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the Netherlands to the World Fairplay Awards in Paris (not sure how the
rest of the team got there!) The team was also invited to Germany’s
Sports Personality of the Year event where they were presented with Omega
watches in honour of their gesture. And in 2000 when Bennett was involved
in organising the World Championships at Manchester velodrome, the
German team from 1973 presented their rivals with replicas of their Gold
Medals and a book of press cuttings from the time. I have to say, I’m even
more impressed by the German sporting attitude than our own lads in a
way – remembering and marking the event 27 years later is a bit special!

The “Worlds” in Britain
Before Leicester in 1970, the Worlds had previously been held in Britain in
Liverpool in 1922.

Psychological Warfare
When Mark Cavendish won Milan-SanRemo in 2009 it’s fairly well-known
that he pretended not to be able to climb in the preceding Tirreno-Adriatico
stage race but the psychological work seemingly started even earlier – at
the Eroica (now Strade Bianche) where he made sure to get dropped, with
team-mates around him - and made sure he was on TV when it happened.

Secret Squirrels/Wacky Racers
A British Cycling “Secret Squirrel Club” idea that didn’t make it to
competition was the “Dangler”. This was, effectively, a tennis ball
suspended in front of the rider’s helmets to improve the aero effect by
letting the helmet ride slipstream the “gap” in the air created by the ball.
Hopefully the teasers above will give you an idea of the delights in Ellis
Bacon’s book and encourage you to turn a few pages!

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