The Secret Cyclist: Real Life as a Rider in the Professional Peloton

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This bloody @ iamthesecretpro should be careful if ever he walk on streets of Moscow without kneecap protection… Every public aspect of our lives is so tightly controlled that being truly honest is all but impossible in a newspaper interview, never mind a whole book. You try write a warts-and-all blog about your office. Question how the business is run, make sure you remember to call your boss a moron, and then tell me how it goes." He has also proposed that illuminated signs around the city reminding drivers to watch out for cyclists or even saying 'what's the hurry?' could genuinely help. So much of the book will be already familiar, even to the casual cyclist like myself. In particular, the Sky debacle and niggles about Sky's financial clout have been done to death in the cycling and everyday press over the last two years. Our Roads Policing department is a joint unit with Hampshire Constabulary and carries out various enforcement operations across the region, including M27, M275 and large parts of the M3, M1, M4, M40 and M25 motorways in addition to the trunk roads.

You need to decide if it's still the same rider (after 7 years) and how many red herrings have been thrown in -but let's go ahead anyway I think that Phil Gaimon's book, Draft Animals, might be the nearest equivalent to The Secret Cyclist, and it is mentioned when our unknown rider takes the opportunity to be pretty dismissive of both that book, and the allegations made in it about Fabian Cancellara and motors. Professional cycling is the same as many other sports, with a lot going on behind the scenes in support of the glossy public-facing side. Although we are not normally allowed to observe this parallel life, occasionally we have little glimpses; The Secret Cyclist is unusual because it is a whole book dedicated to that aspect, and it takes the principle further than any previous book. It might not be too difficult with a little digging to find out who The Secret Cyclist is, but that would truly defeat the entire purpose of this book. He's ridden for World Tour teams for 10 years. He's achieved top 10 finishes in Grand Tours. He likes coffee. These are just a few details about the professional rider who wants you to know what the view looks like from the centre of the peloton.Most ignoramuses thought this was tantamount to Saddles suggesting that Wiggo was the man with “no admission” stamped in his passport. They clearly missed the point that it was a reference to the 2011 Vuelta a España, in which Froome finished second to a rider who hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since his first and only Grand Tour victory. As for his solutions, the Secret Cyclist is calling for the same thing city cyclists have been demanding for years: more cycle lanes on all roads of better quality. The writing style is quite simple and clear- either this is mostly the work of the cyclist himself or the ghost writer avoided the temptation to avoid any stylistic flourishes. It is basically "this is what happened, this is what I think about it" and to be fair this is probably a strength- this is basically gossip and it is the what happened and why that readers will be interested in, not a more up to date Krabbé or Jean Bobet masterclass in writing about cycling. Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

No book like this can avoid some discussion about performance-enhancing drugs: it is indeed covered, but with a twist. The Secret Cyclist's view is that in some ways things are better than they were – but 'It's a shame that more of the dopers from my generation haven't opened up about what really happened because I think there are still some doctors and managers involved in the sport who have a lot of questions to answer'. Perhaps surprisingly, he did not include riders in that list. He added: "I'm just one cyclist, there are thousands more out there so whatever is happening to me is happening to all of them as well." But has Koen really “finished highly” in multiple Grand Tours, Classics and World Championships? A criterion which would discount Tyler Farrar too. names are named on a few occasions, but nothing i could see, warranted secrecy of authorship. i think those who are interested in such tale-telling, are probably already aware of such matters. nothing to see here; move along. these are not the droids you're looking for. that being said, the secret cyclist is still a good read, providing an insight into the day to day world of a professional cyclist. i think many of us would have guessed it to be thus, but for those youngsters who are contemplating a potential professional career as a racing cyclist, it probably ought to sent out with every national or international racing licence.

That lead me to this book, which arrived with no fanfare last month- in fact I came across it when browsing in a book shop next to work one lunch time. I normally am quite alert to new books (for example I'm looking forward to William Fotheringham's Beryl Burton offering) so to just happen upon it was a bit strange. It should also be clearly noted that this is not the Cycling Tips Secret Pro- it is generally recognised that he is an antipodean whereas it is more probable-than-not that the unnamed author here is European. But you would expect a book, based on an insider view of the world of pro-cycling to have more of a buzz about it- particularly when thinking about some of the more recent issues that most of us would dearly love to know what the pros really thought- eg Froome and Wiggins' TUE shenanigans, mechanical fraud, DSs and coaches with links to the bad old days etc If a rider is innocent until proven guilty, the the results of an A sample should never be made public until the B (sample) is tested and everyone cleared or found guilty." Stage 9 in the Pyrenees was such a hard stage, everyone was just ******. We hit that Category 2 climb [ Côte de la Comella], and there was more gruppetto than normal. Fabian Cancellara [ Trek-Segafredo] was there, it was his first time in the gruppetto at this Tour, and of course he wants to control it. Look at it another way – it doesn’t take a blood passport to make one entry in this sequence look rather suspicious: DNF, DNF, 20th, DNF, 10th, 1st, 30th, 67th. The number one problem? According to the Secret Cyclist it is 'impatient drivers' who can't wait a few seconds to overtake.

i'm a bit unsure as to what they hoped to gain from this managerial interrogation; perhaps it was solely a case of being seen talking to one so privilieged as to be in charge of such a prominent distillery? or perhaps it was more that they hoped to be introduced to the inner sanctum, regaled with hitherto unheard stories and distilling secrets? i played with the guy for nigh on six years, yet learned only of two humorous anecdotes, so the audience's hopes may have been a tad misguided.

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We ride whatever we're paid to, and part of the gig is singing praises ... It's part of cycling, but it's very rarely honest' – and that's always going to be the case when sponsorship is virtually the only thing that keeps the professional sport alive. The Secret Cyclist has some views on cycling's economic model, reflecting that 'I don't think there's another sport in the world that has a more blasé approach to long-term economic stability', because 'we still haven't figured out how to monetise it properly, how to share the revenues, how to promote growth.'