Fausto Coppi by Jacques Augendre (hard cover)

The former butcher's delivery boy, who rose to the elevated position

of a cycling super-star, was a hero adored and loved for his legendary

exploits and dramatic misfortunes. Having experienced all of the emotional

highs and lows that sport can bring, Fausto Coppi then suffered a painful

decline in his personal and sporting life from which he could not recover.

The Campionissimo was a tragic hero.

Fate decreed that he would die at forty years of age, and so he became the

object of a myth, as much as our memory of him is surrounded by mystery. The

paradoxes of his personality and the significant moments of his existence are

laid out by the pen of Jacques Augendre, and through magnificent and often

very moving images, the defining moments from his life are presented here.

Forty years after his death, the warmth, aura and melancholy personality of the

incomparable Fausto Coppi come alive in these pages.

A former journalist with the French newspaper L'Equipe and an editor of Cycle, Jacques Augendre works today as an archivist with the Société du Tour de France. He is the author of ten books on cycling.