Domestique

**Winner - Sweetspot Cycling Book of the Year** For 11 years I was a professional cyclist, competing in the hardest and greatest races on Earth. I was in demand from the world s best teams, a well-paid elite athlete. But I never won a race. I was the hired help.When my mum dropped me off in a small French town aged 17, I was full of determination to be a professional cyclist, but I was completely green. I went from mowing the team manager s lawn to winning every amateur race I entered. Then I turned pro and realised I hated the responsibility and pressure of chasing victory. And that s when I became a domestique.I learned to take that hurt and give it everything I had to give, all for someone else s win. When the order came in to ride I pushed out with the hardest rhythm I could, dragging the group faster and faster, until my whole body screamed with pain. There were times I rode myself to a standstill, clutching the barrier metres from the line, as the lead group shot past. But that s what made me a so good at my job.As my career took off, I started looking at the fans lining the route, cheering us like heroes. The passion for cycling oozed off them, but they couldn t know what it was really like. They didn t see the terrible hotels, the crazy egos or all the shit that goes with great expectations. Well, this is how it is