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Sean Yates: It’s All About the Bike
Sean Yates: It’s All About the Bike
Oct 26, 2024 1:29 PM

Author:Sean Yates

Sean Yates: It’s All About the Bike

Before Bradley Wiggins, there was Sean Yates. Behind Bradley Wiggins, there was Sean Yates.

One of only five Britons to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, Sean Yates burst onto the cycling scene as the rawest pure talent this country has ever seen. After turning professional at the age of 22, he soon became known as a die-hard domestique, putting his body on the line for his teammates. Devastatingly fast, powerful and a fearless competitor, Yates won a stage of the Tour, as well as the Vuelta a España, in 1988, and went on to don the coveted maillot jaune six years later.

Having put British cycling on the map as a rider, Yates was soon in demand as a directeur sportif, using his tactical knowledge to inspire a new generation of cyclists to success. And after Team Sky came calling, Yates was the man to design the brilliant plan that saw Sky demolish the opposition in 2012, and for Bradley Wiggins to become the first cyclist from these shores to win the Tour.

Straight-talking, entertaining and revelatory, It's All About the Bike is the story of a remarkable career told from the unique perspective of a man who is immersed in the history of the sport he loves.

Reviews

A candid and unflinching account of his three decades in the sport, of interest to anyone who has followed his long and fruitful career. Yates is not afraid to pull punches throughout this autobiography and you have to admire his honesty... refreshingly far removed from what we have grown used to in many similar releases.

—— Sky Sports, Cycling Books of the Year

Brilliant. This is, in many ways, an old-fashioned book chronicling the transformation of a cycling-mad kid from West Sussex into possibly the most respected domestique in the peloton, who also claimed a famous time-trial stage victory of the Tour de France in 1988 and wore the yellow jersey for a day in 1994. This book does full credit to an outstanding career.

—— Brendan Gallagher , Sweetspot Cycling Book of the Year shortlist nomination

A very good read... one of those rare well written cycling autobiographies that engages the reader... better by far than the other recent autobiographies that could be filed under 'British Cycling and My Role in Its Rise to Glory'. The whole thing has a charming, casual air about it, like a couple of old mates sitting down over a pint and reminiscing about the past. It's nice to be reminded why Yates used to be such a legend.

—— Podium Café

Sean Yates is the real deal - tremendous determination, talent and commitment - the classic hard man from that era. In a way reading the book made me glad I didn't become a pro cyclist.

—— Cycling Uphill

For years Sean Yates was by far and away the most successful British rider in the Tour de France since Tommy Simpson. Then came Cavendish, Froome and most of all Wiggins. After retiring from racing Sean Yates was to become Team Sky's Race Director and a figure central to Wiggins' 2012 Tour victory. A great and revealing book.

—— Mark Perryman , Philosophy Football, autumn sports books review

Fascinating for any sports fan and truly a gold mine for Arsenal supporters

—— Alan Davies

A fascinating and engrossing read from start to finish. Provides wonderful insight and anecdotes as well as revealing the dynamics and determination from within the dressing room

—— John Cross , Daily Mirror

I picked it up and couldn't put it down. Brilliantly depicts a piece of football history

—— David Dein, Arsenal Vice-Chairman (1983-2007)

This is research at its riveting best. My only complaint about the book is that it had to end

—— Patrick Barclay, author of The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman

If you were there in 71 and/or 2004, buy the book. If only now do you appreciate that we probably had four of the six best payers on the planet back then, buy the book and read their words. Let me make it simple. If you are an Arsenal supporter, buy the book

—— Goonerholic

This is a book that contains some of the most evocative prose I have encountered in a book about football and without doubt solidifies Lawrence's place in the very top tier of sports writing in English. The story and characters are fascinating enough, but it is how they come to life and dance in Lawrence's writing that makes this book such a wonderful telling of an incredible tale

—— Huffington Post

Lawrence is a writer who will help the reader to appreciate the football on the pitch with an understanding of how the game is played few can match. At the same time she never fails to appreciate the passion that makes us fans

—— Morning Star

A gripping account of Arsenal's undefeated title winning season of 2003/4

—— Owen Gibson , Guardian

The atmosphere of the Sixties is re-created brilliantly.

—— The Times

Hamilton through the stories and backstories of others broadens his horizons to explain the phenomenon that was Best and the world that destroyed him. Offering up new material and new perspective, Hamilton, as one reviewer would opined, mastered biography.

—— Irish Examiner

Dickinson is tender to the memory of the Essex lad who, for a breathtaking instant, was glorious

—— Ain Finlayson and Kate Saunders , Saga Magazine

Matt's work is the most impressive West Ham book of the year, a genuine and sincere attempt to get to the root of the man. It is an excellent, thought-provoking book

—— Knees Up Mother Brown

A compelling and complete account

—— Sport

In The Man in Full, acclaimed football writer Matt Dickinson traces the journey of this Essex boy, peeling away the layers of legend and looking at Moore’s life from all sides – in triumph, in failure, in full

—— Bert Wright , Nudge

Outstanding... this excellent biography comes very close to describing the real Bobby Moore

—— Post
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