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William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018
This William Collins eBook edition published in 2019
Copyright © Chris Sidwells 2018
Images © Individual copyright holders
Cover photograph © ullsteinbild/Getty Images
Chris Sidwells asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008220808
Ebook Edition © 2019 ISBN: 9780008220785
Version: 2019-04-17
‘An intriguing read for almost any reader, not only those who are interested in cycling’
Tuam Herald
‘[An] engaging and accessible account of the race’s history’
Sunday Business Post
‘The Call of the Road is the definitive story of cycle road racing … Sidwells dissects the seemingly ever-present question of doping, and brings the story of road racing completely up to date’
The Sports Book Club
Contents
5 Growing the Roots of Tradition
7 Rainbow, Yellow, Pink and Polka-dot
11 Brentry, Britain Joins Cycling’s EU
A road race is many things. It includes many aspects of life, but magnified; a maelstrom of ambitions, plans, desire, cooperation and treachery. A road race ebbs and flows through the countryside like a living thing, a kaleidoscope of colour, a visceral mass of muscle and machine, a chess game played on wheels. And it doesn’t matter what level: whether it’s the Tour de France or evening league, road races share the same basic qualities. Only speed, distance, stakes and the sophistication of the game are different.
Road races are battles, pure battles where social norms are replaced by personal or cohort needs. Basic needs like food and drink