Product Description

"Kings of the Mountains" tells the amazing and little-known story of how an impoverished, politically turbulent Latin American country produced a breed of cyclist capable of taking on the world's best - in the 2002 Tour de France the top Colombian rider Santiago Botero beat even the great Lance Armstrong to win the time trial. Matt Rendell tells of how Colombia's fist cycle races during the 50s were held on dusty, unpaved roads - with consequentially ghastly accidents; of how the first top Europeans to race in Colombia found themselves utterly vanquished by its endless mountain climbs; of how the biography of Colombia's first cycling superstar was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Then, in the 70s and 80s, its cyclists began to make their mark abroad, even in the Tour de France - especially as victors in its draining mountain stages, to become King of the Mountains - before Colombia's pathological political instability led to the rise of the cocaine cartels, and cycling became inextricably linked with the world of drug smuggling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #579017 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Wonderfully evocative' - Independent on Sunday; 'Thrilling reading... a fascinating national sporting history' - Times Literary Supplement; 'A fascinating and beguiling book... worthy of the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' - William Fotheringham, Cycling Plus

Andrew Longmore, Independent on Sunday
[A] wonderfully evocative book.

Cycle Sport, July 2002
A fascinating work of admirable scope and depth. Rendell relates a fascinating story.

Customer Reviews

Excellent journey through the recent history of Colombia
Well researched and well written account of the history of cycle racing in a country where it is the national sport. If you've seen the Tour de France or even ridden up some of the mountains, then you can still only imagine what some of the climbs in the Vuelta must be like. If you're interested in Colombia or in cycle racing, you won't regret buying this book.

More than just a book about cycling
This book is an extraordinary account of the cycling history of Columbia, featuring its big names like Zipa and Cochise, but it is masterfully woven in with the story of this troubled country's search for identity and democracy. The tales of the Vuelta make your heart pound in symapthy as the riders gasp for air in their titanic struggle up the mountains, and you cannot help but appreciate the metaphor for this rich but deeply unhappy country and its journey through coups and drug-lords to where it is now. A book for cycling enthusiasts, Latin America fans and people who want a good read.

revelations
aving grown up in Germany in proximity of the Tour de France, I had heard of Lucho Herrera. Being Catholic and a student of politics this book is a facinating summary of beauty, struggle, faith and stubborn confiction. Having read it I want to learn Spansih and see this facinating country with my own eyes and breath its thin Andean air. Brilliant.