Book description
No sporting event has had its past and present, its highs and lows so
intricately entwined with those of a country like the Tour has with France.
The Tour de France is the biggest annual sporting event in the world,
and at the same time it transcends sport. The Tour de France comes to
the people. It passes their houses, it turns right in their village
squares, it thunders through their suburban streets and into the hearts
of their towns and cities. It is a unique event in that people don't so
much go to see the Tour, as it comes to see them.
A Race for Madmen traces how the Tour de France has developed and
examines tactics, bike technology and rider preparation too. It profiles
some of the men who have won the Tour de France, and others who have
been key players, looking closely at their lives and motivation.
Subsidiary competitions, such as the King of the Mountains prize, are
featured, as well as Tour lore and traditions.
The book examines the Tour's extraordinary history, and how a bike
race, a simple sporting contest captured the imagination of a country,
then a continent and then the world, while at the same time it has
stayed uniquely French, even though a Frenchman hasn't won it for over
20 years. Chris Sidwells is a bestselling author, journalist,
photographer and broadcaster; a writer of books, magazine and newspaper
features on every aspect of cycling and fitness.
