Victoria Pendleton pulls a Springsteen

The moment when Bruce Springsteen became a superstar was perhaps when the New Jersey singer's publicists managed to get him on the cover of both Time and Newsweek at the same time in late 1975.

Biographer Dave Marsh suggested that Time's then-editor considered the situation the "greatest embarrassment of his career".

British cycling superstar Victoria Pendleton almost achieved a similar feat this week by appearing, un- and partially clothed in rival men's magazines GQ and Esquire. An act that even the ubiquitous heptathlete Jessica Ennis has, so far, not quite managed.

Thankfully for Dylan Jones and Alex Bilmes – editors of GQ and Esquire, respectively – only the latter put the Olympian on the front cover. In GQ the cyclist appeared in the nip as part of a wider Team GB photo shoot.