ANQUETIL ALONE Paul Fournel

Publisher: Pursuit Books
Binding: Softcover
Number of pages: 137

Synopsis: The legend of Jacques Anquetil, controversial French cycling star of the 60s, told through the eyes of novelist and childhood Anquetil fan Paul Fournel. Jacques Anquetil was arrogant and iconoclastic, with a relaxed attitude to rules - including those about drugs - and morals. His womanising appalled conservative French society, even as his five Tour de France wins enthralled it. But Paul Fournel always preferred him to his great rival, working-class hero Raymond Poulidor, and followed Anquetil's career from childhood with the passion of a fan and the eye of a poet. In this stunningly original biography of a complex and divisive character, Fournel blends elements of memoir and imagined autobiography to tell the captivating story of this cycling legend.