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The Escape: The Tour, the Cyclist and Me
A unique memoir from British cycling’s most fascinating competitor
In the summer of 2020 sportswriter David Walsh asked Pippa York if she’d be interested to be his travelling companion for the Tour de France. The deal was that he would sort out the logistics beforehand, the hotels, the transport details and she would do the day to day tasks of getting them about and adding her insight occasionally. It would also mean she would return to the race she had ridden eleven times as Robert Millar.
This is the resulting a unique and entertaining sporting odyssey, The Escape uses the minutiae of Pippa and David’s trip, and the iconic landmarks of the Tour de France, to explore her early life growing up in working class Glasgow; her entry into racing; the psychological aspects of the sport and how that manifested itself in her personality; her ups and downs as a competitor; her post-career and her eventual transition in her 40s.
Touching on doping, gender in sport and the unique wonders and day-to-day challenges of the Tour, The Escape is both an unforgettable travelogue through the world’s greatest cycling event and a one-of-a-kind memoir from arguably the sport’s most enigmatic and fascinating competitors.
In the summer of 2020 sportswriter David Walsh asked Pippa York if she’d be interested to be his travelling companion for the Tour de France. The deal was that he would sort out the logistics beforehand, the hotels, the transport details and she would do the day to day tasks of getting them about and adding her insight occasionally. It would also mean she would return to the race she had ridden eleven times as Robert Millar.
This is the resulting a unique and entertaining sporting odyssey, The Escape uses the minutiae of Pippa and David’s trip, and the iconic landmarks of the Tour de France, to explore her early life growing up in working class Glasgow; her entry into racing; the psychological aspects of the sport and how that manifested itself in her personality; her ups and downs as a competitor; her post-career and her eventual transition in her 40s.
Touching on doping, gender in sport and the unique wonders and day-to-day challenges of the Tour, The Escape is both an unforgettable travelogue through the world’s greatest cycling event and a one-of-a-kind memoir from arguably the sport’s most enigmatic and fascinating competitors.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published June 19, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 25, 2025
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025
The Escape: The Tour, the Cyclist and Me is co-authored by
- cycling journalist David Walsh, most famous for his role in exposing Lance Amstrong, but for me significant as author of my favourite every sporting biography, Kelly: A Biography of Sean Kelly, and a book that changed by sports-watching life
and, more importantly
- Pippa York who, as she introduces herself:
My name is Pippa York.
It's quite a nice name. You've a better chance when you choose your own name. And my name choice is all the better for not being a consequence of marriage or being part of a witness protection programme, although you might end up thinking that the latter would have been appropriate for me.
I rode the Tour de France 11 times, and it wasn't the female edition. As Robert Millar I was the first British rider to win a major Tour de France classification, the polka dot jersey in 1984.
I was Robert Millar then.
I am Pippa York now.
Parts of Robert Millar remain, and there are other parts that - looking back - I barely recognise. Being trans is complicated; sometimes it's awful. But I understand that people find it interesting. Even I find it fascinating.
The book stemmed from York and Walsh travelling together to cover the 2020-2022 Tours de France, York for Cyclingnews and Walsh for The Times.
A key part the book is the transcripts of their conversations, and Walsh's accounts of their time together but it also includes interludes from York (in particularly describing the last stage of her transition) and Walsh's history of Millar's career (told in a series of rather non-linear and somewhat random vignettes).
York's gender dysphoria began as a young child and the book suggests it could have played a part in the attraction of the cycling world:
Cycling just wouldn't let go of him. He was still doing his paper round, he was buying girls' clothes and he was buying bike bits. What he spent his money on depended on what the priority was in his head on a given Saturday. It all made no sense.
Then he discovered that top cyclists shaved their legs. You didn't have to wear two pairs of tights to bide your hairy legs? You could shave your legs and no busybody could say boo to you? This was acceptable? You were a cyclist and you just got a shaved-leg pass? Ye have to shave yer bloody legs because when ye fell off yer bike ye could get infections and ye need your sticky plasters to stick to yer smooth calves and all the rest of it, so there, ye bampot.
OK, he thought, that's an advantage. A young man could fit riding a bike into the whole business of wanting to be a girl.
But the macho world of cycling meant a need to conceal this, and the book dwells at considerable length on Robert Millar's, as he was then, taciturn even hostile nature, particularly to journalists (Walsh admits to being scared to approach Millar) part a function of the focus of a professional athlete, and part a function of a confused and very private identity.
York explains how, post retirement and having transitioned, her and her family's privacy was threatened by the dreadfully ill-conceived book by Richard Moore In Search of Robert Millar: Unravelling the Mystery Surrounding Britain's Most Successful Tour De France Cyclist - as York comments, 'the author is deceased now, so the less said the better', and York's partner has described how the book led to "humiliation, depression, anxiety, anger and sadness, also fear".
That book in turn led to a crude Daily Mail 'gotcha' expose, as the paper unfortunately succeeded where the book's author had (thankfully) failed "Britain's vanished Tour de France champion reappears - as a woman", followed by years of misery.
Then, and as she comments "I love this bit", ten years to the day later from the Mail article, Pippa York took control of her own story her own story in a article on Cyclingnews, with the help of that publication's Dan Benson and advice from William Fotheringham of the Guardian, annoucing her return to the Tour, as a commentator on ITV4.
Perhaps the part of the book that worked least well for me was it's organising principle - the conversations between Walsh and York can at times it can get into banal details of hotel plumbing, and their insights on the racing itself aren't particularly compelling and at times don't ring true e.g. this conversation apparently on the evening after the Col du Granon stage of the 2022 Tour (but how does David's last comment then work?):
DAVID: I don't think we quite realised how good Vingegaard is. For the first time, he's made us reconsider the question of who's the best Tour de France rider. Before today, everyone would have said Pogačar. Now, you've got to think that maybe Vingegaard is the man.
PIPPA: True, today the balance of power shifted. I can't see Vingegaard not winning this Tour.
DAVID: From that point to the finish, Jonas Vingegaard defended his yellow jersey. Pogačar recovered from his nightmare on the Col du Granon and rode well all the way to Paris, but without landing a blow on an exceptional rival.
(both also seem to be sanguine about the current extent of PED use in the peloton, although York is open about the scene during her racing days, including Millar's own use)
But the book's true hearty is in a powerful, candid and compassionate, portrayal of gender dysphoria and a much needed corrective to the trans-phobia that is increasingly infecting society and indeed professional sport.
The Escape: The Tour, the Cyclist and Me is co-authored by
- cycling journalist David Walsh, most famous for his role in exposing Lance Amstrong, but for me significant as author of my favourite every sporting biography, Kelly: A Biography of Sean Kelly, and a book that changed by sports-watching life
and, more importantly
- Pippa York who, as she introduces herself:
My name is Pippa York.
It's quite a nice name. You've a better chance when you choose your own name. And my name choice is all the better for not being a consequence of marriage or being part of a witness protection programme, although you might end up thinking that the latter would have been appropriate for me.
I rode the Tour de France 11 times, and it wasn't the female edition. As Robert Millar I was the first British rider to win a major Tour de France classification, the polka dot jersey in 1984.
I was Robert Millar then.
I am Pippa York now.
Parts of Robert Millar remain, and there are other parts that - looking back - I barely recognise. Being trans is complicated; sometimes it's awful. But I understand that people find it interesting. Even I find it fascinating.
The book stemmed from York and Walsh travelling together to cover the 2020-2022 Tours de France, York for Cyclingnews and Walsh for The Times.
A key part the book is the transcripts of their conversations, and Walsh's accounts of their time together but it also includes interludes from York (in particularly describing the last stage of her transition) and Walsh's history of Millar's career (told in a series of rather non-linear and somewhat random vignettes).
York's gender dysphoria began as a young child and the book suggests it could have played a part in the attraction of the cycling world:
Cycling just wouldn't let go of him. He was still doing his paper round, he was buying girls' clothes and he was buying bike bits. What he spent his money on depended on what the priority was in his head on a given Saturday. It all made no sense.
Then he discovered that top cyclists shaved their legs. You didn't have to wear two pairs of tights to bide your hairy legs? You could shave your legs and no busybody could say boo to you? This was acceptable? You were a cyclist and you just got a shaved-leg pass? Ye have to shave yer bloody legs because when ye fell off yer bike ye could get infections and ye need your sticky plasters to stick to yer smooth calves and all the rest of it, so there, ye bampot.
OK, he thought, that's an advantage. A young man could fit riding a bike into the whole business of wanting to be a girl.
But the macho world of cycling meant a need to conceal this, and the book dwells at considerable length on Robert Millar's, as he was then, taciturn even hostile nature, particularly to journalists (Walsh admits to being scared to approach Millar) part a function of the focus of a professional athlete, and part a function of a confused and very private identity.
York explains how, post retirement and having transitioned, her and her family's privacy was threatened by the dreadfully ill-conceived book by Richard Moore In Search of Robert Millar: Unravelling the Mystery Surrounding Britain's Most Successful Tour De France Cyclist - as York comments, 'the author is deceased now, so the less said the better', and York's partner has described how the book led to "humiliation, depression, anxiety, anger and sadness, also fear".
That book in turn led to a crude Daily Mail 'gotcha' expose, as the paper unfortunately succeeded where the book's author had (thankfully) failed "Britain's vanished Tour de France champion reappears - as a woman", followed by years of misery.
Then, and as she comments "I love this bit", ten years to the day later from the Mail article, Pippa York took control of her own story her own story in a article on Cyclingnews, with the help of that publication's Dan Benson and advice from William Fotheringham of the Guardian, annoucing her return to the Tour, as a commentator on ITV4.
Perhaps the part of the book that worked least well for me was it's organising principle - the conversations between Walsh and York can at times it can get into banal details of hotel plumbing, and their insights on the racing itself aren't particularly compelling and at times don't ring true e.g. this conversation apparently on the evening after the Col du Granon stage of the 2022 Tour (but how does David's last comment then work?):
DAVID: I don't think we quite realised how good Vingegaard is. For the first time, he's made us reconsider the question of who's the best Tour de France rider. Before today, everyone would have said Pogačar. Now, you've got to think that maybe Vingegaard is the man.
PIPPA: True, today the balance of power shifted. I can't see Vingegaard not winning this Tour.
DAVID: From that point to the finish, Jonas Vingegaard defended his yellow jersey. Pogačar recovered from his nightmare on the Col du Granon and rode well all the way to Paris, but without landing a blow on an exceptional rival.
(both also seem to be sanguine about the current extent of PED use in the peloton, although York is open about the scene during her racing days, including Millar's own use)
But the book's true hearty is in a powerful, candid and compassionate, portrayal of gender dysphoria and a much needed corrective to the trans-phobia that is increasingly infecting society and indeed professional sport.
June 22, 2025
I've never read a sports book like this before
This book is about 3 things:
The story of Robert Millar, the story of her transition to Pippa York, and the Tour de France. Chapters vary between a standard narrative and excerpts of conversations between York and David Walsh, the cycling journalist, as they travel around France during the Tours de France 2020-2023
All three overlap. Sometimes we hear from Walsh, narrating the story of Millar/York. Sometimes it's York herself telling her story. Elsewhere we have a transcript of the pairs' conversations whilst travelling from French town to another stage destination
I don't think I've read a sports biography/book that has been an enlightening about a subject I know little about. The sections on gender dysphoria are far more informative, empathetic, sensitivity written and moving than anything you'll read in the UK media about the trans issue
The relationship between York and Walsh is nice, they don't always agree, they may not even be the best of friends but there's a real affection there
Elsewhere there's lots of cycling content, the highlights of Millar/York's career are covered, as well as the major moments from the recent Tours De France.
I came away respecting Millar the cyclist but with an even greater level of respect and affection for York the person.
This book is about 3 things:
The story of Robert Millar, the story of her transition to Pippa York, and the Tour de France. Chapters vary between a standard narrative and excerpts of conversations between York and David Walsh, the cycling journalist, as they travel around France during the Tours de France 2020-2023
All three overlap. Sometimes we hear from Walsh, narrating the story of Millar/York. Sometimes it's York herself telling her story. Elsewhere we have a transcript of the pairs' conversations whilst travelling from French town to another stage destination
I don't think I've read a sports biography/book that has been an enlightening about a subject I know little about. The sections on gender dysphoria are far more informative, empathetic, sensitivity written and moving than anything you'll read in the UK media about the trans issue
The relationship between York and Walsh is nice, they don't always agree, they may not even be the best of friends but there's a real affection there
Elsewhere there's lots of cycling content, the highlights of Millar/York's career are covered, as well as the major moments from the recent Tours De France.
I came away respecting Millar the cyclist but with an even greater level of respect and affection for York the person.
October 10, 2025
Really enjoyed this. I know precious little about cycling, but for me, it was still such an engaging and interesting read.
As with all good sports books, it has very little to do with the rehashing of past glories.
It's despairing how far people will go out of their own way, in order to punch down on minorities in the manner that Pippa has experienced.
As with all good sports books, it has very little to do with the rehashing of past glories.
It's despairing how far people will go out of their own way, in order to punch down on minorities in the manner that Pippa has experienced.
October 28, 2025
I am a massive fan of the Tour de France, though I came to it late, and though I've always loved cycling, I've come to road cycling even later (just bought my first road bike about 3 months ago and I'm still slightly terrified of it). I confess, I'd never heard of Robert Millar who is now Pippa York, and though of course I knew about the Lance Armstrong scandal, I didn't know that David Walsh was the one to break it. I thoroughly enjoyed their collaboration on this book.
It's an odd book. Two journalists travelling in a car together during two recent Tours (both of which I watched back to back on tv). So of course it's about the Tour, the first one where Tadej Pogacar rose to fame, the beginning of the still-being-played-out duel between him and Jonas Vingegaard. It's about behind the scenes, from Walsh's point of view, as a journalist who was ostracised for his perceived vendetta against Armstrong, and for York who, as Millar, raced in the 80s and won the King of the Mountains jersey. It's about the fabulous scenery, the iconic mountains, the famous victories. But it's also about York's story from growing up in Glasgow's Gorbals to becoming an elite rider to transitioning and moving on to what she does now, which is cycling journalism. And all of it, I found utterly fascinating.
The narrative flits between long screeds of dialogue as the pair are in the car, to Walsh narrating, and to York's own voice describing transition. It's a very, very easy read. It's compulsive. You don't have to love cycling, in fact there were times when the overwhelmingly male/macho-ness is utterly distasteful, but it gives you a real insight into what drives elite athletes, and how selfish and focused they have to be. It also gives a fascinating insight into Millar's struggles with his gender, atestosterone-fuelled sportsman who wanted to live as a woman from a very young age, and the various ways he's dealt with suppressing that over the years until he gave up the fight. I have no idea how 'typical' his feelings were/are - but my goodness, the courage of him is awesome. What's more, the way he deals with adversity, and there's been so much of it, tremendous backlash when he was outed in a vile way, is admirable. Yes, he suffered big time, but here he is. What struck me, and what struck Walsh in the conversations, is that the same qualities of strength, inner knowledge, that kept him going as a cyclist, kept him going through transition and out the other side.
What is also fascinating to a reader and to Walsh, was that though the essence of Millar helped him become York, he is essentially changed. As Millar, Walsh was actually afraid of him, left him alone, watched and tracked his success from a distance. As York, he approached, conversed, liked.
I really enjoyed this. So much, I'm going to find the book on Armstrong now.
It's an odd book. Two journalists travelling in a car together during two recent Tours (both of which I watched back to back on tv). So of course it's about the Tour, the first one where Tadej Pogacar rose to fame, the beginning of the still-being-played-out duel between him and Jonas Vingegaard. It's about behind the scenes, from Walsh's point of view, as a journalist who was ostracised for his perceived vendetta against Armstrong, and for York who, as Millar, raced in the 80s and won the King of the Mountains jersey. It's about the fabulous scenery, the iconic mountains, the famous victories. But it's also about York's story from growing up in Glasgow's Gorbals to becoming an elite rider to transitioning and moving on to what she does now, which is cycling journalism. And all of it, I found utterly fascinating.
The narrative flits between long screeds of dialogue as the pair are in the car, to Walsh narrating, and to York's own voice describing transition. It's a very, very easy read. It's compulsive. You don't have to love cycling, in fact there were times when the overwhelmingly male/macho-ness is utterly distasteful, but it gives you a real insight into what drives elite athletes, and how selfish and focused they have to be. It also gives a fascinating insight into Millar's struggles with his gender, atestosterone-fuelled sportsman who wanted to live as a woman from a very young age, and the various ways he's dealt with suppressing that over the years until he gave up the fight. I have no idea how 'typical' his feelings were/are - but my goodness, the courage of him is awesome. What's more, the way he deals with adversity, and there's been so much of it, tremendous backlash when he was outed in a vile way, is admirable. Yes, he suffered big time, but here he is. What struck me, and what struck Walsh in the conversations, is that the same qualities of strength, inner knowledge, that kept him going as a cyclist, kept him going through transition and out the other side.
What is also fascinating to a reader and to Walsh, was that though the essence of Millar helped him become York, he is essentially changed. As Millar, Walsh was actually afraid of him, left him alone, watched and tracked his success from a distance. As York, he approached, conversed, liked.
I really enjoyed this. So much, I'm going to find the book on Armstrong now.
July 16, 2025
The greatest book not just about cycling and journalism but of admiration and struggle and respect for each other,the story of a cyclist a journalist and the journey of one to become who is all they ever wanted to be,sometimes destiny calls and greatness is bestowed through actions but destiny calls and greatness isn't just in actions but in the fragility of being human and the changes that are upon us,the escape is in cycling but biology and time catch up with us all and that race can't be outrun but it can be won and pippa york writes well about her transition and experiences which makes this book all the more fascinating and hard to put down,there are truly wonderful moments where David Walsh the journalist who brought down Lance Armstrong writes from a witness to a truly wonderful moment between friends.
this book isn't for sceptics or people with their own negative views on trans gender people but maybe the reader can understand and empathize that all everyone is is a human trying to live their life and be happy.
I loved this book and I hope that both authors come together again.
this book isn't for sceptics or people with their own negative views on trans gender people but maybe the reader can understand and empathize that all everyone is is a human trying to live their life and be happy.
I loved this book and I hope that both authors come together again.
December 29, 2025
What a fabulous book! As a trans woman (coincidentally also called Pippa!) and a cyclist (medals from the World Gay Games, Paris 2018 - ok, ok not the Tour de France like Pippa York!) I was hoping to get this in my Christmas presents, heaven knows I dropped enough hints!!! It was there and I read it in two days. It is possibly my favourite book of 2025 - and I've read some pretty good ones.
Told as David and Pippa follow the Tour de France, driving between the various towns on the route and writing for their respective media publications, the conversations between them are fascinating and illuminating. I shed tears at some of the passages dealing with Pippa's transition (remembering my own of course), laughed out loud at various stories about the Tour de France and the characters of the peloton, from Mark Cavendish, Lance Armstrong (who the co-author David Walsh so brilliantly exposed as a cheat over so many years) to many, many others. Pippa and David have a friendship that is wonderful, they may not agree on everything but that makes the book more interesting. But what also comes across is the respect that David Walsh has for Pippa, well done you if you read this review.
It's not all about cycling, nor is it all about Pippa's transition from Robert Millar. to Philippa York, it is a beautiful blend of interwoven stories and chats, uplifting and informative and a book that anyone could read and come away with a better understanding of what it takes to be a world class sportsperson and a person who needed to undertake a journey to be their true self. Beautiful.
Told as David and Pippa follow the Tour de France, driving between the various towns on the route and writing for their respective media publications, the conversations between them are fascinating and illuminating. I shed tears at some of the passages dealing with Pippa's transition (remembering my own of course), laughed out loud at various stories about the Tour de France and the characters of the peloton, from Mark Cavendish, Lance Armstrong (who the co-author David Walsh so brilliantly exposed as a cheat over so many years) to many, many others. Pippa and David have a friendship that is wonderful, they may not agree on everything but that makes the book more interesting. But what also comes across is the respect that David Walsh has for Pippa, well done you if you read this review.
It's not all about cycling, nor is it all about Pippa's transition from Robert Millar. to Philippa York, it is a beautiful blend of interwoven stories and chats, uplifting and informative and a book that anyone could read and come away with a better understanding of what it takes to be a world class sportsperson and a person who needed to undertake a journey to be their true self. Beautiful.
June 27, 2025
Fascinating and important story, it hasn't been easy for Pippa.
The old cycling stories are great and the duo reflecting on both stories of old and covering the recent Tours is great fun, they have great chemistry and the banter is enjoyable - and heartfelt, when the tougher/sadder topics come up (and, unfortunately for Pippa, there's quite a few of those)
The main thing I found annoying with this book is how much it jumps between different times, so at times it feels like a collection of short stories instead of one, linear narrative.
The old cycling stories are great and the duo reflecting on both stories of old and covering the recent Tours is great fun, they have great chemistry and the banter is enjoyable - and heartfelt, when the tougher/sadder topics come up (and, unfortunately for Pippa, there's quite a few of those)
The main thing I found annoying with this book is how much it jumps between different times, so at times it feels like a collection of short stories instead of one, linear narrative.
August 17, 2025
Excellent
I preordered this book when it was first announced, and hung in as it was delayed a few times. Well, it was well worth the wait. How David and Pippa travelled together to the Tour de France over several seasons, using the time to chat, was a brilliant way to explore Pippa’s story, and turn their discussion into the narrative, worked so well. This made it one of the most interesting Tour de France books I’ve read, but also a frank and honest look at gender reassignment. Highly recommended.
I preordered this book when it was first announced, and hung in as it was delayed a few times. Well, it was well worth the wait. How David and Pippa travelled together to the Tour de France over several seasons, using the time to chat, was a brilliant way to explore Pippa’s story, and turn their discussion into the narrative, worked so well. This made it one of the most interesting Tour de France books I’ve read, but also a frank and honest look at gender reassignment. Highly recommended.
October 2, 2025
A really entertaining and super interesting book. Not sure who the conversational style of some of the sections would go in the written form, but in leant itself to audio, where I felt I was listening in on the conversation in the car - especially with the navigation butted in. Pippa's story was fascinating, and I'm glad to have heard it through her own words.
September 8, 2025
Self indulgent tripe.
How many conversations can they have on gender, sex, estrogen, testosterone.... Unlimited it seems.
What defines Robert Millar is the Cycling - not the fact Robert is Pippa.
Expected better from David Walsh.
How many conversations can they have on gender, sex, estrogen, testosterone.... Unlimited it seems.
What defines Robert Millar is the Cycling - not the fact Robert is Pippa.
Expected better from David Walsh.
September 8, 2025
One of the best cycling books I've ever read. I liked the kaleidoscopic arrangement of autobiography, history, journalism and banter. Something to discover on each page.
October 9, 2025
What a fascinating read. Mixing up the old and the new . A remarkable story of bravery and conviction .
August 8, 2025
Very enjoyable book! I like the format - biographical, autobiographical, the conversations between David and Pippa in an atypical format with time jumps.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews