Legends of the Tour

by Jan Cleijne

Frame by glorious frame, this beautiful graphic novel captures the essence of the Tour de France – the grit and the glory. Since Maurice Garin's inaugural victory in 1903, hundreds of thousands of kilometers have been covered in pursuit of the yellow jersey and few of them have been without incident or drama. Here are the Tour's legends: Eugene Christophe welding his bicycle back together at the foot of the Pyrenees in 1913; Bartali V Coppi, 1949; Poulidor shoulder-to-shoulder with Anquetil on the Puy de Dome, 1964; Tommy Simpson's death on Ventoux, 1967; Lance Armstrong's domination and disgrace; finishing with Bradley Wiggins' and Chris Froome's back-to-back victories for Britain in 2012 and 2013.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Sports, Cycling, History, Art

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarjakuvan ja urheilun välinen liitto ei ole useinkaan kovin hedelmällinen, mutta hollantilaisen Jan Cleijnen "Legends of the Tour" (Head of Zeus, 2014) onnistuu olemaan säännön vahvistava poikkeus. Sarjakuvassa käydään läpi Ranskan ympäriajojen historiaa kymmenessä vaihtelevanpituisessa luvussa.

Sarjakuvan kuvitukselle täytyy antaa täydet pisteet. Cleijne ei tyydy vain kuvittamaan tapahtumia, vaan uskaltaa leikitellä ja käyttää erilaisia vertauskuvia. Fausto Coppin ja Jean Robicin taistelu muuttuu haukan ja hiiren välienselvittelyksi, mies moukarin kanssa odottaa Col des Champsin nousussa uupuvaa Eddy Merckxia ja kilpailun varhaisvaiheista kertomiseen käytetään mykkäelokuvan estetiikkaa.

Hieno tietosarjakuva kaikille pyöräilyn ystäville!

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool and even educational. As someone who knows basically nothing about sports, each page revealed fascinating new information on this long-running event. Worth the read.

[John of Canada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for cycling fans only. This was exciting reading and the artwork was excellent, although the faces of a lot of the competitors were very similar.

[Tudor Ciocarlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2016 Tour de France was a rather boring affair and this book was much more interesting.

[John Blacksad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daha önce Türkçe basılan Velodrom Sincapları’ndan sonra okuduğum ikinci bisiklet temalı çizgi roman olsa gerek. Oldukça iddialı, ciltli, büyük boy bir baskısı olsa da Velodrom Sincapları (iyi çizilmiş olmasına rağmen) beğenimi kazanamamıştı. Legends of The Tour ise çok beğendiğim bir kitap oldu.

Bir defa sürpriz şekilde çok iyi çizilmiş. Çizimler Tour de France coğrafyasını, iklimini, sporcuları, hırsı, azmi, hileyi bazen hüznü çok yerinde resmetmiş. Tablo gibi sayfalar var.

Zannediyorum özellikle bisiklete veya Tour de France’a özel ilgisi olmayan biri bile keyifle okuyacaktır. Kitap didaktik veya ansiklopedik olmadan insan hikayeleri üzerinden kronolojik bir Tour de France panoraması sunuyor. Adı üstünde yarışın “Legend”larına değiniyor. Arada boşluklar var. Bunları sıkıcı bilgilerle doldurmamış, boşlukla bırakmış. Bunları ya zaten spora dair genel kültürünüzle dolduruyorsunuz yahut meraklı olan araştırıyordur. Onun dışında Yazarın seçkisini ve güzel çizgisini okumak zaten yeterince keyifli.

Sporculara odaklanmış, yıllar aktıkça onlar ile anlatmış. Kimileri bir kaç sayfacık kimileri daha uzun… Yıllar geçtikçe sporda ve sporcudaki değişim de yarışın seyri de gözler önüne serilmiş.

İnşallah dilimize de çevrilir. Hem iyi bir spor temalı çizgi roman hem de sanatı çok güçlü çünkü.

[Gabriel Tamaș · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining visual history of one of the most interesting european tradition of the Modern Era - La Tour de France. This compendium goes through the higlights of the competition, from it's first edition to the drama and might of nowadays' Tour.
This whole project is a brilliant mean of heroification and immortalization of the brave and mighty men that toil and give their best on their bikes through the breathtaking French scenery year after year

The artistic dimension of the book is unique and original, despite being hard to follow at times due to the pallete choice.

It is worth nothing that Jan Cleijne is both the author and illustrator of this book and his passion for the Tour is visible in every single page. The author keep an impartial and objective tone throughout the book, praising what is to be praised, but mentioning the blunders and faulty characters of the Tour as well.

[Michael Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came in for Le Tour, discovered an amazing artist, Jan Cleijne. Legends of the Tour is really good, recommended for everyone.

+++ Exceptional drawings - watercolor and pencil, scanned.
++ Mixing well landscape drawing with action comics. Portraits are also good.
+++ Excellent summary of Tour de France's history. A few unexpected insights, and generally a deep love of the event.
+ Addresses also the less savory parts of this event, including doping.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visually stunning. You can really pour over the pages and appreciate the art for hours. It was clearly put together with lots of love and research. I think that Cleijne had the difficult task of trying to decide what level of detail to include in the book. While the decision to be light on text probably served the book as a whole best, there are times where I wished that some details were more fleshed out. There are times when the selective storytelling left more to be desired. Overall though, it's a must read for any fans of cycling and others with an interest in a bit of the history of the sport.

[Daniel Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.

This book is a brilliant dive into the history of cycling greatest challenge and is at some points, quite emotional.

I have been interested in cycling since I was young, but I wouldn’t say more more than a passing knowledge. I am by no means an avid fan.

If you like non-fiction stories, especially those about the history of sports and cultural events then I think you will enjoy this.

It will remain in my permanent collection.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really beautiful book. Jan Cleijne's history of the Tour de France is absolutely fascinating, and much of that is accomplished by his incredible artwork. There was something captivating about Legends of the Tour that I can't quite put my finger on, but whatever it is, Legends of the Tour is one of the most enjoyable books I've read all year.

[Dr K P Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down. A graphic love letter to Le Tour. It could easily be saccharine, but as well as the heroes and the dogged perseverance of the winners and near winners it does include the controversy and ugly side too.

Still amazed that the speed of the first tour was 26kph with no brakes no gears and 20kg bikes. That fact alone made me want to read on.

[Ryan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustration style really fits the first 2/3 of this book, in recounting the history of the race and its competitors. The modern-day doping controversies don’t lend themselves quite as well to this style. Also, the book, while not glossing over the doping, neither digs deeply into why doping became the standard for cyclist teams.

[John Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captures the atmosphere very nicely, especially the early years. The coverage of the more recent periods identifies the chief characters well, but somehow didn't, for me, capture the the intensity of the crisis. Too much a roll-call, perhaps. Still, an enjoyable read.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool graphic book about the Tour de France. Hope the illustrator keeps writing books. I’m just getting into cycling and this book provides a quick history and introduces the legends surrounding the race.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated and a history of the Tour de France replete with drama, bad behavior and heroics. I was pleased Lance Armstrong did not dominate the tale and once again am more curious about Greg Lemond. This graphic novel is not for everyone, but it is history and it is captivating.

[Gerdjan Kipping · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heel dun verhaal met aantal hoogte- en dieptepunten van de Tour. En bij Indurain suggereren dat vanaf dat hij de Tour niet meer won het fout ging met epo-gebruik terwijl algemeen bekend is dat hij een grootafnemer was. Wel prachtig getekend.

[Huub van den Bosch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erg mooie platen en goed overzicht van de geschiedenis van de Tour. Door de beknoptheid ontbreken er ook wel dingen of zijn de tijdlijnen iets aangepast. Met name in het laatste deel met forse aandacht voor de grote dopingschandalen valt dat op.

[John Barclay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great read, evocative, informative and full of beauty. Lots of great stories of the Tour and the way it feels to each part of cycling’s greatest test.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting, and excellently drawn way to find out about some of the stories from le tour across more than a century

[Raj Bowers-Racine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who grew up with a Tour-obsessed household I can definitively say that reading this gorgeous book is more fun than actually watching the Tour De France.

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible history and gorgeous art

[Richard Crater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations, and I learned some new facts about Le Tour history. It reminded me of my ride up Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux. Now I have to get motivated to get back on my bike!

[Reka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to introduce cycling to someone new. This book captures some outstanding moments of the history of cycling races, just enough to shock you into getting interested and wanting more.

[Јордан Kocevski) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and educational read.
The GN is about tour de France, starting from the begging till 2013. You can learn a lot about how cycling has evolved and about the competitive and team spirit on the tour.

It has 10 different stories from different times. I would've preferred if there were less but longer stories with less narration and more dialogue.

The art is great, I enjoyed the colouring especially.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read many graphic novels - this is in fact a graphic work of non-fiction, documenting some highlights of the Tour de France's history.

Graphic novels can vary widely in amount of text included, and this is at the (very) low end. That was fine for me since I have read at least a dozen different books about the Tour, but I'm not sure that this would be so good for someone who isn't already familiar with the Tour.

The author's style is mostly dark and for the most part he focuses a lot of attention on the dark aspects of the Tour's history (dark in the sense of forbidding and/or foreboding) but the Tour takes place in July, in France, and much of it doesn't have the look and feel of most of this book. That says more about the author than about the subject, I suppose.

The low-text graphic novel approach results in some simplification of what you might read elsewhere - the competition with Hinault and Greg Lemond ends with the two of them riding hand-in-hand, celebrating their sort-of-joint-victory - hmmm. Published in June of 2014, he deals with the problem of doping and Mr. Armstrong's interview with Oprah at the end while expressing hope for redemption for the Tour's future - that the challenges will come from road and the race and not the challenges of doping without discovery, I suppose. Well maybe it will work out that way.

The nice thing about a book like this is it is possible to read through the whole thing in several sittings. It is also interesting to go back and page around and look at it later.

[Jeroen Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

,,Er was een aanslag gepleegd op de leider van de communistische partij en het land was in chaos. Bartali kreeg telefoon van de minister-president met het verzoek een etappe te winnen om zo de dreiging van een burgeroorlog af te wenden. In overleg met het Vaticaan was besloten hem dit verzoek te doen." En zo geschiedde, Bartali zegevierde. 'Goddelijk vertoon' derhalve in Helden van de Tour van Jan Cleijne, een van de mooiste wielerstrips aller tijden - om in superlatieven te blijven schrijven. In tien langere en korte hoofdstukken tekent Celeijne de verheerlijkingen, het afzien en het valsspelen en de schoonheid van de belangrijkste wielerwedstrijd ter wereld in het bijzonder en de mooiste sport in het algemeen. De vorm - prachtige suggestieve en originele vondsten - overtreft de inhoud, vooral de inkleuringen zijn fenomenaal. Ook voor wielerhaters, stripzeikers en andere zondaars.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book as a birthday present for my boyfriend as he loves biking, although not particularly the Tour de France. However, I read the entire graphic novel in one sitting the day that I bought the book. I absolutely loved it, the illustrations in the book are absolutely stunning!

I am not a fan of the Tour de France but I enjoyed this book immensely, I learned a lot throughout reading it. A must read for anyone who loves graphic novles, appreciates art or is a fan of the Tour de France!

Highly recommended

[Steven Pilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great title

Its the tour de france history as graphic novel.

The history is well selected, the graphics really suit the story telling.

It finds an angle on so much history and pursues it .

It maintains a really interesting way of storytelling and will help you learn something.

If you like cycling read, if you like sport read , if you like comics try and if you just want something different and dont mind people staring at you on trains read.

Highly recommended.

[Wastrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great illustrations illuminate a whistlestop tour of the Tour's history. A bit TOO whistlestop for my taste, unfortunately.

But now I want Cleijne's art to team up with Krabbé's writing to create a definition Tourmarillion...

[Sestearns · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little history of the Tour de France. Drawings range from the realistic to phantasmagoric, but do a good job in telling the story. Also includes a nice listing of winners (yellow, polka dot, and green) at the back.