Obituary

The world of cycling is today mourning the death at 45 years of age of Italy’s national coach, Franco Ballerini, who has died from injuries sustained in a crash this morning during a rally in Larciano, Tuscany, where he was acting as navigator in a car driven by Alessandro Ciardi.

Anne Mustoe, who took up cycling at the age of 54 and rode around the world twice – once in each direction – recounting her travels on those and other trips in a series of books, has died in Syria aged 76 after being taken ill while on another circumnavigation by bike.

The former schoolteacher, who described herself as an “Improbable Cyclist,” recounted on her website that she was inspired to take up riding a bike during the 1980s during a holiday in India.