Maillot Jaune: The Yellow Jersey

By Jean-Paul Ollivier

Book Overview

At the end of each day of the Tour de France, the race leader is presented with a yellow racing jersey: the prestigious Maillot Jaune. This treasured emblem has been worn by 227 cyclists in the past... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1884737986
• ISBN13: 9781884737985
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: VeloPress
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 9.4" x 11.7"

Customer Reviews

Learn about the old european stars of the Tour de France

I very much liked this book, and I don't mind that it doesn't have much about Lance Armstrong. After all, 1) it was written before his domination of the Tour and 2) it's really meant to be about the older European stars of the Tour -- 30's to 70's is really the strength of the book. Be forewarned that it's pretty week from the 80's on. Hey, there's not much about Jan Ulrich either, and he won the Tour in 1996 before Lance did and supposedly well before the publication date. Also keep in mind that it's not a text book history. The book is meant to give you a sense of personalities and rivalries. These people are household names in Europe, and detailed factual biographies would be out of place. This book is more like love letters and old pictures in the family album. Old disagreements are of more interest than statistics. This book is for lovers of road racing, not historians. It is heavy on the French side of racing, so there is still a lot to learn about when you put the book down. Think of it as a family history of the Tour written by the French relations.Ever read a European cycle magazine? They are just like this book, full of gossip and pictures, and what some sprinter's family looks like, and a picture of his first road race when he was 12, and why he can't stand so-and-so who moved over to another team, etc., etc...Summation: Hey, if you want pictures of Lance, go elsewhere. This book is for you if...1) you want learn about the personalities of older European stars of the TdF, and find out why they were so beloved, 2) you want to learn about the TdF before the Tour was fashionable in the US, 3) you want to get a sense of the hardships cyclists faced in the early years of the sport, and 4) maybe get inside of the head of those weird French riders and Tour organizers, this is a good place to start.