Book 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 historyIn Étape, 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, Étape 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, Étape 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.