Racing Hard

Few British schoolchildren of the seventies can have been as obsessed with the Tour de France as William Fotheringham, who smuggled copies of

Miroir du Cyclisme into lessons to read inside his books. He saw the Tour for the first time in 1984, avidly following that year's race on television in the Normandy village where he lived.

Since joining the

Guardian in 1989, William Fotheringham has been at the forefront of British cycling journalism. Here he reflects on the events of the last twenty-three years – the triumphs, the tragedies and the scandals that have engulfed the world's most demanding sport. Key articles from his career are annotated with notes and reflections. What would he have said if he'd known then what we all know now about Lance Armstrong? Which cyclists and teams were not all they seemed? And which victories still rank as the greatest of all time?

This is the definitive collection of cycling reporting.