Book de Tour is an unusual approach to telling the story of a Tour de France. Artist Greig Leich explains how the race unfolded through oilstick created art for every stage of the 2014 race.
Leich has been creating images from professional races over the past number of years including the Tour, Giro and Spring Classics, but this is the first time that he has collated them all into a book and it works really well. He also describes the action from each stage in a concise manner in his narratives underneath the paintings. These race descriptions are an important part of the book, as without them, the reader would struggle to recall the events of the race, based on the paintings alone.
The book not only features paintings of the action and stage descriptions, but also stage profiles, results and lists of jersey holders. The startlist at the back is also a nice inclusion.
What’s also good is that the book not only features the action at the front of the race, but also the crashes, mechanical incidents and struggles at the back of the race. One such event from the race, involving Luke Durbridge (Orica Green Edge) lashing out at a Movistar soigneur is an example of one of these types of incidents, and Leich explains what happened in fine detail.
We would thoroughly recommend this book for fans of art and cycling.
Below are some examples of the work in the book.
Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) proved that not only is he a fast sprinter, but he is a smart one too. he let other sprinters fight out the Intermediate sprint, and then kept his lead out train off the front of the peloton and out of the wind until the last 750 meters of the stage. Multi-stage racing is about husbanding one’s energy, using the absolute minimum until it can give you the maximum return. Watching Kittel in the three days of racing in the United Kingdom, is a tutorial on how to put this into practice. Rather than expend massive amount of effort trying to keep the Jersey during Stage 2, he and his team accepted his limitations, let the Malliot Jaune go, and then be ready to fight for another stage win today. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) continued to prove that he is the rightful owner of the Green Jersey, the Jersey of the most consistent sprinter, but pulling second on both of the stage’s sprints.
Below are some other examples of paintings from the book.
You can buy the book online at either the publisher’s website: http://www.dementimilestonepublishing.com/#!book-de-tour/c1nth
or at the artist’s website:
http://www.greigleach.com/gallery/201710/Book+de+Tour/#.VHZ2Dk0tDIU
You can find out more information through the link below, and view more of the artist’s work:
www.theartofcycling.blogspot.com
