Conquista issue 24

The King of the Cobbles. The wettest-ever Worlds. Corporate skulduggery and scapegoating at cycling’s highest levels. Poetry in a crocus. Alpine cold and Hellenic heat. And a bloke ranting about Lance.

Conquista 24. You’d better make the most of it. We did.

Sean ‘King’ Kelly is reputed once to have answered a radio journalist’s question with a nod of the head. But anyone who thinks he’s the silent type just hasn’t got him onto the right topic. When Russell Jones asked him about Paris-Roubaix he proved positively prolix. Better yet, the King’s uniquely poetic voice sings out of every line of Remembering Roubaix. Don’t miss it. Photos by Cor Vos.

Marcos Pereda couldn’t wait to attend the world championships in Yorkshire last year. Between the flat caps, the multicoloured sheep, the pulsating action and the unique British climate he got quite the culture shock. Find out how he got Lost in Yorkshire, with a magnificent gallery of photos by Alan Gibworth.

The end of a long-running investigation into the theft of almost 20 million euros from Giro d’Italiaparent company RCS Sport saw one person found guilty and several cleared of fraud. The latter included former Giro race director Michele Acquarone. Acquarone tells his side of the Giro Scandal to Shane Stokes. Photos by Cor Vos.

Tom Owenhad never even thought of turning a wheel in Greece before being invited by our friend (and long-time stockist of Conquista) Agi Kolyvas of tour specialists Pedal Greece. But among the myths and mountains he found some magnificent riding. You can discover it too in This is Sparta. Photos by Mike Paschos.

Tommy Mulvoy has taken part in many different types of endurance event, but The Swiss Cycling Alpenbrevetoffered a wholly new and different sort of challenge. Join us and find out whether he and his bladder were up to it. Photos by Tommy Mulvoy and alphaphoto.com.

Trofeo Baracchi is one of the great lost races, in one of the great lost formats – the two-up time trial. Won by the greatest of the great – from Coppi and Bartali to Merckx and De Vlaeminck – it took a unique place in the cycling calendar and in the sport’s history. Who better to tell its too-often forgotten story thanSuze Clemitson? Photos byCor Vos.

“The best cyclists, although maybe not the greatest, are like diamonds. They sparkle, they drag your eye to them, but they shine only from reflected light. Without others around them, they’re nothing.”

We’ve featured fiction before but nothing like The First Crocus of Spring by Nic Stevenson. We love it, and we hope you will too.