James D. Startt Knihy

That was quite a victory. Lance Armstrong, winner of the 1999 Tour de France. In 1992, at age 21, he was a brash neo-professional from Texas. In October 1996, at the conculsion of the Tour de France, he was diagnosed with cancer, and given a 20 percent chance of survival-not to mention his chances of returning to the sport he loved. A year later, he was recovering from cancer therapy, and joined the Tour de France as a visitor. In 1998, he started a slow and faultering comeback, dropping out of the major races. In 1999, he did come back. In a big way. A winning way, becoming the second American (after Greg LeMond) to win the Tour de France, the world's toughest sporting event. In Lance Armstrong's Comeback from Cancer, veteran bicycle racing writer Samuel Abt pieces together, not only the story of Armstrong's spectacular Tour victory, but also his equally miraculous victory over cancer. Written as a scrapbook of Armstrong's career, it's a true story and an inspirational one, proving that there is hope for cancer survivors. A dramatic book-and a tribute to a conquering spirit.

To celebrate the 100th Tour de France anniversary in 2003, weve fully updated and reissued Tour de France/Tour de Force in paperback. Arranged chronologically and illustrated with hundreds of photographs dating back to the first race in 1903, Tour de France/Tour de Force offers a one-of-a-kind look at the Tours history. Tour insider James Startt shares stories of ingenuity (when Francois Fabers chain broke in the last kilometer of the 1909 Tour, he simply ran his bike across the finish line), tragedy (Tom Simpson collapsing and dying on the climb up Mont Ventoux in 1967), and triumph (Lance Armstrongs first of four consecutive victories after his battle with cancervictories that created a huge upsurge of interest in the sport). With an introduction by three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond, Tour de France/Tour de Force is the perfect way for fans everywhere to revel in the greatest bike race on earth.