{"product_id":"9781471169274-ronde","title":"The Ronde","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInside the World's Toughest Bike Race\u003cbr\u003eA brilliant and revealing insight into Flanders and the most challenging of the Monuments: the Ronde.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It wasn't a race but a war game' Bernard Hinault\u003cbr\u003e 'Without question, the hardest one-day bike race ever created' George Hincapie\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Tour of Flanders – known to cycling fans as the Ronde – is the biggest one-day bike race in the world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It is a \u003cb\u003epotent mix of grit\u003c\/b\u003e, cobbles, steep climbs, narrow roads, national \u003cb\u003epride, beer, brutal weather\u003c\/b\u003e and the maddest, most \u003cb\u003epassionate\u003c\/b\u003e fans in the sport. It’s the \u003cb\u003eTour de France\u003c\/b\u003e boiled down into a \u003cb\u003esingle day of non-stop action\u003c\/b\u003e – the Belgian equivalent of the Grand National, Wimbledon and the FA Cup final. And there’s yet more to it than that.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Edward Pickering tells the story of the \u003cb\u003eTour of Flanders\u003c\/b\u003e, its history, culture and meaning, through the prism of the 2011 Ronde, an incredible edition that was one of the \u003cb\u003emost exciting bike races\u003c\/b\u003e of the past half-century. He weaves the narrative of that day into a broader study of the race, with eyewitness accounts from the key locations of the Ronde and dozens of interviews with the riders.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ronde\u003c\/i\u003e is a textured portrait of a race, but it also explores the deep links between bike races and the landscape and culture in which they take place, and explains how cycling works, with the most \u003cb\u003edetailed analysis\u003c\/b\u003e of a single event ever seen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31618579431521,"sku":"9781471169274","price":13.38,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_31794645.jpg?v=1774286479","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781471169274-ronde","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}