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Australian cyclists in 100 years of the Tour de France
- GenresCycling
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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September 19, 2008
It took me longer to finish this book than I would have liked, but that was almost entirely because I got distracted by all the other shiny, shiny books I've had available.
Anyway: I love Tour history, and a book focusing on Australian Tour history is naturally even better. A little odd to read now, five years after publication. It's not that it's dated, it's just that I "know" more of the story than the author does - especially as Guinness has written this with an eye to the Centenary of the Tour and has some specific comments to make about potential outcomes etc. (I suspect he's waiting to release an updated version either until Cadel (or another Australian) wins the Tour, or until we hit the 100th edition of the Tour (I think this year was 97. There were ten years skipped for the wars, you see.))
Rupert Guinness is probably Australia's best cycling journalist. He works for Fairfax newspapers, and has been covering the Tour since 1987. (It was to Guinness that Cadel handed his battered helmet after The Crash this year and said "here's your interview".) He knows the guys he's writing about in the latter part of the book, and has a huge respect for the pioneers of the sport. His style is incredibly readable except for one thing: his structuring. He begins each chapter with a dramatic description of some major incident in the Tour-life of the rider who is the subject of that chapter, then goes back and explains how he got there. But because riders' careers overlap (and because at times, it does rather seem as if Guinness is writing the way I'd try to explain cycling to other people (which usually ends with them confused)) it does more than occasionally get confusing, and I was often turning back two or three pages to try to work out which Tour he was writing about.
The other thing about this book is that it shows just how much Robbie McEwen respects the history of his sport. Most of the archival photos are "courtesy Robbie McEwen". Also, there are some terribly cute pictures of various Australian cyclists, and the foreword by Phil Liggett just made me want to hug him.
Anyway: I love Tour history, and a book focusing on Australian Tour history is naturally even better. A little odd to read now, five years after publication. It's not that it's dated, it's just that I "know" more of the story than the author does - especially as Guinness has written this with an eye to the Centenary of the Tour and has some specific comments to make about potential outcomes etc. (I suspect he's waiting to release an updated version either until Cadel (or another Australian) wins the Tour, or until we hit the 100th edition of the Tour (I think this year was 97. There were ten years skipped for the wars, you see.))
Rupert Guinness is probably Australia's best cycling journalist. He works for Fairfax newspapers, and has been covering the Tour since 1987. (It was to Guinness that Cadel handed his battered helmet after The Crash this year and said "here's your interview".) He knows the guys he's writing about in the latter part of the book, and has a huge respect for the pioneers of the sport. His style is incredibly readable except for one thing: his structuring. He begins each chapter with a dramatic description of some major incident in the Tour-life of the rider who is the subject of that chapter, then goes back and explains how he got there. But because riders' careers overlap (and because at times, it does rather seem as if Guinness is writing the way I'd try to explain cycling to other people (which usually ends with them confused)) it does more than occasionally get confusing, and I was often turning back two or three pages to try to work out which Tour he was writing about.
The other thing about this book is that it shows just how much Robbie McEwen respects the history of his sport. Most of the archival photos are "courtesy Robbie McEwen". Also, there are some terribly cute pictures of various Australian cyclists, and the foreword by Phil Liggett just made me want to hug him.
Displaying 1 of 1 review