The Road Book will always place women’s cycling at the forefront of its analysis of road racing. The representation of half of the world’s population in its greatest sport is non-negotiable on its pages. Over and above that, womens’ racing has often eclipsed mens’ in intrigue, excitement and unpredictability over recent years, despite the glaring inequalities of opportunity. Continue reading

It started at the end. It always does: Annemiek van Vleuten’s 2016 Olympic dream ending on the side of the road, Greg LeMond’s chest full of buckshot, Froome’s Dauphiné recon crash, Marianne Vos’s hiatus forced by overtraining. It looked very much like it was all over. Continue reading

I was quite relaxed coming into the Tour. I knew I had prepared well and have a good group of people around me and we all work really hard for each other. My target was to win the race again. I think that was a fair target after winning last year, though I knew it would be hard to achieve. Continue reading

Kathryn Bertine is a retired professional road racer based in Tucson, Arizona. She rode at the highest level from 2012 to 2017 on four UCI Women’s WorldTour teams, including Wiggle-Honda in 2014. As a dual-citizen, she is a six-time national champion of St Kitts and Nevis. Continue reading

With or without coronavirus, the 13th edition of Tour du Rwanda lived up to its billing. Continue reading

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is one of the most talented and engaging riders in the women’s peloton. After racing La Course in 2018, and then the Tour of Flanders in 2019, she became well known across the world for giving post-race interviews on television that were brimming over with her love for the sport and her excitement at participating. Her default setting is searing honesty. Continue reading

The pink jersey. La maglia rosa. This icon of cycling makes frequent appearances in my earliest childhood cycling memories, generally appearing through the mist on top of some impossibly steep mountain pass. I remember Mario Cipollini, Marco Pantani, Miguel Induráin, Evgeni Berzin, Gilberto Simoni; I grew up watching the Giro, not necessarily dreaming of being there one day. I’m not sure what I was thinking. Continue reading

The first-ever edition of the women’s Paris–Roubaix had been anticipated with growing excitement by the cycling public, who were aware they would be witnessing a historic event. What comes as something of a surprise is that the emphatic winner of the race, Lizzie Deignan, was equally aware of the wider context of her achievement as she crossed the line and raised one bloodied hand skywards in a timeless victory salute. Continue reading

Cyclocross started off for me as a bit of fun, really. I was already on the British Cycling Junior Academy, concentrating on track and road, and I was just doing cross as a little bit of something extra. So there was no pressure. I was only doing it for fun.

Continue reading

If you’re born in Flanders, there’s a bigger chance than anywhere else in the world that you will become a cycling fan. That’s exactly what happened to me.

Continue reading