Quantity:

More Buying Choices

32 used & new from �1.10

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour De France

See larger image

Share your own customer images

Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour De France (Paperback)

by Graeme Fife (Author)

2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

RRP:	�9.99
Price:	�8.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save:	�1.00 (10%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, November 18? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

14 new from �5.89 18 used from �1.10

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Hardcover			20 used & new from �0.01

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Tour De France: The History, The Legend, The Riders

by Graeme Fife

3.4 out of 5 stars (7) �7.19

Bad Blood: The Secret Life of the Tour de France

by Jeremy Whittle

3.7 out of 5 stars (17) �5.46

French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour De France

by Tim Moore

4.1 out of 5 stars (51) �5.98

Rough Ride

by Paul Kimmage

4.4 out of 5 stars (28) �5.47

The Death of Marco Pantani: A Biography

by Matt Rendell

4.0 out of 5 stars (21) �5.48

› Explore similar items

Product details

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; 2nd Revised edition edition (5 Sep 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1840186720
ISBN-13: 978-1840186727
Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 14.8 x 2 cm

Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 379,824 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#67 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Cycling > The Tour de France

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

(What is this?)

Drilling Data Software opens new browser window

www.peloton.com - Software for visualizing and analyzing well operations data

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Picking up where Tour De France: The History, The Legend, The Riders left off, Graeme Fife's Inside the Peloton pedals over similar territory. This time out, rather than dedicating chapters to the most punishing of the famed energy-sapping climbs of the Tour, Fife looks at some of the great characters whose feats have made the race one of the great endeavours of the sporting world. From Eddy Merckx, undoubtedly the greatest of them all, to Charlie Holland, an early English pre-war pioneer, each rider covered brings with him stories of the tours in which he raced and the contemporaries with and against whom he rode.

Fife illustrates well that, of course, it's not just the winners that add to the legend of the Tour. It's also some of the lesser lights, the "domestiques", riding to work for their team leaders. Chapters on Paul Sherwen and Sean Yates, two Britons in their time considered highly amongst the worker bees of the peloton, highlight the selflessness of the role. The hierarchy inside professional road racing on the continent has largely been near feudal; only the last decade has seen changes to that. In the chapters on the British heroes, the sheer arrogant and unnecessary insularity of British cycling is made clear by Fife; it's no surprise we're still waiting for the first Englishman to win the Tour de France, at a time when an American (Lance Armstrong) has just won his third in a row. Without such success professional cycling will retain its low profile in the British sporting consciousness. Meanwhile, authors like Fife continue to provide the English language with a disproportionate amount of highly readable literature on the sport. --Trevor Crowe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Phil Liggett

An absolute gem - a brilliant piece of work --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	56% buy the item featured on this page: Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour De France 2.3 out of 5 stars (3) �8.99
	13% buy Rough Ride 4.4 out of 5 stars (28) �5.47
	11% buy Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling - The True Story 3.8 out of 5 stars (13) �4.98
	10% buy In Search of Robert Millar: Unravelling the Mystery Surrounding Britain's Most Successful Tour De France Cyclist 5.0 out of 5 stars (32) �6.47

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

2.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, 16 Aug 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour de France (Hardcover)

Graham Fife is certainly an enthusiast for professional cycling, and views it as a sport steeped in tradition and history that one needs to consider when thinking about the sport today.

The book is presented as a series of chapters about named riders, supposedly based on conversations with the men in question. Themes that run through the book are how professionals need to "faire le metier" (learn their trade), to suffer, and be prepared to make sacrifices for their leaders.

There is a lot of material here that the enthusiast will find interesting, but I feel the book mainly falls down due to Fife's rambling style.

For example, the chapter supposedly on Fred Moncassin contains an extended (2 or 3 page) rant from Fife about the bad side of Lance Armstrong and the way he behaves. The chapter continues to get sidetracked on various other historical episodes that don't really connect at all to each other, or to Fred himself.

Generally, there's too much of Fife's opinion and other historical material (a lot of which is familiar from his other book), and not enough of the words and thoughts of the subjects.

There are also a number of surprising factual errors, from riders names (Erik van Hooydonck ? Who he ?) to important issues such as the fact that Dave Rayner was killed in a nightclub incident, not a car crash.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good start, but check the facts, 26 Nov 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour de France (Hardcover)

Great first chapters, and Fife draws interesting portraits of some of cycling's greats. But you get the impression of an agenda (anti Armstrong, anti BCF) where the facts pertinent to Fife's argument are used without any discussion or reference to counter-arguments. Proofing could have been better, and there are a couple of glaring errors even non-cycling fans can spot. Not least because Fife contradicts himself later in the book.
Still worth a read for cycling fans.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing read, 16 Dec 2003

By	J. Richards (UK) - See all my reviews

As a lifelong cyclist, I was pleased when a colleague lent me this book. A couple of hours later that pleasure had evaporated by the time I had trawled my way through this hotchpotch of a book. There are plenty of facts about the those cyclists whom Fife regards as key T de F characters, and most of them are correct. However, the overall impression is that this author has cobbled together a series of second and third hand stories to use as a platform for self promotion.

Few cyclists have much interest in mythology, French slang, and quotations from Noel Coward, for those who are this book would be ideal. For the rest of us there are other cycling books which would make a better choice of reading this Christmas - William Fotheringham's Simpson biography, or Graeme Obree's 'Flying Scotsman'.

I'm just relieved I hadn't actually bought 'Inside the Peloton'. It certainly isn't on my Christmas list this year, and won't be in the future.

John Richards

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 3 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }

Customer Discussions

This product's forum

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
biography Precious Moments by Elaine Murray	4	16 hours ago
biography Best adventure / feats of human endurance (auto)biographies...	3	1 day ago
biography Books that made you laugh out loud.	225	1 day ago
biography Best Biography?	147	1 day ago
biography Help!!	1	1 day ago
biography A book for a man who doesn't usually read?	15	3 days ago
biography Best new book on the block.	14	4 days ago