ROULEUR 44

Tour of the Battlefields, A Source of Sure Information, Junior Peace Race, Arctic Race, Paracarri and more...

Just five months after Armistice Day, 87 riders set off from Strasbourg on the Tour of the Battlefields, honouring the fallen of World War One. Roughly tracing the line of the Western Front, the combination of foul weather and war-ravaged roads combined to make the seven-stage race the hardest but least well-documented tour in history. Tom Issit uncovers tales of extraordinary days and nights in the saddle.

Morten Okbo spends every Italian race of note chasing after a mysterious woman who appears to control events from a car following the peloton. Who is she? What does she do, exactly? Morten and Jakob, our intrepid Danish duo, find out in A Source of Sure Information.

The next generation of British riders is in safe hands. Andy McGrath and Timm Kölln accompany Team GB coach Matt Winston and his young charges at the Junior Peace Race.

Timm also experiences the wild and wonderful Arctic Race with writer Andrew Curry. The Norwegian people and stunning scenery win them over, but can the new tour survive and flourish in harsh economic conditions? The outlook is promising.

It transpires there is more than one Dario Pegoretti in Italian cycling. This Dario does not build beautiful steel frames, but he does collect stone road markers paracarri and dedicates each one to a cyclist of note. Weird. And wonderful.

Duncan Forbes is director of the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. In the first of his regular columns, Duncan examines the art of capturing speed on camera.

Plus columns from Robert Millar and Matt Seaton.