Customer Reviews:
 disapointing June 10, 2008
I was really looking forward to reading this book, but was left more than disapointed, i wont go into detail, but if you're wanting a book on the history of Le Tour, then i would give this book a miss and go for Matt Rendell's Blazing Saddles,a far better read.
 The Unknown Tour de France February 10, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The second Tour de France, held in 1904, was ripped apart by a toxic combination of rampant cheating by the riders and rioting and sabotage by partisan spectators. The result was a decision by the French cycling federation to disqualify several of the riders, including the winner, Maurice Garin. Garin, who was also the winner of the first Tour, maintained a steady insistence that he was innocent and that he was the victim of a grave injustice.
Les Woodland set out to learn more about Garin and journeyed to Garin's hometown and found an old friend of his. Woodland found that Garin's public stance regarding the 1904 Tour was quite different from what he told his friends in private.
The story of Garin would be enough reason for any Tour fan to buy this book. But that is just the appetizer. Each chapter looks at some aspect of the Tour from Woodland's always-original point of view. Among other subjects he takes on the Tour's origins, the first mountain stages, cheating, interesting riders of past Tours and the bikes of the early Tour. In keeping with the book's title, almost all are subjects that aren't dealt with in other cycling books, making it particularly enlightening and enjoyable.
Time spent with a Les Woodland cycling book is always time well spent and this book is no exception. I highly recommend it to even the most knowledgeable cycle racing fan. It's a good, fun read.
- Bill McGann, Author of the Story of the Tour de France
 Almost perfect... July 7, 2003
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book! Covering the origins of the Tour to the modern day, with an excellent listing of obscurities and little-known facts at the end. Each chapter delves into the lesser-known history of this great race. If I can give but one criticism, it is a failure to elaborate on the 1956 Tour, won by Roger Walkowiak, perhaps the most unexpected winner of them all. Woodland offers tantalizing hints about him, but this book would have been perfect with a few paragraphs about Walkowiak's stunning exploit. Still, this book is highly recommended -- Bravo Woodland!
True to its name; information you won't find anywhere else! September 6, 2000
93 out of 97 found this review helpful
Les Woodland has done a very good job of researching the little known stories of the Tour. While all the famous stories are there too (Simpson, Merckx, the second tour etc), the author manages to give a fresh slant on them which keeps your interest. But it's the more obscure stories, often either amusing in themselves or humourously told, which bring the most pleasure. The author claims to have spent ten years researching his book, and you can believe it. The best book I've read on the TdF, and I've read a few!
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