Lanterne rouge : the last man in the Tour de France

Shares the lesser-known stories of last-place finishers in the Tour de France, recounting the inspirational and occasionally absurd events that shaped their efforts.;Issoire -- The first last man -- The survivor -- The yellow jersey -- The rebel -- The debutant -- The escape artist -- The domestique -- The showman -- The maverick -- The fall guy -- The sprinter -- The brothers -- Saint-Flour -- Lanternes rouges, from 1903 to 2013. If you complete a bike race of over 3,000 miles in last place, overcoming mountain ranges and merciless weather, all while enduring physical and psychological agony, should you be branded the loser? What if your loss helped a teammate win? What if others lacked the determination to finish? What if you were trying to come in last? Froome, Wiggins, Merckswe 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% who don't win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the very nature of sport. Shares the lesser-known stories of last-place finishers in the Tour de France, recounting the inspirational and occasionally absurd events that shaped their efforts while posing philosophical analyses of how their achievements change definitions of loss "Shares the lesser-known stories of last-place finishers in the Tour de France, recounting the inspirational and occasionally absurd events that shaped their efforts." --Provided by publisher