{"product_id":"the-monuments-2nd-edition-by-peter-cossins-9781399407861","title":"The Monuments 2nd edition","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn awe-inspiring history of the five most legendary “classic” races in world cycling.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Tour de France may provide the most obvious fame and glory, but it is cycling’s one-day tests that the professional riders really prize. Toughest, longest and dirtiest of all are the so-called ‘Monuments’, the five legendary races that are the sport’s equivalent of golf’s majors or the grand slams in tennis. Milan–Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris­–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Tour of Lombardy date back more than a century, and each of them is an anomaly in modern-day sport, the cycling equivalent of the Monaco Grand Prix.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTime has changed them to a degree, but they remain as brutally testing as they ever have been. They provide the sport’s outstanding one-day performers with a chance to measure themselves against each other and their predecessors in the most challenging tests in world cycling. From the bone-shattering bowler-hat cobbles of the Paris–Roubaix to the insanely steep \u003ci\u003ehellingen\u003c\/i\u003e in the Tour of Flanders, each race is as unique as the riders who push themselves through extreme exhaustion to win them and enter their epic history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the course of a century, only Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck have won all five races. Yet victory in a single edition of a Monument guarantees a rider lasting fame. For some, that one victory has even more cachet than success in a grand tour. Each of the Monuments has a fascinating history, featuring tales of the finest and largest characters in the sport.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this updated edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Monuments\u003c\/i\u003e, Peter Cossins tells the tumultuous history of these extraordinary races and the riders they have immortalised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47537100620012,"sku":"9781399407861","price":36.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3db2bacbda282b3985a4acf1a31c585d.jpg?v=1777948506","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-monuments-2nd-edition-by-peter-cossins-9781399407861","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}