LeMond, Hinault and the Greatest Ever Tour de France

Slaying the Badger

Heroes and villains, spectacle and controversy, mind games and endurance - this is the 1986 Tour de France.

Greg LeMond, 'L'Americain': fresh-faced, prodigious newcomer. This is supposed to be his year. 
 
Bernard Hinault, 'The Badger': aggressive, headstrong, five-time winner of the Tour. He has pledged his unwavering support to his team mate, LeMond. 
 
The team is everything in cycling, so the world watches, stunned, as LeMond and Hinault's explosive rivalry plays out over three high-octane weeks. Slaying the Badger relives the adrenaline and agony as LeMond battles to become the first American to win the Tour, with the Badger relentlessly on the attack. 
 
Includes brand new material for the paperback.

Moore entertainingly unravels the complexities of the relationships within the peloton during a three-week stage race, the sort of battle in which alliances can shift from one mountain peak to another and your enemy's enemy can suddenly become your most valued friend

From the opening pages this is a book that grips. Combining great insight, interviews and anecdotes with wonderfully vivid writing, it is thoroughly researched and well written. Like the event itself, the book is so engrossing, you don't want it to end

As a matter of some urgency, arm yourself first with Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore and immerse yourself in the epic story of the 1986 Tour and the two greatest riders of their era. ... The race and the book builds towards a gripping page turning climax which you don't want to end

A gripping narrative of this psychological and physical three-week war... It is good to be reminded that the race used to have twice-a-day stages, that helmets didn't always obscure the riders and that technology once had little place in the Tour

Captivating... Slaying the Badger is a mixture of clear-eyed journalistic analysis and unashamed nostalgia

InIntriguing insight into one of professional cycling's greatest rivalries...an engrossing story

Both men invite Moore into their homes: a privilege that clearly took some badger-like tenacity to secure. But it was worth the effort as Moore gains fresh insight into the rivalry

The stars are, inevitably, Hinault and LeMond themselves, both with their own memories of what did and did not happen. But they're almost outshone by three of the supporting cast... How true was Hinauolt to his word in 1986? Was he just stirring it up or did he actually try to give the French what they wanted from him, a sixth Tour victory? Well that's the story Richard Moore tells in Slaying The Badger. And some stories you really do have to read for yourselves

The tale of the spectator Lemond-Hinault rivalry over the roads of the 'greatest ever' Tour de France in 1986 is hardly unknown for most cycling fan - and yet Moore magnificently offers a fresh perspective, bringing alive this supreme tussle by resorting to some vintage toilet humour... His book is a gripping read

UK.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog/blazin-saddles

[Moore] entertainingly unravels the complexities of the relationships within the peloton

One of Bike Radar’s favourite books of the past 12 months

Moore unearths a dazzling array of detail through interviews and anecdotes, telling a tale that holds suspense even for those who know the ultimate outcome of this epic battle. As racing books go, Moore’s book just might be “the greatest ever"

The measure of a great book is a great start.Richard Moore’s introductory anecdote in Slaying the Badger set a new standard in cycling literature

Richard Moore is a freelance journalist and author. His first book, In Search of Robert Millar, won Best Biography at the 2008 British Sports Book Awards. His second book, Heroes, Villains & Velodromes, was long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. He writes on cycling and sport and is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Sky Sports and The Scotsman. He is also a former racing cyclist who represented Scotland at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Greg LeMond, 'L'Americain': fresh-faced, prodigious newcomer. This is supposed to be his year. 
 
Bernard Hinault, 'The Badger': aggressive, headstrong, five-time winner of the Tour. He has pledged his unwavering support to his team mate, LeMond. 
 
The team is everything in cycling, so the world watches, stunned, as LeMond and Hinault's explosive rivalry plays out over three high-octane weeks. Slaying the Badger relives the adrenaline and agony as LeMond battles to become the first American to win the Tour, with the Badger relentlessly on the attack. 
 
Includes brand new material for the paperback.

Richard Moore

Entertaining and lively. Moore is an open-minded and engaging writer who's willing to hear his interviewees out. Because maybe there is something in the yams, and maybe we can all still enjoy the dream.

A fascinating account of how a Caribbean island came to rule the world in the art and science of running very fast indeed

Compelling… thoughtful and wide-ranging… leaves you feeling optimistic

What this book does is capture the spirit of the sport in Jamaica… Moore clearly reveled in this grass roots exuberance and it is hard, reading this book, not to do so too

Lister has expanded the narrative of West Indies cricket by using the footage not broadcast by director Stevan Riley and interviewing the fans, players and their families, to document a history that lays claim to be the "definitive story of the greatest team sport has ever known"

Inside Jamaica’s Sprint Factory

Beijing 2008, the 100 metres final: Usain Bolt slows down, beats his chest, metres clear of his nearest rival, his face filled with the euphoria of a young man utterly in thrall to his extraordinary physical talent. It is one of the greatest sporting moments. It is just the beginning. 
 
Of the ten fastest 100-metres times in history, eight belong to Jamaicans. How is it that a small Caribbean island has come to almost totally dominate the men’s and women’s sprint events? 
 
The Bolt Supremacy opens the doors to a community where sprinting permeates conversations and interactions; where the high school championships are watched by 35,000 screaming fans; where identity, success and status are forged on the track, and where making it is a pass to a world of adoration and lucrative contracts. 
 
In such a society there can be the incentive for some to cheat. There are those who attribute Jamaican success to something beyond talent and hard work. Award-winning writer Richard Moore doesn’t shy away from difficult questions as he travels the length of this beguiling country speaking to anti-doping agencies, scientists and sceptics as well as to coaches, gurus, superstar athletes and the young guns desperate to become the next big thing. Peeling back the layers, Moore finally reveals the secrets of Usain Bolt and the Jamaican sprint factory.

Richard Moore

Praise for The Bolt Supremacy

Excellent

Absorbing

Entertaining and lively. Moore is an open-minded and engaging writer who's willing to hear his interviewees out. Because maybe there is something in the yams, and maybe we can all still enjoy the dream.

Excellent

Absorbing

Entertaining and lively. Moore is an open-minded and engaging writer who's willing to hear his interviewees out. Because maybe there is something in the yams, and maybe we can all still enjoy the dream.

Excellent

Absorbing

Entertaining and lively. Moore is an open-minded and engaging writer who's willing to hear his interviewees out. Because maybe there is something in the yams, and maybe we can all still enjoy the dream.

Books by Richard Moore

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