An insight into Australia's greatest ever athlete - I thought the book was not that well written. But the subject of getting to know Cadel better made it worth the read. Now I look forward to reading the sequel on how he finally succeeded in winning the big one. And the way he did that makes Cadel the greatest athlete Australia has ever produced.

well i would give the story and Cadel 10 out of 10 but the way the story is writen well 5 out of ten it just repeats itself gets quite annoying at times. the authur seems to say something then has someone else say it again only to have some else say it again. hey man we all do not have time to waste i read three Armstrong books a never felt like i was being told the same thing soory guys but ican only read a few pages because of it and i am not really enjoying it.

I love Cadel but this book is not easy to read - it just doesn't flow! it makes me frustrated to read it, and after one read I won't read it as a whole again. I wish the whole book was written like Chiara's chapter, lovely! My sister is of the same mind. The photo's are fantastic!

What a great subject on which to write a book but what a terrible job Rob Arnold has done. I am a fan of Cadel and I want to like him more, but this book did nothing to help that. It is a collection of cliches, particularly in the closing chapters. It is repetitive and lacks structure. Did I mention it was repetitive? I regularly found myself having to take time to re-read sections because Rob changes the topic and the race and the time with no understandable logic. This was very difficult to read and was also littered with myriad errors in grammar. I want to read a great book about Cadel. Maybe I'll have to wait until he's won the tour in 2010!

yo cycling fans! i scored this book for xmas... high five! looking forward to some late nights reading and snacking on protein bars. It will be great training for watching le tour!

Evans is one of Australia's greatest yet untold sports stories, and I was keen to read this. As a biography, i am not sure it works with a choppy and an uneven narrative and a dominant voice of someone who is a fan of Evans and who does not question the status quo. The chapter on the World Champs do not mention any other rider, his tactics or how the race unfolded. Even the TDF chapters give little insight into how Evans approached stages or the race itself, but harp on about how hard he tried and successful he was. I know that, I am a supporter, but I was hoping for more of an insight into what has brought him to this point, rather than a book that seeks to answer the question 'how good is he'. A holiday read, but not a great bio.

A great insight into australia's greatest cycling champion. A lot of new things to be learnt about cadel and some of the doubters and criticisers could learn about him.

What happens when a biography is carefully planned & then the subject decides to change the final act? (Twice, as it turns out - but only Cadel's Rainbow jersey ride made it into in Close to flying) A deeply uneven book; which had to be rewritten too close to the publisher's deadline for the final edit it really cries out for. That said, Cadel's is a fascinating story (much more so than i would have expected under the circumstances - the love story is particularly touching, though as a Darlinghurst guy, i find it hard to believe that a .au sculptor would also be a fanatical sports nut... viva Italia); & the rough assemblage approach of anecdote & commentary gives the book a very readable immediacy. The absence of any real insight into the T-Mobile fiasco is curious, though

I bought this book for my boyfriend, (a cycling nut), but ended up reading it myself and found it fascinating. High achievers in any arena go through so much and it's inspiring to read about their challenges and how they deal with them. Plus now I know some cycling names to drop!

I would love to say that, this gave a different insight to one of Australia's highest profile road cyclists. But sadly I can't. I would rather spend an extra hour on the windtrainer than read this.