Taking place over twenty-three days in July and across more than 2,100 miles of smooth blacktop, rough cobblestones, and punishing mountain terrain, the Tour de France is the most grueling sports event in the world. And in 2004, five-time champion Lance Armstrong set out to achieve what no other cyclist in the 100-year history of the race had ever done: win a sixth Tour de France.Armstrong had four serious challengers who wanted nothing more than to deny the man the French call Le Boss from achieving his goal. The major threat among them was the only other former Tour de France champion in last year's race, Germany's Jan Ullrich- The Kaiser. But when the race was over, Lance Armstrong once again wore the yellow jersey of victory.
With its 150 full-colour photographs, this book is a photographic account of the 2004 Tour de France, which saw Lance Armstrong winning the race for the 6th consecutive time. The author/photographer captures all the drama of the race and its surroundings both in text and photographs. This is a stage-by-stage account of the 2004 Tour de France, focussing not only on the race's winner, but also on the drama surrounding the race. James Startt is a Paris-based American sports photographer and journalist, whose works have been featured in several major photo galleries and exhibitions. His writings and photographs regularly appear in Bicycling Magazine in the US and other cycling publications worldwide. He is also the author of Tour de France/Tour de Force, a photographic history of the Tour de France.
Recapping all the grit and glory of this year's crowning cycle event, the editors of VeloNews bring cycling fans up to speed with riveting reportage on the Tour de France: who was there, what the course was, and how Lance Armstrong (racing for Bhonak team) fared going out for his sixth straight win. The book begins with follow-up coverage from last year's race that brings the reader up-to-date, and it reviews every stage of the three-week long race through some of the most beautiful countrysides and extreme terrain in France and surrounding countries. The editors detail the people and events that make each year's race unique: the contenders and their teams - including Jan Ullrich, Joseba Beloki, and Tyler Hamilton - as well as a course map with stage elevations and race descriptions complete with anecdotes. Meanwhile, world-renowned cycling photographer Graham Watson take readers to the sidelines, bringing the event to life from start to finish. The book also features daily journal entries by Tyler Hamilton, a member of the USA/CSC-Tiscali cycling team.
The retrospective Lance Armstrong: Historic Six-Time Tour De France Champion also details Armstrong's Inspiring fight against cancer, his foundation, and the intense training methods and strong will that have helped turn him into one of America's biggest sports heroes. Full-color photography throughout complements the 128 pages of action-packed stories, making this book a cherished keepsake for all Lance fans!
In this book, author/photographer James Startt tells the story of the 2005 Tour de France, with all its drama and excitement. He also stops to look at what happens around the Tour itself, with intriguing photographs of fans and riders in a more intimate setting.
In this updated edition of the highly acclaimed Tour de France, Graeme Fife sets the 2015 race in the context of the event's remarkable history, which stretches back to July 1903. Named one of the top 5 sports books of the year by both the Times and the Independent, this meticulously researched guide has a pacy narrative which paints an irresistible portrait of this extraordinary competition and a colourful picture of the men who have given the Tour its enduring universal appeal. Tour de France : The History, The Legend, The Riders is laced with tales of great solo performances, amazing fortitude, terrible misfortune and magnificent triumphs, and will include the stories behind the headlines of the 2015 race.
In July 2004, Lance Armstrong will attempt to achieve what no other cyclist has ever done-win a sixth Tour de France. The most grueling athletic event in the world, the Tour de France takes place over 23 days every July across more than 2,000 miles. From punishing mountainous terrain to flat blacktop, cyclists push their bodies to the limit to win the greatest prize in cycling.John Wilcockson is the perfect writer to tell this story-he has covered the Tour de France for the past 35 years. But 23 Days in July will be more than just a day-by-day account of the race. Wilcockson will bring together engaging nuggets of history, set up each day's race with vivid descriptions of the geography, and highlight the mental as well as the physical battle among the four principal contenders-Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton, Jan Ullrich, and Joseba Beloki-with whom he will be in constant contact. Woven into the narrative will be their compelling personal stories, their preparations for the race, and their training regimens, all giving new insight into the human side of the Tour de France.With two 8-page photo inserts by the world's premier cycling photographer, Graham Watson, and featuring interviews with the Tour's only other five-time winners still alive-Belgian Eddy Merckx, Frenchman Bernard Hinault, and Spaniard Miguel Induráin- 23 Days in July will capture the rich history, nationalistic fervor, and diverse geographic challenges of the most dramatic athletic event in the world.
“The holy grail for disillusioned cycling fans . . . The book’s power is in the collective details, all strung together in a story that is told with such clear-eyed conviction that you never doubt its veracity. . . . The Secret Race isn’t just a game changer for the Lance Armstrong myth. It’s the game ender.”—Outside NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD The Secret Race is the book that rocked the world of professional cycling—and exposed, at long last, the doping culture surrounding the sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong. Former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world’s top-ranked cyclists—and a member of Lance Armstrong’s inner circle. Over the course of two years, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle conducted more than two hundred hours of interviews with Hamilton and spoke with numerous teammates, rivals, and friends. The result is an explosive page-turner of a book that takes us deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to win that they would do almost anything to gain an edge. For the first time, Hamilton recounts his own battle with depression and tells the story of his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong. This edition features a new Afterword, in which the authors reflect on the developments within the sport, and involving Armstrong, over the past year. The Secret Race is a courageous, groundbreaking act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France. With a new Afterword by the authors. “Loaded with bombshells and revelations.”—VeloNews “[An] often harrowing story . . . the broadest, most accessible look at cycling’s drug problems to date.”—The New York Times “ ‘If I cheated, how did I get away with it?’ That question, posed to SI by Lance Armstrong five years ago, has never been answered more definitively than it is in Tyler Hamilton’s new book.”—Sports Illustrated “Explosive.”—The Daily Telegraph (London)
The Paris¿Roubaix bicycle race, nicknamed "The Hell of the North," is famous for sending riders over brutal cobblestone roads. Only the strong, brave and lucky survive the hours of bone-shaking racing without suffering some mishap or catastrophe. It is so difficult no one wins it by accident, and winning Paris¿Roubaix automatically puts a rider among the immortals of the sport. How did that come to be? At one time roads everywhere were paved with cobbles. Why did Paris¿Roubaix emerge to be such a special race? Les Woodland tells the inside story: how one of cycling's classics grew from several 19th century businessmen's plan to bring cycling to the mill town of Roubaix. It wasn't a sure thing, and several times it seemed the race might die. It's a fascinating tale, so fasten your seat belts, Les is going to take you on a bumpy ride.
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.
