Chasing the Rainbow: A History of World Championship Cycling

by Giles Belbin

With cycling booming all around the world and interest in the World Championships at unprecedented levels, Chasing the Rainbow is the first book to document the history of both the men's and women's championships, telling the untold stories of one of cycling's greatest prizes. The professional World Championships started in 1927, when Italian great Alfredo Binda took the inaugural title. In 1958 the first women's championship was held, won by Elsy Jacobs of Luxembourg. In 2015 Lizzie Armitstead became just the sixth Briton to stand on top of the podium, earning herself a BBC sports personality of the year nomination in doing so. Illustrated with archive photography, the book will feature chapters based around each decade of the championship's history, focusing on the major stories and details and including exclusive rider interviews with previous winners such as Greg le Mond, Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Armitstead and Stephen Roche who recount memories of their own winning performances and talk about what the jersey means to them.

Genres: Cycling

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2017

Reviews

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written account of the most intriguing race on the men’s cycling calendar and one which gives equal prominence to the (more limited) history of the women’s race (where it forms the pinnacle of the calendar). The book proceeds roughly chronologically, with chapters concentrating on one or two riders or races from each short era, while also giving details of the races in the surrounding years. Interspersed within the book are interviews the author had with Marcel Kint’s grandson, Yvonne Renders, Felice Gimondi, Keetie van Oosten-Hage, Mandy Jones, Stephen Roche, Catherine Marsal, Oscar Friere, Nicola Cooke, Cadel Evans and Marianne Vos.