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The Story of the Tour De France: 1903-1964: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World
"After forty years of study on the subject, I can with some confidence say Bill and Carol McGann�s The Story of the Tour de France is the finest such work ever produced in the English language, and perhaps in any."
-From the preface by Owen Mulholland, author of Uphill Battle
"Besides towering over all bicycle races, the Tour de France endures for its unique Gaulic character, like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The McGann's passionate and insightful writing evokes the raucous cast of riders, promoters, and journalists thrusting through highs and lows worthy of opera. This volume stands out as a must-read book for anyone seeking to appreciate cycling's race of races."
-Peter Joffre Nye, author of The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz Age Sport and Hearts of Lions
"There are LOTS of books on the Tour de France. An increasing number of them are actually written in English. However, of those, none educates Americans about this grand spectacle�s rich past. The Tour de France has a history as fascinating and sordid as Rome�s and it is high time someone undertook to explain this to our American sensibility. Our guide for the trip is a man with a ravenous appetite for both world history and bicycle racing, just the sort of person to paint a Tour champion with the dramatic grandiosity befitting Hannibal himself."
-Pat Brady, Editor, Asphalt Magazine
At the dawn of the 20th Century, French newspapers used bicycle races as promotions to build readership. Until 1903 these were one-day events. Looking to deliver a coup de grace in a vicious circulation war, Henri Desgrange�editor of the Parisian sports magazine L�Auto�took the suggestion of one of his writers to organize a race that would last several days longer than anything else, like the 6-day races on the track, but on the road.
That�s exactly what happened. For almost 3 weeks the riders in the first Tour de France rode over dirt roads and cobblestones in a grand circumnavigation of France. The race was an electrifying success. Held annually (suspended only during the 2 World Wars), the Tour grew longer and more complex with an ever-changing set of rules, as Desgrange kept tinkering with the Tour, looking for the perfect formula for his race.
Each year a new cast of riders would assemble to contest what has now become the greatest sporting event in the world.
-From the preface by Owen Mulholland, author of Uphill Battle
"Besides towering over all bicycle races, the Tour de France endures for its unique Gaulic character, like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The McGann's passionate and insightful writing evokes the raucous cast of riders, promoters, and journalists thrusting through highs and lows worthy of opera. This volume stands out as a must-read book for anyone seeking to appreciate cycling's race of races."
-Peter Joffre Nye, author of The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz Age Sport and Hearts of Lions
"There are LOTS of books on the Tour de France. An increasing number of them are actually written in English. However, of those, none educates Americans about this grand spectacle�s rich past. The Tour de France has a history as fascinating and sordid as Rome�s and it is high time someone undertook to explain this to our American sensibility. Our guide for the trip is a man with a ravenous appetite for both world history and bicycle racing, just the sort of person to paint a Tour champion with the dramatic grandiosity befitting Hannibal himself."
-Pat Brady, Editor, Asphalt Magazine
At the dawn of the 20th Century, French newspapers used bicycle races as promotions to build readership. Until 1903 these were one-day events. Looking to deliver a coup de grace in a vicious circulation war, Henri Desgrange�editor of the Parisian sports magazine L�Auto�took the suggestion of one of his writers to organize a race that would last several days longer than anything else, like the 6-day races on the track, but on the road.
That�s exactly what happened. For almost 3 weeks the riders in the first Tour de France rode over dirt roads and cobblestones in a grand circumnavigation of France. The race was an electrifying success. Held annually (suspended only during the 2 World Wars), the Tour grew longer and more complex with an ever-changing set of rules, as Desgrange kept tinkering with the Tour, looking for the perfect formula for his race.
Each year a new cast of riders would assemble to contest what has now become the greatest sporting event in the world.
316 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 7, 2009
This is Volume One of Bill and Carol McGann's History of the Tour. It's not really "the story of..." but rather a synopsis of each year's race. The narrator has a personality, but is not really a writer as much as a compiler of information. Reading this book is like reading a transcript of a TV broadcast.
The authors chose to deliver the drama in piecemeal fashion--as if we were spectators to any year's race. Overarching themes and dramas (doping, rivalries, tour ownership) are covered, but as asides. After 100+ years of the event, however, I'd have liked to see some more synthesis of the story. As it stands, this remains a well-researched (extremely well-researched) compendium of race history, but never more than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, it misses a place on the podium.
*
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: July is Tour de France season. I was inspired to find this book during this year's tour.
The authors chose to deliver the drama in piecemeal fashion--as if we were spectators to any year's race. Overarching themes and dramas (doping, rivalries, tour ownership) are covered, but as asides. After 100+ years of the event, however, I'd have liked to see some more synthesis of the story. As it stands, this remains a well-researched (extremely well-researched) compendium of race history, but never more than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, it misses a place on the podium.
*
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: July is Tour de France season. I was inspired to find this book during this year's tour.
August 10, 2009
This is more of a statistical reference with some fun anecdotes thrown in than a true history of the Tour, so I was a bit disappointed when breezing through each year McGann never presents enough about a rider or Tour organizer or racing season or stage of the Tour, to sink my teeth into. He starts by explaining that in Europe bike racing is transformed into epic myth, cultural saga, and that in American journalism all this is lost in favor of sports science and strategy. He goes on to support his claim by writing a dry, tedious history, lacking the magic that Phil Ligget's broadcasts bring to the sport.
The first twelve tours are shown to be Desgrange's brainchild, meant to punish his riders, to force them to superhuman tasks, and the riders, though they often quite or fall, are grittier than today's grittiest athletes, compared with today's clean, pretty riders.
This is one of the only English language histories of the Tour, so I'll take what I can get.
The first twelve tours are shown to be Desgrange's brainchild, meant to punish his riders, to force them to superhuman tasks, and the riders, though they often quite or fall, are grittier than today's grittiest athletes, compared with today's clean, pretty riders.
This is one of the only English language histories of the Tour, so I'll take what I can get.
August 5, 2011
I'm reading the Kindle version. It doesn't have chapter links which is a pain but it's an informative, interesting and amusing read about the early days of the great race. What beasts those first spectators were - and I thought they were bad now! I will think of the imbeciles that crowd the roads on the climbs with more good will in future - after all they are not openly sabotaging riders or trying to injure them so they can't race as they did in the first few Tours.! Imagine if a Le Tour stage went for 400 km's these days?!
February 23, 2014
This was a slog, with a few too many repetitive descriptions and too little context about the riders and their bigger picture to make for an engaging read. Educational? Yes. But I am thrilled to have finally finished it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews