Tour de Lance
The Extraordinary Story of Cycling's Most Controversial Champion
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Lance Armstrong is a worldwide icon, indisputably one of the greatest cyclists who has ever lived. After battling cancer and becoming an inspiration to millions, Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years before retiring from competition in 2005.
Four years later, at thirty-seven, Armstrong decided to come out of retirement and go for the win yet again. He was racing for no salary, in a season when his greatest rival--Tour de France, Tour of Italy, and Tour of Spain champion Alberto Contador--was on his own team. The twenty-five-year-old Spaniard had been handpicked by Armstrong's own mentor, Johan Bruyneel, to be his successor. Now he would be his fiercest competition. Armstrong was about to suffer like never before--and, for the first time in recent memory, appear to be human on a bicycle.
After seven Tour victories--and beating cancer--did Lance Armstrong really need to prove anything? Beyond the thrill of another possible victory, what drove him to race again? What was he seeking--and would he find it?
Cycling insider Bill Strickland had unprecedented access to Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and the team. He takes readers behind the scenes during the 2009 racing season and along for the ride on the Tour de France with a dramatic mile-by-mile account. Offering a penetrating and candid glimpse into the man behind the myth, Tour de Lance goes beyond a single season or a single race to reveal the heart of the sport and the soul of the cyclist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Strickland, an editor at large for Bicycling magazine, follows Armstrong after he decides to come out of retirement and compete, once again, in the 2009 Tour de France, cycling s preeminent race and a competition that Armstrong won seven consecutive times. The book weaves between stages of the Tour and other races that led up to it, including the Tour of California and Spain s Vuelta Castilla y Leon, in March 2009, during which Armstrong broke his collarbone. Strickland, who admits that he saw in Armstrong an innate greatness early on, is occasionally fawning and overdramatic, but he had a great deal of access to Armstrong and his team, riding alongside and conducting compelling interviews with spectators and fans. Somewhat less engaging for a general readership are technical explanations of arcane cycling rules and comprehensive coverage of 30s-era cyclists. But cycling fans and readers who already follow Armstrong will find much to enjoy here as they relive his comeback and get a look at the anatomy of his races.
Customer Reviews
First impression
This read will thrill, amaze, and make you contemplate a lot ideas for both the past and future of cycling. It provides a colorful snapshot of not only the gritty details of Lance and his 2009 tour, but more importantly all of "us" cycling enthusiasts who made and are making the sport what it is today.
Excellent
Strickland does an amazing job of painting a vivid picture of the messiness, complexity, and beauty of the storyline and human lives involved in Lance's comeback. As much about life and relationships as it is about Le Tour. Great book.
Liar!!!!!!!!!
Good FICTION book!!!!!!!!!!!!!