3 Pre-Netflix Fic Recs

[violet_rain3]

I had been waiting for a Netflix docu burst à la F1 Drive to Survive for all of 2022. I watched (and participated) in the F1-fic boom as a life-long fan of the racing series, and Cycling, with its numerous riders and propensity for narratives was overdue. I spent quite a bit of time going through some of the fics in the small fandom and saving some gems, and its those gems that I wanted to highlight here.

1.

Title: they shoot horses, don't they?
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 265 words
Creator: Naraht

Summary: ITV4's Tour de France coverage is interspersed with incessant adverts for the Donkey Sanctuary – and other, equally tear-jerking charitable causes. But why will no one think of the riders?

Reccer's Notes: I love the challenges and possibilities that short fics provide, and this is a fic that captures that perfectly. Written as a parody of PSAs, this fic has hilarious and clever lines that will have you clutching your sides. I would post my favourites here, but that would end up spoiling half the fic! XD

Fanwork Links: they shoot horses, don't they? on AO3

2.

Title: Like water off a duck's back
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Pairings/Characters: Eli Iserbyt/Tom Pidcock
Length: 1404 words
Creator: Miadotfi

Summary: He's pathetic. He's talking to a rubber duck, pining over someone who most probably hates him. Or at least thinks of him only as a rival, a name to be beaten.

Since when can rubber ducks talk?

Reccer's Notes: 2022 was the year I started consistently watching cyclocross, and this fic really scratched my itch for cyclocross specific fic that wasn't about WvA or MvdP. It's an excellent fluff + getting together fic centred around the giant rubber ducks given out for the Badkamers podiums at the time (personally, the change to the big duck plushes is a loss in my eyes). It's cute and fun and you don't need much background aside from Eli Iserbyt being a force to be reckoned with at the time (at least when the Big Three were away).

Fanwork Links: Like water off a duck's back on AO3

3.

Title: i got dreams of my own (but i want to make yours come true)
Rating: Explicit
Pairings/Characters: Chris Froome/Geraint Thomas
Length: 3286 words
Creator: vavafroome (spaceboy_niko)

Summary: Geraint has built himself up a reputation within the team – super domestique, yellow jersey-warmer for Chris Froome, everyone’s favourite Welshman, and the expert on the ins and outs of Froomey’s bed. That is, until he's thrown into the position of leading man and he's got to carry on the traditions.

Reccer's Notes: For people familiar with the trope, this is sort of Winner's Room-adjacent without being a straight copy. Personally, I like this better than Winner's Room because keeping it in the team (as Luke says in the fic) feels like a more logical way to worldbuild and furthers the leader/domestique dynamic that already exists. Aside from the solid worldbuilding decisions to set up this tradition, the character voices in this fic are amazing, and the dialogue flows really well. This is one of those fics that's worth rereading time and time again.

Fanwork Links: i got dreams of my own (but i want to make yours come true) on AO3