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In search of Robert Millar
The compelling story of Britain’s best-ever cyclist – one of the most enigmatic, complex and contradictory athletes in any sport – and the unravelling of the puzzle surrounding his sudden and dramatic disappearance. Fully updated with new material on the enigmatic Millar.
Cyclist Robert Millar came from one of Europe’s most industrialised cities, Glasgow, to excel in the most unlikely terrain – over the high mountain passes of the Pyrenees and the Alps. He was crowned King of the Mountains during the 1984 Tour de France and remains the only ever Briton to finish on the podium of the world’s toughest race.
In attitude and appearance he was unconventional – the malnourished-looking young Scot with the tiny stud in his ear who could be prickly, irascible and unapproachable – but to many followers he was the epitome of cool. Flying the flag for British cycling, this one-off original became a cult hero.
In Search of Robert Millar will follow the career of this other-worldly character, from his tough childhood on the streets of Glasgow in the 1960s to his move to France and success in the world’s most brutal and unforgiving races, including the controversy surrounding his positive drugs test and his enforced retirement from the sport at the age of 36.
It examines what set Millar apart from all other British cyclists who tried, and failed, to make an impact in this most European of sports, describing his single-mindedness, his eccentricity and the humour and intelligence that emerged only towards the end of his career.
It also proffers explanations for his subsequent disappearance, which repeated a familiar pattern: he vanished from Glasgow and never returned; he left his wife and son and his adopted country, France. Now, it appears, he has turned his back on cycling (amid rumours that he had undergone a sex-change operation).
Through interviews with Millar’s friends, acquaintances, cycling colleagues and ex-classmates, author Richard Moore helps to unravel the mystery of this maverick Scotsman, arguably one of the greatest enigmas in a sport full of remarkable characters.
- Autor/a
- Richard Moore
- Editorial
- Harper Sport
- ISBN
- 978-0007235025
- Páginas
- 384
- Formato
- Rústica
- Fecha publicación
- 2 de junio de 2008
- Fecha publicación original
- 2 de junio de 2008
- Lengua
- Inglés
Richard Moore (1973) es un periodista escocés que antes de juntar letras llegó a representar a Escocia como ciclista en unos Juegos de la Commonwealth en 1998. Por ello, su carrera profesional se ha centrado posteriormente en el ciclismo y también con intensidad en el atletismo. Es uno de los periodistas deportivos más respetados del Reino Unido, habiendo firmado artículos en medios como The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Scotsman, The Herald o medios especializados como Rouleur Magazine.
Su primer libro llegó en 2008 con In Search of Robert Millar, que ganó el premio a la mejor biografía en los “British Sports Books Awards”. Le han seguido otros libros de ciclismo y atletismo como Heroes, Villains & Velodromes: Chris Hoy and Britain's Track Cycling Revolution (2008), Slaying the Badger: LeMond, Hinault and the Greatest Ever Tour de France (2011), Étape: The Untold Stories of the Tour de France's Defining Stages (2014) o The Bolt Supremacy: Inside Jamaica's Sprint Factory (2015).
Su único libro traducido hasta ahora al castellano era Sky´s the Limit. Sky, el límite es el cielo que publicamos el 2013.
Actualmente codirige junto a Lionel Birnie y Daniel Friebe, el conocido podcast sobre ciclismo Cycling Podcast (www.thecyclingpodcast.com).
28/05/2020
Excelente
Un libro clave para entender a uno de los mejores ciclistas de los 80. Richard Moore hace un sensacional trabajo de investigación para aclarar el misterio que rodeó a Millar durante muchos años. Recomendado.