Table of Contents
Foreword David Millar vii
Prologue ix
A Note on Style xvi
Part I Les Rouleurs
1 The Improbable Hour Eddy Merckx, Part I 6
2 Birth of a Hardwoman Nicole Cooke 11
3 Always Full Gas Sean Yates 15
4 2012 Olympic Road Race Marianne Vos 21
5 Belgium, April 1971 Eddy Merckx, Part II 25
6 Mind Over Matter Rebecca Twigg 28
7 Go Long Or Go Home Jacky Durand 32
8 Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better Annie Londonderry 36
9 The Badger versus The Dog: Paris-Roubaix 1981 Bernard Hinault 41
10 Overcoming Megan Fisher 47
11 Passista Francesco Moser 51
12 Stage 15, Tour de France 2001 Rik Verbrugghe 55
13 British Twelve-Hour Time Trial 1967 Beryl 'BB' Burton 58
Part II Les Crimpeurs
14 The Spotted Flandrian Lucien Van Impe 67
15 La Plagne, July 1987 Stephen Roche 73
16 Les Deux Alpes Marco Pantani 78
17 The Gavia, 1988 Andy Hampsten 82
18 Rule #9 Grimpeur Nairo Quintana 86
19 Cracked Actor Richard Virenque 91
20 The Accidental COTHO Tyler Hamilton 96
Part III De Klassiekers 101
21 Mr Paris-Roubaix Roger De Vlaeminck 107
22 A Lady for the Sport Lizzie Deignan 110
23 Never Say Die Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle 113
24 The Dutch Make Hardmen Too Jan Raas 117
25 'Eddy Bosberg' Edwig Van Hooydonck 121
26 Guns Sean Kelly, Part I 125
27 Destroying Cobbles, Selling Glue, Forging Rules Mapei 129
28 Paris-Roubaix 1994 Andrei Tchmil 133
29 April 2001 Peter Van Petegem 138
Part IV Les Domestiques 141
30 'Panzerwagen' Tony Martin 146
31 Paris-Roubaix 2016: Journey(Man) to Hell Mathew Hayman 150
32 Conan's Great Battle Jens Voigt 153
33 Batman Adam Hansen 157
34 Mont Ventoux, Tour de France 1994 Eros Poli 162
Part V I Velocisti
35 Champagne in the Bidon Freddy Maertens 172
36 The Champ on the Champs Djamolidine Abdoujaparov 176
37 More Than Just a Pair of Legs Sean Kelly, Part II 179
38 July 2007 Robbie McEwen 185
Finale 189
Glossary 193
The Rules 207
Further Reading 229
Acknowledgements 231
Picture Credits 233
Hardman Biographies 234
