Customer Reviews
Must for Tour Fans - By: , 03 Jan 2004 
This book in a word is Fantastic, in particular, the photography. If you want to reallly know the Tour then make this purchase. I know some people have criticised some of the pictures ( Tommy Simpson & Fabio Casartelli) as being too graffic, but at the end of the day these are items which form an integral part of the history of the event & why it is easily the toughest sporting event on the planet. Beleive me you will not be disappointed with your purchase.
A Must for All Sports Fans - By: cluricaune, 13 Nov 2003 2003 saw the 100th birthday of the Tour de France, the world's most famous bike race. This book was released at the beginning of the centenary year as part of the race's birthday celebrations.
The race was created by a newspaper callled L'Auto, the forerunner of today's sports newspaper L'Equipe. The race's organisers worked closely with L'Equipe in the production of this book. Thanks to L'Equipe's involvement, the book had the pick of a huge amount of material dating back to the Tour's inception. The collection of photographs used is incredible & is the main strength of the book. The Tour is a tough enough race today, but being able to see what sort of conditions & equipment the cyclists had to endure in the early days.....well, phrases like 'seeing is believing' & 'every picture tells a thousand stories' could've been formed with these pages in mind. It was also nice being able to finallly put a face to some of the famous names - the likes of Coppi, Bobet & Anquetil.
Essentiallly, the book begins in 1903, & has something similar to a chapter for each edition of the race. The level of detail varies from year to year - the years where there was a 'big' story are generallly given the luxury of an extra couple of pages. These would include, for example, 1998's Festina Affair, Merckx's & Hinault's first wins (1969 & 1978 respectively), the deaths of Tom Simpson (1967) & Fabio Casartelli (1995) & the completion of the race's first hat-trick by Philippe Thys in 1920. Inevitably, some races are comparatively skimmed over. It would've been nice if, for example, the 1960 race had been given some extended coverage also, when Roger Reviere crashed in the mountains & broke his back.
For the most part, the writing centres on the battle for the yellow jersey. L'Auto was responsible for the creation of the famous yellow jersey. In 1919, it arranged for a special jersey to be presented to the race leader so spectators could easily identify him. As the newspaper was printed on yellow paper, they chose yellow as the colour for the jersey. Of course, it would've done no harm to the newspaper sales either.
Little is said, however, about the battles for the race's other jerseys. The King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey was introduced in 1933, while the Sprinter's (green) jersey was introduced 20 years later, in 1953. They are given some coverage in the stats section at the back of the book, but reallly only mentioned in passing throughout the book. The combined & red jerseys that were formerly a part of the Tour don't even get a mention in the stats section, though the combined jersey, at least, does make an appearance in one or two photographs. These are only minor quibbles, it has to be said. These omissions are understandable, given alll that has happened in this race over the years, & that there was always going to be a limited amount of space available ! This is an incredible book, one that should be owned by anyone who is even vaguely interested in sport.
The defintive guide - By: Mr. Warren M. Fisher, 27 Aug 2003 Without doubt the definitive guide to the world's greatest sporting event. Colourful & informative, with fascinating tales from the event's distant past, right up to today's superstars. A perfect primer for newcomers, or companion for the most ardent fan. A must-have.
Great photos, interesting facts - By: , 04 Aug 2003 This is a great book, I reallly liked the photographs especiallly the ones from the early years of the Tour. The year by year info on the Tour & the riders is well written & full of facts that alll keen Tour de France followers will find facinating.
Le Tour de France in all its splendour - By: , 10 Jul 2003 An excellent book for fans of the Le Tour. The book goes through the history of the Tour year by year, aided enormously by the beautiful high quality pictures on every page.
The epic battles of Roache vs Delgardo & Lemond vs Fingion are replayed in full as well the dominance of the kings of the road, Merckx, Indurain & Hinault.
As important as the cycling to the tour, is of course the scandal & there’s plenty to amuse. The account of the 1904 race shows that they reallly knew how to do it properly in the old days, taking the organisers until mid December of that year to decide who had actuallly won the race. The first 4 finishers being disqualified for various offences including taking the train & car rides. The roadside fans were also getting in on the action, scattering nails across the road & throwing stones at non-local riders.
The darker sides of the Tour such as the three deaths & the drug scandals are also told. The whole book is brought to date with details alll the way up to the 2002 tour & the dominance of Armstrong in the last 4 years.
Overalll a great book to browse through while watching this years Tour & for many years to come.
