The Yellow Jersey Club

Book excerpt: The Yellow Jersey Club contains just twenty-six living members. To become one of this exclusive number requires complete dedication, brutal self-sacrifice and the most extraordinary physical attributes. Yet along with the ability to climb mountains, bomb along time trials and survive all the perils of the road, what really makes a Tour de France champion? Edward Pickering set out on a mission to ask them, and gained some astonishing insights into the minds of cycling's best ever riders of the past forty years, from giants like Greg LeMond and Stephen Roche to more unfamiliar names like Bernard Th�venet and Joop Zootemelk. With his trademark sharp analysis and deft style, Pickering explores the myriad factors that combine to produce success. What does it take to accumulate such great mental strength, skill and endurance? What are the differences as well as the key factors in common? What sets these men apart from the rest of the field? The Yellow Jersey Club gives the reader unprecedented access into the secrets of the greats of cycling.