Because his career is the sun that sits at the centre of the cycling universe, his sudden absence - temporary and passing as it is, only a very partial eclipse - casts a strange and unfamiliar light.
The impossible race is won at last. Final-day dramas at the women's Grand Tours. A rare setback for a champion. Another year of this most chaotically poetic sport is once again chronicled in painstaking detail.
With our unrivalled collection of data and acclaimed infographics, collected from
every professional race across the Men and Women’s race calendar, our 900-page
hardback, beautifully crafted in Britain, lets you savour every second from the 2026
season.
It’s not all about the numbers however, and we remain true to our aim of being a
love-letter to this most beautiful of sports as we feature essays from riders,
journalists and even comedians. A body of work which forms an irresistible ode to
the 2026 road racing season.
With a special introduction by our Editor, Ned Boulting, this edition includes heart-
filled and comprehensive recollections of the season by such illustrious figures as:
Emily Chappell
Daniel Friebe
Jonathan Liew
Tom Portsmouth
Matthew Brennan
Paula Blasi
... and many more.
Please note that this product is currently on pre-order. All orders placed are expected to be fulfilled in mid-November.
Some of the greatest cyclists of 2026 relive their monumental wins for us. These are exclusive pieces written by the cyclists themselves that you won't find anywhere else.
2026's collection of captivating essays is from a broad range of writers:
The Exorcist by Daniel Friebe
Myth Maker: Ventoux's Storied Stones by Emily Chappell
An Uneasy Alliance by Issy Ronald
An Idea of Escape by Jonathan Liew
Le Dauphin: Seixas and the Vacant French Throne by Katy Madgwick
Duopoly: The Tour's Greatest Rivalry by Kit Nicholson
Other Avenues by Tom Portsmouth
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Matthew Brennan
Matt Brennan is one of the most exciting prospects in the men's peloton. In only his second full season, and at the age of just 21, he has already amassed a truly staggering 24 victories. For context, at the same age Tadej Pogacar had eight wins, and Eddy Merckx five. Mark Cavendish was yet to win. In August 2026, he went to the Vuelta, his debut grand tour, supported by a resurgent Wout Van Aert. What happened next could hardly have gone better.
Paula Blasi
Paula Blasi's background as a middle-distance runner and triathlete has given her an endurance that she has converted to success on a road bike in record time. A little over a year after joining UAE Team L'Imad, Blasi has become the first Spanish rider to win Amstel Gold Race and has already claimed her first Grand Tour title.
Sigrid Ytterhaus Haugset
Sigrid Haugset burst onto the scene in her first year as a World-Tour rider. The 27-year-old has only been a cyclist since 2021, but in that time has completed Paris-Roubaix with a broken pelvis, ridden two Tours de France Femmes and this year took two long-distance solo victories to become both Norwegian champion, and the first Norwegian woman to win a stage of the Tour.
Afonso Eulálio
Bahrain Victorious' Afonso Eulálio found himself unexpectedly catapulted to stardom at the Giro d'Italia. The young Portugese rider missed out on a stage win after a wet and wild stage 5 but held the maglia rosa for nine days before wearing the maglia bianca on the podium in Rome.
Emily Chappell
Myth Maker: Ventoux's Storied Stones
A lifelong cycling fan and the author of two books: What Goes Around covers her years as a bike messenger in London, and Where There's A Will tells the story of her ultra-racing career. Her next book will be about the neglected history of women's cycling.
Issy Ronald
An Uneasy Alliance
A London-based journalist primarily working for CNN news. She previously worked in their sports team, helping to cover World Cups, Olympics and Tours de France, finished third in the Young Reporters Category at the 2025 AIPS Media Awards and has contributed to several cycling publications.
Katy Madgwick
Le Dauphin: Seixas and the Vacant French Throne
Longstanding contributor to The Road Book, Katy Madgwick is a freelance writer and broadcaster living in the north of England, though her heart resides in France. She covers multiple disciplines across men's and women's pro cycling, and is a regular contributor to Cyclist Magazine and Cyclingnews, along with producing her own Substack, @writebikerepeat. She also appears regularly on Track radio and BBC radio.
Daniel Friebe
The Exorcist
Daniel Friebe is a veteran of 25 years covering men's professional cycling, the author of several books on the sport and ITV's former Tour de France reporter. He has covered every one of Primož Roglič’s Vueltas a España, on the ground, from end to end.
Jonathan Liew
An Idea of Escape
Liew is a columnist at the Guardian who has been writing about cycling on and off for the last 15 years. He has won several major journalism awards, as well as eight episodes of the TV game show Countdown – a fact that hugely impressed Mark Cavendish when they met for an interview.
Kit Nicholson
The Tour's Greatest Rivalry
Kit Nicholson has been cycling on the road since 2013, building up gradually from the country lanes south of Cambridge to the mountains of Europe, and the rugged landscapes in Scotland, which are now home. Kit’s lifelong passion for writing was first combined with cycling in 2015, starting out with Fausto Agency, before moving on to CyclingTips in 2021. Then, in spring 2023, Kit was part of the editorial team that helped launch the new independent cycling media company Escape Collective.
Tom Portsmouth
Other Avenues
Tom Portsmouth has raced professionally at some of the biggest one-day races on the calendar. Alongside his racing career, he has been developing an interest in writing, and has documented his life in the peloton for a number of publications over recent years.
2026 Editor
It appeared to be a simple stone in the road. He had no way of avoiding it, and in an instant the red jersey was down. He sprang to his feet, scrabbled around, and then collapsed back down again. In that moment, Tadej Pogačar became human again.
If there was one defining moment of the racing year, then perhaps it is this one; the crash which ended the world champion’s Vuelta. One could also have argued a case for other outstanding moments from this year’s long and dramatic road campaign. After all, there were many to choose from: Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney’s assault of Mont Ventoux, Wout Van Aert’s impassioned victory in the velodrome of Roubaix, Demi Vollering soloing over the
line in Nice to claim her second Tour de France or Mathieu van der Poel collapsing onto the cobbles of the Champs Elysées in Paris. All these images, now filed away in our collective memory, could on their own have stood to represent a whole calendar of competition. Or, one
could instead have picked at random from Pogačar’s personal collection of triumphs which for most of his serene passage through the year he seemed to be assembling at will: on the Via Roma, finally hammering a silver nail through the heart of Sanremo, alone again in
Oudenaarde or a streak of yellow flying up Alpe d’Huez in pursuit of the impossible.
So, why choose to remember a crash? It wasn’t even, by the peculiarly cruel standards of road racing, a particularly bad one. But it was severe enough to end his season abruptly and damaging enough to fracture his aura of perfection. And because his career is the sun that sits at the centre of the cycling universe, his sudden absence, temporary and passing as it is, only a very partial eclipse, casts a strange and unfamiliar light. Everything seemed suddenly altered. Pogačar himself, and everything in his shadow.
