Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning & Losing the Tour de France

by Graeme Fife

Racing cyclists all ride the same frail machine and all are equal before the demands of the road, but what is it that makes a winner? What special attributes do winners need to give them that extra edge? To find out, Fife analyses and illustrates the moral strength, intelligence, racing nous, cunning, tactical acumen, and superior mental resilience of the champion racing cyclist. Drawing on interviews and personal acquaintance with some of the best riders to have raced on the Continent, as well as mechanics and team-support crew, this is a portrait of the complex character of cycle racing. It is an in-depth study of ambition, the race to win, the capacity to recover from defeat, the harrowing misery of lost morale, and the hard initiation faced by every newcomer to the unforgiving demands of professional competition.

Genres: Cycling

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short sketches of various road-racers, not really so much about the Tour de France as about some of the more colorful people who have ridden in it. Tends to skew toward UK riders, not much for fans of Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong or any other North Americans.

[Akin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven, but engaging, account of life in the Peloton of the Tour. Firmly rooted in the proud history of Le Tour, generalls sypathetic towards the writer. The chapter on David Millar was interesting to read, given his subsequent troubles with EPO