Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: The Remarkable Life of Jacques Anquetil, the First Five-Times Winner of the Tour de France

Jacques Anquetil wasn’t just a cycling champion — he was a full‑blown legend, on and off the bike. The first rider to win the Tour de France five times, the first to conquer all three Grand Tours, and the first to pull off a Tour–Vuelta double in the same year, he rewrote the sport long before “GOAT” was a thing.

But Anquetil’s life was far stranger, wilder and more complicated than his results sheet suggests. He openly admitted to doping, told fans he raced for money rather than glory, and lived a high‑rolling lifestyle that scandalised the cycling world. And then there was his personal life — a tangled, jaw‑dropping saga involving his doctor’s wife, her daughter, a long‑running ménage à trois, and a final twist that feels too outrageous to be fiction.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with family, friends, teammates and rivals, Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape digs deep into the myth and the man. It uncovers the brilliance, the flaws, the chaos and the charisma of a rider whose story is as gripping as any race he ever won.

If you think you know cycling history, this book will make you think again.