John Wilcockson

The essential guide to the Tour de France, Speed Read Tour de France will make you an instant expert on its history, its winners and rivalries, the tactics you need to win it, and the technology of its bicycles. Le Tour has sometimes been called "chess on wheels" because of the complicated strategies used by the race's 22 teams and 176 riders. This book will help you understand those tactics, along with informing you about the race's century-old history, its famed winners and rivalries, and the technology that has gone into creating the modern racing bicycle and determining how today's athletes train. Among the questions answered are: Who owns the Tour?How are the course's 21 stages selected?What are the most famous mountain climbs?How is the overall winner determined?What is a peloton, a soigneur, or an echelon?How big are the prizes?What are time bonuses?Who was the first American to compete in the Tour, and who was the first one to win it?How fast do the racers go down mountain descents?What speeds can the riders reach in sprint finishes?Why are the teams known by the names of their sponsors and not their countries?What do the riders eat, and where do they sleep every night?What are all those motorcycles doing among the cyclists?How do the organizers deal with doping scandals?And is it true that, one year, the top four finishers were all disqualified?You will find the answers to all these questions, and many more, in this informative, beautifully illustrated, fun-to-read book: Speed Read Tour de France.

Few champions have astonished the world as much as Lance Armstrong. A cancer survivor who went on to win the Tour de France an unprecedented seven times, he is an inspiration to millions. Now the full story can be told. With complete access to Armstrong, and to his inner circle, and drawing on interviews with family members and training partners, coaches and celebrities, team-mates and rivals, friends and foes, sportswriter John Wilcockson tells of those who helped Armstrong along the way - including his mother Linda, his ex-wife Kristin and one-time fiancée Sheryl Crow - and explores the traits of character that made Armstrong unique. The story of Lance Armstrong is one of brutal, painful effort, of natural brilliance, of relentless ambition, of extraordinary glory. His achievement is all the more stunning for its unconventionality: a boy from small-town America who beat the world. Brash and fiercely competitive, Armstrong has never been without close friends or bitter enemies. His achievements have been dogged by accusations of doping, accusations of secrecy, and by questions about how triumph on such a grand scale could be possible - questions that are addressed head on in LANCE ARMSTRONG. Tracing the highs and lows, and bringing alive the drama of the races in which Armstrong smashed expectations time after time, LANCE ARMSTRONG gives the complete story of a matchless champion.