Sunday 28 October 2012

The Secret Race

Finished October 28
The Secret Race: inside the hidden world of the Tour de France: doping, cover-ups, and winning at all costs by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

The world of cycling and doping has been in the news a lot lately due to American investigations, civil cases, and retired riders coming clean. This is a book covering it all. Hamilton was part of the Lance Armstrong team, one of Lance's chief rivals, and the first rider to be caught for having transfused blood not his own. He'd already moved on with his life when things started coming out in a big way, and when the authorities approached him, made the choice to be totally honest, about his own doping and what he saw around him. He gets us into the mind of the rider, and shows us how the decisions to dope get made, the pressure, the way the teams work. We see a side of Lance Armstrong we don't see in his public persona. And we begin to understand why doping is so pervasive and why no one talked about it.
With several friends and relatives into cycling, I've grown more interested in this sport and how it works. This book gives behind the scenes information and reads like a novel.

No comments:

Post a Comment