We continue our look back through each instalment of The Road Book with a focus on our 2019 edition.
For many, 2019 represents the last fragile moments of normality before the world was changed, possibly irrevocably, by the Covid-19 virus. Both within and outside of the sport there was genuine hope and positivity, a feeling that an older generation was stepping back, to be replaced with those who had a fresh take on what was right. Though to be sure there is a certain rose-tinted nostalgia in this reminiscence, I don't think that nostalgia is necessarily misplaced.
Even a cursory look at the results column for the 2019 road cycling season yields a fresh crop of new names appearing side by side with the pre-established stars such as Philippe Gilbert and Annemiek van Vleuten. Some of our more hipster readers may well remember these fresh faced, daring youths. They include the likes of: Remco Evenepoel, Mads Pedersen, Mathieu van der Poel, oh, and that bloke from Slovenia with the funny name? Tadej Pogačar I think it was. Wonder what happened to him?
In the words of our editor, Ned Boulting, 2019 was a paradigm shift: ‘this was the point in time when the old guard shuffled out, the new phalanx marched in, dusty traditions were torn up, tired conventions ignored and the continental shelves of the cycling world crashed their century-old tectonic plates together, with seismic consequences.’
The Road Book 2019 features a wealth of moments that illustrate this changing of the guard, ranging from Pogačar’s pair of stage wins and podium finish at the Vuelta on Grand Tour debut, to the story of Mathieu van der Poel’s incredible Amstel Gold Race comeback. A famous, almost impossible comeback, the final few kilometres of week seem to do the social media rounds almost weekly. Michael Hutchinson penned a fascinating article for this edition of the Road Book breaking down the power numbers of that incredible comeback, and if you’ve ever wondered exactly how Mathieu managed it, look no further.
However, there was only one real choice for us to focus on: quite possibly the best edition of the Tour de France in living memory. The unfortunate crash suffered by Chris Froome on stage 4 of the Dauphiné meant that the most dominant stage racer of his generation would be absent from the biggest race of them all.
The power vacuum created by Froome’s absence gave this new generation all the opportunity they needed, and it was grasped with both hands. In his introduction to the 2019 edition, Ned summed up this unique and totally enthralling edition of the Tour through the kaleidoscope of a series of isolated snapshots. It is to this that we will turn to sketch an outline of the race:
‘Jumbo-Visma's team hug beneath Brussels’ Atomium; Julian Alaphilippe’s victory salute surrounded by Champagne fields; Wout van Aert’s lead-out work, followed by his win and his crash. Three pictures encapsulating the highs and lows of this brutal sport. Or perhaps these: Thomas De Gendt marauding; Bardet’s polka-dotted sigh of relief; Alaphilippe’s ferocity and tenacity, the irrepressible nature of a spell in yellow that transformed the race and transcended expectations. Or maybe you’ll never forget Thibaut Pinot’s tears of defeat as he was forced through injury to abandon a Tour he might very well have won, followed on the same day by a mudslide and more tears, this time Egan Bernal’s.’
We won’t try to break it down in its entirety, instead we will leave that to the contributions of Philippe Auclair and Matt Rendell to The Road Book 2019. Auclair takes an emotional and quite frankly sublime look at the most French of Frenchmen: baroudeur Alaphilippe. This is a seriously brilliant piece of writing and Ned has declared it as one of his favourite Road Book contributions more than once.
Auclair’s look at Alaphilippe is followed by Matt Rendell’s Found in Translation: Columbia, Cycling and me which puts into fascinating context the meaning of Egan Bernal’s maillot jaune victory for the country that Rendell spent over a decade residing in. A Rendellian masterpiece that places the Tour de France in a geographic, cultural, historical and personal context.
These two essays, alongside our race reports covering the 2019 Tour de France, have been made available to you as a free pdf here. But that barely scratches the surface of The Road Book 2019, which also features In the Winners' Words contributions from Annemiek van Vleuten (World Championships), Philippe Gilbert (Paris-Roubaix) and Richard Carapaz (Giro d’Italia), alongside essays by Michael Hutchinson, Kit Nicholson, Bob Roll, Tom Isitt and Orla Chennaoui. Not to mention the unique offering of a poem entitled Autrefois des Français Gagnaient... (Once upon a time, the French would win...) by venerated French writer Paul Fournel who reflects on the bewitching flickerings of a French revival on the 2019 Tour.
This edition of The Road Book records the fascinating events of a paradigm shift that might otherwise be lost to cycling history. Merely remembered as an anomalous blip between the years of Team Sky dominance, and the emergence of a certain Tadej Pogačar. A name that, a few short months after The Road Book’s 2019 was published, became forever destined to feature in our pages as the Slovenian began to etch his name into cycling folklore.
Instead, this year of change, this last great blooming season of hope before the veil of global pandemic was drawn across the once blissful vista, only to unveil a world riven by political and social strife in 2021; is forever chronicled for your enjoyment.
We will leave you, once again, with Ned’s note of hope: ‘2019 has felt as if someone has thrown open the windows, allowing a fusty old house to be suffused with warm, fresh air: Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogačar. These names have only just begun to write themselves into history.’
The Road Book 2019 will be available at a significant discount during our (Early) Spring Sale (25th-27th February), so make sure you pick yourself up a copy.
