Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France - Tapa dura

"Excellent ... compulsive reading...redresses the balance with considerable literary style and panache." (The Washing Machine Post)

"Don't be surprised if you fall in love with Max Leonard's book. A glorious celebration of coming last." (Brendan Gallagher thetour.co.uk)

"Thoughtful, properly researched and consistently entertaining" (Tim Moore)

"[A] lively account of largely forgotten men... It’s not easy to come up with an original angle on Le Tour, but with this rear view Leonard has managed the feat in style" (Simon Redfern Independent on Sunday)

"Brilliant... The stories of the lanternes rouges that Leonard picks out have real value, because the race's rear view can tell you much more than the angle we're all familiar with" (Michael Hutchinson Independent)

lanterne rouge:
French / noun

1. The red lantern that hangs on the rear of a train
2. The competitor who finishes last in the Tour de France

If you complete a bike race of over 3,000 kilometres, overcoming mountain ranges and merciless weather conditions while enduring physical and psychological agony, in the slowest time, should you be branded the loser? What if your loss helped a teammate win? What if others lacked the determination to finish? What if you were trying to come last?

Froome, Wiggins, Merckx – we know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidently slowed him down and the rider who was recognised as the most combative despite finishing at the back.

Lanterne Rouge flips the Tour de France on its head and examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99% who don’t win the trophy, and forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure and the very nature of sport.