Road to Valour is the inspiring,
against-the-odds story of Gino Bartali, the cyclist who made the
greatest comeback in Tour de France history and, between
his Tour victories, secretly aided the Italian resistance during
World War II.
Gino Bartali is best known as an Italian cycling legend: the man
who not only won the Tour de France twice, but also holds the
record for the longest time span between victories. During the ten
years that separated his hard-won triumphs, his actions, both on
and off the racecourse, ensured him a permanent place in Italian
hearts and minds.
In Road to Valour, Aili and Andres
McConnon chronicle Bartali's journey, starting in impoverished
rural Tuscany where a scrawny, mischievous boy painstakingly saves
his money to buy a bicycle and before long, is racking up wins
throughout the country. At the age of 24, he stuns
the world by winning the Tour de France and becomes an
international sports icon.
But Mussolini's Fascists try to hijack his victory for propaganda
purposes, derailing Bartali's career, and as the Nazis occupy
Italy, Bartali undertakes secret and dangerous activities to help
those being targeted. He shelters a family of Jews in an apartment
he financed with his cycling winnings and smuggles counterfeit
identity documents hidden in his bicycle past Fascist and Nazi
checkpoints because the soldiers recognize him as a national hero
in training.
After the grueling wartime years, Bartali fights to rebuild his
career as Italy emerges from the rubble. In 1948, the stakes are
raised when midway through the Tour de France, an assassination
attempt in Rome sparks nationwide political protests and riots.
Despite numerous setbacks and a legendary snowstorm in the Alps,
the chain-smoking, Chianti-loving, 34-year-old underdog comes back
and wins the most difficult endurance competition on earth.
Bartali's inspiring performance helps unite his fractured homeland
and restore pride and spirit to a country still reeling from war
and despair.
Set in Italy and France against the turbulent backdrop of an
unforgiving sport and threatening politics, Road to
Valour is the breathtaking account of one man's unsung
heroism and his resilience in the face of adversity. Based on
nearly ten years of research in Italy, France, and Israel,
including interviews with Bartali's family, former teammates,
a Holocaust survivor Bartali saved, and many
others, Road to Valour is the
first book ever written about Bartali in English and the only book
written in any language to fully explore the scope of Bartali's
wartime work. An epic tale of courage, comeback, and redemption, it
is the untold story of one of the greatest athletes of the
twentieth century.
