How many times had Philippe repeated this sentence, as his successes, ever more prestigious, were mounting up? 'I'm benefiting from it!', like the 'carpe diem' immortalised two thousand years earlier by the Roman poet, Horace. Like the magic of the moment, the pleasures of which one savours without knowing whether they will ever be reproduced. It was with that exact mindset that the world number one, the best cyclist of the year, the most titled modern-era rider of the classics, evolved du...

The autobiography of three time Tour de France Green Jersey winner.Professional road cyclist Robbie McEwen will do whatever it takes to win on a bike. He is proud of his reputation as a 'competitive little bugger' and 'a bit of a hard bastard in the peloton', yet he is at pains to point out that what he's channelling is not rage or aggression but a fierce determination and razor-sharp focus. Here, in his own words, Robbie reveals what has made him one of the most successful road cyclists o...

Cycling was a sport so important in Italy that it marked a generation, sparked fears of civil war, changed the way Italian was spoken, led to legal reform and even prompted the Pope himself to praise a cyclist, by name, from his balcony in St Peters in Rome. It was a sport so popular that it created the geography of Italy in the minds of her citizens, and some have said that it was cycling, not political change, that united Italy.Pedalare, Pedalare! is the first complete h...

The Golden Girl of British cycling opens up, for the first time, in searingly honest detail about what drives her to compete in a sport she no longer loves. Written with Donald McRae, 2 time winner of the William Hill Award, “Between the Lines” is THE Olympic autobiography.Victoria Pendleton MBE is not your typical female athlete.Admired as much by the weekly glossies as she is the newspaper back pages, she transcends her sport.In 2005 she became first British femal...

Fully updated to include the extraordinary scenes at London 2012, where Hoy won two more gold medals to bring his total to six and overtake Sir Steve Redgrave, this is the story of Britain's greatest ever Olympian.Chris Hoy has been instrumental in British track cycling's remarkable transformation from also-rans to world superpower. Now, having rewritten the record books as Olympic champion in four different cycling disciplines, and with six gold medals, Hoy has become a household

Stuart O'Grady is one of Australia's best-loved cyclists with a long and successful career in cycling for Australia and as a professional road cyclist. The record holder for most starts in a Tour de France ever, as well as an Olympic gold medallist and winner of the Green Jersey on four occasions, O'Grady is one of cycling's most respected stars. But in 2013, following his retirement, Stuart made a shock announcement: he had used EPO, a performance enhancing drug, in the 1998 Tour de Franc...

The autobiography of cycling's Mr Clean who refused to dope or to remain silent about doping – and was exiled from the sport.Christophe Bassons is a former professional cyclist. His career was a successful one albeit never in the full glare of the media. That all changed when, in 1998, the Festina doping scandal broke and Bassons shot to fame as one of the handful of clean riders in the peloton - and as the only professional who dared to speak openly about the topi...

A fascinating and funny investigation into cyclists' incessant pursuit of speed by one of the sport's top professionals.For professional cyclists, going faster and winning are, of course, closely related. Yet surprisingly, for many, a desire to go faster is much more important than a desire to win. Someone who wants to go faster will work at the details and take small steps rather than focusing on winning. Winning just happens when you do everything right – it's th...

In his book Pro Cycling on $10 a Day, Phil Gaimon brings the full powers of his wit to tell his story.Plump, grumpy, slumped on the couch, and going nowhere fast at age 16, Phil Gaimon began riding a bicycle with the grand ambition of shedding a few pounds before going off to college. He soon fell into racing and discovered he was a natural, riding his way into a pro contract after just one season despite utter ignorance of a century of cycling etiquette. Presented here as a guide--and a w...

Before Bradley Wiggins, there was Sean Yates. Behind Bradley Wiggins, there was Sean Yates.One of only five Britons to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, Sean Yates burst onto the cycling scene as the rawest pure talent this country has ever seen. After turning professional at the age of 22, he soon became known as a die-hard domestique, putting his body on the line for his teammates. Devastatingly fast, powerful and a fearless competitor, Yates won a stage of t...

Trading on the sterling reputation that enabled him to survive a widely publicized doping confession, American cyclist “Big George” Hincapie—a record seventeen-time Tour de France participant, Olympian, and key witness in the Lance Armstrong doping case—offers an insightful account of his esteemed career and a sports era defined by performance-enhancing drug use.In this highly anticipated cycling memoir, Big George Hincapie provides the most comprehensive account of a dark period i...

In ETAPE, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore will take readers on a virtual Tour de France, with each chapter focusing on a single rider in a single stage that came to define the Tour’s history.In Étape, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore tells the stories behind some of the defining stages in the Tour de France’s history through the eyes of the protagonists: the heroes and villains, stars and journeymen.Featuring exclusive new interviews with Mark Cavendish, L...