The 2005 Tour de France: Armstrong's Farewell

John Wilcockson and Andrew Hood have composed a terrific book for readers who wish to learn more about the Tour de France and gain a deeper appreciation of Lance Armstrong's cycling abilities. The "2005 Tour de France: Armstrong's Farewell" is worth the book's price for many reasons. The goal of the book is to give a reader an understanding and an appreciation for the difficult task of not only finishing the Tour de France, a three week, twenty-one stage epic trip of 2,233 miles, but also of finishing first -- seven times in a row. The authors, Wilcockson and Hood, clearly know the history and technical details of the Tour having worked as writers for VeloNews magazine. The book's overall presentation is assisted by artsy Futura fonts, full color photos from Graham Watson, and a full set of statistics concerning the Tour de France. Quotes from the experts in the field of professional cycling give encouragement to a reader who might by trying to cycle faster and farther. Floyd Landis from the Phonak team, puts everything into perspective when he says, "In no way do I want what Lance has in life, other than to be the best bicycle racer I can be" (p. 53). On page 164 Levi Leipheimer from the Gerolsteiner team, says, "There is always something that you can improve on." And Armstrong provides the ultimate perspective by saying, "I don't think my sport accomplishments are going to make my trip to heaven any easier" (p. 266). Armstrong shows that he is the best and infers that the only thing greater than winning the Tour de France is being loving and forgiving. The chapters alternate between personal skeches of the riders and the thrills of the 2005 Tour. We learn that cyclists are human, too, and have bounced back from tragic injuries. David Zambriskie "smashed healong" into vehicle that "pulled out in front of him" in 2003 which required a long convalescence (p. 26). Alejandro Valverde "fell in a freaky, high speed crash" during the 2004 Vuelta that left him painfully "writhing on the ground" (p. 103). And Alexander Vinokourov watched is best friend crash in the 2003 Paris-Nice race, "go into a coma" and pass which has left a hole in Vinokourov's heart to this day (p. 132). Every cyclist, it seems, has dealt with tragedy and has bounced back with courage. Armstrong's courageous comeback is equally amazing.