The story behind the creation of A Leadout
It was Saturday morning and I was 9 or 10. I had heard the story of that American who beat cancer and is winning the Tour de France but nothing else. As I switched on the TV to the sports channel, looking to watch anything football-related, documentaries or highlights of the past week matches, I saw a train of riders in blue jerseys bossing an ascending road…
The deployment of the tactics intrigued me, the unraveling of the day amazed me and the outcome of that stage convinced me. Cycling is nothing like the one crossing the finishing line first, wins. My childhood July calendar was set and I had my hero, though to be disappointed years later.
A conquering Spanish with a distinctive climbing style then entered the scene along with two brothers. Expectations and hope of the whole sport laid upon their slim shoulders. The dominance of a newly formed well funded British team ruined things. A certain interview on the set a famous US tv host show did not help. Yet, the passion lived in my head, in my own way and world , still does and will continue.
Then came 2020 with its uncertainties and lockdowns. Cycling and the Tour de France was the first sport back and I watched. The rather familiar sight of dominance and control by one multi talented team was outlasted by a young dynamic Slovenian. Cycling has become something else.
Streaming and a very friendly group chat brought me to follow the other grand tours and for the first time in my life, the classics. The missing piece of the puzzle arrived in the form of a cycling fantasy game, Velogames. Along that same road, I discovered and adopted the fastest growing sport on the planet, women cycling. In those dark days, I had something that millions around the world were longing for: light. I owed cycling.
The start of how I would repay my debt came with four cycling fans of different nationalities who wanted to write about cycling, in particular previews. As one by one dissipated into their demanding lives, my passion kept me going. It was actually so strong that it led me to learn something new: blogging. With the right formula still to be pinned on, a name was needed for a start.
Due to unavailability, THE became A and it turned out to be perfect. A being associated with any random individual contributing to the bigger picture. A Leadout, a shadow worker, is the last person separating a potential stage and the finishing line was the perfect definition of what I wanted to stand for.
After successfully surfing from one platform to the other, starting my own website to produce my own contents would be the last phase. I hope that I can bring along as many as possible to embark on this last and final project before ending my watch at the end of the 2023 cycling season.
Till then, ride on together!