The fabulous epic of the Tour de France that Bernard Garcia has enjoyed (re)living with passion since its origins, in 1903, until today, is almost coming to an end.
Indeed, if he had announced from the start that this extraordinary adventure which he was to bring to an end in 2020 (also the year of publication of the very first volume) would be compiled in 10 volumes, he has just had the 11th published, and penultimate…
This number 11 whose title is “Christopher Froome's Quadruplet” therefore describes the years 2013 (100th of the TDF) to 2018 with unprecedented arrivals and summits climbed for the first time. In addition, a first African then a first black African runner will wear a distinctive jersey (polka dot jersey), a first Lithuanian will win a stage and a first Chinese will finish the event.
Numerous incidents and various falls, some of which were very spectacular, punctuated the race and upset the rankings. Certain tumultuous sprints during which riders fight with helmets and are thrown into the railings will go down in history…
Among other highlights we will also remember the 6 green jerseys of Slovak Peter Sagan, the 18th Tour of Sylvain Chavanel (in 2018, a record), the 15th Tour of Thomas Voeckler, the 30 stage victories of Mark Cavendish, the welcome enthusiastic from England, Froome who runs on foot for 300 meters in the final of Ventoux during a surreal moment, the 5 victories of Marcel Kittel in 2017, the emergence of French runners Romain Bardet, Warren Barguil and Julian Alaphilippe.
Without forgetting, of course, Christopher Froome's 4 successes (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), the last of which, obtained in one breath… Or the always well-thought-out comments from the Team's specialists, including that of Alexandre Roos who, in 2018, after Geraint Thomas' victory, wrote: “After 3 weeks of racing where he showed himself as cold as a microprocessor, the Welshman with his hobbit coil, joker nose and elf ears, blurted out: 'Man, I won the Tour', as one would say to his best friend that we “scored” the night before in a nightclub… then he cracked and he cried, finally, flooding the finish area as if the biggest dam of the Pyrenees had just given in”.
So many anecdotes, thrilling stories, fiery and spontaneous reactions, unusual facts, controversies, suspicions of cheating, but also scandalous behavior or phrases that have become cult that you will have plenty of time to discover, appreciate and taste in this volume 11 which has no less than 452 color pages and 750 photos, all cropped and captioned.
Written for the pleasure of reliving often extraordinary epics, these volumes are not really intended to be sold. However, they can be published on request from the author, at cost price, i.e. €76 for this volume 11.
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