Etape: The untold stories of the Tour de France's defining stages

Description

In ETAPE, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore will take readers on a virtual Tour de France, with each chapter focusing on a single rider in a single stage that came to define the Tour's history. In Etape, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore tells the stories behind some of the defining stages in the Tour de France's history through the eyes of the protagonists: the heroes and villains, stars and journeymen. Featuring exclusive new interviews with Mark Cavendish, Lance Armstrong, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, David Millar, Chris Boardman and many other Tour riders past and present, Etape spans six decades in conveying the mystery, beauty and madness of the world's greatest bike race. The book includes Boardman's famous debut in 1994, Cavendish's best and worst stages, an emotionally charged win for Armstrong in Limoges in 1995 and his dramatic, drug-fuelled victory eight years later at Luz Ardiden, as well as iconic stages featuring giants of the sport: Merckx's toughest Tour, Hinault's journey through hell, LeMond's return from near-death, and the tragic Marco Pantani's domination of the most controversial race in Tour history, among others. From the Alps to the Pyrenees, the sun-soaked plains of the midi to the rain-lashed cobbles of the north, Etape takes the reader on a virtual Tour. Along the way, in shedding new light on familiar events, unravelling mysteries and exploring untold stories, it confirms the Tour de France as unrivalled in its creation of myths and legends, and as a stage for courage, scandal, skill, and drama.

Richard Moore is a freelance journalist who has written on sport, art and literature, contributing to the Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, Herald, Guardian and Sunday Times. He was a member of the Scotland team in the Prutour, the nine-day cycling tour of Britain, and represented Scotland in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

"For a truly luscious souvenir of this year...I'd go for Richard Moore's Etape which revisits the men behind some of the most dramatic, evocative and controversial stages in Tour de France history" - The Observer "Spellbinding and Moving" The Herald "A wonderfully readable romp through 20 of the most compelling and newsworthy stages in Tour de France history" - The Tour