Blazing Saddles: The Cruel & Unusual History of the Tour de France by Matt Rendell. Very witty with about a page per Tour. You can get it from the library.
2010-07-26 15:41:23
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History of Tour de France Books(?)
I saw a really cool feature on the Vs. coverage of the Tour last week about this rider in like 1910 (I think Christophe?) who was leading, but broke a fork on a climb, walked the bike 9 miles to the closest village, found a forge and repaired/rebuilt his fork himself at the forge, then got back on the bike to finish the stage.
Apparently this is legend in France, and the feature suggested that there is a rich history to the Tour.
So I am wondering if anyone knows of a good history of the Tour? I'm guessing there are probably a hundred written in French, but I don't speak or read French.
2010-07-26 14:46:28
Vive le Tour! Amazing tales of the Tour de France, by Nick Brownlee. Chock full of anecdotes & trivia.
2010-07-27 08:41:48
There are several nice older picture books at the big Carnegie Library in Oakland.
2010-07-27 09:14:11
http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/tdfhistory1900.html
There is the first chapter and a link to a really good book about the history of and the first few tours.
2010-07-27 11:43:43
that guy also got dq'd since someone else worked the bellows.
the tour is one of the oldest sporting event in the world. tons of history. check velopress as well for books.
2010-07-27 13:50:29
Not so much the tour but this Cycling's golden age : heroes of the postwar era, 1946-1967 is an awesome book of photos and text.
Anything by Sam Abt is worth reading too. In High Gear or The Tour de France: Three Weeks to Glory, his book about Greg Lemond (pre-whining days).
2010-07-27 14:00:07