Book

Rendell, Matt.

Blazing saddles : the cruel & unusual history of the Tour de France / Matt Rendell.

Boulder, Colo. Velo Press ; [Berkeley, CA] : Distributed in the United States and Canada by Publishers Group West, ©2008.

303 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

"The Tour de France is probably cruel and it's undoubtedly unusual, but it also makes for an exceptionally good story. After 105 years and 95 laps of France (time out only for World Wars), the fine spectacle of life-threatening exertion, bare-faced cheating, roadside sabotage, ludicrous clothing, extreme intimate discomfort and grown men at the absolute end of their tethers has gathered the race an audience of millions." "Blazing Saddles takes a no-holds-barred look at the Tour's history - the rivalries and controversies, the blind passions and filthy suspicions, the wheeling and the dealing."--Jacket

Tour de France (Bicycle race) -- History.

Bicycle racing -- Social aspects -- France -- History.

Cyclists.

Originally published: London : Quercus, 2007.

Prologue, or 'The Sporting Bumblebee' -- Le Grand Depart -- 1903: The First Annual Congress of Hardy Crotches -- 1904: The Last Tour -- 1905-6: Myths of Mountains -- 1907-8: Argie-Bargie -- 1909: Giant Haystacks -- 1910: Over the Top -- 1911: Domestique Bliss -- 1912-4: Belgium Attacks! -- From One War to the Next -- 1919: Bange's Bright Idea -- 1920-2: Tales of Torment -- 1923-4: Chain Gang on Wheels -- 1925: Living Dangerously -- 1926: The Fabulous Buysse Boys -- 1927-8: Two Tours de Frantz -- 1929: Three Yellow Jerseys -- 1930-4: Four for France -- 1935-9: Disraeli Gears -- Golden Age -- 1947: A Marriage of Convenience -- 1948: 'V' for Vatican -- 1949: A Rare Bird -- 1950-1: Special K -- 1952: The Greatest -- 1953-5: Holey Trinity -- 1956: A Win for a Nobody -- Anquetil and After -- 1957: Boy Wonder -- 1958: Supernatural! -- 1959-60: Cat and Mouse -- 1961-4: The Caravelle Prophecies -- 1965: Afterglow -- 1966: Big Brother -- 1967: Image and Reality -- 1968: Fifty Ways to Lose the Tour -- Cannibal -- 1969-74: The Greatest Belgian Ever -- 1975-7: Eddy's Final Act -- Tears of the Badger -- 1978-9: The Tetch Offensive -- 1980 In Through the Out Door -- 1981-2: The Killer Glance -- 1983-4: Mister Merckx? Who he? -- 1985-6: Not Dead Yet -- 1987-8: In Absentia -- 1989-90: Against the Odds -- Modern EPOch -- 1991-5: Chance the Gardener -- 1996: Mr Sixty Per Cent -- 1997: Wunderkind -- 1998: Piracy -- Winning Habit -- 1999: Anything's Possible -- 2000: 'I Don't Speak French' -- 2001: The Look -- 2002: Take the 'A' Train -- 2003: Pride after a Fall -- 2004: 'I Can Destroy You' -- 2005: Magnificent Seven -- 2006: Meltdown -- 2007: Chicken Run.

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1934030252

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796.62 Rendell