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This is L’Auto’s editor and race designer Henri Desgrange’s tour, a brutal and harsh race. As Dobkin writes, a few stages in “More than 400 kilometers stood in front of them that day. After that, the cyclists would confront the longest stage the Tour had seen. Then, the alpine climbs would begin.”

I’m five chapters and 101 pages in and there’s something missing. I think it needs more of all of the things I’m interested in. Dobkin gives a real nod to the importance of the still young race, culturally, but you could write a lot more about this.

For some reason, and maybe this becomes clearer, there are asides on the war, not just the racer’s experiences, but the American 813th Pioneer regiment which was briefly in France. This, and units like it deserve more attention than they have received? But how does that figure here?

I’m going to pick this up. I didn’t make the connection that the Tour commenced immediately following the war.

Have you read Into the Silence?