Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France

Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France

by Paul Howard
Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France

Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France

by Paul Howard

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Overview

Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape is the astonishing biography of French cycling star Jacques Anquetil. For the first time since his death in 1987, it reveals the extraordinary truth behind the legend, the man and the cyclist.

His list of 'firsts' alone makes him worthy of a place in the cycling pantheon: the first man to win the Tour de France five times; the first man to win all three grand tours - the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España; and the first man to win both the Tour and Vuelta in the same year.

However, the extraordinary life of Anquetil does not stop at his achievements on a bike. He candidly admitted to using drugs, offended legions of fans by confessing that his only motivation for riding was financial and infamously indulged his enthusiasm for the high life. He also seduced and married his doctor's wife, had a child with her daughter and then sustained a ménage à trois with both wife and stepdaughter under the same roof for 12 years. When this 'family' eventually imploded, he attempted to inspire jealousy in his former lovers by having a child with his stepson's ex-wife.

Containing exclusive contributions from Anquetil's family, friends, teammates and rivals, Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape untangles myth from reality and confirms that fact is definitely stranger than fiction.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845969615
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company, Limited
Publication date: 04/01/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 342,108
File size: 368 KB

About the Author

Paul Howard is a writer who contributes frequently to cycling magazines and the national press. His first book, Riding High, was shortlisted for the National Sporting Club's Best New Sports Writer prize. He is also the author of Two Wheels on my Wagon.

Table of Contents

Prologue 9

1 The 'Viking' of Quincampoix 19

2 Look, Dad, No Stabilisers 27

3 The Apprentice - Part I 39

4 The Apprentice - Part II 49

5 A Star is Born 61

6 Wounded Pride 73

7 Mission: Impossible 81

8 Chercher la Femme… 93

9 Femme Fatale? 107

10 Italian Job 123

11 The Beginning of an Era 137

12 Just Because I'm Paranoid Doesn't Mean They're Not Out to Get Me 149

13 An Insatiable Appetite 161

14 Fourteen Seconds 177

15 The Curious Incident of the Race in the Night-time 195

16 Anyone but Poulidor 211

17 Don't Take the P*** 231

18 Jacques of All Trades 247

19 The Cyclist, the Wife, Her Daughter and His Lover 263

20 The Cyclist, the Stepson, His Wife and Her Lover 277

21 Cycling's James Bond 287

Epilogue 301

Palmarès 307

Bibliography 315

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