“Mountain Kings, Agony and Euphoria on the Peaks of the Tour de France” by Giles Belbin
How hard are the mountains? The mere mention of names like Galibier or Tourmalet can be enough to evoke fear, mystery and for the fortunate, memories. In this book Giles Belbin sets out to try many of the Tour de France’s most famous climbs and relate the experience, both his effort to climb them but also what has made them so famous over the years.
Having covered Va Va Froome’s look at the rise of Chris Froome it’s now time to look at a rider who never once enjoyed a victory salute in his pro career. In Domestique Charly Wegelius tells the story of riding in the service of others and how he made a career out of it.
With his win in the Tour de France Chris Froome is the man of the moment but how much do you know about him?
Put the Tour win aside for a moment because Froome is one of the more unique characters in the bunch thanks to his start in Kenya and the long path to a pro contract via South Africa and Italy. All this provides rich material and this biography sets out explain the route Froome has taken. But can it describe what the journey was like?
I enjoyed Issue 1 of The Cycling Anthology and now Volume 2 is out with a Tour de France theme. Whether planning or luck there’s a take on Colombian cycling history – ¡ Hola Quintana ! – as well as a look into German cycling – fünf stage wins and counting – via the curious career path of Linus Gerdemann.
The idea behind The Cycling Anthology is simple, a collection of essays about pro cycling. Some of the writers will be familiar if you read the various cycling magazines. But here there are no glossy photos nor adverts. It’s almost retro but portable despite over 300 pages. If it fits into your pocket, the prose stands out.
Mapping the Tour by Ellis Bacon
+ Givewaway competition to win a copy of the book
The idea is simple, recount each year’s Tour de France along with a collection of statistics such as the distance, number of starters and finishers, the winner and more and then add the map of the race to accompany the words. But the ability to see how the route changes is special, making this more than a list of winners and stories from times past but an aerial view on how the the race as evolved.
As well as the review, there’s also a chance to win a copy of the book if you can guess the weight of Tour de France podium lion.
Details. If you’ve ever ridden down a road that you haven’t taken for a long time you’ll often find it takes longer than you think. the mind can miss out sections. Along the way you’ll spot things you’d forgotten about, a building, a view, a pothole. It’s the same with revisiting past events like the Festina scandal or the Athens Olympics, you can remember the big picture but the journey and its small details escape you.
William Fotheringham’s “Racing Hard” is a collection of his writing for British newspaper The Guardian and its weekend sister The Observer. Over the years he’s produced more 2,500 articles for the paper and this is a collection of the best pieces. But it’s more than a bound copy of press cuttings, pieces are grouped by theme and there’s added commentary and notes to explain context or the writer’s view at the time.
The old and the new. This is a collection of 30 themed Tour de France photo galleries, each with about 20 images. Using new technology the photos of the past become more accessible and involving than a coffee table book. It’s also a reminder that the annual contest produces perennial images where the same scenes can be repeated over the years only with different characters.
But this is more than collection of old photos assembled into a slideshow, the themes and images selected make it an entertaining resource, albeit restricted for now to Apple users.
Listed as a flat stage by the race, Monday’s 191km routeis harder than it looks with the last 60km loaded with climbing, twisting roads and even a forest track before a downhill rush to the finish in the town of Oyonnax.
The town was once home to Bollé, the sunglasses company and is the setting for one of the few well-regarded literary works to feature a bicycle race so tacked onto the stage preview is a quick look at Oyonnax and Roger Vailland’s 325,000 francs.
Maglia Rosa, triumph and tragedy at the Giro d’Italia by Herbie Sykes
Another history book? No, this is much more. It’s a collection of stories from the Giro and Italy that goes beyond a sepia-tinged list of past race incidents, names and nostalgia. The second-edition version is also updated with commentary on the sport that looks at how the Giro is trying to find its place in the sport.
It might be St Valentines today but scanning Twitter it’s Pantani day to commemorate his death on this day in 2004 and the excitement he generated during his life.
There are a lot of books about Marco Pantani. Most are Italian. There’s a French one by Philippe Brunel, La Vie et Mort de Marco Pantani which is a good account. Brunel shuttles back and forth between France and Italy, Paris and Rimini to piece together the last moments of Pantani’s life and seems so suggest Pantani was a victim of conspiracies, whether his ejection from the Giro whilst leading the race, or his death in a hotel room.
But The Death of Marco Pantani is surely the best, being well-researched and a full biography of Pantani, from his early days to the post mortem.