The Cycling Anthology is a collection of essays by some of the world’s leading cycling writers.
The first volume in a series of paperback books was published in November 2012 and features original writing from 14 well-known contributors.
You may recognise the names from major newspapers and specialist magazines. Between them, they’ve covered hundreds of Tours de France and written dozens of excellent books. Now, their work is showcased together for the first time.
The essays cover subjects including Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France victory, the appeal of Thomas Voeckler, a study of pro cycling’s economic model and the rivalry between Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares.
REVIEWS
Road.cc *****
The Cycling Anthology was only the second book to ever receive a five-star review from Road.cc.
Inner Ring
“A pleasure to read… you should be rewarded by the writing and the tales within, especially if you’re hungry for detail, backstories and analysis.”
The Washing Machine Post
“…the writers’ contributions are startlingly original and a joy to behold…i’m hoping that this initial offering is so unbelievably well received, that messrs birnie and bacon reconsider their decision to publish only twice a year.”
THE PODCAST
Listen to the The Cycling Anthology podcast
THE WRITERS
The Cycling Anthology Volume I
Project Wiggins by William Fotheringham
Looking back, it’s easy to assume there was a sense of inevitability about Bradley Wiggins’s Tour de France victory. William has followed Wiggins since he was a junior and is uniquely placed to offer a point-by-point explanation of how he became Britain’s first Tour winner.
William Fotheringham is the cycling correspondent for The Guardian. His latest book is a collaboration with Bradley Wiggins called My Time
Twitter @willfoth
In Praise of Thomas Voeckler by Edward Pickering
The cliché about Thomas Voeckler is that he’s a plucky trier. Edward has watched the Frenchman for years now and doesn’t buy that for a moment. Despite studying Voeckler and interviewing him on a number of occasions, Edward still finds him an enigmatic figure.
Edward Pickering is deputy editor of Cycle Sport
Twitter @edwardpickering
The New Wizards of Oz by Rupert Guinness
After Sky and Leopard, GreenEdge were this year’s new kids on the block. For all new teams a debut season is a little like getting strapped into a rollercoaster and being prepared for the ride. GreenEdge’s season started well, but they were left explaining their lack of results at the Tour and reached the end of the campaign realising they were not immune to the fall-out from the Armstrong scandal.
Rupert Guinness writes for the Sydney Morning Herald
Twitter @RupertGuinness
Gone Biking by David Millar
David has seen a lot of his friends retire recently, forcing him to accept that one day it’ll be his turn to hang up his wheels too. Michael Barry’s retirement was more poignant than most, coming as it did just before a confession that he, like David, had used performance-enhancing drugs. Understanding what his friend was going through meant that their training rides took on a more reflective feel.
David Millar rides for Garmin and is the author of the best-selling Racing Through the Dark
Twitter @millarmind
The Cobbler Retires by James Startt
When Fréderic Guesdon won Paris-Roubaix in 1997 it was one of the modern era’s great upsets. He was virtually unknown yet he managed to clinch the toughest one-day race of them all. He spent the rest of his career trying to replicate that golden moment and then faced the ultimate race against time in order to be able to bow out at his spiritual home, the Roubaix velodrome.
James Startt is Bicycling magazine’s man in Europe
Cyclonomics by Daniel Friebe
Daniel looks more closely at the Moneyball phenomenon – so-called sabermetrics – that took the world of baseball by storm, and at the cycling team that used a similar approach to build a roster of successful riders at bargain prices.
Daniel Friebe is the author of The Cannibal, a biography of Eddy Merckx and writes for procycling
Twitter @friebos
Pendleton versus Meares by Owen Slot
Owen charts the careers of Victoria Pendleton and her rival Anna Meares. The two track sprint stars, he suggests, reached the highest echelons of their sport thanks to their intense rivalry, which reached its zenith at the 2012 Olympics. Somehow it always seemed likely they would clash in the ultimate showdown in London.
Owen Slot is chief sports writer for The Times
Twitter @owenslot
The Grand Slam by Lionel Birnie
Completing the Tour de France makes a rider a bona fide Giant of the Road. So what about a rider who completes all three grand tours in the same season? Lionel speaks to Australia’s Adam Hansen, who joined that select group of riders to finish the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, to find out the toll it took on body and mind.
Lionel Birnie writes for The Sunday Times and Cycle Sport
Twitter @lioneljbirnie
The Original Individualist by Richard Moore
Richard’s book In Search of Robert Millar, enjoyed great success as a study of a rider who, at the time of writing in 2007, was still Britain’s undisputed greatest ever cyclist. Since then the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish have surpassed the Scotsman’s achievements. With Jonathan Tiernan-Locke’s emergence as a specialist climber, Richard asks how Robert Millar might have fitted in at Team Sky.
Richard Moore is the author of Sky’s the Limit and Slaying the Badger
Twitter @richardmoore73
The Best of Luck by Ellis Bacon
Ellis ponders the role that luck plays in professional cycling and – while not even necessarily a believer himself – argues that, at the Tour de France at least, bad luck and good luck repeatedly appear to follow each other like shadows.
Ellis Bacon is author of World’s Ultimate Cycling Races and a former deputy editor of procycling
Twitter @ellisbacon
Another World? by Kenny Pryde
Kenny covered cycling in an era before the internet and Twitter changed the pace at which the narrative plays out. He was the editor of the flagship magazine Winning at a time when there was a scarcity of information for English-speaking cycling fans. There was also a major taboo. Doping was not discussed. After 14 years away from professional cycling he returned in 2012 to a dramatically altered landscape. At times, it seems, the agenda is dominated by doping.
Kenny Pryde edited Winning and wrote for Cycle Sport before editing Superbike
Twitter @kenbobpryde
The Exile by Alasdair Fotheringham
After winning three world titles and Milan-San Remo three times, you’d think Oscar Freire would be celebrated as one of Spain’s finest ever riders. And yet in his home country, where the stage racers are the kings, Freire does not enjoy that exalted status. As Freire retires, Alasdair profiles an unsung hero.
Alasdair Fotheringham writes for The Independent and is the author of The Eagle of Toledo, a biography of Federico Bahamontes
Il Magnifico’s Return by Samuel Abt
Samuel documents Mario Cipollini’s attempts to stage his comeback, at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, while recalling the glory days of The Lion King – a true character, the likes of which the sport has not seen before or since.
Samuel Abt was the cycling correspondent for the International Herald Tribune
Bin Bag of My Dreams by Jeremy Whittle
Jeremy followed Bradley Wiggins’s build-up to Tour de France glory at the Tour of Romandy. But in light of the USADA case against Lance Armstrong, Wiggins – along with every other successful rider – is going to bear the brunt of suspicion.
Jeremy Whittle is the author of Bad Blood and covers cycling for The Times
Twitter @jeremycwhittle
The original cover of The Cycling Anthology volume one, designed by Simon Scarsbrook.