There is a book that Sir David Brailsford has been passing around his Team Sky colleagues this winter, urging them to read. Twenty One Nights in July by Ianto Ware might best be described as a love letter to the Tour de France.
“It made me think, ‘Blimey, this is why I got into cycling, why I fell in love with it in the first place,’” Brailsford explained.
-Matt Dickenson, The Times, March 4, 2016
From Fausto Coppi’s victory on Alpe d’Huez, to Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor’s epic battle on the Puy de Dome, from Rene Vietto’s shameless weeping, to Greg Lemond soiling himself in his struggle with Bernard Hinault.
Part love letter to the humble bicycle, part history of the Tour de France, Twenty-One Nights in July reveals how cycling transcended mere sport to become a philosophy for the modern age.