Battling it out with the old men on butchers' bikes across the plains of Aquitaine and pursued by cattle over Europe's second highest road, Moore soon finds himself resorting to narcotic assistance, systematic overeating and waxed legs before summoning a support vehicle staffed by cruelly sceptical family and friends. Accounts of his suffering and chicanery, and those encountered in the race's epic history, are interwoven through a look at rural France busy tarting itself up for those 15 seconds of fame as the Tour careers through at 50kph. An heroic depiction of an inadequate man's attempt to achieve the unachievable, Moore's Tour is a tale of calorific excess, ludicrous clothing and intimate discomfort.

About the Author

His sporting career cut short by rumour and innuendo, Tim Moore now writers for the Sunday Times, the Observer, the Financial Times and Esquire. He lives quietly with his wife and three children in West London, entertaining them with nightly recitations of the critical praise lavished on his first book, Frost on My Moustache. His new book, Do Not Pass Go is due to be published in October 2003.