Vuelta Skelter
Riding the Remarkable 1941 Tour of Spain
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
Tim Moore completes his epic (and ill-advised) trilogy of cycling's Grand Tours.
Julian Berrendero's victory in the 1941 Vuelta a Espana was an extraordinary exercise in sporting redemption: the Spanish cyclist had just spent 18 months in Franco's concentration camps, punishment for expressing Republican sympathies during the civil war. Seventy nine years later, perennially over-ambitious cyclo-adventurer Tim Moore developed a fascination with Berrendero's story, and having borrowed an old road bike with the great man's name plastered all over it, set off to retrace the 4,409km route of his 1941 triumph - in the midst of a global pandemic.
What follows is a tale of brutal heat and lonely roads, of glory, humiliation, and then a bit more humiliation. Along the way Tim recounts the civil war's still-vivid tragedies, and finds the gregarious but impressively responsible locals torn between welcoming their nation's only foreign visitor, and bundling him and his filthy bike into a vat of antiviral gel.
Customer Reviews
A great read and History lesson
I have enjoyed all of Tim’s books and this one didn’t disappoint me.
It’s a insight in to the life and times of Spanish cycling during the Spanish revolution.
Thanks Tim for a great history lesson.
It’s a shame you couldn’t keep the bike
A brilliant book about a mad journey
The author captures so well the experience of cycling round Spain, recreating the route of the 1941 Vuelta, interleaved with fascinating stories of a key hero of Spanish professional cycling, and of the Spanish Civil War. A history book, combined with a biography, and a travel book all at the same time. Just a pity there were no photos in the e-book.