Some excerpts from the interview mentioned below. Worth a bit of time and space, as it’s rather funny.

FL: It was at least 13. I don’t remember the exact number. I think the story gets exaggerated. We had seven or eight, and the waitress thought it was really funny to have so many, so she just kept bringing them, and we kept drinking them. And then I started acting like Beavis.

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DZ: You know when you’re growing up, and your buddy calls you, “Hey, you wanna ride bikes today?” That’s what it’s like with Floyd and me. We go ride bikes and it’s fun. It’s like we’re out playing all day.

FL: Training’s never fun. It’s difficult. So, it’s better when you’ve got somebody who’s your friend.

DZ: If we’re together, then we’re training together. Every day.

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DZ: It was like everyone buys mountain bikes, no one buys road bikes, so I got a road bike. And I saw Breaking Away. And some kid in school called me Chicken Legs, so I wanted to get bigger legs.

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DZ: What about your training volume?

FL: It’s been less. A lot less. Even until now each month I’ve ridden probably 20 hours less per month than any other year. That’s almost an hour less a day. It’s not like it’s been planned. I didn’t expect to be that good in January and February but then when I was that good I figured, OK, there’s no reason to train more right now. Later I need to train more for the Tour, but so far there has been no reason to overdo_ it. I’m taking this week off, not even riding. Next week I’ll head to Spain and start fresh again for the next two months. So, I’m confident that I haven’t been over_doing it. I also know I haven’t been under-doing it, because I’ve been winning races, hard races. Paris-Nice is one of the hardest races in the world. We didn’t go there with the intention of winning because it wasn’t an ideal course for me. There was no long time trial and no uphill finish. But the one day where there was a hard mountain toward the end, it was good for me that there was bad weather and everyone was miserable, because then the climb was harder. If we were all fresh at the bottom, then we would have gone over it together.

DZ: You’re good when things are miserable. I like to say you’re the toughest man in the peloton. I mean, to look at you on the bike–it’s like you’re an indestructible force just rolling. Like, everyone else looks a little off, like they’re waiting for the finish line, just waiting for it to be over. But you never wait for it to be over. It’s like you just know that when the finish line comes you’ll be the conquerer.

FL: Are you drunk?

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