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Tour de France: The Official Centennial 1903 - 2003
 
 
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Tour de France: The Official Centennial 1903 - 2003 (Hardcover)

by L'equipe (Author), Lance Armstrong (Author), Jean-Marie Leblanc (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 360 pages
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Updated edition (12 Jun 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0297843583
  • ISBN-13: 978-0297843580
  • Product Dimensions: 29.8 x 27.1 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 185,659 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #33 in  Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Cycling > The Tour de France

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Product Description

Review

TOUR DE FRANCE has been selling extremely well and has made number 6 in THE SUNDAY TIMES bestseller list! Reviews for TOUR DE FRANCE have been very good:'The Official Tour de France Centennial 1903 - 2003 is the English version of a weighty tome. This is a glossy definitive history with several pages devoted to each race from its inception and includes route maps, the riders, the bicycles, the mountains and the epic battles for yellow, plus all the scandals and statistics. It is packed with many magnificent photographs taken from the archives of L'Equipe. It is a marvellous reference book and exceptional value.' THE TIMES 30/6/03 THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY featured a round-up of cycling books by Simon O'Hagan: 'In its official history, Weidenfeld has had the advantage of unfettered access to the archives of L'Equipe, the French daily sports paper which in its original guise as L'Auto magazine was the organization that founded the Tour.' (29/6/03) THE DAILY TELEGRAPH ran a full-page feature on the Tour with photos and a credit for the book (30/6/03) THE GUARDIANfeatured a round-up of cycling books (5/7/03) 'stunningly illustrated'. 'Just like the race itself 'The Official Tour de France Centennial' is a gigantic, glamorous affair... what really makes this book special is the mix of writing styles that so accurately reflect the race... The prose is elegant, occasionally pompous, and always with a hint of chauvinism that has helped keep theTour an undeniably French event even in a global environment. The official Tour centenary publication is a glorious tribute to the race itself.' CYCLING WEEKLY (19/7/03) 'This 359 page book is the biggest we've received to date, and from its coverage of the 1903 event to 2003, it keeps your interest. Not least through its use of large format photography, where pictures really do say it all - far more succinctly than words... this is a magnificent record of a century of the greatest show on earth... Magnificent warts and all look at the greatest bike ride on earth.' CYCLING PLUS (1/9/03) LONDON CYCLIST ran a compare-and-contrast review with the Carlton book, which gave our book the edge over photos. THE SPECTATOR will be reviewing. ORIENT EXPRESS magazine haverun an extract of photographs from TOUR DE FRANCE in their June issue.


Product Description

The Tour de France is the world's largest annual sporting event with worldwide audience figures only exceeded by the Olympics and the Football World Cup. Yet its first edition in 1903 was little more than an outlandish publicity stunt staged by L'Auto newspaper to increase its circulation throughout France. But by the end of the century, no single sporting event could compare for excitement, passion and adventure - not to mention sheer physical difficulty - and few could claim to have had such a fascinating and even turbulent history. Year by year, this book chronicles the first one hundred years of the Tour, and more importantly, captures its spirit. It draws on an unprecedented wealth of photography and journalism from L'Equipe's archives. 'The history of the Tour is a huge history, with fantastic, epic stories. I'm just one of the actors on the stage of TDF history. . . looking at the photos and history of the 100 years of the Tour I was able to learn this history' - Lance Armstrong
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for All Sports Fans, 12 Nov 2003
By Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
2003 saw the 100th birthday of the Tour de France, the world's most famous bike race. This book was released at the beginning of the centenary year as part of the race's birthday celebrations.

The race was created by a newspaper called L'Auto, the forerunner of today's sports newspaper L'Equipe. The race's organisers worked closely with L'Equipe in the production of this book. Thanks to L'Equipe's involvement, the book had the pick of a huge amount of material dating back to the Tour's inception. The collection of photographs used is incredible and is the main strength of the book. The Tour is a tough enough race today, but being able to see what sort of conditions and equipment the cyclists had to endure in the early days.....well, phrases like 'seeing is believing' and 'every picture tells a thousand stories' could've been formed with these pages in mind. It was also nice being able to finally put a face to some of the famous names - the likes of Coppi, Bobet and Anquetil.
Essentially, the book begins in 1903, and has something similar to a chapter for each edition of the race. The level of detail varies from year to year - the years where there was a 'big' story are generally given the luxury of an extra couple of pages. These would include, for example, 1998's Festina Affair, Merckx's and Hinault's first wins (1969 and 1978 respectively), the deaths of Tom Simpson (1967) and Fabio Casartelli (1995) and the completion of the race's first hat-trick by Philippe Thys in 1920. Inevitably, some races are comparatively skimmed over. It would've been nice if, for example, the 1960 race had been given some extended coverage also, when Roger Reviere crashed in the mountains and broke his back.

For the most part, the writing centres on the battle for the yellow jersey. L'Auto was responsible for the creation of the famous yellow jersey. In 1919, it arranged for a special jersey to be presented to the race leader so spectators could easily identify him. As the newspaper was printed on yellow paper, they chose yellow as the colour for the jersey. Of course, it would've done no harm to the newspaper sales either.

Little is said, however, about the battles for the race's other jerseys. The King of the Mountains (polka dot) jersey was introduced in 1933, while the Sprinter's (green) jersey was introduced 20 years later, in 1953. They are given some coverage in the stats section at the back of the book, but really only mentioned in passing throughout the book. The combined and red jerseys that were formerly a part of the Tour don't even get a mention in the stats section, though the combined jersey, at least, does make an appearance in one or two photographs. These are only minor quibbles, it has to be said. These omissions are understandable, given all that has happened in this race over the years, and that there was always going to be a limited amount of space available ! This is an incredible book, one that should be owned by anyone who is even vaguely interested in sport.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The defintive guide, 26 Aug 2003
By Mr. Warren M. Fisher (East Grinstead, West Sussex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Without doubt the definitive guide to the world's greatest sporting event. Colourful and informative, with fascinating tales from the event's distant past, right up to today's superstars. A perfect primer for newcomers, or companion for the most ardent fan. A must-have.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Le Tour de France in all its splendour, 10 Jul 2003
By J. Clinch (Kent, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
An excellent book for fans of the Le Tour. The book goes through the history of the Tour year by year, aided enormously by the beautiful high quality pictures on every page.
The epic battles of Roache vs Delgardo and Lemond vs Fingion are replayed in full as well the dominance of the kings of the road, Merckx, Indurain and Hinault.
As important as the cycling to the tour, is of course the scandal and there’s plenty to amuse. The account of the 1904 race shows that they really knew how to do it properly in the old days, taking the organisers until mid December of that year to decide who had actually won the race. The first 4 finishers being disqualified for various offences including taking the train and car rides. The roadside fans were also getting in on the action, scattering nails across the road and throwing stones at non-local riders.
The darker sides of the Tour such as the three deaths and the drug scandals are also told. The whole book is brought to date with details all the way up to the 2002 tour and the dominance of Armstrong in the last 4 years.
Overall a great book to browse through while watching this years Tour and for many years to come.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Must for Tour Fans
This book in a word is Fantastic, in particular, the photography. If you want to really know the Tour then make this purchase. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2004 by Mr. Ciaran Hampson

5.0 out of 5 stars Great photos, interesting facts
This is a great book, I really liked the photographs especially the ones from the early years of the Tour. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Ride with the champions!
An incredible chronicle of the World's hardest race. A century's worth of images chart the rise, and fall, of tour legends such as Thys, Bartali, Coppi, Merckx, Indurain, and... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2003 by alex peach

1.0 out of 5 stars Why?
This is a magnificently produced book about the world's greatest sporting event. So why was it deemed necessary to include a colour photo of Fabio Casartelli lying dead in a pool... Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2003

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