About Le Domestiques: The Dog Soldiers of July
From the book…
Le Domestiques is a parallel history. A one hundred year old tale of the Tour de France to the one you know; in every grand tale there is one. One we seldom read. It is rarely written. It too is a story of heroes and villains, and egos, albeit controlled and forfeited, and wonderful humanness. It’s a tale of young men who willingly sacrifice for others for the greater good, to accomplish what together they could never achieve on their own. This book is about the other great Tour de France riders; the one’s who rarely if ever know the celebrity of wearing the famed yellow jersey, the maillot jaune, or any other celebrated jersey. They are riders whose names, if they are mentioned, have so only as footnotes to the event’s great unfoldings. Their names are not etched on the Tour tabella of history. And sadly we rarely remember them.
Le Domestiques is about the final few cyclists who are selected by their teams each year to ride in the shadows of history. An octet of professionals cyclists British writer Roger St Pierre once labeled the “dog soldiers,” those who sacrifice all for their captains. We would likely never know the names of the legends—Merckx, Coppi, Hinaut, Armstrong, Indurain, Auquetil—if it were not for these other riders willingness to work like dogs on the roads, and in the pelting rain, and scorching heat of a French July. Willingness to sacrifice personal ambition for their leader and team. Willingness to turn themselves inside out in the most grueling and punishing sporting event on Earth. Riders who at the end of the day are proud to be the servants of history, Le Domestiques.
All text from Le Domestiques: The Dog Soldiers of July by Gerry Ellis, Copyright 2011. Not to be reprinted without permission.
