A celebration of the centenary of the Tour de France, this book is a comprehensive and complete history of one of the world's greatest sporting events.
When Henri Desrange decided on staging a bicycle race as a publicity stunt to promote his cycling newspaper, L'Auto, in 1903, he had little idea that the event would, nearly a century later, evolve into one of the world's grandest and most gruelling sporting events. Every July for the past 100 years this three-week race has wound its way through France and her neighbours, drawing crowds along the way.
This book plots the extraordinary evolution of this great race: from its early beginnings and its pre-war rivalries through to its post-war re-establishment. It includes the great conflicts between riders in the late 1940s and 1950s - such as Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, Louison Bobet and Charly Gaul - and the emergence of cycling superstars from the 1960s and beyond who would go on to dominate eras of the race, legends such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx, Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain and modern-day hat-trick winner, Lance Armstrong.
