It is so easy to become a diehard fan of professional road racing. To be present at the circus-like atmosphere of a big event like the Tour de France is something you never forget. The anticipation as the helicopters appear, the moment that the breakaway reaches you, then the peloton flashes by…the fan clubs cheering on their chosen rider, the weather, the scenery. As you stand there time is compressed and then suddenly the road is empty but your head is full of memories and, if lucky, you have captured a few good images on your camera.
Of course we can’t be at every race and for most of us we will manage only a handful. But there are photographers who have made a profession out of following the races and the riders and in the same way that watching comprehensive race coverage live on television gives a wider idea of what is happening than standing by the road, embedded photographers provide the detail to which we can never gain access. Their photographs might be documenting a race but in fact they often amount to much more than a matter of record, capturing the staggering landscapes that are the playing fields of cycling, the demands of athletes going to the limits and beyond, the quiet times in between. A new book showcasing images by pro photographer Kristof Ramon demonstrates that the best photos truly are art and his comment that photography is more than technique rings true.
Wout van Aert (BEL/Jumbo-Visma) cheered on by the local butchers 64th E3 Saxo Bank Classic 2022 (1.UWT) One day race from Harelbeke to Harelbeke (BEL/204km)
“The Art of Suffering” is the title of this fine hardcover book and, well, that sounds a bit masochistic, and looks that way with the cover photo of Wout van Aert collapsed on the ground after his first Strade Bianche in 2018, arms outstretched in agony. Van Aert, in his foreward to the book, writes: “Every time I look at it, I feel the pain all over again.” But then he goes on: “But I think the cover photograph will always be one of my favourites. You can really see and feel the pain, and that makes me proud. I hope I will always be remembered as a rider who always gave 100%. That’s how I like to race and those are the sort of photos I like.”
Mathieu van der Poel, Elite Men’s Road Race (Edinburgh to Glasgow, 271.1 km) at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships (Glasgow, Scotland)
Happily, the book is not just about pain, although its subtitle, “Capturing the Brutal Beauty of Road Cycling” does a nice summary of what it is here. The photographer points out one of the unique aspects of pro road racing: “In other sports, the loser suffers more than the winner. In cycling, the winner is the one who is capable of inflicting the greatest pain on himself. Not surprisingly, victory evokes complex emotions.”
Mathieu van der Poel (NED/Alpecin-Fenix) passing an “accident de parcours” – Antwerp Port Epic / Sels Trophy 2021 (BEL) One day race from Antwerp to Antwerp (183km). The APC stands qualified as a ‘road race’, but with 36km of gravel and 28km of cobbled sections in and around the Port of Antwerp (BEL) this race occupies a unique spot in the Belgian race scene
The book is divided into five chapters. In the first, there are wonderful photos of the races, wide-angle views essentially, of those outdoor arenas, varying so much with every race. The second, “The Pain and the Glory,” is focused more on individual riders. Particular favourites are a portrait of an impish Peter Sagan winning the Worlds in Richmond in 2015 and a sovereign Philippe Gilbert, crossing the finish line in Oudenaarde totally alone at the Ronde in 2017. There are less happy images, of riders crashed and out of the races for which they prepared so determinedly, or one where they have triumphed but cannot quite cope, such as Fabian Cancellara having to be lifted to his feet after winning Paris-Roubaix in 2013, or Bryan Coquard passed out in the 36°C heat at the finish line at Stage 13 of the 2015 Tour. There is a great selection of post-race portraits and the riders all generally look very relieved with the pressure off, albeit dirty and exhausted.
Koen Bouwman (NED/Jumbo-Visma) caught in the dust – 14th Strade Bianche 2020 – Siena to Siena: 184km (ITALY). Delayed 2020 (summer!) edition because of the Covid19 pandemic. 1st post-Covid19 World Tour race after all races worldwide were cancelled in march 2020 by the UCI
The next chapter, “The Elements,” takes as its theme the things that the rides cannot control: the weather, the race route, the road surface. We have lots of dust, and rain, and even a dirt road in a cornfield but here are transcendent images too—in the 2018 Tour on Stage 17 there was a whiteout and when the clouds suddenly shifted for a few seconds there was an opportunity for a beautiful shot with the race in the middle, surrounded by greenery, with the soft clouds forming a frame. Every photo in the book is accompanied by a thoughtful text and here Kristof Ramon wrote: “Like most of the time with great pictures, it’s not being a great photographer, it’s not being a genius or anything, it’s just about being there. Cycling is all about these moments.”
Milan – San Remo 2013: the iced edition – Greg Henderson (NZL): the human popsicle
The final chapters are “Full Gas,” when the photographer shows how he tries to capture the sense of speed, and “Safe Haven,” that is all about those moments when the riders are not on their bikes, whether relaxing,sitting on the team bus, getting a massage, or checking into the hotel before a big event. There is a little diversion before “Safe Haven:” “Coffee Stop” is a charming gallery consisting of candid photos of riders having, yes, coffee. This series, along with “Safe Haven,” is representative of just how deeply this photographer is able to get to the heart of racing teams, to experience things we will not be able to as fans but which he can share.
A Tinkoff rider couldn’t resist getting a feel of the snow up the misty Colle dell’Agnello (2744m), stage 19: Pinerolo(IT) – Risoul(FR) 162km 99th Giro d’Italia 2016
This book offers 200 photos, spanning the Men’s World Tour (and some lower-level events) from around 2012 to 2023, with not only colour images but some really superb black-and-white ones. Each chapter begins with a short introduction and while the captions are enlightening, the photos speak for themselves. It is a measure of the quality of this book that there are too many photographs that could qualify as favourites, and that these are the kind of images that you simply return to in order to look at them again and again and wrap your thoughts around the details.
A first tranquil moment for John Degenkolb (DEU/Trek-Segafredo) post-race in the famous Roubaix showers – 116th Paris-Roubaix (1.UWT) 1 Day Race. Compiègne – Roubaix (257km)
Kristof Ramon writes that in 1957 there would have been maybe a total of 5,000 photographs made of the entire Tour de France that year by professionals while in today’s media world a single stage would garner 20,000. He asks if this perhaps not too much but, frankly, if those images were all the quality of the ones in “The Art of Suffering” that would truly constitute the definition of a rhetorical question! This is a gorgeous book.
“The Art of Suffering: Capturing the Brutal Beauty of Road Cycling”
by Kristof Ramon
with a Foreword by Wout van Aert and an Introduction by Matt Rendell
288 pp., profusely illustrated, hardback
Laurence King Publishing, London
To be released on July 2, 2024
ISBN 978-1-3996-0690-5
Recommended Price: US$50/C$75/GBP45
To order: https://geni.us/ArtOfSuffering.
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