{"product_id":"butcher-blacksmith-acrobat-sweep-the-tale-of-the-first-tour-de-france-9780224100656","title":"Butcher  Blacksmith  Acrobat  Sweep: The Tale of the First Tour de France","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1902  the journalist Go Lefvre met Henri Desgrange  editor of struggling newspaper LAuto  for lunch in Montmartre in Paris. Lefvre pitched him a totally unprecedented cycling event  comprised of multiple stages over thousands of kilometres  touring the country. It sounded preposterous  but  desperate to revive the publication  Desgrange went along with it. In 1903 the first Tour de France took place.  Cyclists of the time werent enthusiastic about this heroic race through roads more suited to hooves than wheels  with bikes weighing up to twenty kilos  on a single fixed gear  for three full weeks. Assembling enough riders for the race meant bribing unemployed labourers from the suburbs of Paris  including a butcher  a blacksmith  a chimney sweep  and a wrestler.  Through these characters backstories  acclaimed cyclist writer Peter Cossins paints a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s. The race itself was packed with mishaps and adventure - nighttime starts  nefarious strategies employed to gain advantages over competitors  riders hydrating with wine.  There was no indication that a ramshackle cycling pack would draw crowds to throng Frances rutted roads and cheer the first Tour heroes. But they did  and cycling would never be the same again.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45273412927541,"sku":"ByrdShop_0224100653","price":98.36,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780224100656.jpg?v=1780488793","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/butcher-blacksmith-acrobat-sweep-the-tale-of-the-first-tour-de-france-9780224100656","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}