Books by Bill McGann

Volume 1 of The Story of the Tour de France concluded with Bernard Thévenet's dramatic victory over Eddy Merckx in the 1975 Tour. Volume two opens with super-climber Lucien van Impe's taking advantage of a course made for the riders with wings. His win was followed by the dominating presence of Bernard Hinault, who became the third rider to win the Tour five times.Unable to fulfill his destiny as a likely five-time winner because of a hunting accident, Greg LeMond won the Tour three times. LeMond's era was followed by that of the remarkable Spaniard Miguel Indurain, the first man to win the Tour five times in a row.The late 1990s were a time of extreme crises for the Tour as the culture of doping within the professional cycling community erupted into the scandal of 1998. The Story of the Tour de France deals with this episode at length.At first, it looked like Lance Armstrong had done what no other rider in the Tour's history had ever accomplished, win the Tour seven times in a row. Both he and his successor, Floyd Landis, were revealed to have used drugs to win.For decades, Great Britain was a marginal player in professional cycling, but no longer. British riders have become a dominating presence in recent Tours.The book concludes with a quest for the greatest-ever Tour de France rider and an epilogue explaining the reason for the extraordinary success of the Tour.

At the dawn of the 20th century, French newspapers used bicycle races as promotions to build readership. Until 1903 these were one-day events. Looking to deliver a coup de grâce in a vicious circulation war, Henri Desgrange-editor of the Parisian sports magazine L'Auto-took the suggestion of one of his writers to organize a race that would last several days longer than anything else, like the six-day races on the track, but on the road.That's exactly what happened. For almost three weeks, the riders in the first Tour de France rode over dirt roads and cobblestones in a grand circumnavigation of France. The race was an electrifying success. Held annually (suspended only during the two World Wars), the Tour grew longer and more complex. Desgrange kept tinkering with an ever-changing set of rules for the Tour, looking for the perfect formula for his race.Each year a new cast of riders assembles to contest what has now become the greatest sporting event in the world.

The Giro d'Italia is one of the world's most important and popular bicycle races, yet there is almost no information in English about this magical Italian race's rich past. With "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", the fabulous history of Italy's national tour is at last available. Volume One took the story of the Giro from its origin as a desperate promotional gamble by a nearly broke newspaper to Eddy Merckx's convincing 1970 victory. Volume Two describes the growth of the Giro into a modern, vital international race that is followed by cycling fans all over the world. Along the way, the stories and races that have excited the public over the last forty years are told, including the Francesco Moser/Giuseppe Saronni rivalry, the tragic tale of Marco Pantani and the Alberto Contador affair that left the Spaniard stripped of his 2011 Giro championship.

The Giro d'Italia is one of the world's most important and popular bicycle races, yet there is almost no information in English about this magical Italian race's rich past. With "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", the fabulous history of Italy's national tour is at last available. Volume One takes the story of the Giro from its origin as a desperate promotional gamble by a nearly broke newspaper to Eddy Merckx's convincing 1970 victory.