Table of Contents
Author's Note ix
Introduction 1
1 'The Greatest Cycling Race in the Entire World' 5
2 'The Phantom Race' Takes Shape 31
3 'A Great Event Beyond Our Imaginations' 49
4 'Let Us Fight with the Same Weapons' 64
5 'These Riders Will Never Reach the Finish' 85
6 'A Beautiful but Terrible Battle' 104
7 'An Honest and Closely Checked Contest' 125
8 'I've Beaten Garin!' 137
9 'Are the Organisers Beginners or Just Incapable?' 162
10 'Everyone Who Finished This Stage Is a Marvellous Rider' 176
11 'Your Bicycle Is Your Salvation' 197
12 'Road Cycling Has Been Democratised' 215
13 'Colossal, Gigantic and Monstrous' 232
14 'Sickened by the Behaviour of My Rivals' 247
15 'An Outpouring of Local Chauvinism' 267
16 'Vive Garin! Vive le Tour!' 283
17 'The Most Abominably Hard Race Ever Imagined' 308
18 'A Tour That Had Everything' 321
Appendix: What Became of the 1903 Tour's Star Names 331
Bibliography 341
Acknowledgements 343
List of Illustrations 345
Index 347