Mapping Le Tour: The Unofficial History of All 100 Tour de France Races Hardcover – June 15, 2013

Mr. Bacon deserves all five stars for putting this book together. There is nothing else like it on the shelves. Every Tour is covered with equal attention to detail. Yes, of course there could be more, but that would be a different book and I like the layout and style of this one. There is an interesting set of data for each edition of the race, including total distance, longest stage, and average speed, among other facts. The book has great archival photographs and many anecdotes that I've never read anywhere else. The route for every race, including starting stages outside of France, is mapped on a full page, and it's great to be able to easily compare them. All of the maps are of very high quality and are my favorite feature of the book.It's hard to believe this book is selling on Amazon for less than $30. If I ran across it somewhere, I would expect it to cost at least $50, if not more, and I used to be a bookseller (before Amazon took over :) I hope Mr. Bacon sells many copies because it should be in every TdF fan's library. It's really too bad that the book wasn't published earlier in the year leading up to the 100th race. At this point, the subtitle should be changed to "The Unofficial History of the First 100 Races of the Tour de France" and the 100th should be summarized like the rest. It would make a great Christmas present for anyone interested in the history of road racing.

It's quite nice seeing all of the maps of the old tours and there are some lovely photographs.The section breaking down the classic stages is very nice.I do wish that there were more details and anectodotes about each tour but there are some other very good books for that information.

Wow! GREAT photos and lots and lots of history! I gave this book to my wife, an avid tour bike rider, and she l-o-v-e-d it!

Great book, impressive list of maps, excellent for the the TDF connoisseur.

There are several competing volumes issued this June aiming to celebrate what will be the Tour's hundredth outing (it started in 1903 but there've been breaks for minor interruptions such as world war). This one I particularly liked, because it is focused on the maps of the actual routes, which makes for the most beautiful, inviting book - and one full of unexpected info.Ellis Bacon is a longtime cycling journalist who now lives in Copenhagen (he translated  Riis  into English). His passion for Europe and particularly France -he's also fluent in French- shines through in the text, beginning with his entertaining introduction detailing how he developed his enthusiasm for that great country and its geographically ambitious bicycle race.The book divides into three main sections. Firstly, a map of every Tour de France and its route. Each Tour has a double page spread, one page of text and one map, facing. The maps are lovely. For eg: the pre-1914 Tours are in black and white, becoming colour when the race restarted in 1919, all making you think about the ebb and flow of European history over the top of this wonderful, diverting competition. The text is really well-written, with lots and lots of details and also some wonderful evocative photos - well-chosen, and not too many, so that the story isn't drowned out by images. There are also quite a few tasty double page photo spreads, such as that glorious pic of Jean Robic leading Coppi going up Alpe D'Huez: the pictures in the book seem especially well-chosen.The second part is a 2013 section with a complete double page spread for each stage of this year's Tour, with a bit of history of famous attacks, crashes etc for each (apart from Corsica, which sees its TDF debut this June!).And lastly, there's a shorter section on "The Tour's Most Memorable Places": taking in obvious bits like the Galibier, and less obvious ones like Dublin.One of the biggest questions for these commemorative volumes is: what to do about Lance? Does he get written out completely? or left in, somewhat tarnishing the story? And where does that leave all the other 'sieve-bums' like Jacques Anquetil (he said that of himself, by the way)?. Bacon chooses an elegant solution, in that Lance is left out of the graphics about who's won the race the most times, but remains on record as having won stages (albeit with asterisks) and is very much part of the narrative as the years wind by. It seems too strange to write Armstrong out, given that there are other riders whose drug status we're still not sure about.All in all this book is a really five star production. I thought the focus on the maps would be a bit of a waste of a whole page, but in fact it makes you think about how far the cyclists travel, how different each Tour is to the next, and it reminds you exactly how important the glorious backdrop of France becomes to this wonderful race. Bacon's text sums up each year with great concision and verve, too. Leaves the reader very excited about the race to come! Riis

If you like the TdF, maps, and France then you will love this book. It is arranged very logically, ie, chronologically and devotes two pages to each year. The first page provides the brief story of the Tour for that year and provides all the basic statistical information - dates, total distance; highest point (incl number of mountain stages); number of starters and finishers; winning times; average speeds and prize winners. There is always an iconic image for the year on this page too.The second page is the route map and is full of detail. Departure and finish points are all clearly identified as are ITTs and TTTs. All the stage towns are shown along with the stage distances and direction of travel.This is the sort of book you can pour over for hours. It is utterly absorbing and really nicely presented in a clear and concise form. A must for Tour devotees.

I bought this for my brother who is a very keen cyclist (has done various legs of the Tour & La Mormotte) so knows his stuff.he said this a very descriptive, very interesting read, going back through the ages of the Tour.a great present for anyone ho loves cycling as much as my brother!

I love watching Le Tour and this book is a good little read. each year of the Tour has a double page dedicated to it with a map of that years Tour on one side and some info and facts on the other. This is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in this inspiring race.

I'd been looking for something similar for years with a view to planning my own Tour de France. I want to combine all the great stages and make a continuous loop. This gives the basic maps and history and was a very simple but good read. My planning now starts!