SBS Tour de France: One hundred Years of the World's Greatest Cycle Race

Description

When Henri Desrange decided to stage a bicycle race as a publicity stunt to promote his cycling newspaper L'Auto in 1903, he had little idea that the event would evolve into one of the world's greatest and most gruelling sporting events. Every July for over 100 years this three-week race has wound its way through France and her neighbours, drawing crowds along the way. SBS Tour de France plots the extra-ordinary evolution of this great race: from its early beginnings and its prewar rivalries through to its post-war re-establishment. It includes the great conflicts between riders in the late 1940s and 1950s, such as Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, Louison Bobet and Charly Gaul. It covers the emergence of cycling superstars from the 1960s and beyond who would go on to dominate eras of the race, legends such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx, Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain and modern-day hat-trick winner, Lance Armstrong.

Marguerite Lazell is currently deputy editor of the UK magazine Cycle Sport . She has covered the Tour de France four times, as well as the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and numerous world championships and world cup events. A keen club cyclist, she competes at national level in both cycling and triathlon.