Tour de Lance: The Extraordinary Story of Lance Armstrong’s Fight to Reclaim the Tour de France
Posted by Blogmaster in Books (Bicycle Tours), tags: Armstrong's, Extraordinary, Fight, France, Lance, Reclaim, Story, Tour
- ISBN13: 9780307589842
- Condition: New
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Product Description
Lance Armstrong is a worldwide icon, indisputably one of the greatest cyclists who has ever lived. After battling cancer and becoming an inspiration to millions, Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years before retiring from competition in 2005.
Four years later, at thirty-seven, Armstrong decided to come out of retirement and go for the win yet again. He was racing for no salary, in a season when his greatest rival–Tour de France, Tour of Italy, and Tour of Spain champion Alberto Contador–was on his own team. The twenty-five-year-old Spaniard had been handpicked by Armstrong’s own mentor, Johan Bruyneel, to be his successor. Now he would be his fiercest competition. Armstrong was about to suffer like never before–and, for the first time in recent memory, appear to be human on a bicycle.
After seven Tour victories–and beating cancer–did Lance Armstrong really need to prove anything? Beyond the thrill of another possible victory, what drove him to race again? What was he seeking–and would he find it?
Cycling insider Bill Strickland had unprecedented access to Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and the team. He takes readers behind the scenes during the 2009 racing season and along for the ride on the Tour de France with a dramatic mile-by-mile account. Offering a penetrating and candid glimpse into the man behind the myth, Tour de Lance goes beyond a single season or a single race to reveal the heart of the sport and the soul of the cyclist.
Tour de Lance: The Extraordinary Story of Lance Armstrong’s Fight to Reclaim the Tour de France
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Lance Armstrong is a polarizing figure, and authors of books about him capitalize on this by aiming to either take him down (see Walsh, David) or kiss his behind (see Wilcockson, John). This book is a rare exception (as is the excellent “Lance Armstrong’s War” by Dan Coyle). Strickland is an amazing writer. If you love cycling, you’ll find that 50, 80, 100 pages go by before you look up from this book. It doesn’t matter that last season was well chronicled by other outlets. Strickland could write about a race you’ve seen 10 times, and you’d still come away with fresh insight and appreciation for what it takes to race a bicycle.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve read a lot of books on both Lance and the Tour. This book ranks up there with the best. I loved the first person perspective – I felt like I was right there with them. The Tour starts today and this book totally got me excited to watch. Go Lance!
Rating: 5 / 5
Only a wonderful author like Bill Strickland who has written for Bicycling magazine and has ridden and race throughout the world could have written a book like this. Talk about a book that grabs your attention from the cover to the inside photos to the ins and outs of the sport, including the results from the various races he covers in the book. And living in the Sierras near Nevada City and knowing the Nevada City Classic in June 2009 (and the recent race) which was 44 miles, made the book even more interesting.
And that reminded me of the opening page of the book Tour de France, Stage 1 Individual Time Trial, 15.5 km, Monaco July 4, 2009. ” Here he is, Lance Armstrong. And there he goes: a blue and yellow-and-white figure on a black-and-yellow bike streaking over the gray surface of a road in Monaco late on a summer morning, the sun’s yellow pale in comparison to the shoulders of his jersey, the sky’s blue nothing more than the original idea for the magnificent tones that wrap around his back and legs.’
That’s exactly the vision I remembered from Nevada City, where he whizzed by so fast that one had to remind themselves that indeed he had just ridden by. It was also the race that when he went thru Sacramento would involve some thief stealing one of his bikes which made local and national news.
So if you are the least bit interested in bike racing or Lance Armstrong and information and commentary you wont find just anywhere, then please buy and read this wonderful book.
Rating: 5 / 5
I was really disappointed with this book. Every year I grab the cycling book featured right before the Tour. This was the worst of the bunch. Strickland has an interesting take on Lance. He’s not really supportive of him, but admires his all the same. He starts the book eluding to the fact he discovered some not-so-flattering things about Armstrong, but follows it up with an ‘I’m not going to tell you what they are’ disclaimer. And he doesn’t.
Everything in this book was a re-hash of what any above-average cycling fan (meaning, you watch more cycling races than just the Tour) already knows. The stories, quotes and ‘behind the scenes’ gossip have already been reported. If Strickland did have unique access to Armstrong and the team during the comeback, none of the unique insight you would expect turned up in this book. I could have written 95% of this book from news articles I read over the last 18 months.
The one bright aspect of the book was his insight into Johan Bruyneel’s style as Director of a Pro-Tour cycling Team, especially during stages of the Tour. By the end of the book, I actually thought it should have been marketed as a Contador vs Armstrong story and how Bruyneel was able to manage their egos.
Don’t buy this book if you are looking for any unique insight into the science, training or ‘behind the scenes’ anecdotes of Armstrong’s comeback. If you are looking for some light reading to get ready for the 2010 Tour de France, grab it, it’s a quick read.
Rating: 2 / 5
Bill Strickland writes like a painter who uses long, slow strokes to create an image. You have to be patient, but he does a thorough job before the book is over.
Rating: 4 / 5