The Official Treasures: Le Tour de France Book

This volume in Carlton's highly successful Treasures series lovingly celebrates the greatest test of endurance in the sporting world: the Tour de France. With a foreword by Tour legend Bernard Hinault and more than 275 archival photographs, The Official Treasures: Le Tour de France presents an authoritative account of each major era in the sport (including the 2009 Tour), as well as features on the superstars and 40 facsimile items of rare of memorabilia from the past 105 years.

This fascinating book plots the extraordinary evolution of this great race: from its early beginnings and its pre-war rivalries, through to its postwar re-establishment. It includes the great conflicts between riders in the late-1940s and 1950ssuch as Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, Louison Bobet and Charly Gauland the emergence of cycling superstars from the 1960s and beyond who would go on to dominate eras of the race, legends such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx, Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain, and seven-time winner, Lance Armstrong.