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

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Real life as a rider in the professional peloton, revealing the side of the sport that only an anonymous cyclist can tell.

One of these Grand Tour winners stands accused by the “anonymous insider” that is The Secret Pro of being imminently outed as a doper. If the ghost-writer’s poetic licence can shine through so blatantly with the words – then what of the facts? the contemporary nature of the book is evidenced by the two chapters concerning the 2018 giro and 2018 tour, but other topics covered include: getting started, the season, the team, equipment, contracts and agents, crashes, team sky and doping, to name but a few. in the latter chapter, the author professes to be racing drug-free (though, given his anonymity, unverifiably so) and though i didn't come across any hitherto unknown revelations, the author is not slow to make his opinions clear. 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.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. The fact that some of the subjects in The Secret Cyclist have already had coverage elsewhere does lessen its impact, but I am not aware of any single publication that is quite so comprehensive, thorough, and also fairly current – right up to mentioning the transition from Team Sky to Ineos (albeit spelt wrongly as Inios). It’s funny to think that just weeks before, the question on everyone’s lips was the same: who is it? But has Koen really “finished highly” in multiple Grand Tours, Classics and World Championships? A criterion which would discount Tyler Farrar too. So an eyebrow of suspicion rises when reading TSP’s assertion that Cadel Evans has “always had a chip on his shoulder, but this time it’s much more than a chip, it’s a whole bag of Doritos!”

In terms of The Secret Pro’s identity, we always expected that people would want to guess who it is, but let’s keep in mind: if his identity is revealed, the insights will stop. Insights and anonymity are the whole reason this column exists. this guy went through all the columns in March 2016, and came up with 6 possible riders who did all the races mentioned in 2013 columns Some of the videos on Botley Road I'm in solid traffic and a bus pulls out to overtake me even though they can't go anywhere. 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. I suspect that this book would play a valuable role in the education of any aspiring pro, because (if it didn't put you off such a career) you would certainly be better prepared – but I doubt that is the target market. Fortunately, that same information gives the rest of us the best understanding yet about aspects of life as a professional cyclist that are not normally discussed. Verdict

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.