Full Gas: How to Win a Bike Race – Tactics from Inside the Peloton

by Peter Cossins

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 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 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.

Genres: Cycling, Sports, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2018

Reviews

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are not fascinated by the inner workings of the professional cycling peloton then this book could put you right to sleep. My first book about professional cycling and I craved each chapter to elucidate my 30-year history of watching the Tour de France. Recently I've expanded to watch the other grand tours, a few week-long races, and even some one-day classics.

The best chapter is probably, "The art of the breakaway," which depends on much commentary from one of the best breakaway specialists, the Belgian Thomas De Gent. Many nuances between the breakaway and peloton I had not fully understood.

Makes me sad that most Americans only know professional cycling through the lens of Lance Armstrong's domination of the peloton and his fall from grace. There's so much more than that. It's a beautiful sport filled with local geographies and dozens of languages and cultures.

Of coures it is also an elitist, very costly sport barely recognizable to young people or to those in whole continents such as Africa. Peter Cossins effectively threads his tactics theme throughout and dedicates a fair amount of time to women's cycling but he did not address the socioeconomics of cycling and that was a missed opportunity.

[Rauno Villberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid stuff - from about a generation ago, but very relevant and interesting still.
Glad to see a chapter dedicated to women's racing (and frequent snippets from Tiffany Cromwell throughout) especially given how it has gotten much more popular and that the Tour de France Femmes has been (re-)introduced.

[mr n g bluer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

Insightful read on the tactical nuances of cycling. Enlivened by stories from the peloton. A must read for anyone new to cycle racing.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover makes this book seem much nerdier than it is, as it is mostly told through stories and interviews rather than numerical calculations, focusing on race tactics to explain what goes on in an event rather than personalities. However it was surprisingly pacy and packed in a lot of interesting voices.

After starting with a brief history of the main strategies in stage racing, it looked at individual and team tactics for the different aspects of racing, from time trials to breakaways. Normally, the tactical aspect of live sport is something to fall back on when the action itself isn't entertaining enough, but Cossins made it intriguing and stuck with general principles and examples, rather than finer or mechanical details. Sometimes he would quote from articles but he had done interviews himself too and the De Gendt section stood out for me as an enlightening voice.

The value was in having it all in one book as a lot of the themes are covered by riders over the course of a season, but I don't think it aimed to reveal things, but rather let the reader compare different riders' and directors' perspectives. After spending many chapters focused mostly on male racing, he then assures us that the chapter on women's racing is no afterthought while supporters tell the reader that the racing we've been covering is actually much less exciting than the women's events, but that women's racing needs support to become more like the men's.

This editorial choice aside, the accounts and stories fed into each other nicely and I was really drawn into several sections. In what it set out to discuss, it had a very broad and concise coverage and was more readable than I'd expected, while acknowledging the raw abilities of the riders and the limitations of tactics.

[by_tor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the nitty gritty of what goes on in a cycle race. If you are reasonably well versed in watching bike races, a lot of what you discover is what you sort have heard about a bit about already, or worked out for yourself, like knowing when to burn your matches, and sending people into breakaways, or riding a high tempo (a la Sky) to prevent attacks, but what you find out is there is a lot more subtlety in these plans than what you might have imagined, and also that often there is a lot more planning (eg recons months in advance, targetting specific stages with specific riders etc.) involved. The whole story behind Froome's amazing Giro win earlier in 2018 also shows this.

The book has loads of great little insights from contemporary riders and DSs (Thomas de Gendt giving away all of his secrets!) as well as interesting historical perspectives, which highlight how racing has changed over the years. The age old debates still rage - how would Eddie Merckx fare in the modern age?

A must read for any fan of bike racing.

[Adrian E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable and easy to read book.
If you are someone who follows the sport closely, many of the concepts discussed in the book will likely not be new to you. But there are enough insights and interviews to make it a worthy read.
If you are someone relatively new to the sport, the book offers a gateway to a deeper understanding of Pro Cycling and will allow you to appreciate all of its intricacies.
In the Pro Cycling books sub-genre, Peter Cossins has certainly developed a really solid library.

[Joao Pombinho · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4 star rating is merited and I think it has potential to reach 5 stars: it can be improved as a book, building onto the good descriptive and anedoctical accounts to patterns and maybe a couple of diagrams per chapter, a bit of 'how a particular race is won - by instantiation'. It did, however, provide a lot of generous insights that sparked my curiosity for more and will surely improve my race reading as a fan! Chapeau!

[Fyodor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected to learn more from the book. I enjoyed historical accounts of how the racing developed into the sport as we know it now. And I learnt a fair bit about breakaways. But for the other tactics described in the book, I felt that I were re-reading basically the same story under a bit different angle. Perhaps, to see and feel the difference a reader must be more experienced. I sure hope to improve that in the future.

[TIM HERRING · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book east to read, well structured. I thought I might have learnt more but some sections I actually knew quite a bit already. I was not convinced by some sections that he described as tactics to win and elsewhere described different tactics, I suppose they could both work depending on the circumstances.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the way cyclists race

Like many I have been on a lockdown journey into cycling. I’ve started to watch more and appreciate the athleticism of riders. Full gas takes you into their heads. Why teams and individuals are doing what they do. It’s a book where every page is interesting.

[Patrick Tarbox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, it’s a good read if you are a beginning cycling fan or have been watching for years. Like many cycling books, though: too much Greg LeMond. The man is all about himself and anything that does not involve him promoting himself does not come out of his mouth. I would’ve taken 20 fewer pages if it meant zero Greg LeMond quotes.

[Michael Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially a lightly structured series of interviews with pro cyclists on various topics. Pretty interesting for what it is. I (cycling curious, but not deeply knowledgeable) picked up some interesting tidbits on how races can be won. Amiable reading. Worth a spin, but don’t go in expecting a master’s course.

[André Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing description of the tactics ( and the story of ) in road cycling. Has a ton of great insights from the current top riders and DS which makes it a fascinating read coming to the 2020 cycling season.

[Jorg van Gaal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I am not so familiair with the sport yet it was interesting to read all the INS and OUTS of the sport. A fair bit of history and great anecdotes and stories from a variety of riders. It offers useful tips and insights on how to climb, sprint, be in the peleton etc. Recommend it.

[Juha Virkki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kaikki mitä Eurosportin katsojan tulee tietää maantiepyöräilystä.

[Ben Dobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and compiled

However I did find it dragging in the middle a wee bit. It was still a good insight into the sport

[Nerijus Pudžiuvelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those tiny things which you think of separately makes a difference at the end. Amazing book - had to stop numerous times to google/watch a lot of background info. Great stuff.

[Matthias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insights and great testimonials that make me appreciate cycling as a tactical sport even more

[Khalil Jivraj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read on the professional cycling world. Multiple references and full chapter on women's cycling which was also nice.

[Aaron Breeding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good explanation and history of the sport

[tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

just in time for LA VUELTA A ESPAÑA 😻

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Inside insight.