THE CYCLING ANTHOLOGY is now into its fifth volume – a new collection of wholly original writing, as always, by some of the world’s top cycling writers, whose names you’ll no doubt recognise from magazines, newspapers and websites.
While our contributors come from all over the world – Europe, South America, Australia, North America – the Anthology nevertheless remains a predominantly British ‘product’ simply by virtue of the fact that it was conceived in Britain, and is put together, edited and printed in Britain, too.
The United Kingdom enjoyed hosting two of the three Grand Tours in 2014: first, the start of the Tour of Italy in Belfast and Armagh in Northern Ireland, followed by the Tour de France’s Grand Départ in Yorkshire.
Both events were a phenomenal success, but British riders didn’t have as charmed a season as they’d had the previous couple of years. At the Tour de France, in particular, we saw the UK’s biggest names either not start or crash out of the race, and fans instead enjoyed the almost phoenix-like re-emergence of French riders. And that has been reflected in the Anthology by the inclusion of a native French-speaking writer — François Thomazeau — for the first time.
Let us hope that our net of contributors will be thrown even wider in future, and that bike racing, too, continues to seek out and discover new places, faces, fans and races.
Enjoy the read.
Ellis Bacon & Lionel Birnie