Maillot Jaune: The Yellow Jersey [Hardcover]

Jean-Paul Ollivier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2001

At the end of each day of the Tour de France, the race leader is presented with a yellow racing jersey: the prestigious Maillot Jaune. This treasured emblem has been worn by 227 cyclists in the past 82 years. Some of them led the race just for a day, while others -- including current champion Lance Armstrong -- have defended the race lead day after day.

In this colorful coffee-table book, French historian Jean-Paul Ollivier offers a dramatic mix of anecdote and history beginning with Eugene Christophe, the jersey's first recipient in 1919. (Yellow was used because it was the color of the sports newspaper, L'Auto, that sponsored the race.) Ollivier features the one-timers and the recurring champs, from legends like Italy's Gino Bartali to the first American in yellow, Greg LeMond. Included are gripping stories of riders who lost the jersey because of crashes, injury, or illness; and a chart listing all the jersey's holders and the number of times they led the race.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: VeloPress (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884737986
• ISBN-13: 978-1884737985
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,049,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn about the old european stars of the Tour de France, June 3, 2002

By 

Sandra E. Riggs (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maillot Jaune: The Yellow Jersey (Hardcover)

I very much liked this book, and I don't mind that it doesn't have much about Lance Armstrong. After all, 1) it was written before his domination of the Tour and 2) it's really meant to be about the older European stars of the Tour -- 30's to 70's is really the strength of the book. Be forewarned that it's pretty week from the 80's on. Hey, there's not much about Jan Ulrich either, and he won the Tour in 1996 before Lance did and supposedly well before the publication date.

Also keep in mind that it's not a text book history. The book is meant to give you a sense of personalities and rivalries. These people are household names in Europe, and detailed factual biographies would be out of place. This book is more like love letters and old pictures in the family album. Old disagreements are of more interest than statistics. This book is for lovers of road racing, not historians. It is heavy on the French side of racing, so there is still a lot to learn about when you put the book down. Think of it as a family history of the Tour written by the French relations.

Ever read a European cycle magazine? They are just like this book, full of gossip and pictures, and what some sprinter's family looks like, and a picture of his first road race when he was 12, and why he can't stand so-and-so who moved over to another team, etc., etc...

Summation: Hey, if you want pictures of Lance, go elsewhere. This book is for you if...
1) you want learn about the personalities of older European stars of the TdF, and find out why they were so beloved,
2) you want to learn about the TdF before the Tour was fashionable in the US,
3) you want to get a sense of the hardships cyclists faced in the early years of the sport,
and 4) maybe get inside of the head of those weird French riders and Tour organizers,
this is a good place to start.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Pictures, September 28, 2001

By 

Jaime Nichols (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maillot Jaune: The Yellow Jersey (Hardcover)

The Tour de France is, to me, the most compelling sporting event ever, so I really enjoyed the historical photographs, as well as the account of the origin of the Yellow Jersey. There are lots of charming anecdotes, and a rough overview of the careers of some of the big names. The bit on Lance Armstrong is too brief and seems to hold him and his accomplishments at arm's length, but then it was written by a Frenchman.

All in all, the text is less than stellar, but the photographs are really wonderful, so I'm glad I bought it, though I'd look elsewhere for a thorough history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Something (a lot) lost in translation, October 7, 2002

By 

Peter B. LaPorte (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maillot Jaune: The Yellow Jersey (Hardcover)

Trying to make sense of the text - translated from the French - is the main enjoyment of this book (if, that is, you consider deciphering tortured syntax enjoyable). The book struck me as a 'rush to publish' to capitalize on Lance Armstrong and the TDF.

While there are some nice photos of past Tours, I think my money would have been better invested elsewhere.