I have no reason to think that anyone I’m racing against is up to any funny business because I know how rigorous the drug testing system is. From my point of view, I know I’m doing it clean, so I can’t believe that other people are cheating because the margins are so slim and I’m able to win.

I was born in Nairobi, Kenya. My dad was in tourism, organising safaris and things like that, and my mother was a physiotherapist. I had a very different upbringing to a typical British kid. I had two pythons as household pets. My older brother got me interested in snakes from a young age because he had a fair few around the house.

Every now and then I’ll have a glass of red wine with a meal. But even that is very seldom. I’m the first to admit that I don’t have much of a social life.

I feel terribly guilty looking at my two-year-old son and seeing that he’s got a receding hairline already, which I take full responsibility for.

Consistency is the biggest thing. Quite often I’ll spend months trying to improve by just a few per cent, or to get a little bit stronger, but if I took a week off I’d go three steps back. Even if you don’t have time to be putting in huge hours, a little bit more often goes a lot further than one massive ride.

Why do I think we’re here? Good question. I’ve never been asked that before. Why are we here? I’m not sure what would be in our place if we weren’t. You need to give me a bit of time to think about that one.

Since Netflix has come out, reading has become very much secondary for me, unfortunately. What do I watch? Black Mirror is interesting. I find that quite dark, a little bit futuristic and it challenges a few of the ideologies of everyday life. In my teenage years, I’d read a bit more. One book really stood out, The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. It’s a lot to do about the apartheid era in South Africa. That was a hard-hitting read.

I don’t need to wear a tie and a suit and I take full advantage of that.

Can anything prepare you for the death of a parent? That was quite devastating. I found it particularly tough because I hadn’t been there with my mother when she was struggling with cancer. I hadn’t been home for over a year. It did come as a huge shock. She was very active, a very full-of-life person. In a way I’m glad she didn’t suffer a lot by going through treatment after treatment of chemotherapy and being in a bed for months on end because that would have been tough for her. I would have loved for her to have met her grandson and for her to still be around but that’s life. You’ve just got to make the most of it.

You get people asking the generic questions every day. “What do you eat for breakfast?” is probably the biggest one. We eat a lot of rice, which is easy to digest and a good carbohydrate source.

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge music enthusiast but I enjoy some of the older, easy listening kind of stuff, like REM and Counting Crows.

What’s the secret to happy marriage? Ha! Something I’ve learned is that even when you’re right in an argument, sometimes you’re still not right.

Retirement is a topic that’s on the horizon. I’d like to keep going for at least the next five years. Maybe even six if my body will allow me. As I get older, I think I’ll rely more on the know-how as opposed to being the fittest or the strongest.

I've got two brothers. They’re both accountants.

I love putting in the hard yards but I don’t think I’ll miss the suffering when I hang up the bike. The hardest part for me is the diet; I’ve got a huge weakness for white chocolate. Milkybars. Toblerones. Biscuits. All that stuff is a big no-no.

Bradley Wiggins is a remarkable athlete. We were room-mates at times. Not a lot of chat, really. I’m not the most talkative person out there and Bradley’s quite reserved as well. You do just gel a lot easier with some people. In general, Bradley kept very much himself to himself and wasn’t necessarily the easiest guy to just sit around and talk to.

Hippos are one of the most lethal animals in Africa. They kill quite a few people every year.

I don’t long to be in the limelight and be the centre of attention, but I do love being the best at racing my bike. It’s very easy to get sidetracked, but I’m a lot more driven by the sporting achievements than the popularity and the profile that comes along with them.

At the end of last season, I bought myself a drone. They’re pricey, but I wouldn’t say I’m a big spender.

Sport is a huge part of our society. It brings people together. At the same time I do believe that a lot of sportsmen take themselves far too seriously. When I have a bad day or a tough training session, it’s quite easy for me to step back and just be like, “Hold on a second. You’re riding a bike here. It’s not life and death. It’s entertainment.”

The race doesn’t stop for anything. You have to keep going.