Field of Fire: The Tour de France of '87 and the Rise and Fall of ANC-Halfords

Jeff Connor

Random House, May 3, 2012 - Sports & Recreation - 256 pages

In 1987, a British-based team competed in the Tour de France for the first time in almost two decades. The ANC-Halfords squad were decimated by the punishing pace, the manager walked out during one of the Alpine stages, five of the nine riders and some of the staff never made it to Paris, and most of the personnel went unpaid. ANC were the definitive innocents abroad and it became one of the great sporting misadventures of all time.

If that wasn't bad enough for ANC, a tabloid journalist travelled with them for the full three weeks. Jeff Connor's account of the Tour, Wide-Eyed and Legless, became a classic and was later voted number one in Cycle Sport's list of the best cycling books of all time.

Now, 25 years on, Connor revisits the scene of the crime, tracks down the participants and discovers exactly how their fortunes were changed, some irrevocably, by the '87 Tour. Field of Fire tells a moving tale of sporting disillusionment, heartbreak, anger - and humour.

Contents

• Foreword by Malcolm Elliott: 1957
• Glossary: 1959
• The ANCHalfords Team: 1961
• Introduction: 1962
• The French Connection: 1968
• Paper Tiger: 1987

About the author

Jeff Connor's other books include Wide-Eyed and Legless, and the definitive story of the Busby Babes, The Lost Babes. He lives in Lancashire.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Field of Fire: The Tour de France of '87 and the Rise and Fall of ANC-Halfords
• Author: Jeff Connor
• Publisher: Random House, 2012
• ISBN: 1780572786, 9781780572789
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Business Aspects; Sports & Recreation / Cycling; Sports & Recreation / General