Book extract: Butcher, Blacksmith, Acrobat, Sweep – The tale of the first Tour de France

Cycling writer and author Peter Cossins’s new book Butcher, Blacksmith, Acrobat, Sweep tells the tale of the first Tour de France. This exclusive extract highlights some of the hopeful amateurs who lined up in that ground-breaking event in July 1903, the first stage race in the sport’s history and one that forever changed the nature of bike racing…