Cat

Catriona McCabe, 28, only ever known as Cat, is trying to improve her career as a sports journalist and get over a failed relationship. What better way to do both than to spend the summer following the Tour de France?

Plunged into a male press corps, Cat has to fight for space and for stories. She finds an ally in tough-talking Rachel McEwen, the masseur to Italy’s number one team. She drools over rival champions duelling for the Yellow Jersey – the smouldering Fabian Ducasse and the brooding Vasily Jawlensky. She flirts with boyish Luca Jones, from wildcard team Megapac, and catches the eye of his British doctor, Ben York. But will she be a good enough journaliste to land the job she dreams of?

From Provence to Paris, up the Pyrenees and over the Alps, Cat and an entourage of podium girls, anxious wives, autocratic team directors and seasoned hacks pursue the riders. With sex, drugs, lashings of lycra, large bulges and larger egos, the soap opera that is the Tour de France unfolds with Cat’s life frequently mirroring the peaks, perils and pace of the race.