Mapping Le Tour: The Unofficial History of All 100 Tour de France Races

by Ellis Bacon, Mark Cavendish (Foreword)

Charts the course of every race route in cycling's most prestigious event  With a map of each edition of the Tour de France, along with photographs, text on the history of the race, and lists of the stages, winners, and key statistics, this guide is essential for any cycling fan. Each Tour de France race map is accompanied by statistics, including race and stage distances, highest point, number of starters and finishers, average speed, and jersey winners. Twenty of Le Tour's iconic locations—many of which have featured in the Etape du Tour—are put under the spotlight, and an extended section on the 2013 race is included, with detailed maps and statistics on each of its stages.

Genres: Cycling, Sports

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2013

Reviews

[Richard Newbold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love maps? Check. Love France? Check. Love Cycling? Check. Adorez vous le grand boucle? Bien sur! This book gives you all you need for a pleasant winter evening or two, perusing the routes of the World's greatest sporting event, and trace all the routes of the race from 1903 to 2014. Never realised how from about five years in (when the race was properly established) until 1950, the route was always, with variations, literally a tour around the "outside" of France, with a dip into Paris for the start and finish. There are useful graphics which give a selection of the statistics, and further detail of the famous climbs, cols and stage finishes - but the star of the show is la belle France, and the maps that show the routes in all their glory.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent enough book that fulfils its rather limited aim. However it ultimately fall between every single stool: it doesn't have enough photos or illustrations to be a coffee table book; it has too much detail and statistics to be an introduction to the Tour; it doesn't have enough human stories to show why the Tour is so engrossing; and it doesn't have enough detail about any particular year's race to give a narrative or story about it to get your teeth into.

It's kind of unsatisfying on every level unless what you exactly want is a map of every single iteration of the Tour in its history (up to 2014, at which it ends).

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually pleasing, even if the prose clunks occasionally like a slipping chain.

[Dmitrii · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reasonable, high-level overview of all Tour de France races between 1903 and 2013: Each gets half-a-page of text with highlights (4-6 short paragraphs), at least one photo, a set of key statistics, and a full-page map. Some famous locations get their own description, a few photographs get the full spread. The book is a good introduction to the history – you learn all the big names, the famous anecdotes, you see the race format evolve over the ages – but, obviously, a superficial one. A decent coffee-table book for a cycling enthusiast. The consistent layout encourages comparisons, between routes and average speeds and such, which is the other main strength of the book, after its breadth.

[hevs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Huge disappointment. Two paragraphs about each edition and not very detailed map.

[Dewayne Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

more facts that one can handle but interesting