Between the Lines: The Autobiography by Victoria Pendleton with Donald McRae: review Pendleton refuses to cast herself as a pioneering feminist, though her prominence was arguably contributory to the eventual increase in the number of Olympic track events available to women. Nor does she point out how women's cycling was hung out to dry when Team Sky exploded from the track onto the road with a male-only squad. Sexism in sport remains a backdrop to her narrative. While intimate and revelatory, Pendleton's account is demure and diplomatic. Incandescent anger is found only between the lines. She is at pains to show how coach Jan van Eijden and top brass Shane Sutton and Dave Brailsford occasionally redeemed themselves after the worst excesses of Gardner's expulsion from their fold - though they are pointedly omitted from her acknowledgements. And, as an MBE who had won Olympic gold for Britain, she relates without comment how the Home Office deported her fiancé to Australia until the pair could prove to the bureaucrats" satisfaction that they were truly in love. While this is certainly a story that could only be written once the athlete has hung up her bike, it isn't a hatchet job. Rather lovely is the aftermath of her last ever race when, following her London 2012 defeat to her bitter nemesis Anna Meares, the two arch rivals can finally laugh together and, with intentional irony, discuss wedding dresses. An insider's history of the blazing ascent of British track cycling, with cameos by all the big names from Bradley Wiggins to Rebecca Romero, this is a refreshingly partisan ride made even more appealing by its lack of bravado or swagger. Pendleton emerges as a flawed, flaky everywoman, floundering like the rest of us. It is impossible to read the story of the tumultuous journey towards her great part in this, Britain's extraordinary year, without offering up thanks and wishing her all happiness. Chris Cleave's most recent novel, set in the world of professional cycling, is Gold (Sceptre) Between the Lines: The Autobiography by Victoria Pendleton with Donald McRae 336pp, harpersport, t £18 (plus £1.35 P&P) Buy now from Telegraph Books (RRP £20, EBook £20)