Product Description

Lance Armstrong rewrote the record books in 2005 when he won the Tour de France for an unprecedented seventh time. Daniel Coyle followed his progress, throughout that season, examining what made him push himself to the limit of his endurance, for his bestselling book Tour de Force now fully updated with his celebrated return to the Tour in 2009. The world's most challenging athletic endeavour is also one of the biggest and most popular annual sports events in the world. The 2005 race witnessed Texan Lance Armstrong clinch his seventh Tour de France victory -- something that no other rider has achieved in the event's 100-year history. This book looks into the unprecedented build up to the Tour, focusing on Armstrong's season and on the physical and mental limits of endurance through which he forced himself. Starting off in February when he made his annual move to Girona in Spain where preparation for the Tour becomes all-consuming, all the details of his hypermasochistic training regime will be unveiled, from sleeping in an altitude tent to the miles of gruelling riding through the pain barrier. This 'inside story' also involves access to Armstrong's US Postal Service Team and key rivals in the battle for the Yellow Jersey -- among them German Jan Ulrich, American Tyler Hamilton, and Spaniard Joseba Beloki. Above all, Armstrong's motivational strengths and burning desire to achieve are the focus of a book that celebrates a unique sporting phenomenon -- a fascinating look at history in the making and the colourful world of professional road cycling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17746 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 346 pages

Amazon.co.uk
Lance Armstrong's achievement (as vividly detailed in Daniel Coyle's Lance Armstrong: Tour de Force) has been one of the most astonishing in recent sporting history, not least for the reasons detailed in the book's strapline: tough guys, flawed heroes and one man's battle for ultimate supremacy. This is the remarkable story of a man who triumphed over all the odds -- a behind-the-scenes record of the 2004 professional cycling season and the manner in which Armstrong landed his sixth Tour de France victory. What makes the book particularly inspiring is the fact that Armstrong is no superman -- he talks about the many strikes against him (his age, the dissolving of his team and -- most of all -- his triumph over potentially lethal illness (his struggle against cancer is, of course, well-known).

Coyle takes us from the cyclist’s turbulent youth in Texas through his many achievements in the cycling field (notably his near loss in the 2003 tour), and his massive struggles against a series of disasters that would have floored most of us: his difficult divorce and subsequent separation from his children and, finally, the terrifying revelation of his cancer. The section on the various solutions that Armstrong tried (including new age healers and radical Italian sports doctors) makes for particularly fascinating reading: as Armstrong realised that his solutions lay elsewhere, there is a genuinely inspirational note here.

Equally fascinating are the descriptions of his obsessive fans, the mind games he was forced to play (both with his opponents and corporate heavyweights), and, of course, his much-publicised relationship with rock star Sheryl Crow. The climax, his victory in the 2004 Tour de France, rounds out one of the best sport biographies in years. --Barry Forshaw

Review
'An incisive portrait of an intense and driven man. Coyle holds nothing back but provides the wherewithal for the readers to make up their own mind about the Armstrong phenomenon. This is a remarkable book.' Judging panel, 2006 British Book Awards 'The best Armstrong book ever written' Cycling Weekly

From the Inside Flap
Tour De Force is an extraordinary story of greatness pushed to its limits. It's behind the scenes look at the 2004 professional cycling season and Lance Armstrong's journey to his historic sixth Tour De France victory.
Made newly vunerable by age, fame, defections from his team, and an unprecendented army of challengers, Armstrong fights on all fronts to do what he does like no one else: exert his will to win. That will - which famously propelled him beyond his temultuous Texas youth and beyond cancer to a level of achievement and fame arguably unparalled in sports - is revealed in new and sometimes startling dimension.
We see how Armstrong rebuilds after his near loss in the 2003 Tour, discovering new strategies to cope with his changing body. We see how he copes after his painful divorce and seperation from his children. We see how he operates among controversial Italian sports doctors, New Age healers, agressive lawyers, obsessed fans, and jittery corporations (not to mention his girlfriend, the rock star Sheryl Crow).
We see the subtle mind games Armstrong plays with his US Postal Team, his opponents and himself. We see him through the eyes of competitors and his close circle of friends, as well as explore his powerful relationship with his mother Linda. We see what happens when he's faced with a potentially devastating book about his alleged use of performance-enchancing drugs. And finally we see it all culminate in the 2004 Tour De France, the toughest sports event on the planet.
Tour De Force offers the first real journey into an arena packed with underdogs, gurus, and orginal characters. In doing so it provides a penetrating appraisal of Lance Armstrong, the often-inspiring, wholly remarkable yet flawed hero, and the world that shapes him.

Customer Reviews

Cyclists dream read, Excellent!
I have read all the Lance Armstrong based books with great fascination but this one tops the lot, it gives an in-depth view of the man himself, what makes him tick, his relationships, the way he ticks, his obsesive training regimes, i couldnt put this book down, if your into your biking then read this book, you wont be dissapointed, its a warts and all story of the complex sport of cycling and the most gruelling race in the world. EXCELLENT!!!

Good in places, disappointing in others
When I bought this book I wanted a complement to the two volumes of Armstrong's autobiography. I was looking for a measured appraisal of Armstrong and in many respects this is what I got. Daniel Coyle has sufficient standing as a journalist to have access to Armstrong and his team. He can really write, as the passages describing stages in the 2004 Tour de France were gripping even though I had long since known their outcome. He sheds a lot of interesting light on the effect abandonment by his father may have had on Armstrong which adds to the autobiographies. You also understood a lot more about Armstrong's training methods and his relationship with Jan Ullrich and you can see why of the two great talents it is Armstrong that has consistently maintained the lead. The book is also very interesting on Armstrong's relationship with his trainer, Dr Michele Ferrari. The relationship has been damaging to Armstrong, as Dr Ferrari has made some injudicious remarks about drug taking in sport and ultimately Armstrong is forced to sever his links with him after Ferrari is convicted of a doping offence by an Italian court. However, you can see why Armstrong was prepared to stick with him for so long as Ferrari has a genius sporting mind and is full of highly creative ideas to improve Armstrong's performance still further.

Those are the books strengths. However, I was disappointed by the Coyle's treatment of a book by David Walsh and Pierre Ballster. The Walsh/Ballster book makes new allegations against Armstrong but Coyle does not add anything new. I would have liked more evaluation of these claims rather than reportage.

The book also lapses sometimes into tabloid journalism including some astonishing mean spiritedness. Instead of an analysis of how Armstrong's relationship with Sheryl Crow may have affected his performance as a cyclist instead we find out that Mr and Mrs Coyle have been taking bets on whether the relationship will last until the 2005 Tour. Happily the relationship is still going but I think using someone else's potential heartbreak as a form of entertainment tells us more about the author that the subject of the biography.

Evenhanded portrait of Lance Armstrong's 2004
Very entertainingly written account of Armstrong's preparations for and participation in the 2004 Tour de France. From an American sports writer who also manages to include "the bluffer's guide to cycling" in explaining the subject to his presumably U.S. target audience.

This book covers a huge amount of territory including sketch portraits of a number of other leading cyclists and key U.S. Postal staff but it never feels slow or needlessly drawn out. You come away with the idea that you have gained a very believable behind-the-scenes glimpse of Armstrong's character and the workings of the pro peleton.

This is probably not a book for those who worship the ground that Lance Armstrong walks on ...or maybe it is.