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Sean Yates: It's All About the Bike

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Sean Yates: It's All About the Bike

By: Sean Yates
Narrated by: Clive Mantle
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About this listen

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.

©2013 Sean Yates (P)2013 Random House AudioGo Cycling Sports Celebrity Inspiring Thought-Provoking Triathlon
All stars
Most relevant
Probably the best cycling book I have ever read. couldn't stop listening totally enthralling from start to finish.

If you know about cycling you will love this book.

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Always great to hear about Yates and all his history as he is genuinely a legend. The pronunciation and accents were distracting at times though. Especially the attempt at Boardman that sounded like Ringo Starr with a bad hangover.

Boardman played by Ringo Starr

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What made the experience of listening to Sean Yates: It's All About the Bike the most enjoyable?

Hearing the life story of an iconic racing cyclist and director sportif, was really interesting. Yates is really good (and knows it), but this didn't sound big-headed, and he appeared more than aware of his shortcomings as well as his assets.

What did you like best about this story?

The no-nonsense style of writing

How could the performance have been better?

This is a book with a very limited potential readership, i.e. cyclists or people interested in cycle racing. The publisher/actor (who knows who should take care of this?) had made absolutely no effort to research the pronunciation of the names of people, places and events. This is just sloppy and unprofessional and I would have felt short-changed had I paid full price for the audiobook. As it was, it was so bad that it became laughable and actually added a comedy dimension to the whole thing. If you're precious about this sort of thing, then this is definitely not the book for you.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Despite the subject matter, this is a sub-standard product and the publishers should hang their heads in shame.

Laughably Poor Narration

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Apart from the frequent mispronunciations - surely the Johann Brown Ale was for comedic effect - this is a brilliant story, well-told with few concessions to 'how it should be'.
Thoroughly recommended!

Johann Brown Ale

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What did you like most about Sean Yates: It's All About the Bike?

As a cycling fan who has followed the career of Sean Yates, his take on his own career was the main reason I bought the book and what I liked best about the book.

What did you like best about this story?

I particularly liked the anecdotes of events that happened "behind the scenes" and away from the races.

What does Clive Mantle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Clive Mantle's pronunciation of certain cycling related words (Johan Bruyneel and Liege-Bastogne-Liege for example) and his attempt at accents as a comical touch which adds to the entertaining stories

Entertaining Read

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