An awe-inspiring history of the five most legendary 'classic' races in world cycling.brbrThe 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'Sanro, the Tour of Flanders, Paris''Roubaix, Li'ge'Bastogne'Li'ge and the Tour of Lombardy date back more than a century, and each of th is an anomaly in modern-day sport, the cycling equivalent of the Monaco Grand Prix.brbrTime has changed th to a degree, but they rain as brutally testing as they ever have been. They provide the sport's outstanding one-day performers with a chance to measure thselves 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 steephellingenin the Tour of Flanders, each race is as unique as the riders who push thselves through extre exhaustion to win th and enter their epic history.brbrOver the course of a century, only Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlainck 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. In this updated edition ofThe Monumentseter Cossins tells the tumultuous history of these extraordinary races and the riders they have immortalised.p