I have not made up my mind on retirement yet
What a crazy few days it has been since the Tour de France ended in Nice on Sunday. I still haven’t really had time to process it. I only got back to the UK on Tuesday and then I was off again on Wednesday to race in some criteriums in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Everyone keeps asking me whether that is it; whether I have raced my last race. I don’t know. I need to decompress a bit with the family, and then we’ll see what the rest of the season looks like.
What I do know is how grateful I am to everyone who helped me to achieve my dreams. Winning that stage in Saint-Vulbas was the end of a long, long road. I could not have got there without my friends, my team-mates, my coaches, my partners and most of all my family.
Having them out there with me was so special. My wife Peta did such an amazing job, meticulously planning a whole road trip so that our children could be there, not just for the sprint days but for the tough mountain days as well. They were my inspiration. They have always come out to the odd stage, or rest day. But for them to experience the Tour in that way, especially my last one, was incredibly special. You sacrifice a lot as a professional athlete. But so do your families. It was a very emotional three weeks.
But how quickly time moves on. The Olympics are upon us and I’m incredibly excited to watch them and to try to communicate some of my thoughts with Telegraph readers. I will be out in Paris for a few days with sponsors and I cannot wait. I’m a massive fan of the Olympics. The first one I remember watching was Barcelona 1992. I was seven years old and I remember being utterly transfixed. I need only hear the opening bars to Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona to be transported back to my living room on the Isle of Man.
Mostly, I remember cheering for Marie Purvis, the Manx rider, in the women’s road race. I wasn’t actually into cycling back then but it is interesting that it is Purvis I remember watching. Chris Boardman’s pointy helmet and Lotus bike also made a distinct impression on the seven-year-old me. It wasn’t a conscious decision where I suddenly wanted to ride a bike. That didn’t come until a few years later. But looking back, I think subconsciously it definitely played a part. That is the power of the Olympics. The power to inspire.
I was lucky enough to represent Great Britain three times at the Games and they remain some of the proudest moments of my life. My silver medal in Rio holds a special place in my heart, but famously that gold medal always eluded me. I’m philosophical about it now.
If you’re good enough to win, and things go your way, you win. If someone’s better than you, or if things don’t go your way, you don’t win. That’s sport in its purest form.
I used to look at it differently. I would get frustrated and angry. I remember the disappointment in 2012 particularly, when the race didn’t come back together and I wasn’t able to sprint. But that’s kind of how I see it now. You can only do what you can do. We went and we tried. It’s as simple as that. I’m one of thousands of athletes, at every Olympics, who go and try.
Of course, going to a Games as the favourite is a big deal. But you can only do what you can do. In everything in life, in every race, you prepare the best you can. And maybe at that moment a result changes your life, or maybe it simply doesn’t go as you hoped.
All I know is I always wore the British jersey with the biggest pride you could possibly have. I’m immensely lucky to have lived out my dream of representing my country. I’m quite happy with my career. It doesn’t change how I view the Olympics.
Ironically, for a road cyclist, the Games is not actually the be all and end all. The pinnacle of our sport is the Tour de France, the big one-day classics, the world championships.
But being part of Team GB is something else. Our athletes are not going there to try to win one or two medals. We go as a dominant nation and to be part of that feels powerful. You feel what Team GB does to support you. And you feel the emotions of the whole country who are living it with you. I’m really excited to visit Team GB house when I’m in Paris – going there, seeing our Olympic heroes past and present, there is always such an amazing aura.
Mostly, I’m looking forward to experiencing this Olympics alongside my family, at home for once. I was fortunate to compete with some pioneers, riders such as Chris Hoy, Brad Wiggins, Laura Kenny, Jason Kenny, Vicky Pendleton, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas. They inspired people to get on their bikes. I dare say they inspired some of those riding this year. Youngsters such as 20-year-old Josh Tarling, a super nice Welsh kid who competes in the time trial on Saturday. Even though he is up against superstars such as Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna, Josh is probably the favourite which is unbelievable. That is his job now, to inspire the next generation.
Kids like my six-year-old Casper. He is absolutely cycling-mad. It doesn’t matter what discipline; BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, road, track. To be fair, they’re all sports-mad. Delilah, who is 12, competed in gymnastics for years so she’s massively into that. We always watch sport as a family. We’ll have the football on at dinner, or whatever happens to be on. The Olympics is magic in that sense. Whether it’s the canoe-slalom or the dressage, you know these athletes have dedicated years of their lives to get to this point. It could be for just one race, or one event. It can change somebody’s life. I know because it changed mine.