Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

When Henri Desgrange began a new bicycle road race in 1903, he saw it as little more than a temporary publicity stunt to promote his newspaper. The sixty cyclists who left Paris to ride through the night to Lyons that first July had little idea they were pioneers of the most famous of all bike races, which would reach its centenary as one of the greatest sporting events on earth. Geoffrey Wheatcroft's masterly history of the Tour de France is not just a hugely entertaining canter through some great Tour stories; nor is it merely a homage to the riders whose names -- Coppi, Simpson, Mercx, Armstrong -- are synonymous with the event's folly and glory; focusing too on the race's role in French cultural life it provides a unique and fascinating insight into Europe's twentieth century.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft is a journalist and historian, a former literary editor of the SPECTATOR and 'Londoner's Diary' editor of the EVENING STANDARD, whose book THE CONTROVERSY OF ZION won an American National Jewish Book Award.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781847390868
ISBN 10	1847390862
Title	Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France
Author	Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Simon & Schuster Ltd
Year published	2007-06-18
Number of pages	416
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable