The VeloNews Tour de France Guide is your best companion to enjoying the 2019 Tour de France! Offering the deepest preview coverage of the Tour, the VeloNews Tour de France Guide will help you enjoy every stage of bike racing action even more. The editors and sports journalists of VeloNews draw from nearly 50 years of cycling journalism and Tour de France race coverage to offer the most complete analysis of this year’s Tour de France. The 2019 VeloNews Tour de France Guide includes: · Geraint Thomas: VeloNews exclusive interview with the 2018 Tour winner. · Anniversaries of the Tour: VeloNews looks back at the races that transcended cycling and brought the sport into the mainstream—1989, 1999, and 2009—with perspectives from the sports journalists who were there: Sam Abt, Rupert Guinness, and Andrew Hood. · VeloNews Television Viewing Guide: Few people have time to watch all 100 hours of televised Tour de France racing action. Our editors tell you which stages not to miss and which ones you can probably skip. Plus, our guide for viewers who have 20 hours, 10 hours, and just 5 hours of available TV time. · The Stages and Favorites: We analyze every stage and provide our expert analysis and opinion on the role each stage will play in the overall race. Look for in-depth info on key stages, climbs, and roads that will decide the race. · Special Tech for Special Stages: We take you inside the cutting-edge specialty bicycles, wheels, clothing, gear, and tires to see how tech will affect specific stages. The race runs July 6-28, 2019. Once the racing action begins, your VeloNews Tour de France Guide will become your essential daily guide for all 23 days of the race, from stage profiles to sprints, climbs, descents, and grueling mountaintop finishes. Want more VeloNews? Get the print edition of the VeloNews Tour de France Guide at half price with a one-year subscription through VeloPress.

The Tour de France is a race like no other, so perhaps it's no surprise that it attracts racers like no other. The winner of the second Tour actually came fifth – but the four racers before him were disqualified for cheating. The 1932 champion credits his win with saving him from capture by the Nazis, as the soldiers recognised him from the podium. One of Britain's best cyclists of the modern era only got into European racing by forging an email. Tour de France Champions is a journey to the summit of cycling, looking at those who have taken on the roads and mountains of France to prevail above all others and win cycling's greatest prize. Giles Belbin presents the stories of all those who have claimed the original and greatest Grand Tour, the one race that still transcends the sport of cycling: the Tour de France.

Marco Pantani won the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in the same year, 1998, a feat previously achieved only by giants of the sport like Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi, and Miguel Indurain. The master cyclist was also a victim of the drug culture of pro cycling, eventually sinking into a deep depression and dying alone in a hotel room on Valentine's Day 2004. This book chronicles the highs and lows of Pantani's life and cycling career through the words of leading American and European sportswriters, and it includes candid color shots of Pantani in action by renowned sports photographer Graham Watson.

In My World, Peter Sagan, one of cycling's greatest riders of all time, gives bike racing fans a glimpse behind the scenes of his cycling life, revealing the full extent of his dedication to competition and determination to win. With four Tour de France points jersey victories, three road race world championships, the 2018 Paris-Roubaix, and multiple spring classics among Sagan’s palmares, the world of cycling agrees that this intense yet fun-loving rider is among the most dominant and fun-to-watch riders of his generation. Inside My World, Sagan discusses his relationship with fellow riders, his heroes, and how he copes with the expectation of success. He also shares technical details about his preparation, dissects the art of the sprint, and analyzes the tactics that play out during a fiercely competitive stage or race.

Head out for adventure on the unpaved back roads of America with Nick Legan’s complete guide to gravel grinders and bikepacking! Gravel cycling is a glorious return to the purest roots of two-wheeled adventure. From farm roads and miners’ paths to the high passes of the Rockies and the Alps, gravel cycling and bikepacking will set you free to explore, enjoy, persevere, and discover. Escape the traffic and ride unpaved with Nick Legan’s GRAVEL CYCLING: The Complete Guide to Gravel Racing and Adventure Bikepacking. In this ground-breaking guide, accomplished gravel cyclist Nick Legan shares everything you need to know to enjoy gravel cycling and bikepacking. Drawing on interviews with top gravel junkies and his own hard-won knowledge from countless backcountry miles, Legan covers all the gear, bike setup, riding tips, course previews, and outfitting strategies you need to enjoy gravel cycling with confidence. He profiles 18 favorite one-day gravel races and 8 epic multi-day bikepacking adventure routes. Legan shares colorful stories of the origins of gravel cycling in North America and its rapid spread to Europe, Asia, and South America. Best of all, this full-color guide is packed with more than 350 gorgeous photographs from beautiful rides that will inspire you to seek out dirt and gravel roads near you. Legan brings his experience as a ProTour bike mechanic to this guide, offering detailed data on bike setup, gear selection, and how to build your own dream gravel bike. He shares crucial ride-saving tips and smart ways to make sure you’ll enjoy every moment. Over one-third of the roads in the U.S. are unpaved, which means you can enjoy the roads less travelled at the perfect pace to soak up new vistas and valleys, canyons and creeks—or push the pace over an epic day with fast friends. From gear to racing, route planning to camping—the wild ride of a lifetime awaits you in GRAVEL CYCLING. Gravel grinders Includes complete profiles, tips, and gear set-up for favorite gravel races and events: Almanzo, Barry-Roubaix, Crusher in the Tushar, Deerfield Dirt Road Randonnée, Dirty Kanza, Dirty Reiver, Grasshopper, Gravel Fondo, Gravel Roc, Gravel Worlds, Great Otway, Grinduro, La Gravel66, La Résistance, Land Run, Pirinexus 360, Rebecca’s Private Idaho, Trans Iowa. Bikepacking Offers route guides to favorite multi-day bikepacking routes: The Arizona Trail, The Colorado Trail, Denali Highway, Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Towpath, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Katy Trail, Oregon Outback, and Trans North California.

In his book Pro Cycling on $10 a Day, Phil Gaimon brings the full powers of his wit to tell his story. Plump, grumpy, slumped on the couch, and going nowhere fast at age 16, Phil Gaimon began riding a bicycle with the grand ambition of shedding a few pounds before going off to college. He soon fell into racing and discovered he was a natural, riding his way into a pro contract after just one season despite utter ignorance of a century of cycling etiquette. Presented here as a guide--and a warning--to aspiring racers who dream of joining the professional racing circus, Phil’s adventures in road rash serve as a hilarious and cautionary tale of frustrating team directors and broken promises. Phil’s education in the ways of the peloton, his discouraging negotiations for a better contract, his endless miles crisscrossing America in pursuit of race wins, and his conviction that somewhere just around the corner lies the ticket to the big time fuel this tale of hope and ambition from one of cycling’s best story-tellers. Pro Cycling on $10 a Day chronicles the racer’s daily lot of blood-soaked bandages, sleazy motels, cheap food, and overflowing toilets. But it also celebrates the true beauty of the sport and the worth of the journey, proving in the end that even among the narrow ranks of world-class professional cycling, there will always be room for a hard-working outsider.