Thursday 28 August 2008

Breakaway, Samual Abt (1985)

Random House, 0-394-54679-2 178pp $16.95

This is the story of the 1984 Tour, told in the in the style with which Abt’s many fans will be familiar. He is the consummate reporter – providing a vivid account of the racing, and peppering his account with dozens of incidental tales.

This was the year when Laurent Fignon was dominant, beating Hinault be a whacking 10 minutes, 32 seconds. It is also the edition of Robert Millar’s forth place and King of the Mountains crown. You can certainly find DVDs that will allow you to relive that great race – but they can’t match Abt for providing a joyful reimersion in that era.

PS August 2008

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great, thanks for letting us know about this one. I've just finished Kimmage's Rough Ride and In search of Robert Millar. Kimmage was a little moany, but the Millar book was excellent.

Say, I read a Roche autibiography in the early 1990s. Try as a I may I can't seem to trace it. Any ideas of where one may find a copy?

Unknown said...

Great, thanks for letting us know about this one. I've just finished Kimmage's Rough Ride and In search of Robert Millar. Kimmage was a little moany, but the Millar book was excellent.

Say, I read a Roche autibiography in the early 1990s. Try as a I may I can't seem to trace it. Any ideas of where one may find a copy?

pedalspinner said...

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Stephen Roche's World of Cycling by Stephen Roche and David Walsh - you can find copies on abebooks.co.uk, but sellers seem think that they can ask a bit of a premium.