Showing results by author "Peter Cossins" in All Categories

When, during the Pyrenean stages of the 1998 Tour de France, a journalist asked Marco Pantani why he rode so fast in the mountains, the elfin Italian, unmistakeable in the bandanna and hooped ear-rings that played up to his 'Pirate' nickname, replied: 'To shorten my agony.' Drawing on the fervour for these men of the mountains, Climbers looks at what sets these athletes apart within the world of bike racing, about why we love and cherish them, how they make cycling beautiful and how they see themselves and the feats they achieve.

Bloomsbury presents The Monuments 2nd edition by Peter Cossins, read by Nathaniel Priestley. An awe-inspiring history of the five most legendary “classic” races in world cycling. The Tour de France may provide the most obvious fame and glory, but it is cycling’s one-day tests that the...

Full of adventure, mishaps and audacious attempts at cheating, the first Tour de France in 1903 was a colourful affair. Its riders included characters like Maurice "The White Bulldog" Garin, an Italian-born Frenchman whose parents were said to have swapped him for a round of cheese in order to smuggle him into France as a 14-year-old; and Hippolyte Aucouturier, who, with his jersey of horizontal stripes and handlebar moustache, looked like the villain from a Buster Keaton movie.

A year-long adventure by bike across the Pyrenees to discover the rich history, stunning scenery and epic adventures it holds. First captivated by the mountains as a cycling fan in the early 1990s, Peter Cossins moved with his family to the French Pyrenees in 2016 and has recently completed a...