First published 2012
Tyler Hamilton opens up about professional cycling's hidden world of performance enhancement and corruption. The Olympic gold medalist and former teammate of Lance Armstrong breaks his silence on the systematic doping that transformed the sport in the 1990s. Hamilton details his rise from naive newcomer to Armstrong's trusted lieutenant during three Tour de France victories, then his fall from grace after testing positive for banned substances. Author Daniel Coyle spent two years interviewing Hamilton and other cyclists to document this insider account. Hamilton reveals the psychological pressure that drove athletes to take extreme risks, the unethical doctors and team directors who enabled the cheating, and the personal cost of competing at cycling's highest level. The book chronicles Hamilton's battle with depression and the moral compromises required to succeed in a sport reshaped by EPO and other blood-boosting drugs. This confession from cycling's inner circle exposes how far athletes will go to win.
Genres: sports, non-fiction, biography-memoir, true-crime
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: confession, insider-account
Setting: Tour de France
Period: 1990s
290 pages · Hardcover · Bantam
Content warnings: drug-use