Table of Contents

Author's Note 7

Foreword 9

Preface 10

Jerseys of the Tour de France 29

1 L'Alpe d'Huez: Fear, Moral Strength and Eddy Merckx 31

2 Col du Glandon: Hinault and Fighting Spirit 51

3 Col du Télégraphe: Tours of the 1920s 78

4 Col du Galibier: The 1930s 104

5 Col d'Izoard: Coppi and the Modern Era 129

6 Col de Vars: Drugs in the Sport 151

7 Mont Ventoux: The British Riders 180

8 Tour '98: The Tour is Dead, Long Live the Tour 201

9 1999: The Tour of Renewal 211

10 2000: Answering the Cynics 227

11 2001: Armstrong v. Ullrich 241

12 2002: Armstrong's Four-Square Triumph 259

13 The Centenary 279

14 2004: A Historic Sixth 300

15 2005: Seventh Heaven: Armstrong's Last Tour 322

16 2006: The Crazy 'Bottle of Ink' Tour 346

17 2007: Sunshine in London … Squalls into Paris 373

18 2008: A Clean Start? 399

19 2009: The Comeback Tour 416

Afterword and Mythology 439

Index 451