The British Cycling Revolution: A Lesson in Marginal Gains
When Dave Brailsford was appointed Performance Director of British Cycling in 2003, he inherited a program defined by failure. The national team hadn't won Olympic gold since 1908, and no British cyclist had ever claimed victory in the Tour de France's 110-year-long history. The 39-year-old cyclist-turned-performance consultant would transform British cycling and our approach to improvement through an unexpectedly simple philosophy: the aggregation of marginal gains.
Growing up in one of the few English families in North Wales, Brailsford developed a perpetual drive to prove himself. "Somehow I always felt I did not quite fit in," he reflected. "So I always thought I must try harder than the others to be accepted, to be successful." This outsider mentality would fuel his pursuit of excellence.