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

by Chris Boardman (Foreword), Graeme Fife (Author), Graeme Fife (Author), Chris Boardman (Foreword)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1999

  $3.50

  It is one of sport's toughest ordeals and the ultimate test for professional cyclists. The Tour de France sees riders pitted against all kinds of terrain and weather, in unrelenting competition with their rivals for three weeks. This entertaining and highly-acclaimed book gives a compelling insight into the mystique of the race and the unique fascination it has always exercised on devoted bike fans and occasional enthusiasts alike. Graeme Fife's Tour de France tells tales of great solo rides, amazing fortitude, terrible misfortune and triumph over the odds from the race's remarkable history. Combining meticulous research with a pacy narrative style, Fife paints a colourful and memorable picture of the men whose exploits have give the Tour an enduring universal appeal.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $15.25

  In this updated edition of the highly acclaimed Tour de France , Graeme Fife sets the 2008 race in the context of the event's remarkable history, which began in July 1903. Combining meticulous research with a pacey narrative style, he penetrates the mystique of the race and paints a colourful picture of the men whose exploits have given the Tour an enduring universal appeal. The shape of the 2008 race was radically different: a route designed to encourage attacks from lesser riders, the field of potential winners hard to read, the measures taken to root out cheats vigorous and thorough.There was controversy and four riders were kicked out, but the optimism of a clean start seemed well founded. Described as a 'race of transition', it was full of interest, not least in the emergence of Mark Cavendish as the fastest sprinter in the peloton. With tales of great solo rides, amazing fortitude, terrible misfortune and triumph, Tour de France is the definitive account of this extraordinary competition and has been named one of the top-five sports books of the year by both The Independent and The Times .