John Magro is a veteran champion cyclist. He says that the bicycle is the love of his life. But that is not exactly true – his race bike comes a far second to his wife, Pawlina.

At the start of the interview, he asks to please note that were it not for his wife he would not have been so successful in life. “She really deserves a mention,” he says.

He intersperses his bike talk with constant references to her: “She was with me in sorrow and in joy,” he says, noting that he suffered concussions in five bike mishaps.

“Despite all the accidents, she always kept on supporting my love of the sport.”

When talking about his initial cycling years, he notes: “Do you know that Pawlina used to cycle as well? Yes, we used to go cycling together.”

Mr Magro, from Mosta, is today 72 and his wife is 70. Everyone in Mosta knows him as Johnny tar-Roti. He was 14 when he took over the family-run bicycle repair shop in Mosta, set up by his grandmother in 1889.

Despite all the accidents, she always kept on supporting my love of the sport

“When my father died suddenly in 1955, I took over the business. I was very close to my father and out of my seven siblings I was the one who spent most time at the shop with him.”

Three years later, people persuaded him to seek his fortune in Australia. “So, at 17, I packed up and left. I spent three years there but if I had the money I would have come back straight away,” he confesses.

One of the main reasons was his girlfriend waiting for him here – Pawlina. “When I got back, we got married and, last year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary,” he says.

He went back to the cycling repair shop and never again left it. “I will keep on working here and cycling for as long as I’m alive,” he says.

His wife has warned their four children never to urge him to retire. “That’s his job and that’s his life,” she told them.

Although he used to cycle regularly with his mates – they even set up the Mosta cycling club in 1963, which is still running – he only started taking part in competitions aged 24. There was no stopping him.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he took part in the Mediterranean Games and the Olympics, sometimes as a rider, others as a coach.

Next to bicycles hanging on the wall of his shop awaiting repair are framed newspaper cuttings showing him in action.

Mr Magro stopped competing in 1994. “That’s after my last accident and that’s when I hung up my competition boots,” he says.

His most treasured moment is when he was inducted in the Malta Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009.

He never misses his daily 40-minute walk and he cycles 60 kilometres every Sunday. “Cycling keeps you fit,” he says matter-of-factly.

On Sunday, he will be taking part in a fourth edition of the 17-kilometre Bike Ride for L-Istrina. He will be joining about 500 other riders at the San Anton Palace Courtyard and cycle to the President’s Place in Valletta and back. Mr Magro will probably be one of the oldest taking part, but it does not worry him.

“Actually, I urge anyone – whatever their age – having a bike to get on it and join us. We all have to put our weight behind it just in case we need it ourselves.”

Nearing the end of the interview, he makes sure his last words are about his wife: “Let me tell you something,” he pauses and then goes on: “If I had to live my life all over again, I’d come back and look for Pawlina ta’ Kikka ta’ Laħlaħ,” he says.

The annual Bicycle Ride in aid of l-Istrina will be held on Sunday. Registration starts at 8.30am. More information on www.ccf.org.mt or 2122 6226.