I have to say in the end, I really did enjoy this book. I also have to say I'm a road cyclist. I came close to putting this book down several times during the first half. It is tough to take all of Hume's ridiculous, dated (70's), English sexist colloquial jargon. At times it is impossible for an American to understand. This book would really benefit from a bit of current editing.

That being said, the book really picks up when the Tour starts, and Hume's descriptions of the stages is riveting, original, and unpredictable.

It would be a far better book if he would have dropped all the romantic/sexual nonsense and concentrate on the cycling, which he so masterfully portrays.

I am a recreational road cycling enthusiast and to be honest I picked up this book because one of the reviews on the cover said "the greatest cycling novel written"...I was curious. Although I did go through reading the entire book on a Sunday I must agree with some of the other online reviews here...The first half of the book is kind of slow and of little interest (if one has picked up this book to read about cycling!). My advice is to 'speed-read' the first half and the second half is sure to keep you riveted and not want to put the book down. I got some great insights into competitive cycling and the "Tour".

Saying this is "the greatest cycling novel ever written" is like saying "This is the finest book of haiku about bowling". What's the competition?

That gripe aside, this is a book that is at its best when describing cycling, yet the author gamely tries to put cycling into the context of a life. Terry Davenport is (in his own words) "a bit of a lad" (American translation: Ladies' Man). He has Austin Powers' sensibilities about the sexual revolution (sometimes when describing women he refers to them as "it"). He spends a good deal of his non-racing life trying to juggle simultaneous affairs with 3 women.

Davenport's arrested Peter Pan existence is given one more chance at the Tour De France, and this is where the author really shines. You are taken inside the mind of a rider, the exhaustion, and the courage needed to keep pedaling. I found myself riveted by the end of the book.

Not a great novel, but a decent one. It would be 3 stars on character developement, but 4 stars for the riveting cycling descriptions.