really tough in the month before. It was only thanks to certain people in the team that I got through it all right. People might not see me as being a strong character, but just because I don’t show my stronger side that often doesn’t mean I don’t have it. The situation I found myself in that year made me dig deeper inside myself, push myself harder. Essentially, I poured all of that into how I raced and how I rode.

On the road, I was fine because physically I was in really good shape. But the hard part of winning the 2009 Tour always came once the racing stopped and when we got back to the hotel each day.