Lanterne Rouge, Max Leonard
Lanterne Rouge, Max Leonard
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Lanterne Rouge
The Last Man in the Tour de France

Author: Max Leonard

Narrator: Andrew Fallaize

Unabridged: 8 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/14/2019

Synopsis

A lively and entertaining history of the riders who have come in last place during the grueling 3,000-mile Tour de FranceFroome, Wiggins, Merckx―we know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational, and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch, the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn, the doper whose drug cocktail accidentally slowed him down, and the rider who was recognized as the most combative despite finishing at the back.Max Leonard flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99 percent who don’t win the trophy, and forces us to reexamine the meaning of success, failure, and the very nature of sport.

About Max Leonard

Max Leonard is the author of Lanterne Rouge and an amateur cyclist. He has written for Esquire, Monocle, Rouler, the London Daily Telegraph, and more.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Steve

Fascinating, well-researched, highly personal, race-within-the-race, insider, micro-not-macro history of a niche, within a more-fringe-than-mainstream (at least in the US) sport (professional bicycle racing, and, specifically, the grandest of the "grand tours," le Tour de France). For bike geeks - an......more

Goodreads review by Edwin

Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France is fascinating exploration of the psyche and mindset of the last place finishers in Le Tour, the Lanterne Rouges, and in this exploration, Max Leonard relays how the whole concept and identity of Laterne Rouge came to be, and to then become so celeb......more

Goodreads review by Mike

I was disappointed that the writing didn't stay more focused on the actual Lantern Rouge winners. The best parts of the book were those pieces the author devoted to the lives and adventures of those who won that ignominious award. However, all too often the author couldn't help himself from going of......more

Goodreads review by Matt

I'll start by saying I dislike cycling/road-racing in general and the Tour de France in particular, which makes this a strange purchase for me. What drew me to it is that it's about the men who finished last - the glorious sporting losers that I usually find far more interesting than the automatons t......more

Quotes

“A meticulously researched history chock-full of names and race information.” New York Times Book Review

“Rich with stories. A lively and engaging book that offers a valuable lesson: A lanterne rouge may finish last, but at least he stayed in the race.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This is not the world of Armstrong, Keane, or Pietersen and it is all the more appealing because of that.” Observer (London)

“A lively account. It’s not easy to come up with an original angle on Le Tour, but with this rear view Leonard has managed the feat in style.” Independent on Sunday (London)

“It’s not easy to come up with an original angle on Le Tour, but with this rear view Leonard has managed the feat in style.” Independent on Sunday (London)

“A fascinating account that focuses on the many stories, both real and mythical…Captivating, thoroughly researched, and well-written.” Library Journal (starred review)

“Max Leonard demonstrates that perhaps the best way to understand the Tour de France―and, to an extent, cycling as a whole―is to approach it as most of us would on a bike: from well behind…Its heart-on-sleeve moments, which can become syrupy quagmires in lesser reads, hurtle by, driven by Leonard’s relatively lean prose and his obvious personal passion.” Paste magazine

“Demonstrates that perhaps the best way to understand the Tour de France…is to approach it as most of us would on a bike: from well behind.” Paste

“There is much to learn from this book, which will prove amusing for cycling enthusiasts and interesting enough for sports buffs without a clue.” Kirkus Reviews

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