A Race For Madmen: The Extraordinary History Of The Tour De France

Product Description

No sporting event has had its past & present, its highs & lows so intricately entwined with those of a country like the Tour has with France. The Tour de France is the biggest annual sporting event in the world, & at the same time it transcends sport. The Tour de France comes to the people. It passes their houses, it turns right in their village squares, it thunders through their suburban streets & into the hearts of their towns & cities. It is a unique event in that people don't so much go to see the Tour, as it comes to see them. A Race for Madmen traces how the Tour de France has developed & examines tactics, bike technology & rider preparation too. It profiles some of the men who have won the Tour de France, & others who have been key players, looking closely at their lives & motivation. Subsidiary competitions, such as the King of the Mountains prize, are featured, as well as Tour lore & traditions. The book examines the Tour's extraordinary history, & how a bike race, a simple sporting contest captured the imagination of a country, then a continent & then the world, while at the same time it has stayed uniquely French, even though a Frenchman hasn't won it for over 20 years.