POINT 1 Blog: Beyond the 719 Ride

1911 Tour de France

The 1911 Tour de France was the ninth edition of the race. It consisted of 15 stages and included the race’s first foray into the high Alps.

Front of the peloton in the 2017 Tour de France

The Tour

The Tour is a fun, fast, and entertaining tale celebrating cycling and the Tour de France while acknowledging a sad part of cycling’s past. It’s Jan Ullrich finishing second in the doping marred 1998 Tour de France.

Vincenzo Nibali in the 2014 Tour de France

The Race

The Race harnesses the sensations of the best ride of your life and the thrill of the most electrifying race you’ve ever watched. It’s not a novel about cycling. It IS cycling!

A Race for Madmen

A Race for Madmen gives context and color to the legendary stories that have made it into our collective cycling consciousness. It’s like a well-executed team time trial — graceful, fluid and a beautiful thing to experience.

Fausto Coppi and Jean Robic ride up Alpe d'Huez in the 1952 Tour de France

Pedalare! Pedalare!

Pedalare! Pedalare! is light on tales of racing, heavy on the analysis of Italian society, generous with introductions to notable Italian cyclists and absorbed with The Golden Age of Italian Cycling. It performs well, deserves respect and is worth a read.

It’s All About the Bike

A devotional to one of humankind’s greatest inventions, It’s All About the Bike celebrates the tradition, lore and beauty of bicycles. It delivers a mature winning performance that can be appreciated for its simplicity, elegance and manner.

Alpe d’Huez

Alpe d’Huez is a rewarding and animated feast of the defining and signature Tour de France moments and the stories behind them. It is a smart, imaginative, and engaging profile of “the cathedral of climbs.”

Geraint Thomas and Team Sky ride into Paris on the last stage of the 2018 Tour de France

The Tour According to G

For a GC contender there’s no hiding in the high mountains of the Tour de France, and The Tour According to G hides nothing from its readers. It’s forthcoming, direct, jovial and rousing. It delivers a strong winning performance from the Grand Départ to the Champs-Élysées.

The Tour is Won on the Alpe

Although The Tour is Won on the Alpe doesn’t fulfill its book-flap promise, it still puts in a strong performance, like a dedicated gregario or domestique riding in support of his team leader. It’s a performance worth a top 10 stage placement.

Greg Lemond in the final stage time trial of the 1989 Tour de France

Étape: 20 Great Stages From the Modern Tour de France

Étape is an engrossing celebration of the Tour de France. It reanimates memorable stages and moments, mostly from the late 1980s through 2012, and it’s a master work of cycling history and storytelling.