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The lack of a good biography of Coppi is one of those omissions in the field of English-language cycling books that seems barely credible. But having read Fotheringham's book and looked around on Amazon, it does seem fair to say that this is the first book that qualifies as a good English-language biography of Coppi as opposed to a translation.

Coppi is the defining figure of modern cycling, in essence the man who invented the template for everything that has followed in the post-war period: training, diet, celebrity, team structure and much more. I realised as I read the book how little I actually knew about his career, life and legend.

As with Fotheringham's previous biography - Put Me Back on My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson - what this book does well is to situate the story within the context of the era in which it takes place. In this case it is Italy either side of World War 2 as it moves towards modernity and away from rural poverty.

The quality of the testimony and the sources used by Fotheringham are of a remarkable breadth and depth, including many of those close to Fausto as team mates and friends. He links those interviews together with contemporary news reported and well selected citations from other works on "Il Campionissimo".

You get a real sense of the despairing poverty from which Coppi raced to escape and the surreal level of fame that he enjoyed at a time when cycling was the dominant sport in mainland Europe, yet also the ridiculous distances covered in the pursuit of race contracts. One passage describes how Coppi and his brother Serse crossed North Africa by car in pursuit of race contracts and earnings at a time when Fausto was probably one of the most famous men in Europe.

There is also much to be learnt about the men around Fausto - such as his domestique Sandrino Carrea (who it seems is also known as Andrea Carrea according to Wikipedia) who we discover survived time in the death camp of Buchenwald during the war - and their relationship with the man who remained both their icon and their leader even after his untimely death.

The only element of the book which I found unsatisfying was its exploration of Coppi's relationships, in particular his affair with "The White Lady", as his lover Giulia Occhini became known. Where the rest of the book feels clear and precise, the passages reflecting on Coppi's personal life seem far more equivocal and unsure of themselves.

Perhaps this is simply a reflection of the nature of the discourse around Coppi's separation from his wife Bruna and the furore which surrounded him and followed him to the grave and beyond. Certainly this seems like the most complicated knot to untangle and somewhat removed from the story of Fausto Coppi, the cyclist.

This minor quibble aside, this is an excellent book which is gives a very complete overview of both Coppi's racing record and his exalted position in Italy's social fabric which still resonates loudly today.

You can buy Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi from amazon.co.uk

Yes, I know it's like a scratched record, but I failed to score any points last night at Hillingdon. Then again I also avoided going down in a nasty looking crash in the sprint for the minor places.

When you weigh those two things up, I'll settle for missing out on a point over hitting the deck every time. I had to be at work for 7am this morning, I don't want or need to put myself out for a point or 15th.

Here's my advice if you are riding in the 4th category race on a Tuesday night: there is absolutely no point sprinting for 20th. If you've got a good position coming off the last bend, go for it; if you haven't, then don't.

I need to work on my concentration in the final third of the race. I was in all the right places, including briefly off the front, up until the closing stages when I allowed myself to drift back too far to be in contention when the 3 laps to go board came up.

I'm riding more frequently no which is a good thing, trying to get out at least every other day for a couple of hours of either training or racing. Saturday I think I'll have another crack at Hog Hill, even though it is a 3/4 race and I'm "hill-averse".

My bookshelf has moved on since last week with a change of mood. I finished Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride and have moved on to Vin Denson's The Full Cycle, which is a much lighter read so far. Kimmage's book was bleak, raw and in many ways coloured by the proximity of its writing to the end of his career. That's what gives it much of its power. Denson's seems to be much more of a traditional autobiography, more reflective in tone.

Next on my to do list, other than getting my weight down below 75kg and closer to 70kg, is to write the rules of being "Pro" as I see it. There's loads of variations on what constitutes the right "European Pro" look on a bike and I disagree with some versions, so I've decided, somewhat arrogantly, to write down a correct version.