Epic Rides

Draft behind 8 great champions

Frederik Backelandt & David Stockman

The most mind-blowing rides of Merckx, Boonen, van Aert, Coppi, Bartali, Pantani, Anquetil and Hinault

With beautiful photography by David Stockman

The ultimate rides that inspire cycling fans worldwide

Each cycling race is a dream factory, but it’s those great cycling champions who make us dream because of their unparalleled performances in the classic and big races. Now and then those great champions are written down in the yearbooks of the cycling sport in golden letters. From Fausto Coppi to Eddy Merckx; from Marco Pantani to Wouter van Aert: each of them has at least one big epic cycling race to their name. Their epic cycling rides are reconstructed in this book. Cycle along with the greatest, over the stones of Roubaix, over the Alpine and Pyrenean cols or over Tuscan gravel roads.

Frederik Backelandt started as a sports journalist at Het Nieuwsblad (one of the leading newspapers in Flanders), now he is a publisher at Grinta! Publications, that amongst others publishes the cycling magazine Grinta! and the paper Cycling. He also wrote several books about cycling. It’s not only on paper that he demonstrates his knowledge; he also cycles himself. He won the world cycling championship for journalists several times and is addicted to cycling in the mountains.