Road Captain: My Life at the Heart of the Peloton

FEATURING A FOREWORD FROM MARK CAVENDISH AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GERAINT THOMAS, CHRIS FROOME AND ROD ELLINGWORTH.

A rare insight into the heart of pro cycling and the inner workings of the peloton, from Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers legend, Luke Rowe.

There’s one well-established truth in professional cycling: the strongest always wins. Yet in a sport of champions, victory is only possible as a team. At the heart of that team effort, that unity, is the road captain.

After more than a decade as the pre-eminent road captain in professional bike racing, Luke Rowe reveals here for the first time the intricacies of that role. As he lifts the lid, he provides the ultimate insider’s view on racing tactics and strategy within the professional peloton. He gives readers an unprecedented insight into what exactly is going on within that pulsing mass of athletic power and state-of-the-art machinery, seen through the eyes of the rider tasked with leading his team to glory.

Featuring exhilarating stories from his years at Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers - where he played a fundamental role in the team’s dominance at the Tour de France, leading Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal to their Tour victories - Luke shows what it’s like to manage a road race unfolding at 60km/h. As he points out, it is ’like playing chess on wheels’.

Road Captain immerses readers in the team dynamics, tactical complexities and split-second decisions vital to success in professional cycling. It discloses the mental and physical battles taking place within a group of riders and reveals how the biggest bike races are won.

Hailing from a cycling-mad family from Cardiff, Luke Rowe represented Great Britain at junior and under-23 level. He turned professional with Team Sky in 2012 and won a stage of the Tour of Britain that season. He quickly established himself as one of the British team’s key riders in both the one-day Classics and the Grand Tours, including the Tour de France.

Luke rode the Tour in every season between 2015 and 2022, playing a key role as the road captain as Sky won the yellow jersey in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, and when Ineos retained the title in 2019. After retiring in 2024, Luke co-presents the Watts Occurring podcast along with his teammate and long-time friend Geraint Thomas.