If we talk about sports literature, books dedicated to cycling enjoy a long tradition. This is no coincidence: few disciplines combine as much effort, epicness, and beauty as this sport does. And although pedaling is something you experience with your legs, many times you also enjoy it with your mind... from the sofa.
Whether you regularly ride road bikes over legendary mountain passes or you like to get lost among trails with mountain bikes, there are titles that connect with that unique emotion we feel on two wheels. True stories, biographies, essays, chronicles, or fiction that all speak of the same thing: a passion for cycling.
At Tuvalum we have made a small selection of some of the books we liked the most—and that we devoured almost as quickly as a zigzag descent. Some have inspired us, others have made us laugh, and there have also been those that have moved us deeply.
Among our must-haves are biographies of great champions, stories that transport you inside the professional peloton, and works that analyze what it means to be a cyclist, whether amateur or elite. Because cycling is not just a sport, it is also a way of seeing the world, a philosophy that is very well reflected in each of these books.
And the best part is that you don't need to be on a bike to feel identified. Whether you are one of those who train daily with a rigid MTB or if your thing is to chase watts on an aero bike, these titles are written for you. For you, who knows what it means to get up early for a long ride, what it means to get a flat in the middle of nowhere, or what it feels like to summit a mountain pass with trembling legs and a racing heart.
So now you know: if you have a rest day this weekend, or if you're looking for something to read on your travels, we recommend you take a look at our list of favorite cycling books. And, of course, if you have a literary gem you think we should read, leave us your suggestion in the comments. Pedaling is also reading.
How to Win the Giro by Drinking Bull's Blood + Lead in the Pockets (Ander Izagirre)
Two recommendations in one. It couldn't be any other way, considering that Ander Izagirre is the author of both titles: one, the most recent, dedicated to the Giro d'Italia; the other, to the Tour de France. Both are essential. In the first, you'll smile while reading about Luigi Malabrocca's tricks to secure last place in the Giro d'Italia and win the corresponding prize. Izagirre gathers this and many other anecdotes in an extraordinary book. Just as extraordinary was his Lead in the Pockets, a true classic from the author in which he immersed us in the French tour.
📺 Don't miss this video. We talk with Ander Izagirre about his passion for telling, above all, "great stories" and how "fun" the process of creating his books about cycling is.
Through the competition, the book about the Giro allows you to discover the sociopolitical context of twentieth-century Italy. Doubly interesting, therefore. The corsa rosa has always been a reflection of Italian history and society. In its early days, it even served to build and introduce a country to its own citizens. Incredible stories and unique characters draw us into the most epic cycling. As well written as it is documented. More than thirty chapters full of anecdotes, each with its own substance.
📺 Was everything better in the past? The author talks in this video about the fascination that old-time cycling inspires.
You will discover countless cyclists: champions (Girardengo, Coppi, Bartali, Merckx, Gimondi…), eternal climbers (Gaul, Tarangu, Pantani…), unique characters (Gerbi, Malabrocca, Visentini, Van der Velde…), and even pioneering women like Alfonsina Strada and Florinda Parenti. You'll enjoy the fierce rivalry between Moser and Saronni, or the exploits of Spanish cyclists like Miguel Mari Lasa or Marino Lejarreta. In short, names that have helped make the Giro a carrera that is different, spontaneous, and with a very particular idiosyncrasy. 
More information about How to Win the Giro by Drinking Ox Blood here. As we have mentioned, Ander Izagirre is also the author of the celebrated and well-known Lead in the Pockets . Its pages also break down a thousand and one stories, some of them bizarre. In this case, from the Tour de France. Among them, the one that gives the book its title: the story of little Robic (winner in 1947), who loaded himself with lead to descend faster. Without a doubt, one of the best works written about the French race in the Spanish language. 
More information about the book Lead in the Pockets here.
Plan Your Pedaling (Chema Arguedas)
Although we have left out guides and manuals in this list, a classic of cycling training could not be missing. Plan Your Pedaling is a true best-seller. The ideal guide if you aspire to improve your performance, both on the road and off road.
📺 You're sure to be interested. Chema Arguedas shares in this video the philosophy with which he wrote Plan Your Pedaling.
Chema Arguedas shares his knowledge as a coach, physical trainer, cycling enthusiast, and sports nutritionist. In his book you will find everything about loads, metabolism, and other basic training concepts. A scientifically validated method that is an ideal starting point for those who have never taken sports planning seriously. The narrative avoids technical jargon and is engaging. From the beginning, you can tell that it is written by a cycling fanatic with thousands of kilometers in his legs. That's why it's easy to see yourself reflected as you flip through it.
📺 This is how it all started. Chema Arguedas recalls in this video his beginnings in the world of planning applied to cycling.
Plan Your Pedaling includes specific training plans to make things super easy for you. If your goal is to give your all in a cycling event, this book gives you the guidelines to get going and arrive on the big day stronger than ever. 
More information about the book here.
The Rider (Tim Krabbé)
The helplessness experienced by a racer during a carrera. This could be the brief summary of The Rider. Undoubtedly, one of the best novels about cycling ever written. That’s why it’s surprising that it didn’t arrive in Spain until 32 years after its publication. In other countries, like the Netherlands, The Rider has long been a cult book. Tim Krabbé was a cyclist, but it’s clear he has found fortune as a successful writer. In this book, he shares the unspoken thoughts that go through a cyclist’s mind during competition. The story focuses on a particular passage from his biography as an amateur racer. Specifically, on the victory he almost achieved in the 1977 Tour du Mont Aigoual. It is a kilometer-by-kilometer chronicle of the French race and a metaphor for how heroism is bound to misfortune.
The chronicle from inside a carrera and a metaphor for how heroism is bound to misfortune.
The narration is brilliant and you come to share the author’s agony. An agony so harsh that it ends up turning into beauty. Let’s say it becomes a kind of homage to suffering. The greatest quality, according to the author, that a cyclist must have to aspire to anything in his profession. Tim Krabbé was able to taste victory, but fate intervened. Right on the finish line, he was overtaken by a 19-year-old kid. From triumph to defeat, in a second. Many characters will seem unfamiliar to you, but the interest never wanes. On the contrary: the perspective of an amateur cyclist with no hope of going professional gives authenticity to the story. 
More information about the book here.
Domestique (Charly Wegelius)
“The domestique is the infantry soldier of cycling.” This is one of the quotes you’ll find in the book. And indeed, Domestique is the story of a professional rider devoted to the dark work of the team. The autobiographical account of Charly Wegelius, a prestigious British cyclist whose mission was always to obey his team leader. In his twelve years at the highest level, he competed for teams like Mapei-Quick Step, Liquigas, and Omega Pharma-Lotto. He was a regular in the grand tours, but never won anything. His testimony is that of athletes with modest salaries, of uncertainty, of crashes, of the certainty that they will never go down in cycling history. Charly Wegelius conveys to us the dream of a man who confesses to being far from doping and who pushed his body beyond the limits of pain. A youth sacrificed to make the dream of his childhood come true: to ride the Tour de France and make a name for himself in the professional peloton. In the pages of Domestique you will discover the most unknown and, at the same time, the most widespread cycling in the peloton. 
More information about the book here.
Win at All Costs (Tyler Hamilton, Daniel Coyle)
Drugs and cycling. Possibly the best book to understand the darkest era of our sport. A time when EPO was the buzzword in the peloton. The story is as thrilling as it is bleak. A face-to-face encounter with the drama of doping in cycling. Win at All Costs was the first book to dare to dive into the depths of a reality hidden for far too many years. Everyone knew it, but no one had the guts to tell it. A novelized autobiography of former professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton. A valuable testimony, as it brings us the account of a rider who was at the summit and experienced the scandal firsthand: he was an Olympic champion and teammate of Lance Armstrong at US Postal. Like the Texan, he fell into the arms of doping.
The testimony of a rider who was at the top and experienced the doping scandal firsthand.
The author takes a journey through professional cycling from the twilight of Indurain to the rise and fall of Armstrong. It may seem a bit self-indulgent, but the book grows as the pages go by. It is the result of 200 hours of interviews with Daniel Coyle, renowned New York Times journalist. The result is an investigative document as raw as it is extraordinary. The book features doctors without principles (like Eufemiano Fuentes), team directors without scruples (like Bjarne Riis), and riders willing to risk everything to achieve glory. And always, with the omnipresence of Lance Armstrong and the doping practices of the time. The allusions and the level of detail are surprising. In summary, Win at All Costs is one of the best testimonies regarding one of the greatest sports scandals of our time. 
More information about the book here
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Death Against the Clock (Jorge Zepeda Patterson)
Fiction also has a place on this list. A crime novel with a cycling flavor that clearly shows the power struggle between cyclists. The book features Marc Moreu and his leader Steve Panata . Both, from very different origins, but fraternally united by cycling. In 2016, after winning four editions of the Tour de France, Panata faces the challenge of entering the exclusive club of five-time champions, alongside Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain. But that year, the carrera begins with strange and violent events. Someone is trying to eliminate the main contenders for victory in order to seize the yellow jersey.
A novel in which they attempt to eliminate the contenders for victory in the Tour de France.
The French race becomes the scene of a murder. The book tells the story of the search for the culprit who sows panic in the peloton, while also revealing the story of the efforts, sacrifices, and anxieties that cyclists go through. Ultimately, a whodunit in the purest Agatha Christie style. As you read, you'll think everyone could be guilty. The ending is surprising. 
More information about the book here.
Elbowing Through (Laura Meseguer)
Elbowing Through is an excellent journalistic review of the best generation of Spanish cyclists. The author makes us relive the most important milestones of our cycling in the last 15-20 years. With this book, you will know almost everything about the generation of Valverde, Contador, Purito... A fluid and evocative narrative invites you to read the book in one go. Beyond the Tour de France, it portrays the feats of cyclists who were pioneers in little-explored territories. The Classics, the victories of the brilliant Freire or Alejandro Valverde, the triumphs in week-long races, the reign of Alberto Contador, the genius of Purito or Samu Sánchez... Recent cycling history told by its protagonists in the first person.
The book collects great feats of Spanish cycling and illustrates them with testimonies from its protagonists.
Not only winners appear. Other cyclists, more removed from the spotlight but whose work has contributed to the glory of our cycling, also claim their space: Vicioso, Gárate, Horrillo... You may have experienced many of these stories in front of the TV. The book will allow you to remember them all together. Want a suggestion? You can read it and, in parallel, look up some of those unforgettable moments on YouTube. 
More information about the book here.
The carrera Against the Stasi (Herbie Sykes)
We present to you the winner of the British Sports Book Awards as Best Cycling Book of the year 2015. In fact, The carrera Against the Stasi is much more than a cycling book. It perfectly reflects how to make sport a political tool. The author tells us the story of Dieter Wiedemann, one of the great cyclists of the former East Germany. He stood on the podium at the Carrera of Peace, a sort of Tour de France Soviet style that ran through Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the GDR. Wiedemann fell in love with a girl from the other side of the Wall: Sylvia Hermann. From that moment on, events began to unfold rapidly.
The passion for cycling and the love between two people come together to undertake a dangerous escape in Cold War times.
In 1964, he obtained permission to travel to West Germany. There he was to compete in the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Wiedemann took the opportunity to defect. In this way, he was able to meet his beloved and fulfill the dream of riding the Tour de France. With his departure, however, his close circle, his family, came under the scrutiny of the Stasi, the intelligence agency of the now-defunct GDR. And every reward has its price. The Carrera against the Stasi is a collection of real testimonies, documents from the Stasi itself, letters from the era, newspaper excerpts... All to weave a story of love, defection, and sport. 
More information about the book here.
Manaña salimos (Jean Bobet)
A delightful book that teaches you epic cycling from the inside. If you love competition and history, it should not be missing from your library. The author, the Frenchman Jean Bobet, is the younger brother of the legendary Louison Bobet, the first winner of three consecutive editions of the Tour de France (1953-55). For this reason, his point of view is privileged. Jean was a university graduate, something unusual at the time. An education whose intellectual influence clearly benefits the narrative. But the book is not exactly a biography, although it does recount experiences inside and outside of cycling. He also talks to us, of course, about his brother Louison's carrera, about the main figures of the era, about the social atmosphere... About what cycling was like back then.
The brother of the great Louison Bobet tells the story of a golden age of cycling from a privileged position.
Possibly, the great value of the book is its ability to immerse us in that golden age of cycling: the mid-twentieth century. A post-war time that is almost palpable in its pages. Figures like Coppi, Koblet, Kübler, as well as Bobet himself, will delight the true fan. A poker of cyclists that the author calls G4. The work is entertaining and full of anecdotes Its pages feature everything from mafias to miracle masseurs. Passages such as those of the Paris-Roubaix or Mont Ventoux alone justify the read. It's like being there. Passion, nostalgia, affection… Sensations that will capture you throughout the reading of this masterful work. 
More information about the book here.
We Were Young and Reckless (Laurent Fignon)
The autobiography of Laurent Fignon could not go unnoticed in this list. A rebellious cyclist, who always defied the norm and never got along too well with his sports directors. Let's say he didn't like being told what to do. The book is a wonderful snapshot of cycling in the eighties and nineties. If you didn't follow his career, the story will help you appreciate the enormous stature of the French champion, winner of two editions of the Tour de France (1983 and 1984). It perfectly reflects his personality. At no time does he try to be politically correct, but rather direct and unfiltered, no matter who it hurts. A candid work where he talks about his friends, his enemies, doping, race-fixing in carrera…
It is one of the best books to understand cycling in the eighties and nineties.
The book is full of juicy passages. From settling scores between great cyclists of the era to stories of parties in the middle of competition. The author has structured the story in short chapters, which makes for easy reading. A highly recommended book to help you realize the pressure that surrounds elite cyclists. 
More information about the book here.
Periquismo. Chronicle of a Passion (Marcos Pereda)
If you ever got excited by Perico's attacks during those after-lunch sessions of the Tour de France, this book is for you. An excellent work by Marcos Pereda, also author of Arriva Italia, which could also appear in this list. In the early 80s, the absence of stars and teams plunged Spanish cycling into a depression. In that context, the figure of Pedro Delgado emerged. In 1983, he led the Reynolds team expedition to the Tour de France. Few believed in them, but that's where the legend began of a boy from Segovia who climbed mountain passes as if there were no tomorrow.
For those who grew up with the cry of ¡Ataca Perico!, this work is a must-read.
The book delves into the figure of Perico and tells us about his rise to the heights of cycling, with its lights and shadows. A reunion with the last link of a cycling era far removed from earpieces and power meters. An addictive book that you could devour in a couple of days, but which is best savored slowly. From his cycling exploits, to his historic blunders, including his hunger knockouts or his peculiar relationship with José María García. A nostalgic and kind look at an unrepeatable and charismatic cyclist. It's impossible not to smile at some of the anecdotes. Periquismo is a feeling and this book is the most tangible proof. 