The Official Tour De France: Centennial 1903-2003 [Hardcover]

Lance Armstrong (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2003

BURST:
The only guide to the race that's fully endorsed by the organizers of the Tour de France, the only one with unrestricted access to the archives--and the only one with a foreword by Lance Armstrong!

Celebrate a century in the life of the world's most thrilling sport

The Tour de France is an event unrivalled in sports, filled with unparalleled passion, adventure, and sheer physical difficulty. Here is the definitive, official record of that thrilling sporting phenomenon, produced in collaboration with L'Equipe, France's premier sports daily and including a foreword by the four-time Tour de France winner and international sports celebrity, Lance Armstrong, who will be competing again this year. With access to the Tour de France's own archives, this huge, lushly photographed volume chronicles the race from its raw origins a century ago to its current position as the world's greatest sporting challenge. From Lance Armstrong's incredible comeback from cancer to Tommy Simpson's death on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, the event has been the stage for memorable triumphs and heartrending tragedies.
Year by year, follow the grit and glory, the victory and defeat, the bravery and controversy, in the words of the players themselves. Through oversize photographs, track the race through the hundreds and hundreds of miles pedaled by competitors such as Maurice Garin, the first winner; Jacques Anquetil and Eddie Merckx, both four-time champions; Miguel Indurain and Bernard Hilault, who each won a breathtaking five times; and of course, Armstrong, the newest multiple victor. Every inch is filled with drama.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This official book, endorsed by the race organizers and produced with L'Equipe, France's daily sports magazine, is one of several titles published for the Tour de France's 100th anniversary. There's a foreword by four-time winner Armstrong, along with an eye-catching photo of him on the jacket. The book begins with a brief history of the race, then follows with a year-by-year summary of each event. For each race year, there are stats detailing the winners of the event and the various stages along with photos. Most of the photos for the first 30 years are standard publicity shots but the color photos of the past 20 years are more action-oriented. The writing is stylish and exuberant. About the 1992 race: "Simply sublime! On 14 June 1992, Miguel Indur in rode victoriously into Milan, having won the Giro d'Italia by virtue of extraordinary aggression in the time trials, impenetrable defense in the mountains and an almost infallible ability to read the race. On 4 July, he brought the same skills to the 1992 Tour de France and won the Prologue at San Sebastian, in front of massive and adoring Basque crowds." About Lance Armstrong in 1993: "Lance Armstrong is going to be a force to be reckoned with. With a name like Armstrong, it's only a matter of time." This is an attractive coffee-table book, but probably only serious fans will read it all.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (August 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297843583
• ISBN-13: 978-0297843580
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,030,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100 Years of the World's Greatest Sporting Event, November 3, 2003

By 

Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Tour De France: Centennial 1903-2003 (Hardcover)

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, this 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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow., December 4, 2004

By 

Benjamin Stern (Rockville, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Official Tour De France: Centennial 1903-2003 (Paperback)

The photo on page p. 209 of Jacques Anquetil climbing the Aubisque is one of the most amazing photographs I've ever seen. It's all in there. I'm going to buy another copy just to cut that photo out and frame it.

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Official History, Enough Said, March 13, 2010

By 

James L. Witherell, Author, Bicycle History - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Tour De France: Centennial 1903-2003 (Hardcover)

This one is easy. All the other reviewers gave this book five stars -- how can you not? Hundreds of pages of flowery prose from the greatest writers of L'Auto and L'Equipe intermingled with hundreds of classic photographs from the same sources.

Get this book, but do yourself a favor and get a new one, or at least a used one in excellent condition -- it's a keeper.