Tour de France : The History, the Legend, the Riders

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781845965631
• ISBN10: 1845965639
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: Mainstream Publishing

Summary

One of sport's toughest ordeals, the three-week Tour de France sees riders pitted against all kinds of terrain and weather in unrelenting competition with their rivals. In this updated edition, Graeme Fife sets the 2009 race in the context of the event's remarkable history, which began in July 1903. Combining meticulous research with a fast-paced narrative style, he penetrates the mystique of the race and paints a colorful picture of the men whose exploits have given the Tour an enduring universal appeal.

Author Biography

Graeme Fife is a full-time writer who has worked much in radio and written a number of books, including Inside the Peloton and The Beautiful Machine. A keen cyclist, he has ridden all the celebrated cols of Tour legend.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. 7
Foreword	p. 9
Preface	p. 10
Jerseys of the Tour de France	p. 29
L'Alpe d'Huez: Fear, Moral Strength and Eddy Merckx	p. 31
Col du Glandon: Hinault and Fighting Spirit	p. 51
Col du Télégraphe: Tours of the 1920s	p. 78
Col du Galibier: The 1930s	p. 104
Col d'Izoard: Coppi and the Modern Era	p. 129
Col de Vars: Drugs in the Sport	p. 151
Mont Ventoux: The British Riders	p. 180
Tour '98: The Tour is Dead, Long Live the Tour	p. 201
1999: The Tour of Renewal	p. 211
2000: Answering the Cynics	p. 227
2001: Armstrong v. Ullrich	p. 241
2002: Armstrong's Four-Square Triumph	p. 259
The Centenary	p. 279
2004: A Historic Sixth	p. 300
2005: Seventh Heaven: Armstrong's Last Tour	p. 322
2006: The Crazy 'Bottle of Ink' Tour	p. 346
2007: Sunshine in London … Squalls into Paris	p. 373
2008: A Clean Start?	p. 399
2009: The Comeback Tour	p. 416
Afterword and Mythology	p. 439
Index	p. 451
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