The First Tour de France: Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris

Longtime cycling journalist Cossins (Alpe D'Huez) adeptly sifts fiction from fact using contemporary news sources from the early 20th century to provide a historically accurate account of how a multistage bike race, held over the span of weeks and involving equal parts spectacle and marketing genius, evolved into the most famous race of all time: the Tour de France. Cossins's work is distinct in that it focuses on the events that led up to and took place over the course of the first Tour de France in 1903. This first race represented more than merely a contest of superhuman proportions; it also mirrored a time of great technological progress, illustrating how the power of communication via mass produced print media can help inform and influence readers (not to mention increase circulation sales and advertising revenues), and assisted in the process of overall nation building. The author's detailed yet not overwhelming technical style will make readers clamor for more; especially as the 104th edition of the Tour de France approaches.