Single Speed Bicycles

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For three weeks each July, millions of fans from around the world descend upon the French countryside to cheer on the “forats de la route,” or slaves of the road-the riders competing in the Tour de France. Covering over 2000 miles in 21 days, the cyclists make a grand circuit of the country, crossing over both the Alps and the Pyrenees mountains before racing to the finish line along the Champs Elyses in Paris. Now almost a century old, the legendary bicycle race-the world’s largest annual sporting event-has a rich and colorful past. Tour de France/Tour de Force offers a one-of-a-kind look back at the Tour’s history and its heroes. Arranged chronologically and illustrated with hundreds of wonderfully evocative photographs dating back to the Tour’s beginning in 1903, it documents the great victories and the harrowing disasters, the glory and the agony of this amazing competition. From the astounding stories of early cyclists who looped around France on rudimentary two-wheelers to contemporary chapters emphasizing the tactics and winning moves employed in recent races, the drama of the Tour comes to life in these pages.

Featuring race results from 1903 all the way through to 1999, plus an introduction by three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond, and special sections on the evolution of the Tour de France bike and the controversial issue of performance-enhancing drugs, Tour de France/Tour de Force is the consummate guide to this truly extraordinary event in the world of sport.Amazon.com Review
When the Tour de France was first held, it was only six stages long. Each of those stages, however, was a grueling ultramarathon averaging 400 kilometers for a total Tour length of 2,400 kilometers. The largest margin of victory in the history of the Tour–2 hours, 48 minutes–comes from this race. From 1903 to 1999, Tour de France/Tour de Force covers the history of the world’s greatest cycling race in words and pictures. All the great riders are profiled: Lucien Petit-Breton, “King” Rene Vietto (who never won), Eddy “the Cannibal” Merckx, Bernard “the Badger” Hinault, Greg LeMond, Miguel Indurain, and of course, Lance Armstrong. Tour de Force also traces the event’s evolution; for example, Pyrenees climbs were added in 1910, ensuring that versatile riders would come to dominate.

Author James Startt shares stories of ingenuity (when Francois Faber’s chain broke in the last kilometer of the 1909 Tour, he simply ran his bike across the finish line), tragedy (Tom Simpson collapsing and dying on the climb up Mont Ventoux in 1967), and triumph (Lance Armstrong’s 1999 Tour victory). Lavishly illustrated, Tour de France/Tour de Force is essential reading for cyclists and cycling fans alike. –M. Stein

Tour de France/Tour de Force: A Visual History of the Worlds Greatest Bicycle Race

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