Download or read book La Grande Boucle the History of the Tour de France written by Murray Books and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: La Grande Boucle is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world which has been held annually since 1903. It is a long-distance stage race competition for professional cycling teams, travelling through France and its nearby countries over the course of three weeks each July. In 2007, the course includes England for the first time and there is certain to be added interest with millions more becoming Le Tour fans. La Grande Boucle is a visually exciting book that includes the greats of cycling including; Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, Miguel Indurain, Greg LeMond, Jacques, Anquetil, Jan Ullrich, Erik Zabel, Alexander Vinokourov and Lance Armstrong. The book contains full statistics of the race since its commencement in 1903 and explains in detail the various culture, customs, terminology and physical requirements for this three-week journey across France and surrounding regions. La Grande Boucle is a must for Le Tour beginners and collectors.
Download or read book Tour de France written by Christopher S. Thompson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-03-08 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original history of the world's most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. A new preface explores the long-standing problem of doping in light of recent scandals.
Download or read book Le Tour A History of the Tour de France written by Geoffrey Wheatcroft and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geoffrey Wheatcroft's hugely entertaining and well researched history of the Tour de France is already established as the definitive account of cycling's greatest event. Since the book was last published in 2007, much has changed. Bradley Wiggins' historic victory in 2012 - the first Briton ever to secure the yellow jersey - brought him a knighthood and garnered more interest in the race than ever before. Yet the months after were dominated by an even bigger story, as Tour legend and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles and confessed on Oprah to doping in each of his victories. Suddenly, everything that we thought we knew had happened was no longer true. In this new and comprehensively revised edition of the book, Wheatcroft not only brings his story of the Tour fully up to date to mark the race's 100th running in 2013, he also reflects on the changes brought about by the scandals that have rocked the sport to its core. Yet for all the controversies of modern times, he vividly captures the essential glory and romance of the heroes who battle to conquer one of sport's greatest challenges.
Download or read book Tour de Force written by Mark Cavendish and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From illness and mental health challenges to becoming the most successful British cyclist at the age of 22, Mark Cavendish shares his inspiring account of his record-breaking rise to the top of the world's biggest cycling stage at the 2021 Tour de France. Deep down, Mark Cavendish thought he was finished. After illness, setbacks and clinical depression, the once fastest man in the world had been written off by most. And at the age of 36, even he believed his explosive cycling career would fade out with a whimper. The Manxman hadn't won a single Grand Tour stage in Italy, Spain, or France since 2016. But then came his incredible resurrection at the 2021 Tour de France. Included on the Deceuninck Quick-Step team at the very last minute, only after Sam Bennett suffered an injury, Mark set about rewriting history. He claimed back the green jersey he first wore in 2011, and his four stage victories finally saw him matching Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. Cycling greats are never content, and Cavendish's dogged determination and inner strength had earned him the record that few believed he could ever achieve. This is his own intimate account of that race, right from the saddle of the miracle tour. Praise for Tour de Force: "The greatest comeback in sports history." —GQ magazine "A miracle." —Eddy Merckx
Download or read book The Official History of The Tour De France written by Andy McGrath and published by Welbeck. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Official History of the Tour de France is a celebration of one of the greatest annual sporting events, and the premier competition in world cycling. Through more than 300 photographs, rarely-seen documents and items of memorabilia, this book covers more than a century of fascinating stories on the Tour and its iconic yellow jersey. This revised and updated edition includes an authoritative narrative account of each major era, up to and including the thrilling 2020 Tour - a dramatic contest completed against all the odds - and a preview of the 2021 event. There are features on superstar cyclists and memorable moments from each period of the event's rich history, and a foreword from legendary Tour de France champion Stephen Roche, all of which combines to form the definitive illustrated book on the Tour.
Download or read book Tour de France written by Vladimír Bačík and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-27 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tour de France, a three weeks bicycle race has a unique position in the sports world. The main purpose of the study is not only in offering an answer to the questions "Who" or "When," but mainly "Where." The analysis was focused on the spatial dimension of Tour de France considering the aspect of localization and evaluation of different stage centers as well as the most important mountain ascents included in the competition itinerary in its history. Important part is also summation of the main results and basic statistics of the 100 editions of "La Grande Boucle" with an emphasis on some characteristics not yet accentuated. The focus is on important persons of the history of the race and on different nations in the form of partial successes of performers and countries in individual historical decades. Integral part of the book is a comprehensive cartographic-statistical annex based on data organized in a database structure. This publication should contribute to the overall orientation in this field for the researchers engaged in geography of sports and sport history."
Download or read book The Tour de France written by Christopher S. Thompson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-07-17 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate tabula rasa into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."—Robert A. Nye, author of Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France and Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France "A true gem of a book. A terrific scholar and an engaging writer."—Dean MacCannell, author of The Tourist and Empty Meeting Grounds "A major new interpretation of France's most famous sporting event. For the first time the Tour de France has been fully and carefully placed within the wider context of French history."—Richard Holt, author of Sport and Society in Modern France and Sport and the British "Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race—its history, its participants and its meaning—firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."—Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
Download or read book The Story of the Tour de France written by Bill McGann and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What they are saying about The Story of the Tour de France: After forty years of study on the subject, I can with some confidence say Bill and Carol McGann's The Story of the Tour de France is the finest such work ever produced in the English language, and perhaps in any. Most of my preferred references are in French, one runs to over 800 pages, yet the McGanns' opus revealed information new to me in almost every paragraph. Their research has been not only impeccable, but insightful. -Owen Mulholland, author of Uphill Battle and Cycling's Golden Age The Story of the Tour de France: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World by Bill and Carol McGann is a must read. -Road Bike Action Magazine For any historian of the sport the McGanns'Tour de France history is essential reading. Details of the stages and the riders are not glossed over. For those who are new to the sport, the McGanns bring the glory days of the sport alive with the intrigue that still exists today. Epic stages that might have faded into oblivion are eloquently recounted so that future generation of cyclists will know the rich history of our beautiful sport. -Neil Browne, editor, Road Magazine Besides towering over all bicycle races, the Tour de France endures for its unique Gaulic character, like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The McGanns' passionate and insightful writing evokes the raucous cast of riders, promoters, and journalists thrusting through highs and lows worthy of opera. This volume stands out as a must-read book for anyone seeking to appreciate cycling's race of races. -Peter Joffre Nye, author of The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz Age Sport and Hearts of Lions Volume 1 of The Story of the Tour de France concluded with Jacques Anquetil's record setting fifth Tour win. Volume 2 opens with the greatest Italian racer of the modern age, Felice Gimondi and his effortless victory at the young age of 22. Despite his extraordinary talent, he never won the Tour again. Starting in 1969, Eddy Merckx began his run of 5 victories. Bernard Hinault, who also managed to win 5, followed him. Unable to fulfill his destiny as a likely 5-time winner because of a hunting accident, LeMond won the Tour 3 times. LeMond's era was followed by the remarkable Spaniard Miguel Indurain, the first man to win the Tour 5 times in a row. The late 1990s were a time of extreme crisis for the Tour as the culture of doping within the professional cycling community erupted into the scandal of 1998. The Story of the Tour de France deals with this episode at length. Emerging from a near-fatal bout of cancer, Lance Armstrong went on to do what no other rider in the Tour's long history had ever been able to accomplish, win the Tour 7 times. Following Armstrong's retirement, the Tour was again seized by scandal, this time Floyd Landis' disqualification for drugs after winning the 2006 Tour. The book concludes with the story of the 2007 Tour, followed by a quest for the greatest ever Tour de France rider and an epilogue that explains the reasons for the extraordinary success of the Tour. Bill and Carol McGann have had their lives inextricably tied up with bicycles about as long as they can remember. Their first date was a bike ride. Bill, formerly a Category 1 racer, has been a contributor to several cycling magazines and is widely acknowledged as an expert on road bikes and cycling history. Since his father gave him a small 1-speed English lightweight bicycle when he was 5 years old, Bill has been in love with everything about bikes. Carol, a former college biology instructor is also an accomplished rider, having cycle-toured extensively. Together they started Torelli Imports in 1981, a firm specializing in high-performance cycle equipment.
Download or read book A Race for Madmen written by Chris Sidwells and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2010 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No sporting event has had its past and present, its highs and lows so intricately entwined with those of a country like the Tour has with France.
Download or read book Blazing Saddles written by Matt Rendell and published by VeloPress. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating book, award-winning sports writer Matt Rendell covers every corner of ""La Grande Boucle,"" from the eccentric couture of the first Tour winner (white blazer, black trousers, wool socks) to the earliest method of cheating (riding the train). ""Blazing Saddles"" recounts the famous rivalries and riders that contested the Tour, setting the score straight with complete records of every podium finisher. Rendell's vivid storytelling is complemented with more than 100 classic black-and-white photographs, portraying cycling's heroes and martyrs from Jacques Anquetil to Lance Armstrong.
Download or read book The Comeback written by Daniel de Visé and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Greg LeMond was Lance Armstrong before Lance Armstrong . . . the story of a true hero . . . This is a must read if you believe in miracles.”―John Feinstein, New York Times–bestselling author In July 1986, Greg LeMond stunned the sporting world by becoming the first American to win the Tour de France, the world’s pre-eminent bicycle race, defeating French cycling legend Bernard Hinault. Nine months later, LeMond lay in a hospital bed, his life in peril after a hunting accident, his career as a bicycle racer seemingly over. And yet, barely two years after this crisis, LeMond mounted a comeback almost without parallel in professional sports. In summer 1989, he again won the Tour—arguably the world’s most grueling athletic contest—by the almost impossibly narrow margin of 8 seconds over another French legend, Laurent Fignon. It remains the closest Tour de France in history. “[A] blend of chaos, kindness and cruelty typifies the scenes that journalist de Visé brings to life in this sympathetic-verging-on-reverential retelling of LeMond’s trailblazing career (first American to enter the tour, first to win it) . . . As an author in quest of his protagonist’s motivation, [de Visé] subjects it to extreme torque.”—The Washington Post “A great book . . . Well written and thoroughly researched . . . Engrossing and hard to put down. If you’re a Greg LeMond fan, The Comeback is a must read because it’s a detailed accounting of his career and―more importantly―his life and person off the bike. It’s also an important reminder that American cycling did not begin and end with Lance Armstrong.”—PEZ
Download or read book The Tour de France written by Christopher S. Thompson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-07-17 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original history of the world’s most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event—including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage—Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. He argues persuasively that this hugely popular sporting event has been instrumental in French attempts to grapple with the great challenges they have confronted during their tumultuous twentieth century—from World Wars, political divisions, and class conflict to economic modernization, women’s emancipation, and threats to public health. Examining the enduring popularity of Tour racers, Thompson explores how their public images have changed over the past century. He concludes with a discussion of the longstanding practice of doping and considers the complex case of the seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.
Download or read book The Yellow Jersey written by Ralph Hurne and published by Breakaway Books. This book was released on 2016-04-24 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This is sports fiction at its very best. Mr. Hurne has a cool, downbeat style descended from Lardner and Hemingway, and a fine hand with the hairpin turns of suspense.” —The New York Times Book Review “The greatest cycling novel ever written. . . . An underground classic. . . . A cycling book that follows a different course—one with drama and characters you can relate to, whose actions raise questions about life on and off the bicycle. . . . The heart of The Yellow Jersey is the Tour de France itself, which Hurne views as a metaphor for life. . . . Thoroughly entertaining.” —Bicycling “Full of wit, charm, excitement, and intelligence.” —Publishers Weekly Terry Davenport is nearly washed up. After a career of good but never great bicycle racing in Europe, he is past his prime, and given lately to chasing women rather than leading the pack through the Alps. He contemplates how he might find a comfortable retirement, and is wallowing in an existential crisis. But his final Tour de France—which he rides only as a favor to his young protegé, to pace him through the early stages—develops by a series of accidents into the chance of a lifetime. And though Davenport is old, he is wily and tough and fearless. His arduous, painful, heroic performance in the face of impossible odds is unforgettable. A sports thriller—with stunning descriptions of competitive cycling—and a keen meditation on mortality, The Yellow Jersey is an extraordinary novel.
Download or read book Tour de France written by Marguerite Lazell and published by Carlton Publishing Group. This book was released on 2013 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Tour De France' plots the evolution of this great race, focusing on legends such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx, Greg Lemond and Miguel Indurain, as well as controversial seven-time 'winner', Lance Armstrong.
Download or read book When Heroes Were Giants written by James Witherell and published by Sunbury Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2014-06 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By far the most complete history of the Tour de France ever written--in any language--When Heroes Were Giants: 101 Tours de France takes the reader into the heart of every "Grande Boucle" (Big Loop) held since 1903. Exhaustively researched over the past fifteen years, this account of the world's greatest sporting event not only covers every race in great detail, it also explores how the Tour de France became a country's national obsession--and why. Draconian rules, bitter rivalries, and even sabotage are all part of the Tour's colorful history, and When Heroes Were Giants captures all of the event's action and drama. Every chapter opens with a look into feuds, collaborations, and other subplots that often had a direct bearing on the outcome of the race. The recounting of each Tour de France then includes every stage of every race, often punctuated with colorful quotes from the riders, the journalists, and even the race officials. At the end of each race is a comprehensive set of results that includes the winner of every major classification (plus a few minor ones), prize money, and even details about the race-winning bicycle. For the Tour de France trivia buff the story of each race also includes a complete rundown of changes made and milestones achieved during that particular event. These interesting tidbits run the gamut, detailing every Tour-related fact from superlatives to oddities, and even superhuman efforts--some of which turned out to be too good to be true. Any fan of the Tour de France can't help but be intrigued by this book; from the heroes and villains of the great race to the riders who struggled just to start, it's all here -- including a preview of the 2014 race.
Download or read book Le Tour written by Jeremy Whittle and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mapping Le Tour The unofficial history of all 100 Tour de France races written by Ellis Bacon and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2014-05-22 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recommended for viewing on colour device. Mapping Le Tour charts the course of every race route in cycling’s most prestigious event, including a special section on the 2014 Tour de France.
