The whole dynamic is different. That’s the way I felt, definitely last year when I was at the Tour. But going in as a rider who is chasing, let’s face it: the yellow jersey… and you’re up against [a] guy who has won it three times, who you know very well. What are you thinking about in this last stanza of preparation? Are you excited about the Tour or just feeling like you’re going through the motions?

“I’m super motivated for the Dauphiné because I guess that’s the first big test now to see where guys are at.

“I think, obviously, we did Romandie three weeks ago and Froome and Sky were not quite what people thought they would be. So the Dauphiné, for me, is the biggest test just to see where they are at.

“You know, ‘Froomey’ has won that race every year that he’s won the Tour so I think that’s going to be the first big indication. But for me, going into the Tour this year, I think it’s more just do the things that I can control and not lose too much energy on things I can’t control.

“I think, for me, that’s not… that’s like not going on social media so much to see…

“Everyone likes to have a bit of a pot-shot at you: that you’re going to have a bad day and all this rubbish. So it’s just nice to stay away from that side of things and not go on the cycling tabloids or things like that either because a lot of that stuff is stuff that you don’t need to take in anyhow.

“I’m just enjoying my training and the relationship with the team and the team-mates, that’s probably the biggest thing for me at the moment.”

It helps that you’ve got guys like Nico Roche around, and we’ll get to him [soon – see part 3] but it’s interesting that you reference the social media aspect and the ramifications that can have on preparation. We talk so much about preparing for the physical but if you lose the mental edge, you’re also at a real weak point, aren’t you?

Is that what happened at the Giro a couple of years ago? I’m curious about that: you know, when you had the wheel change with Simon Clarke and all those things happened against you. Did you lose you motivation?

“I wouldn’t say I ‘lost motivation’ to be honest. It was more [about] having a crash just outside the three kilometre zone that ultimately ended it for me. I banged my knee up quite badly there but I just think it’s a bit of a funny one because the Giro itself were reposting pictures of ‘Clarkey’ helping me with the wheel and the next thing the UCI go and punish you.

“It’s like, yeah, I didn’t know about that rule so in some ways that’s my fault but it was such a positive story of mateship that came out of that; okay, yes we broke rules but I also lost 45 seconds – or whatever it was – and maybe that should have been penalty enough.

“But no, instead they chose to throw the rule book at me.

“It’s funny because there’s pictures of a guy hanging onto a motorbike on Mont Ventoux last year when we were crashing on the mountain and there’s no problems there.

“I just find that maybe the UCI has kind of lost touch a little bit with cycling. There’s a lot worse things going on than wheel changes from guys from different teams.”