Richard Virenque Quotes

#1. He's dangerous, he's beautiful, and he loves the heat, like me - that's why I had a scorpion tattooed on my leg in 1999 after my fifth jersey.

Richard Virenque

#2. It was important to score points today and I went for them with my guts.

Richard Virenque

#3. Bike riding requires permanent sacrifice. It means training 11 months out of 12 and 110 days of racing, whatever the weather conditions. Early in life, I realised I did not have intellectual potential, so I dedicated myself to cycling.

Richard Virenque

#4. In the second part of my life, away from cycling, I hope I will be able to benefit fully from my family and children in the same way that cycling gave me such joy.

Richard Virenque

#5. My first was in 1994 and it's ten years ago already. It's been ten years and I'm still around. I won a stage again, like I did last year and the year before.

Richard Virenque

#6. I was a hero, and a second afterwards it was all over. Casartelli was dead so what I had achieved was worth nothing.

Richard Virenque

#7. The more the years go by, the more difficult it gets. I'm getting old.

Richard Virenque

#8. I symbolized doping ... My phone rarely rings. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of riders who call me.

Richard Virenque

#9. You can say that climbers suffer the same as the other riders, but they suffer in a different way. You feel the pain, but you're glad to be there.

Richard Virenque

#10. I want to be remembered going off the front, not the other way. After winning my seventh king-of-the-mountains title and winning a stage on Bastille Day, I asked myself, 'What more can I do in cycling?' I want to go out at the top.

Richard Virenque