Domestique
The Real-life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro
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٤٫٢ - ٧٣ من التقييمات
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- 15٫99 US$
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- 15٫99 US$
وصف الناشر
**Winner - Sweetspot Cycling Book of the Year**
For 11 years I was a professional cyclist, competing in the hardest and greatest races on Earth. I was in demand from the world’s best teams, a well-paid elite athlete. But I never won a race. I was the hired help.
When my mum dropped me off in a small French town aged 17, I was full of determination to be a professional cyclist, but I was completely green. I went from mowing the team manager’s lawn to winning every amateur race I entered. Then I turned pro and realised I hated the responsibility and pressure of chasing victory. And that’s when I became a domestique.
I learned to take that hurt and give it everything I had to give, all for someone else’s win. When the order came in to ride I pushed out with the hardest rhythm I could, dragging the group faster and faster, until my whole body screamed with pain. There were times I rode myself to a standstill, clutching the barrier metres from the line, as the lead group shot past. But that’s what made me a so good at my job.
As my career took off, I started looking at the fans lining the route, cheering us like heroes. The passion for cycling oozed off them, but they couldn’t know what it was really like. They didn’t see the terrible hotels, the crazy egos or all the shit that goes with great expectations. Well, this is how it is…
مراجعات العملاء
The reality of pro racing for most riders - great read.
Great book. I got the feeling that this is really what it’s like to be a pro cyclist who isn’t going for the wins. That is, the majority of the riders in a bike race. Highly recommend reading if you’re like me and wonder what it’s really like to be at the top of the cycling game. Charly wears his heart on his sleeve in the book, and comes across as very genuine in wanting to relate what the highs and lows really are like for a pro cyclist.
Entertaining Read
Interesting view on pro cycling through a unique lens. Having been to several major races in Europe as an spectator, I had assumed some of these unglamorous truths about the sport… crappy hotels, low salaries, insane diets, yet its unique to hear differences between nationalities, races, etc. I am not a ‘gossip-seeker’ there’s plenty of it on YouTube if that’s your thrill, but I did find an important miss the author’s choice to cover doping tangentially at best. He disclaims his reasons, which I understand and respect, yet it’s too much of an elephant in the room to simply edit from an insider’s view on the pro peloton. The rest works. Well done Charly.
Well written book
I have to say I was expecting another book about the wonderful life of a bike racer. But instead I got a good truthful account of what it must be to be a teammate of the stars. Every story is detailed about how hard and thankless it must be. If you are a racer or ever thought about what it would be like to ride professionally, then this is the book to read.