Peter Cossins Books

Award-winning cycling author's look at the men and psychology of the mountain climber.

Riding as fast as you could for as long as you could was the main tactic in the early days of road racing when Grand Tours could be won by hours. Now a minute's delay thanks to a puncture could ruin a rider's chances over a three- week race and the sport is described as nothing less than chess on wheels. The intricacies and complexities of cycling are what makes it so appealing: an eye for opportunity and a quick mind are just as crucial to success as a 'big engine' or good form. So how do you win a bike race? How do you cope with crosswinds, cobbles, elbows-out sprints, weaving your way through a teeming peloton? Why are steady nerves one of the best weapons in a rider's arsenal and breakaway artists to be revered? Where do you see the finest showcase of tactical brilliance? Peter Cossins takes us on to the team buses to hear pro cyclists and directeurs sportifs explain their tactics: when it went right, when they got it wrong - from sprinting to summits, from breakaways to bluffing. Hectic, thrilling, but sometimes impenetrable - watching a bike race can baffle as much as entertain. Full Gas is the essential guide to make sense of all things peloton.

From the winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year 2018In 2019, the cycling world will celebrate the 100th anniversary of sport's most iconic and distinguished prize: the Yellow Jersey.

The Tour de France may provide the most obvious fame and glory, but it is cyclings one-day tests that professional riders really prize. Toughest, longest and dirtiest of all are the so-called Monuments. Each provides the sports outstanding performers with a chance to measure themselves against each other in cycling's most challenging tests. From the bone-shattering bowler-hat cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the insanely steep hellingen in the Tour of Flanders, each race is as unique as the riders who push themselves through extreme exhaustion to win them. In The Monuments, Peter Cossins tells the tumultuous history of these extraordinary races.

In Alpe d' Huez, veteran cycling journalist Peter Cossins reveals the triumphs, passion and despair behind the great exploits on the Alpe and discloses the untold details that have led to the mountain becoming as important to the Tour as the race is to resort at its summit.

Ultimate Etapes is an essential guide to cycling Europe's iconic stages. From the epic ascent of the Stelvio to the rolling hills of Utrecht and the stunning flats of Southern France, this is the ultimate tour of Europe's legendary stages.

The first Tour de France in 1903 was a colourful affair full of adventure, mishaps and audacious attempts at cheating. Peter Cossins takes us through the inaugural Tour de France, painting a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s, to see where the greatest sporting event of all began.

Renowned cycling writer, Peter Cossins, takes you on a ride through this beautiful mountain range....