A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong [Paperback]

Matt Rendell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2005

New in Paper
An inside look at the 2003 Tour de France through the eyes of Lance Armstrong's right-hand rider, Victor Hugo Peña--who also helped Armstrong ride to his unprecedented sixth victory in 2004. Peña served as Armstrong's domestique, a crucial yet unsung position unique to cycling. The domestique handles a variety of tasks, but his most important is to ride ahead of the team leader, creating a wind tunnel that makes it aerodynamically easier for the "star" to continue pedaling. This is the essence of cycling, and the key to Armstrong's victories. Now, in revealing the true role of the domestique for the first time, Matt Rendell gives a more vivid and insightful portrayal of professional cycling than ever before.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Half the book is made up of Pena's account, filtered through Rendell, of the key stages in Armstrong's tour victory last year. Much of the rest is devoted to Rendell's reflections on the Tour's history and culture, from the sadism of its founder Henri Desgrange to the present, with a Tour that has become less Gallic and more global.' INDEPENDENT (5.7.04) 'Rendell elegantly elucidates the tactical technicalities of cycling's unique mixture of cooperation and competition, teamwork and individualism...The beauty of Rendell's brief book is that he has secured the cooperation of a real-life domestique, the Colombian Victor Hugo Pena, who was a key member of Lance Armstrong's US Postal squad on his way to a record-equalling fifth Tour won last year.' -- Matt Seaton GUARDIAN (10.7.04) 'Rendell packs[s] in a great deal of very useful information, while that unforgettable day is recaptured vividly.' -- Geoffrey Wheatcroft DAILY MAIL (16.7.04) 'there is a scholarly quality to A SIGNIFICANT OTHER, a short but powerful book that uses the diary of a domestique in the 2003 Tour de France as the counterpoint to the author's exploration of the true nature of top-class competitive cycling...you won't find a better analysis of the extraordinary collective feat that is a team of cyclists working together at speed.' -- Simon O'Hagan INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY (18.7.04) 'Rendell's explanations of the technicalities of cycling formations combine admirably with the chapters in Pena's voice, when we see these moves put into practice. The result is a rare sports book that actually gives an idea of the experience of being a professional athlete.' -- David Horspool TLS (30.7.04) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

MATT RENDELL survived Hodgkin's Disease and lecturing at British and Latvian universities before entering TV and print journalism. He has written for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, including British coverage of the Tour de France, and he edited The Tour de France Centennial 1903-2003 (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2003). The National Sporting Club named Matt Rendell 'Best New Sports Writer 2003'

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (August 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753818744
• ISBN-13: 978-0753818749
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,493 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:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a read, October 20, 2004

By 

Carl I. Brewer "c_brewer" (Brighton, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong (Hardcover)

This is a curious book, cutting between Pena'a narrative of an individual stage, which is great if you're a racing cyclist (I am) or an enthusiastic fan, and Matt Randall's history and philosophy of bike racing. Matt could be accused of overly philosophising, especially when he's trying to use professional cycling as a metaphor for the sins of globalisation, which is a bit of a stretch. I enjoyed the read, the book misses out on a top rating because of Matt's final chapter. It's a bike race, fortunatly Pena provides the narrative to carry the politics!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Cycling Journalism I've Read, June 30, 2005

By 

T. Burke - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong (Hardcover)

This book is on a different level, artistically and intellectually, from most cycling journalism. I've read a bevy of Tour de France books and this is the best by far. It takes a different angle on professional cycling, the perspective of the domestique, to show you things about the sport that you would never learn reading yet another book about Lance or the other stars. The story of Victor Hugo Pena (now exiled from Lance, but riding with another team, Phonak) is far more representative of life in the peloton than that of the stars, and so tells you so much more about the cruel, beautiful sport of cycling.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Half as good as it could have been, January 7, 2005

By 

C. Ramsdell (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I thought I'd learn more about the job of the domestiques in general, and about Victor Hugo Pena specifically. And I really enjoyed the half of the book that was about Victor Hugo Pena. Those portions of the book are well written and engaging. But I was bored by the other half of the book that was more philosophical and historical. There are plenty of books about the history of the Tour de France and I would have bought one of those if I had wanted to read about the Tour. I wish the book had only been about domestiques and Victor Hugo Pena. The book is still worth a read, but it could have been so much better.