Sprinting through no man's land : endurance, tragedy, and rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France

Sprinting through no man's land Endurance, tragedy, and rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France

Adin Dobkin

Book - 2021

"On June 29, 1919, one day after the Treaty of Versailles brought about the end of World War I, nearly seventy cyclists embarked on the thirteenth Tour de France. From Paris, the war-weary men rode down the western coast on a race that would trace the country's border, through seaside towns and mountains to the ghostly western front. Traversing a cratered postwar landscape, the cyclists faced near-impossible odds and the psychological scars of war. Most of the athletes had arrived straight from the front, where so many fellow countrymen had suffered or died. The cyclists' perseverance and tolerance for pain would be tested in a grueling, monthlong competition. A true story of human endurance, Sprinting Through No Man's L...and explores how the cyclists united a country that had been torn apart by unprecedented desolation and tragedy. It shows how devastated countrymen and women can come together to celebrate the adventure of a lifetime and discover renewed fortitude, purpose, and national identity in the streets of their towns"--Book jacket flap

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Subjects
Tour de France (Bicycle race) > History.
Tour de France (Bicycle race) > (1919 : > France; > Switzerland)
Bicycle racing > France > History.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York : Little A [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Adin Dobkin (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xv, 295 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-286) and index.
ISBN
9781542018821
9781542018838
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Dobkin debuts with a novelistic blow-by-blow account of the first Tour de France run after WWI, shining light on the wartime experiences of its racers, organizers, and observers. Founded in 1903 by Henri Desgrange, editor-in-chief of the sports daily l'Auto, the Tour de France had last been run in 1914 (the race started on the same day Austria's archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated). After a five-year hiatus, Desgrange aimed to make the 13th tour "more to France than it had ever been," and set a course that followed the length of the country's borders and passed near the Somme, Verdun, and other battlefields. Sixty-seven cyclists, some of whom were still on active military duty, started from Paris on June 29, 1919; only 11 finished the monthlong tour. Dobkin profiles competitors including Frenchman Eugène Christophe, whose commitment to finishing the race after he lost the lead while stopping to repair his bike's broken frame captured the country's imagination, and vividly describes arduous ascents, rubble-strewn streets, and the crowds that lined the route, waving flags and shouting encouragement. The result is an immersive look at the mythical power of sports to unite and inspire. Agent: Becky Sweren, Aevitas Creative. (July)

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