Lanterne Rouge

Excellent ... compulsive reading...redresses the balance with considerable literary style and panache.

The Washing Machine Post

Don't be surprised if you fall in love with Max Leonard's book. A glorious celebration of coming last.

Brendan Gallagher, thetour.co.uk

Thoughtful, properly researched and consistently entertaining

Tim Moore

[A] lively account of largely forgotten men... It’s not easy to come up with an original angle on Le Tour, but with this rear view Leonard has managed the feat in style

Simon Redfern, Independent on Sunday

Brilliant... The stories of the lanternes rouges that Leonard picks out have real value, because the race's rear view can tell you much more than the angle we're all familiar with

Michael Hutchinson, Independent

Makes for oddly inspiring reading. There is an art to losing

Jon Day, London Review of Books

An elegant book... Surprising and illuminating

Ian Bell, Herald

This is a valuable book with some great stories. Deeply-researched and well-written, it’s an enjoyable read that shouldn’t be rushed

The Inner Ring

Fascinating… Without losers, there are no winners

London Cyclist

Thoughtful, witty

Times Literary Supplement

In this lively, rear-view account of largely unsung heroes, and a few villains, Leonard has managed the difficult feat of coming up with an original angle on Le Tour

Simon Redfern, Independent on Sunday

Leonard extracts the dignity that sometimes exists in sporting failure; this is not the world of Armstrong, Keane or Pietersen and all the more appealing because of that

Tim Lewis, Observer

Celebratory and hilarious in equal measures, The Last Man revels in the travails of the underdog

Ben East, Metro

This book does a great job of revealing some of the less well known stories from le Tour: well written, entertaining, and informative

Richard Peploe, Road

This book is an entertaining account taking in everyone from stage winners and former yellow jerseys who couldn’t hang on, to a breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn, to a doper whose drug cocktail backfired

Bike Radar

We know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider

Miss Dinky