The Tour de France is the world's largest annual sporting event with worldwide audience figures only exceeded by the Olympics and the Football World Cup. Yet its first edition in 1903 was little more than an outlandish publicity stunt staged by L'Auto newspaper to increase its circulation throughout France. But by the end of the century, no single sporting event could compare for excitement, passion and adventure - not to mention sheer physical difficulty - and few could claim to have had such a fascinating and even turbulent history. Year by year, this book chronicles the first one hundred years of the Tour, and more importantly, captures its spirit. It draws on an unprecedented wealth of photography and journalism from L'Equipe's archives. 'The history of the Tour is a huge history, with fantastic, epic stories. I'm just one of the actors on the stage of TDF history...looking at the photos and history of the 100 years of the Tour I was able to learn this history' - Lance Armstrong
- ISBN10 0297843583
- ISBN13 9780297843580
- Publish Date 12 June 2003
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 18 January 2005
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Orion Publishing Co
- Imprint Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated
- Edition Updated ed.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 360
- Language English