Sometimes the winners of the Tour de France become household names, but here Max Leonard tells the inspirational and occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners and former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine and then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidentally slowed him down; and the rider who was recognized as the most combative despite finishing at the back.