I'm just finishing off Merckx - Half Man, Half Bike which is also a very good read. Perhaps subjectively, Slaying the Badger being the last cycling book I read, I enjoyed the distance that Fotheringham has of his subject - Merckx himself. Unlike with Richard Moore's title where Hinault and Lemond are interviewed at great length, Fotheringham has not the same privilege in regards to Merckx and so there are many more voices particularly in regards to the many men who worked for Merckx during his period of dominance at Molteni etc, among them Jos Bruyere for instance. Between them, these men give some interesting insights, criticisms and appraisals of Merckx's way of doing things which I like.
Perhaps this is my only criticism of the book itself is that Merckx himself becomes - whether intentionally or not - even more of an untouchable, a God-like figure not brought down to Earth by the years that have passed since, by a good writer. His distance is ever present throughout the book, despite the many facts regarding his life and some very interesting background history and the priceless input of those pivotal men in the great man's racing history.
