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Tour de Force
'I pulled off my glasses and wiped my eyes. " That was perhaps the last race of my career..."'
Deep down, Mark Cavendish thought he was finished. After illness, setbacks and clinical depression, the once fastest man in the world had been written off by most. And at the age of 36, even he believed his explosive cycling career would fade out with a whimper. The Manxman hadn't won a single Grand Tour stage in Italy, Spain or France since 2016.
But then came his incredible resurrection at the 2021 Tour de France. Included on the Deceuninck Quick-Step team at the very last minute, only after Sam Bennett suffered an injury, Mark set about rewriting history. He claimed back the green jersey he first wore in 2011, and his four stage victories finally saw him matching Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. Cycling greats are never content, and Cav's dogged determination and inner strength had earned him the record that few believed he could ever achieve. This is his own intimate account of that race, right from the saddle of the miracle tour.
Deep down, Mark Cavendish thought he was finished. After illness, setbacks and clinical depression, the once fastest man in the world had been written off by most. And at the age of 36, even he believed his explosive cycling career would fade out with a whimper. The Manxman hadn't won a single Grand Tour stage in Italy, Spain or France since 2016.
But then came his incredible resurrection at the 2021 Tour de France. Included on the Deceuninck Quick-Step team at the very last minute, only after Sam Bennett suffered an injury, Mark set about rewriting history. He claimed back the green jersey he first wore in 2011, and his four stage victories finally saw him matching Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. Cycling greats are never content, and Cav's dogged determination and inner strength had earned him the record that few believed he could ever achieve. This is his own intimate account of that race, right from the saddle of the miracle tour.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
March 30, 2022
I’ve always thought of Mark Cavendish as a chopsy, in-your-face kind of guy. The sort of person who’s permanently in a bad mood. But then I heard a radio interview with him, in which he talked about the significant mental and physical health problems he’d suffered from since 2017 and I started to revise my view of him. After being a star bike racer for many years he’d experienced a barren spell and it seemed unlikely that he’d manage to attain the same level of strength and form again. But then I saw that he’d been included in the Quick-Step team for the 2021 Tour de France, an achievement in itself.
This book tells the story of that race and of Mark’s quest to match or even surpass the record of 34 stage wins achieved by Belgian legend Eddie Merckx. It transpires that he’d been dropped by his former team and was considering giving up professional cycling altogether but was eventually offered a skimpy deal to ride for his Quick-Step, a team he’d raced with before. At this point he had no real prospect of being selected for the team to ride Le Tour. He hadn’t won a race of any sort for years and most people – insiders and fans of the sport – believed that his best years were well behind him.
I listened to the audio version, read by Cavendish, and it was clear that the man himself had a very different view of his own worth – he knew he could win again. After a number of races at what he considered to be at ‘C Team’ level, he secured a late call up to race the the Tour of Belgium, this due to an injury sustained by the team’s lead sprinter. After sprinting to a win in stage 5 of the race he got lucky again, this once again due to his teammate’s ongoing injury problem - he’d secured a place in the team for the biggest race of them all.
Cavendish then describes his experience in the race, walking us through each stage, and it really does feel like he’s giving an honest appraisal of the good, the bad and the ugly of what it’s like to participate in a Grand Tour event. For cycling fans much of the high level stuff will be well known but Mark gets right into the nitty gritty, it’s a compulsive account of a man, and a team, battling possibly the toughest sporting event of them all. Mixed in with the cycling we get glimpses of his relationship with his family, his teammates and others in the cycling ‘family’ and also something of his interest outside of cycling. I loved every minute of it.
This book tells the story of that race and of Mark’s quest to match or even surpass the record of 34 stage wins achieved by Belgian legend Eddie Merckx. It transpires that he’d been dropped by his former team and was considering giving up professional cycling altogether but was eventually offered a skimpy deal to ride for his Quick-Step, a team he’d raced with before. At this point he had no real prospect of being selected for the team to ride Le Tour. He hadn’t won a race of any sort for years and most people – insiders and fans of the sport – believed that his best years were well behind him.
I listened to the audio version, read by Cavendish, and it was clear that the man himself had a very different view of his own worth – he knew he could win again. After a number of races at what he considered to be at ‘C Team’ level, he secured a late call up to race the the Tour of Belgium, this due to an injury sustained by the team’s lead sprinter. After sprinting to a win in stage 5 of the race he got lucky again, this once again due to his teammate’s ongoing injury problem - he’d secured a place in the team for the biggest race of them all.
Cavendish then describes his experience in the race, walking us through each stage, and it really does feel like he’s giving an honest appraisal of the good, the bad and the ugly of what it’s like to participate in a Grand Tour event. For cycling fans much of the high level stuff will be well known but Mark gets right into the nitty gritty, it’s a compulsive account of a man, and a team, battling possibly the toughest sporting event of them all. Mixed in with the cycling we get glimpses of his relationship with his family, his teammates and others in the cycling ‘family’ and also something of his interest outside of cycling. I loved every minute of it.
June 16, 2025
Finally read book my daughter had bought for my birthday four years ago. Always enjoyed watching cycling especially the Tour de France. Read all of Lance Armstrong’s works until the cheating controversy and they were ceremoniously sent to a Charity shop. The biography of Marco Pantini is a sad read.
This one by Cav was a happier read. Telling the story of his return to the bike for the 2021 TDF. Finally getting included in the Deceunink-QuickStep team and equalling Eddy Merckx’s all time record of 34 stage wins.
The writing reminded me of an Andy McNab or Chris Ryan ie, more f’s per page than say a Dickens😉. But that said it’s a nice easy read and paints the picture of the hard life these guys undergo for their sport.
This one by Cav was a happier read. Telling the story of his return to the bike for the 2021 TDF. Finally getting included in the Deceunink-QuickStep team and equalling Eddy Merckx’s all time record of 34 stage wins.
The writing reminded me of an Andy McNab or Chris Ryan ie, more f’s per page than say a Dickens😉. But that said it’s a nice easy read and paints the picture of the hard life these guys undergo for their sport.
December 25, 2021
When Mark Cavendish stormed to victory on Stage 4 of this year’s Tour de France, I was ecstatic. Cavendish is a cyclist who I’ve loved to follow for years. He won his first stage of the Tour de France back in 2008, and then went on to win a total of 30 stages, with his last win in 2016.
When he contracted Epstein-Barr virus, it took a long time to diagnose, and a longer time to get over. It looked very much like his best years were behind him, and few gave much thought to the idea that he could ever compete again at the top level.
There was also the small matter that his 30 Tour wins, was just four off the biggest ever haul of wins, by Eddy Merckx, probably the greatest cyclist of all time.
So when Cavendish managed to get himself picked by his Deceuninck Quick-Step team, at the eleventh hour, when their lead sprinter, the Irish rider Sam Bennett, was still injured ahead of the race, there was the faintest of hopes that perhaps Cav could do something in the race.
That win at Fougères suddenly saw the years being rolled back, as Cavendish was suddenly on the podium after so many years of not winning a race at just about any level. Indeed at the end of 2020, he’d looked to be retiring and it was only a late call-up from Deceuninck Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevre that saw him stay in the professional peleton.
That win on stage four was followed by three other wins over the 2021 race, as well as the overall green jersey for the best sprinter in the race. But to get those wins and take home that jersey also meant that he had to get through the tough mountain stages of the race, without missing the time-cut. Considering he’d been such a late replacement at the race, he hadn’t done the full amount of training that a rider would normally undertake ahead of a race on the scale of the Tour.
Except that reading Tour de Force, his new book covering the 2021 season, you can see that Cavendish did indeed do an awful lot of work in the run-up to the race on a “just in case” basis. With a new coach, he was actually posting some remarkably good numbers. But while he’d won a few races earlier in the 2021 season, none of those were on the scale of a race like the Tour de France, and there’s always a concern that “anyone” can win a stage of the Tour of Turkey, but it doesn’t mean so much in the bigger picture of the world’s biggest cycling race (Note: “Anyone” can’t win a stage of Tour of Turkey.)
In interviews, what’s always astonishing about Cavendish when he’s telling you about his decision making process, is his almost photographic memory of the race and the last few hundred metres. He can detail exactly what was happening at what point, even as split second decisions are being made – do I stay on the wheel of my team-mate, or do I jump onto the wheel of one of my competitors?
This book gives you an enormous amount of insight, not just about the last year or so of Cav’s career, but an almost second by second analysis of how he won the races he did win (or didn’t).
Cavendish is also a rider that wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s very honest – perhaps sometimes too much for his own good. But he loves cycling, treasures the history of the sport, and is certainly one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen, let alone cyclists. I’d have certainly placed him on the shortlist of BBC Sports Personality of the Year a couple of weeks ago – since this is the comeback story of all comeback stories.
When he contracted Epstein-Barr virus, it took a long time to diagnose, and a longer time to get over. It looked very much like his best years were behind him, and few gave much thought to the idea that he could ever compete again at the top level.
There was also the small matter that his 30 Tour wins, was just four off the biggest ever haul of wins, by Eddy Merckx, probably the greatest cyclist of all time.
So when Cavendish managed to get himself picked by his Deceuninck Quick-Step team, at the eleventh hour, when their lead sprinter, the Irish rider Sam Bennett, was still injured ahead of the race, there was the faintest of hopes that perhaps Cav could do something in the race.
That win at Fougères suddenly saw the years being rolled back, as Cavendish was suddenly on the podium after so many years of not winning a race at just about any level. Indeed at the end of 2020, he’d looked to be retiring and it was only a late call-up from Deceuninck Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevre that saw him stay in the professional peleton.
That win on stage four was followed by three other wins over the 2021 race, as well as the overall green jersey for the best sprinter in the race. But to get those wins and take home that jersey also meant that he had to get through the tough mountain stages of the race, without missing the time-cut. Considering he’d been such a late replacement at the race, he hadn’t done the full amount of training that a rider would normally undertake ahead of a race on the scale of the Tour.
Except that reading Tour de Force, his new book covering the 2021 season, you can see that Cavendish did indeed do an awful lot of work in the run-up to the race on a “just in case” basis. With a new coach, he was actually posting some remarkably good numbers. But while he’d won a few races earlier in the 2021 season, none of those were on the scale of a race like the Tour de France, and there’s always a concern that “anyone” can win a stage of the Tour of Turkey, but it doesn’t mean so much in the bigger picture of the world’s biggest cycling race (Note: “Anyone” can’t win a stage of Tour of Turkey.)
In interviews, what’s always astonishing about Cavendish when he’s telling you about his decision making process, is his almost photographic memory of the race and the last few hundred metres. He can detail exactly what was happening at what point, even as split second decisions are being made – do I stay on the wheel of my team-mate, or do I jump onto the wheel of one of my competitors?
This book gives you an enormous amount of insight, not just about the last year or so of Cav’s career, but an almost second by second analysis of how he won the races he did win (or didn’t).
Cavendish is also a rider that wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s very honest – perhaps sometimes too much for his own good. But he loves cycling, treasures the history of the sport, and is certainly one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen, let alone cyclists. I’d have certainly placed him on the shortlist of BBC Sports Personality of the Year a couple of weeks ago – since this is the comeback story of all comeback stories.
January 16, 2022
I received this book as a Christmas present and looked forward to reading it. I like cycling and was hoping to get into cycling last year.
I hope I can build my confidence up to try again.
I was interested in reading about the different stages of the Tour De France and especially with Mark’s experience of past tours.
While I did enjoy the story, I felt that it was poised by the use of offence language or swear language in the book.
I was intrigued to read the book as if mark was talking to you personally. As one who doesn’t use swear or vulgar language I felt that it’s use in the book spoilt the book for me.
I understand that folks use it on a daily basis, but I would like authors, editor and publishers to remember that there is a portion of their readers who don’t use vulgar or swear language and to help in curtailing the use in future publications.
I do wish Mark all the best for his future as he has been a great ambassador for cycling and hope that he can use his experience to encourage more into cycling if not into the sport of Road Cycling.
I hope I can build my confidence up to try again.
I was interested in reading about the different stages of the Tour De France and especially with Mark’s experience of past tours.
While I did enjoy the story, I felt that it was poised by the use of offence language or swear language in the book.
I was intrigued to read the book as if mark was talking to you personally. As one who doesn’t use swear or vulgar language I felt that it’s use in the book spoilt the book for me.
I understand that folks use it on a daily basis, but I would like authors, editor and publishers to remember that there is a portion of their readers who don’t use vulgar or swear language and to help in curtailing the use in future publications.
I do wish Mark all the best for his future as he has been a great ambassador for cycling and hope that he can use his experience to encourage more into cycling if not into the sport of Road Cycling.
February 24, 2022
A good read
April 16, 2023
Sprinterii nu-s cei mai apreciați cicliști de către telespectatori, care se concentrează pe etapele așa-zis spectaculoase, cele din munți, unde rutierii de clasament general sunt în prim-plan, așa cum o fac și în etapele de contratimp. Citind însă despre spectaculosul și miraculosul an 2021 al lui Mark Cavendish, ne vom face în mod sigur o altă părere despre reușitele, chinurile, suferințele, pregătirea draconică, tehnica și organizarea sprinterilor. După cinci ani de chin (boală, pandemie, lipsă de victorii), aflat în pragul retragerii, Cav revine în Turul Franței și, cu ajutorul unei echipe excelente - Deceuninck, reușește patru victorii de etapă și îl egalează pe legendarul Eddy Merckx ca număr de victorii în Marele Tur.
O carte care îi va încânta pe pasionații de sport, de ciclism, dar care demonstrează, pentru orice persoană, că după eșecuri pot veni și victorii, că dacă te pregătești intens poți reuși în orice domeniu în ciuda obstacolelor.
O carte care îi va încânta pe pasionații de sport, de ciclism, dar care demonstrează, pentru orice persoană, că după eșecuri pot veni și victorii, că dacă te pregătești intens poți reuși în orice domeniu în ciuda obstacolelor.
January 22, 2022
I've always been an admirer of Mark Cavendish and I was delighted to see his success at the 2021 Tour de France in which he won four stages and the Green Jersey. Everyone loves a come-back in sport and if it's a national hero too, then that's an added bonus.
I think this was a hastily-written book to capitalise on his successes in time for the Christmas market. Some of the writing is a bit clunky and it would benefit from some sharper editing, but that's fine it doesn't really detract from the book.
I learned a few interesting things I didn't know: some cycle teams drink wine and beer on the evenings after stages. I'm pretty sure that Ineos and Sky don't, but it seems that Deceuninck-Quick-step, Cav’s team, do (I assume in moderation – and maybe because they’re from Belgium where beer is almost a religion!). I also learned that Cav can speak Italian and surprisingly he's a dab hand with a needle-and-thread as his mother owned a drapery shop.
I don't think anyone would argue that the TdF is one of the hardest sporting events in the world and Cav graphically describes how hard it is for him to cycle over 100 mountainous miles before sprinting flat-out for the finish in the race, or just hanging onto the back of the peloton in order to finish within the cut-off time to avoid elimination from the race on the non-sprinting high mountainous stages. He’s extremely kind and gracious in his praise for the support his team gave him during the race.
A great book for people who are interested in extreme sports and cycling and the human side of these events.
I think this was a hastily-written book to capitalise on his successes in time for the Christmas market. Some of the writing is a bit clunky and it would benefit from some sharper editing, but that's fine it doesn't really detract from the book.
I learned a few interesting things I didn't know: some cycle teams drink wine and beer on the evenings after stages. I'm pretty sure that Ineos and Sky don't, but it seems that Deceuninck-Quick-step, Cav’s team, do (I assume in moderation – and maybe because they’re from Belgium where beer is almost a religion!). I also learned that Cav can speak Italian and surprisingly he's a dab hand with a needle-and-thread as his mother owned a drapery shop.
I don't think anyone would argue that the TdF is one of the hardest sporting events in the world and Cav graphically describes how hard it is for him to cycle over 100 mountainous miles before sprinting flat-out for the finish in the race, or just hanging onto the back of the peloton in order to finish within the cut-off time to avoid elimination from the race on the non-sprinting high mountainous stages. He’s extremely kind and gracious in his praise for the support his team gave him during the race.
A great book for people who are interested in extreme sports and cycling and the human side of these events.
January 12, 2023
Mark has been my favorite professional bike rider for years, because of his outward passion for what he does. Watching him win Tour de France stages in 2021 was thrilling! Of course anyone familiar with bike racing knows it’s a TEAM SPORT, and reading Mark’s first hand account of how he prepared himself and how Deceuninck (even surprisingly) rallied around him was great insider info. Even though we may watch hours of racing during the TdF, I still learned so much more through Mark’s account, especially about race strategy but also about behind the scenes logistics that I wasn’t aware of. I also appreciated his honest perspective of his own emotions and passion. This book delivered exactly what I was hoping.
Personal note: this was the third of three books in a self-designed Sports trilogy that I read in 2022 (and some spillover to 2023).
Personal note: this was the third of three books in a self-designed Sports trilogy that I read in 2022 (and some spillover to 2023).
April 1, 2022
I have always been intrigued by what it takes to compete at the highest level in one of the world's greatest sporting events. This is a truly fascinating and educational insight into the teams, the tactics, the training and the man that is Mark Cavendish, one of the top sprinters of all time. As a feat of endurance and relating a comeback after several years in the wilderness, this book should also have struck more of an emotional and heart warming chord....that just didn't come over.
Read
April 6, 2024Reading this is exactly like listening to Cav speak, which makes it massively different from the vast majority of my reading life. Enjoyable insider's return to the TdF I have rewatched at least four times now.
September 14, 2022
Not a great writer but a great reminder of an epic tour.
January 26, 2024
The passion Cav has for his sport is so infectious - what a good read
December 23, 2025
An interesting insight into the mind of a sprinter with lots of glimpses of what goes on in a World Tour level bike race.
Cav may not the most articulate of men, but does he really need to use the F*** word several times in every sentence?
At times the book descends into too much of a blow by blow account of each day for my liking.
Cav may not the most articulate of men, but does he really need to use the F*** word several times in every sentence?
At times the book descends into too much of a blow by blow account of each day for my liking.
January 12, 2026
Nice story regarding how he achieve to win and break the record and believe in himself.
December 6, 2022
As a decades' long-time fan of grand tour cycling, I have watched Cavendish's ebbs and flows through the ranks of the green jersey. I never questioned why he was less of a force on the scene from 2016 until 2021 but I was so pleased to watch his amazing comeback in the 2021 Tour de France.
This book is an account of Cav's 2021 year - the training, the team dynamics, the lesser known tours and finally a day-by-day diary of his TdF experiences.
The writing is conversational, to say the least. It is full of his quirky sayings and off-the-cuff comments, which makes it hard to follow at times. Assuming that his audience is made up of fellow cyclists and obsessed fans, he drops a lot of names and doesn't explain enough about complex tactics which often lost me. As a result, I nearly abandoned in the first quarter.
But Cav's passion for the TdF is palpable and I really enjoyed learning about what goes on in the grupetto on those tough mountain stages. While the cameras follow a breakaway and the chasing peloton, fans don't get to see the team effort of those domestiques who have finished their turns or those sprinters who find the mountain stages a struggle. I was impressed by the teamwork it takes for him to stay in contention.
Recently I watched every stage of the 2021 TdF (I save it until the Autumn when the weather keeps me inside more) so the stages were fresh in my mind. I would recommend watching a daily highlights of each stage while reading the book as it will help you follow his commentary more easily.
This book is an account of Cav's 2021 year - the training, the team dynamics, the lesser known tours and finally a day-by-day diary of his TdF experiences.
The writing is conversational, to say the least. It is full of his quirky sayings and off-the-cuff comments, which makes it hard to follow at times. Assuming that his audience is made up of fellow cyclists and obsessed fans, he drops a lot of names and doesn't explain enough about complex tactics which often lost me. As a result, I nearly abandoned in the first quarter.
But Cav's passion for the TdF is palpable and I really enjoyed learning about what goes on in the grupetto on those tough mountain stages. While the cameras follow a breakaway and the chasing peloton, fans don't get to see the team effort of those domestiques who have finished their turns or those sprinters who find the mountain stages a struggle. I was impressed by the teamwork it takes for him to stay in contention.
Recently I watched every stage of the 2021 TdF (I save it until the Autumn when the weather keeps me inside more) so the stages were fresh in my mind. I would recommend watching a daily highlights of each stage while reading the book as it will help you follow his commentary more easily.
January 8, 2022
Obviously Cav is amazing, talented and so on. And it’s mostly interesting to see inside the peloton from his perspective. It’s hard to imagine him getting more wins, but he had been written off so many times before it’s now hard not to imagine him winning more. It’s not especially well written, and he has such a potty-mouth it’s slightly tedious as you start to be able to predict with some degree of accuracy how he’s going to respond to any situation. Still, talk of the changing nature of the peloton is interesting, and it would be nice to think other cyclists would take heed of what he says.
January 19, 2022
I loved the first half of the book speaking about the prep for the Tour. Loved the insights into racing, training, food and just how life goes for these Pro's.
I am bias in wanting to read more of these types of things I suppose. And hence my rating here.
When the actual tour started, having watched it, I didnt find it to interesting. It almost became a "This happened, then this happened," approach to the writing.
The Groupetto adventures up the climbs for me was the most interesting from there on.
Great Athlete, incredible human being, didnt enjoy the book to much. Felt a bit rushed towards halfway.
I am bias in wanting to read more of these types of things I suppose. And hence my rating here.
When the actual tour started, having watched it, I didnt find it to interesting. It almost became a "This happened, then this happened," approach to the writing.
The Groupetto adventures up the climbs for me was the most interesting from there on.
Great Athlete, incredible human being, didnt enjoy the book to much. Felt a bit rushed towards halfway.
July 8, 2022
Great book for cycling fans of Cav. First half is all the behind the scenes details of his 2020-21 off season and getting back to Quickstep, second half is stage by stage stories of the tour. Focused on the 2021 Tour de France, it’s all the juicy details you want as a cycling fan from Cav’s point of view. As with all cycling books, not sure how well it will age, but right now it’s a great read and leaves a blunt, honest legacy and moment in time recap of what might turn out to be Cav’s final tour.
February 29, 2024
Great personal story
I very much enjoyed this audiobook on cycling, especially as Cav narrated it himself. A day-by-day account of his ‘comeback’ tour, and the events leading up to it, I learned a lot about this exceptional cyclist that I hadn’t got from Tour de France coverage or the media. A good guy, with an innocent love of the biggest bike race in the world, what’s not to love? I believe in him more, and take less seriously commentary that say he’s lost without a lead out train. Can’t wait to see him ride again in 2023.
I very much enjoyed this audiobook on cycling, especially as Cav narrated it himself. A day-by-day account of his ‘comeback’ tour, and the events leading up to it, I learned a lot about this exceptional cyclist that I hadn’t got from Tour de France coverage or the media. A good guy, with an innocent love of the biggest bike race in the world, what’s not to love? I believe in him more, and take less seriously commentary that say he’s lost without a lead out train. Can’t wait to see him ride again in 2023.
December 31, 2021
Loved reading Mark’s account of his 2021 comeback. Had no idea what obstacles he faced to actually get back to the Tour and it almost didn’t happen! Put off by a lot of “F word” but I guess that’s his personality and style. Still think it could’ve had less swearing. On one page I think I counted 6 “f bombs”. Enough is enough!
January 4, 2022
I love Cav, so this is a consciously biased review! I love his passion, his honesty, his heart on his sleeve approach to life, His love for bike racing jumps off the pages, as does his love and respect for the Tour. There are some great insights into the race and life as a bike racer… it’s also a really easy read, perfect for a holiday!
February 2, 2025
Read this when it first came out then listened to it a few years later in authors own voice. Although he was already a legend most people thought he was past his best so it was the comeback kid. Great to hear how passionate he remains
May 14, 2026
This felt like Part 2 of a three-part book. All the background information that one might expect just wasn’t there — like where is this guy from? How did he get into cycling? What was the early part of his career like? Nope. It just began after his career had taken a turn for the worse. (And only half a paragraph on page 4 is devoted to how his career took a turn for the worse.)
The rest of the book is
I already know what happens after that 2021 race, because I watched the Netflix documentary about the Tour de France in 2022, 2023, and 2024 — and Mark Cavendish features in all three seasons. So, yeah, this book just kind of sits there in the middle of his life, almost without context. It was weird.
It is also, I think, only for people who already know a bit about road cycling. He talks about the “yellow jersey” but doesn’t say what it is. The same with plenty of other cycling terms and what I can only assume is British slang. I would have been utterly lost if I hadn’t spent the past few months watching dozens of road race broadcasts on YouTube and learning tons of new words and concepts (peloton, drafting, getting dropped, grupetto, domestique, soigneur, bunch sprint, etc.)
March 17, 2026
“But here the first few minutes were consumed with something I’d never experienced, not to this extent, after my previous 146 wins – a procession of riders from other teams coming congratulate me. Riders I didn’t know, riders I did know, riders I got on with, riders I didn’t get on with. Fuck, I’d even have hugged Peter Sagan that day.”
Autobiography of the Manx Missile, cycle sprinter, winner of 35 stages in the Tour de France and 165 career wins. This book covers his return to competitive cycling in 2021, following illness. He wins four stages in the Tour, equalling Eddy Merckx’ 34 wins. His record-breaking 35th win in the Tour of 2024 is not included; the story covers 2021 only.
An interesting and inspiring read – especially for cycling enthusiasts.
Autobiography of the Manx Missile, cycle sprinter, winner of 35 stages in the Tour de France and 165 career wins. This book covers his return to competitive cycling in 2021, following illness. He wins four stages in the Tour, equalling Eddy Merckx’ 34 wins. His record-breaking 35th win in the Tour of 2024 is not included; the story covers 2021 only.
An interesting and inspiring read – especially for cycling enthusiasts.
August 20, 2023
I’m not a fan of cycling but happened to watch some of the Tour when he won. His story sounded excellent. I really enjoyed the details of the racing. His memory of the way things happened and the way he describes the split second decisions is awesome. As far as calling it a great coke back story, it was a come back but not a good come back story. He only talks about the issues of depression he dealt with in a paragraph here and there. He never gave any real detail of how trying the years between wins really was. Those details would have made this a story I wouldn’t want to put down but instead I was left like, meh, okay.
January 20, 2026
Utter garbage and unreadable. As a road cyclist I have the utmost respect for Mark Cavendish but somewhere between the road and the print run something went very wrong.
Who edited this garbage and how did penguin ever let it go to print in this state. I literally could not get past the first chapter it is so unreadable. It's like someone vomited commas on to the page and then sneezed colons as a follow up. I am not normally pedantic over punctuation, honestly, but it is so bad as to make this unreadable. If you left all the punctuation out completely it would be an improvement. I almost suspect this may have been written by AI...
Who edited this garbage and how did penguin ever let it go to print in this state. I literally could not get past the first chapter it is so unreadable. It's like someone vomited commas on to the page and then sneezed colons as a follow up. I am not normally pedantic over punctuation, honestly, but it is so bad as to make this unreadable. If you left all the punctuation out completely it would be an improvement. I almost suspect this may have been written by AI...
February 13, 2022
I liked the back story from his 2021 season, which added another layer to the view provided by race commentary. I thought there might be a bit more about the years of struggle from 2017-2020. This book is really focused on the Tour and the preceding races in 2021. It’s very focused and assume written quickly for Christmas 2021. I expect he’ll write another book upon retirement. Worth a read if you’re into racing and a Cav fan.
July 13, 2022
The list of superlatives used to describe Mark Cavendish is endless. He’s not to everyone’s cup of tea but I think he’s a class act. His tour comeback in 2021 was a real shot in the arm for many cyclists, myself included, in a post pandemic world with lots of ongoing restrictions. The four stage wins he gleaned certainly helped brighten up a trying and testing period in my life. To find out what they meant to Cav… you’ll need to read the book.
July 30, 2022
Fascinating story about Mark's comeback to the Tour de France after a number of years. It provides a real insight into the way teams are setup and the unrelenting commitment needed by team and cyclist to be competitive
The way Cav can describe a race from start to finish explaining the ever changing tactical nuances and how to survive is so complex and interesting
Great book told with feeling and honesty
The way Cav can describe a race from start to finish explaining the ever changing tactical nuances and how to survive is so complex and interesting
Great book told with feeling and honesty
January 1, 2025
Tour de France by Mark Cavendish
What an enjoyable read. This book is about Mark Cavendish and the 2021 cycling season, which went on during COVID. As someone who doesn't follow cycling, I find this book interesting on many levels. I learned about the various bike races and how they work. What the roles of the different cyclists are. The main part was about his amazing performance during the season.
What an enjoyable read. This book is about Mark Cavendish and the 2021 cycling season, which went on during COVID. As someone who doesn't follow cycling, I find this book interesting on many levels. I learned about the various bike races and how they work. What the roles of the different cyclists are. The main part was about his amazing performance during the season.
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