The Break Life as a Cycling Maverick

Sharp, resourceful and a permanent outsider; for nearly 20 years Steve Cummings determinedly blazed his own winning trail in international cycling.

A maverick who defied the dominant teams, to record a sequence of gloriously improbable victories, he has lived and raced with legends of the sport - Cavendish, Wiggins, Froome, Thomas and others - about whom he has strong views and untold stories.

This autobiography of one of Britain's most successful international riders of the modern era takes the reader from Steve's earliest days as a junior, pounding across the flatlands of the Wirral, through his love-hate relationships with the British Cycling track cycling squad, to his series of top-level breakaway victories in the Tour de France, Tour of Britain and Vuelta a España and - rather than standout physical talent - how developing his own strategies and training techniques enabled him to succeed against the odds.

"Getting in a break was my one chance of winning. The hard part was working out, again and again, how to make that chance count." --Steve Cummings

Born in the Wirral, Steve Cummings was a track rider for Team GB from 2001-2007 before racing for top pro teams including Team Sky, BMC and MTN-Qhubeka-Dimension Data. He completed two of the most spectacular stage race victories in recent Tour de France history: at the mountain-top finish in Mende in 2015 and through the Pyrenees in 2016, as well as a stage at the Tour of Spain. He was crowned both British Time Trial and Road-Race National Champion in 2017, the first rider to 'do the double' since Tour de France star David Millar ten years earlier. Recently retired, he is now development director at Ineos Grenadiers.