Product Description

The cyclist Tom Simpson was an Olympic medallist, world champion and the first Briton to wear the fabled yellow jersey of the Tour de France. He died a tragic early death on the barren moonscape of the Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour. Almost 35 years on, hundreds of fans still make the pilgrimage to the windswept memorial which marks the spot where he died. A man of contradictions, Simpson was one of the first cyclists to admit to using banned drugs, and was accused of fixing races, yet the dapper "Major Tom" inspired awe and affection for the obsessive will to win which was ultimately to cost him his life. This is an authoritative evaluation of Simpson's death, and of the life that led to it, revisiting the places and people associated with him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #181812 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

Review
'The best cycling biography ever written' - Velo

From the Publisher
The book the cycling world has been waiting for. A definitive account of the life of Britain’s greatest cyclist - Tom Simpson.

About the Author
William Fotheringham is 36 years old. He was born in Somerset and after leaving school went to Cambridge University to study Languages. He has raced bikes for over twenty years but so far has resisted the temptation to take drugs.

Customer Reviews

Distant memories
A couple of weeks ago I bumped into a couple of German girls cycling up to l'Alpe d'Huez. We finished our 'stage' and stopped for a chat. Why were they here? To ride in the tire tracks of Lance Armstrong they said. Where next? Mont Ventoux of course, they were making a pilgrimage to the Simpson memorial.

The ghostly newsreel footage of Simpson zig-zaging close to the summit of the Ventoux on that fateful July day in 1967 haunt many a cyclist and the memorial has become as much a place of worship as the grave of Jim Morrison in Paris. Simpson's story has a great allure, plucky but flawed Brit battling against the odds in an ultimately tragic endeavor.

Fotheringham's book does much to capture the essence of the man but finally it seems too distant. Although well researched, and who better to do the job, there are ultimately not enough revelations to satisfy. Short of pulling a smoking gun out of the archives of the Avignon prefecture the book isn't going to have the shocking general impact of Sophie Anquetil's recently published biography of her father Jacques (Pour l'amour de Jacques, ISBN:2246669618), a rival of Simpson's.

A couple of points which Fotheringham seemed to miss. He discusses (and rejects) the possibility that transporting Simpson in the helicopter killed him as he was lifted high into the air. The incident occured at around 2000 meters, not a great height and it is doubtful if the helicoper gained much more height transporting Simpson. It is standard practise for mountain rescues to keep close to the ground and lose height and the newsreel seems to show the helicopter doing exactly this. It also appears in one of the photos in the book that Simpson's right thigh is coated in Iodine possibly after an injection of what... adrenalin? It would have been a scoop if Fotheringham had uncovered the medical report detailing the treatment.

As a Simpson fan I gave the book 4/5 but someone not familiar with the story may find the book less satisfying. Ultimately it seems that Simpson will remain the ghost on the grainy newsreel.

The best Biography I have ever read
Although only twelve years old at the time, I still vividly remember seeing the news of Tom Simpson's death on TV. This is strange because I wasn't a cycling fan and I can't remember seeing the TV news of any of the other historic events of the time like JFK being shot (and we're all suppossed to remember where we were when this happened), Luther King's death, Perfumo, or even the man on the moon. So why did Tom Simpson stick in my mind like nothing else? I didn't really know but this book seemed to be to a must read to try and find out. I now know. Fotheringham's excellent account of the life (and most importantly - the times) of Tom Simpson is an excellent account. It is incredibly well researched, engrossing, entertaining and yet onbjective and dispassionate. This books captures the strengths and the flaws in Simpson's character but left me with a fascination of the man and answered my question as to why his death has stuck in my mind for so long. This is probably the best biography I have ever read.

For British Continental Cycling Fans
The start of the book is promising and it picks up again in the last three chapters. Yet, the middle was more like regurgitating the "same story". I learned a lot about Tom Simpson and about pro-cycling in the late 50's and 60's - and about the use of drugs. I found the story too "British". Nonetheless, I will probably make my pilgrimage to Mt Ventoux - and do like his daughter - cycle up - and think of Giants.