Sprintend door niemandsland. Uithoudingsvermogen, tragedie en de wedergeboorte van de Tour de France in 1919

by Adin Dobkin

Op 29 juni 1919, een dag na de ondertekening van het Verdrag van Versailles, verschijnen slechts zeventig wielrenners bij de start van de dertiende Tour de France. Ze doorkruisen een vernietigd naoorlogs landschap, getekend door de recente oorlog. De meeste renners komen rechtstreeks van het front, waar ze landgenoten hebben zien lijden en sterven. Hun uithoudingsvermogen wordt nu nogmaals getest: in een slopende wedstrijd van 30 dagen.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sports, France, Adventure, Ebooks, Cycling

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2021

About the author

Adin Dobkin is the author of Sprinting Through No Man's Land and These Bones Can Speak. His reporting and essays have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Paris Review Daily, and Catapult, among others. He received his MFA from Columbia University.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge Tour de France fan, this book was one I was really looking forward to reading, yet it was a huge disappointment. The 1919 edition of the Tour was one that was forced to help uplift the country after the horrors of World War 1 and was in the end a big success despite shortages of all kind (especially tires), lack of training for the cyclist as many of them were still serving and poor roads after the war. Of the 67 who started, only 11 finished this grueling race, and the winner was determined on the second to last stage by huge drama. All this should have made for a great book, but the author really failed this story.

The flow of the book is broken, not only in chapters where the author jumps around too much between events, but between chapters where he puts in quite a few chapters about people that is totally unrelated to the race of 1919, and after reading the first 3 of these I started skipping the others. He also gives very little background on the racers, as I was expecting more of their wartime service, and very little attention is given to the bikes that were used by the racers. He also takes you on the route, though in the end he states that he used Google Maps to see some the routes which makes me wonder why if he travelled some of the routes, why not all of them to make this more authentic.

On the plus side, it is interesting to read about how grueling these early Tours were for the riders with the long stages and the lack of support they could use on the stages. All the stages are covered in detail with stage lengths and routes covered as well as stage winners and where all the main racers finished. I would recommend this book to Tour fans and to skip those chapters that has nothing to do with the Tour.

[Jeffrey A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

300 plus pages about a bike race? They pedaled. And pedaled. And yeah, they pedaled. Call me skeptical….initially.

In his debut novel, Adin Dobkin takes the reader through what was arguably one of the most grueling Tour De France’ in history, with a storyline that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat, from the days when the fate of the race itself was yet to be determined, to its finale on the streets of Paris months later.

With France still reeling from the ravages of the Great War, roadways pocked with the scars of Germany’s long assault, 67 riders began a Tour that would traverse the war-torn country, navigating between towns that were no longer, towns that had barely survived, and some that would take decades to regain some semblance of normalcy. In the best of times this weeks-long, arduous journey would have taxed the most steely of riders. In the end, only X (no spoilers) brave souls would get to the finish line.

Dobkin introduces us to the many characters that made this event happen, and in particular, the cyclists who tortured themselves by participating in it. Dobkin puts us into the mind of Henri Desgrange, Editor of L’Auto, as he decides whether and ultimately how to pull off this feat. And of course there were the riders, many of whose self-confidence led them to believe that this was nothing more than a couple of weeks of single day events bundled together. Ultimately, it was maybe more about grit and determination, than pure athletic ability, that would determine who crossed the line first.

Take my word for it, this book is not just for pedal heads, WWI buffs, or even non-fiction readers (include me in the “none of the above” groups). Dobkin vividly captures a place in time and the people (promoters, cyclists, etc.) who strove to provide relief to a country, if not the whole world, in the aftermath of a global disaster. With a prose that is concise and at the same time lush, a voice that draws one into the story, and a backdrop that feels eerily prescient on the eve of the 108th TdeF, Adin Dobkin gives us a remarkable story that will entertain the most demanding of readers.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive)]

After the devastation of the Great War, a bicycle race was just what France needed to pick itself up. Journalist Adin Dobkin details the inspirational return of the Tour de France in “Sprinting Through No Man’s Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France.” Dobkin drops the reader straight into the action with thrilling descriptions of the French landscape and short biographies of the contenders.

Click here to read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor!

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would have thought that a bicycle race could be so thrilling? Author Adin Dobkin takes readers on the ride of their lives in Sprinting Through No Man's Land. On June 29, 1919, nearly 70 cyclists — many former soldiers — participated in the thirteenth Tour de France cycling for a month through Paris and across the war-torn country. What descriptions! What heroic participants! What an inspiring reminder that the human spirit is incredibly resilient! A must-read for history buffs, cycling enthusiasts, tour fans, and anyone who seeks hope during tragic times.

5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date: July 1, 2021
#sprintingthroughnomansland #littleA #GoodreadsGiveaway

Thanks to the author and Little A, from whom I won a copy via Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seems to me to be two books woven together into one. It is both a story of the 1919 Tour de France and a history of France’s participation in World War I. As the racers ride through the regions, the devastation of the war is described. Many of the participants, as well as the organizer, had been fighting the war, and their experiences are recounted. The first few chapters set the tone and describe how the race got re-started after a hiatus necessitated by the war years. Several other chapters are inserted sporadically to provide more context and history about the war itself. For me, the race was detailed at a level that I found to be a bit tedious, but I very much enjoyed the parts about the war and the racers’ experiences in the war. Definitely a good read for those interested in endurance sports, WWI, or the history of the Tour de France.

3.5

[Linda Galella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m exhausted and might need a month off after experiencing the Tour de France from 1919...

“Sprinting Through No Man’s Land”, by Adin Dobkin is far more than a book about a bike race. WW1 has only just ended and Europe is reeling from the effects. Towns, roads, cities, businesses - it’s all in some state of ruin but the people are rejuvenated, resilient and cheering for the men who engage in this gargantuan physical task.

Dobkin introduces us to the key athletes; not only their biking biography but their military experiences, which play strongly throughout the book. Driving the entire event is the Editor-In-Chief of l’Auto, the sponsor and organizer of the race. There are additional interesting biographical sketches and historical interludes that are related to the stops and byways of the race that are very interesting. It’s those vignettes that include the only female characters, otherwise this story is all about the boys.

Intensely descriptive prose that go far beyond atmospheric, you will feel every jarring cobblestone, slop of mud, twist of painful wet leather and be thankful it’s not your hemorrhoids on that bike! The pace of this race and the conditions under which it was conducted was brutal but the spirit of the countrymen as they rallied around these guys over the month long event was the stuff of great movies.

Were this a film, it would be PG rated, for intensity only; not a foul word to be found nor an R rated interaction between consenting humans, hallelujah!

Dobkin includes a Cast of Characters in the beginning that gives very brief bios. It includes all the players and might look overwhelming. Don’t worry. Not that many are key to the story and keeping track isn’t hard. In the back are his notes on Methodology and Sources. These two items are seriously interesting. In fact, I suggest reading the Methodology section prior to reading the bulk of the book but be sure to read the source notes as they are wonderful.

From quiet determination to full fledged exhilaration, “Sprinting Through No Man’s Land” is sports, history and above all, a chance to celebrate the joy of victory📚

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: if you're not sure you want to read this book, try this article as a litmus test:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/ma... - not exactly analogous, but close enough. If this stuff interests you, well, read the book... Otherwise, um, maybe not.

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Waited anxiously for this, really enjoyed it, and was glad I had the opportunity to read it during July's annual Tour de France (TdF or le Tour) frenzy (completing it on le Tour's first rest day, after the first week of racing), but ... but ... I wanted (or maybe I expected) more....

Let's be clear about what's going on here: this is an utterly fascinating story about a remarkable event populated by Herculean competitors painted against a complex, horrific background and played out over a hellacious (quasi-dystopian) landscape.... And it's all true. ... It's a lot to process.

From a content and story standpoint, my heart wanted this to be a 5-star juggernaut, but, on a page-by-page basis, it just didn't work that way for me. Throughout, I waffled at the source of my frustration with the writing and tried to figure out why I so frequently had to re-read passages. Was it the paragraph length? sentence construction? lack of sub-headings? difficulty of keeping the competitors' names straight? (OK, OK, given the volume of photos, and the introductory cast list, my guts says that some effort to put faces with names would have made a huge difference, but I'm just guessing.) To be clear, the book is not poorly written, and much of the prose is elegant, and yet ... and yet...

A word about audience: Part of me thinks the author tried to appeal to too broad an audience. For cyclists, TdF fans and history buffs, and cycling literature consumers, this is a must-read, but, in that context, it felt uneven. From a genre perspective, part of me would shelve it with Leonard's Lanterne Rouge, which was also worthwhile, but not transcendent. For history readers who are open to a cycling race-driven vignette, I didn't think it was as powerful as, for example, McConnon's Road to Valor (and, to be clear, that's WWII, not WWI); maybe more similar to Kranish's The World's Fastest Man (a recent retelling of Major Taylor's incredible saga). And, of course, because the players are no longer accessible, it's a completely different genre from the more familiar collection of far more recent and modern Hinault-LeMond-Fingon and Lance Armstrong-era books.

Again, if, like me, you've read books by or about Armstrong, Barry, Bartali, Bruyneel Cavendish, Fingon, Hamilton, Hincapie, Landis, Lemond, Parkin, Sagan, and Taylor, you'll enjoy this. For others, my guess is it's worth a try.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read, excellent story, and wonderful gripping narrative!

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many reviewers expressed their disappointment of this book. Not I, it was so much more than I anticipated.

It is 1919, right after the end of WWI. 67 cyclists, some of them former participants of the war, raced around France in the thirteenth Tour de France through the remnants of the war-torn country.

Adin Dobkin is a journalist and this was his first book. His writing talent shines through. So descriptive, you could feel the roughness of the road as the cyclists traveled through the old battle fields. You could also take in the beauty of the mountainous stretches' and experience the devastation that had completely changed the landscape and beauty of the country. Many of the towns the race had run through, in previous years, were gone-just gone.

The creator of the Tour placed himself on precarious ground with deciding to run the race that year. In part this was a greedy decision on his part, as the race was a part of his livelihood. However, he also felt that running the race would lift the spirits of the countrymen who had gone through so much.

There is a lot of history of the participants included in the book, and there are parts of the war re-told. The book is not just about cycling, there is a message that resounds throughout of the resilience of man, the message of country and pride.

[Steve's Book Stuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sprinting Through No Man's Land by Adin Dobkin is an excellent story, unevenly told.

Dobkin's topic is the Tour de France of 1919. The Great War - World War I - had only been over for seven months. Many of the participants, and the race organizer, had all served during the war, leaving little time to train or prepare. Organizers scrambled to find a route around France that would enable the race to go on, even though the course would inevitably take riders through war ravaged areas. Further, lack of conversion of industry from a war footing back to peace time production meant that bike tubes and tires were in short supply, leaving riders to supply their own. Given the wartime damage to the roads they traveled this was a serious issue. Because of these factors, 67 racers started the race, but only 11 finished.

I think Dobkin did a pretty good job providing the war context around which the race happened and balancing that with the race events themselves. The story moves quickly through the first few chapters, and then again as the race continues. Unfortunately Dobkin chose to insert five chapters of material unrelated to the race at intervals in the book. To the extent that they offer additional context around France and World War I these chapters work, but they disrupted the flow of the story and made the overall book seem more disjointed than it needed to be.

I give Sprinting Through No Man's Land 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐ - I liked this book. Anyone who is a fan of endurance sports, and the Tour de France in particular, would like it too, as would those interested in the history of the Great War. However, I recommend if you pick this book up, that you read the numbered chapters straight through, and then, if you want more context, go back and read the five named chapters. I think that will make for a better reading experience, and frankly I wish I'd done it that way.

Note: This review is for Amazon Prime First Reads Early Access ebook. These early edition First Reads are provided free to Amazon Prime members, with no obligation to review. The book is generally available July 1st.

[Jack Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an avid road cyclist who loves watching The Tour de France, this title was a no brainer to decide on reading. Was expecting less about WWI and more about cycling. The Authors use of first names 80% of the time of the cyclists was irritating. The flow of this book to me was disjointed as well. It did amaze and shock as to the length of the TDF in 1919, the start times of 2:00 am, the barbarian rules e.g. no assistance at all, participants having to pay for food and lodging along the route, horrific road conditions, etc. These were very tough individuals.

[Booknblues · Rating 4 out of 5]

On November 11, 1918 the Armistice was signed bringing and end to the Great War which had cost so greatly and the cost was perhaps the greatest in France where much of the war was fought.

French citizenry sought ways to rebuild and reunite their country. Among them was Henri Desgrange editor of L'Auto, a sports journal and founder of the Tour de France. He believed that restarting the Tour would be a way to support both his paper and France. The vision was to create a real tour, cycling race longer than anyone before had considered, one spanning France’s entire border.

Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France is the story of this race. The race started with 65 men, but didn't finish with near that number.

It is a fascinating story, but not always told in the most fascinating way. While we need the historical background, it is not introduced in an entirely fluid or readable fashion.

[Greg Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Documented Look at France in Early 20th Century

This book is more than about the drama of the 1919 le Tour de France, because the Tour became a metaphorIcal extension of all that France had lived through leading up to the "race"; Survive today and live to fight tomorrow.

It was interesting to understand the historical and political significance of what became the Western Front. What I found even more interesting is Zone Rouge. There are five side stories that add to the flavor of overall tale, though I'm not sure why Marguerita Ailbert was included. Knocked off a star for this inclusion.

There is a similar type of story that gives some additional understanding to WW1 that I highly recommend: A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in t h e Cataclysm Of 1914-18.

[Paul Triller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A French view of the aftermath of WW1 from quite an interesting perspective.

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an assiduously-researched book. Dobkin's ability to write in story fashion about a month-long event that took place a century ago amazes me. I have never followed the Tour de France, so I learned a lot about this phenomenon, both in 1919 and, a little bit, from my own research, in 2021. Sometimes the story was very interesting and engaging, such as when Henrí was leading and then dropped the race, and when (no spoilers) things happened to Eugéne. I am deeply impressed by the dedication, the athleticism, the individual capability, and the sheer grit of the riders that finished the race.

The writing, felt dry, though, and most of the book took work to read. There are a few mini-chapters about individuals not directly connected to the race. Maybe they represented particular spectators. I didn't figure out how they fit into the story. I'm not a war history buff, so while the WWI history impressed upon me the starkness of the landscape, the damaged condition of the roads, the interruption to the riders' training, and the economic challenges in terms of bicycle supplies, I didn't benefit a lot from that aspect of the book.

I think people who love bike racing and the Tour de France and people who study war history will enjoy this book even more than I did.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter is fascinating, the writing is not. Much like the riders making their way through the course, this was a long, tough, slow slog to get through.

As others have pointed out, the book is horribly disjointed. There are chapters that have absolutely nothing to do with the 1919 Tour de France, such as a jailed French politician, and the mistress of the Prince of Wales. There are chapters told from one cyclist's point of view, making you think that they are going to be one of the main riders the book is about, except that they drop out of the race early on and are never to be heard from again.

I am very surprised this was one of the Amazon First Reads selections. You'd think an editor would know better than to recommend a book that desperately needs editing/rewriting.

[Denise Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't invest more time in trying to follow this story. Some chapters I read were really interesting. But most of it was difficult to follow -- couldn't keep all the characters straight, some chapters seemed completely disjointed. I decided it was too much work.

[Eric Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tour de France is one of the monuments of all sports, not just cycling. But since I used to race as a collegiate road cyclist, I have been a fan of the sport and this race ever since the 1980's. I got more of an education than I expected when I read Adin Dobkin's book about the 1919 edition. Yes, I learned about the very first use of the famous "maillot jaune" or yellow jersey. Yes, I followed the competition between the riders with interest. I thought I understood some of the deep past of the race, but I was wrong. This is a true detailed glimpse into the very origins of the sport. Dobkin gives you a seat at the newspaper meeting where one of the dudes spitballs, "Why don't we have a super long bike race that goes around the country?" If you ever rode bikes, or are just interested in it, this is an amazing book.

This next part is strange to say, but here goes: the context Dobkin provides for this bike race is almost the star of the book. The Great War just ended several months before. Previous Tour winners couldn't compete in the 1919 Tour...because they died in combat. Whole regions of the country were obliterated and forever changed by the destruction. Regions that the riders pedaled through. The descriptions of the towns, the crowds, the cafes, the cratered fields, the ruined towns helped give an understanding to what just transpired only months before. It made the bike race seem almost like an expression of the resilience of the human spirit. More than "sport." At first, some chapters that provided some digressions into the cultural context were confusing to me. But now, the chapters on the 813th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, Alice Milliat, and Eugene Bullard make more sense to me. They highlighted parts of the race's surroundings that would otherwise be invisible. Dobkin raises the context of the land and the culture to an equal spot on the podium with the race itself.

But my favorite part of the book has to do with the fact that I used to ride. The longest ride I ever did in training was a 90-miler, outside of Colorado Springs. In training, early in the season, snow squalls, sometimes rain. Several hours in the saddle. Harder than almost every race I ever did, and it was just training. The longest stage in the 2021 Tour de France this year was around 150 miles. One of the stages in the 1919 Tour de France? 480km or 300 miles. Absolutely brutal. On old steel bikes that were just behemoths. Imperious rules by the race organizers that didn't allow any help. Starting at 10 PM and riding until dinnertime the following day. Ridiculous. When the organizers added the mountains of the Pyrenees to the race in 1910, Dobkin relates how Octave Lapize felt about it. When he made it to the top of the mountain, he called the race timers, "Assassins." Lapize won the Tour in 1910. Earlier, Dobkin provided the context: Lapize died when his airplane crashed after a dogfight in 1917. Without this kind of context, the book would just be about a bike race, which would diminish the story. I try to imagine riding the same race with the same gear...and I just can't. They were superhuman. The context makes them seem even more so.

Thanks to Adin Dobkin for writing a book about so much more than bikes. This small group of riders existed almost as a 1919 "cri de coeur" for the French people so soon after emerging from the destruction of war. The smallest group of finishers in Tour history, beaten down by attrition, a metaphor for the country itself, struggling, persevering, and finishing. Dobkin's book makes the translation of the name for a group of riders (a "peloton") seem even more understandable: a platoon.

[AL Kepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France, tells the story of the 1919 Tour de France.

The 1919 Tour de France was the first held post WWI, it ran along France's borders which meant it had to pass through part of the ground that was contested in WWI. France had not recovered from WWI so there was the obstacles of tackling roads that had not been maintained and roads that had been in the middle of battlefields. The racers travel through parts of France not physically touched by WWI and parts of France that are forever changed because of WWI.

The background of some of the races are provided through the narrative along with the background of towns and physical features they pass through as they grind out this race. There are new things introduced in this race like the yellow jersey and the opinion of the first racer to wear the yellow jersey.

The only thing I found detracting from the narrative were the mini-bios when they were tied directly to bike racing. The mini-bios are interesting, it's just when it doesn't tie directly to bike racing and specifically any Tour de France it pulls the reader entirely out of the narrative. I would have preferred to read more in-depth narratives for prior Tour de France racers, possibly they could have been used to tell the stories of racers that would have been expected to be competing but their careers were ended by WWI.

I give this book 4 stars. I think anyone who follows bike racing will find this book interesting.

[Leichnitz Leichnitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes you back to 1919, as the title suggests. It does so wonderfully and artfully, with incredible detail and deft writing. Although the race is dramatic, and provides a structure and narrative tension, the race really becomes almost a metaphor for the terror and misery that the French were emerging from. And the hopes of the French, after emerging from the greatest trauma the world had (yet) experienced, were placed in these riders in charming and moving ways.

Also, as someone who has casually followed the Tour de France from the comfort of my couch -- seeing the support vehicles, spare bikes, air chambers to sleep in, and teammates who block the wind for you -- the brutality of the 1919 tour has to be read about to be believed. It was less a race and more something that the riders were simply trying to survive.

[Rita Hosey · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning of this book, the storyline was not clear. It was about how the world was adjusting after World War I. My son and husband liked this book, so I decided to stick with it. As I read more, I felt the emotions around the riders and how devastated the cities were after the war. I thought of my grandfather, who was in this war, and how lucky he was to be a chauffeur and a translator because of his skills in the French language.

I would recommend something other than this for a book club to read. The book is a draw for someone interested in sports and history. Well researched for the historical side.

[James Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book, particularly if you are a cyclist or fan of the Tour de France. I am both of these things, as well as a Soldier, so I found this book especially interesting. This book not only tells the story of the 1919 Tour de France, it gives the reader a peek into French life in the aftermath of World War I. The participants in the Tour were, for the most part, recent veterans of the war. The author does a wonderful job digging into the experiences of the top riders and describing the harsh conditions the riders faced in that particular tour. Overall, this book is extremely well written and backed up with well researched details.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't really sold for most of this book, something just wasn't sitting quite right with me. A good amount of time was spent describing how cycling works and motivating the excitement behind the race which I think I didn't need since I'm already a cycling fan. Maybe the cycling scenes were just a bit long and boring at the start, I might have preferred more history and a bit quicker run-down of the action.

I was really gripped by the last quarter of the book maybe once the characters in the race were clear and they were on the home stretch to Paris. The historical vignettes at that point also felt a bit more powerful and well done, I think the ones in the first half section of the book just weren't quite as gripping.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible Audiobook

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book may not be for all readers but perfect for me. The author detailed the Tour post WWI in detailed by not only giving the reader a vivid description of what a rider goes through he also provided a vivid description of the landscape after the war. He also provided the reader with a European history lesson.

[Paula Garrecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me longer than normal to finish as I was easily distracted from it. That said, it is an interesting depiction of the countryside, towns, villages, and people of France before, during and after WW1. What a miserable, difficult, punishing route laid out for the 1919 Tour de France cyclists!Good story of determination and sheer will. I am glad I read to the end

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this to be Boys in the Boat but with the Tour de France. Unfortunately it was not. I think it had the potential but was too dry or too hard to follow.
It did have some high points and it was interesting to learn about the history of the tour de France.

[Fixie Nice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avery good read with lots of history packed into its pages

[LaDawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

For history buffs

Gotta love history and bicycling to get through this one. There was much more country and war history than I was prepared for.

[Bonnye Reed]

Amazon Prime gift for June 2021
received June 28, 2021
pub date July 1, 2021
Published by Little A