Russell Mockridge

In September 1958, only minutes into a professional road race, Australia's best cyclist, Russell Mockridge, was dead, his head and body crushed under the wheels of a bus.

The death of the Olympic Gold medallist and Tour de France competitor was an embarrassment for cycling officials. Mockridge was 30 when he was killed and planning a new assault on European professional racing.

On the 50th anniversary of his death Melbourne journalist Martin Curtis revisits the life and death of Russell Mockridge. He finds a literate, urbane, but shy man, an outsider in the rough-and-tumble world of professional cycling. He also investigates passionately held family views that the death was not properly investigated.

This is a compelling account of a legendary Australian sportsman and one that will be of real interest to the growing number of cycling enthusiasts as well as a broad general readership.