Customer Reviews

In Search of Robert Millar: Unravelling the Mystery Surrounding Britain's Most Successful Tour De France Cyclist

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I found this book suprisingly interesting. I had only had vague recollections of Millar from his cycling days in the 80's and 90's. Racing along side LeMond and Hinault when the TDF first came on the radar of American cyclist. The book is very well written and had me hooked from beginning to end. It can even serve as a prelude to the drug invested Peleton we see now.

I found this book fascinating and compelling. I could hardly put it down and devoured it cover to cover. I remember Millar as a boyhood hero of mine. He came to prominence just as the Tour De France began to be televised on British TV. However, I never understood his meticulous attention to detail, particularly his diet and his health. He planned every step up in his career with a very scientific approach and he was so incredibly honest and forthright about his own ability and chances. Millar seems like a visionary now. His insights on toxins and food additives are seen as mainstream now while back in the 80s they made him a freak.

The book provides fascinating insights into many other characters of the cycling scene in the 80s and 90s including Paul Sherwen, Stephen Roche, Sean Yates, Martin Earley, Sean Kelly, Pedro Delgado, Allan Peiper, Graeme Obree, Chris Boardman, even a young Lance Armstrong gets a mention. It also paints quite a horrid picture of the politics of pro cycling and life for riders on the teams back in the 80s. It's amazing to learn how ineffective the management was and to read of truly horrific lack of leadership and the resultant squandered talent.

Millar remains the best ever British pro and the only English speaking rider to win the King of the Mountains in the Tour de France. This book is a fitting tribute to a heavily misunderstood personality whose achievements are only truly being appreciated two decades later. I see Robert Millar in a new light and I'd like to thank Richard Moore for making this possible.

If you are into cycling history this will be a book for you. Millar is enigmatic and its hard to really paint a good picture of the guy, but Moore does as well as anyone could expect. In some ways it's a shame Millar didn't agree to really open up to him at the end. The book steadily built toward that, but the resolution never came. I guess the more predictable ending wouldn't have fit this subject anyway. Somehow getting some limited email contact and then an abrupt ending seems perfect in that sense.

Not even interested in the sport till a year back and only mildly interested in the name of Robert Millar, there was something in the title that made me feel this book would be an interesting read. IN SEARCH OF Robert Millar- a most appropriate title. It is the theme of this book - his Scottish past, his parents, school, friends, his early days in France, his mentors and how each of the races shaped him. Any other book of an insignificant pedal pusher from Glasgow would have bored me to death but the author has somehow pulled it off well - from cover to cover. By the end of the book, I was a bit surprised that I actually liked it a lot. I think what really shows in the book is the author's sincere effort to find all he could of this mysterious personality and to present it in a way a mystery novel would. At the end, I was more in appreciation of the author than Robert Millar; Robert Millar - I pitied.

An excellent read. Well-written, meticulous and smart. Moore likes his subject and so do I. A kind and truthful summing up, with many thoughtful stops along the way.

I was glad to see Robert back at the 2011 TDF. And a bit of a breath of fresh air at that. Not a cookie-cutter commentator, not a cookie-cutter rider, not a cookie-cutter anything else. In his own way, he had a great career. I hope he's content.

A book for a bicycle gear head. An interesting approach to the enigmatic Robert Millar. Mr Moore not only does a respectable job detailing Robert Millar's life but he covers the professional cycling scene from the mid 70s to late 80s and the rise of doping in the peleton.