Customer Reviews:
 Wrongly Titled October 7, 2008
Having bought and read many cycling books I mistakingly thought this was going to be an in depth look at the serect life of the Tour de France. Having read the book it is more about one mans campaign to link the name of Lance Armstrong with every doping scandal there has ever been. Whilst the author accepts that Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault in his opinion raced clean, he seems unable to accept that Lance Armstrong may also have raced clean and there are very few chapters where he does not have a personal attack on Lance Armstrong. Jeremy Whittle writes about cheating, I also feel cheated as the book is wrongly titled and should have been titled "Lance Armstrong, how I can link him with every doping scandal". It is a well written book but contains nothing that hasn't been written before apart from the constant references to doping and Lance Armstrong.
 Readable and Compelling July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I agree with both of the earlier reviewers. This is a readable, well written and compelling book, as a memoir of Whittle's career as a cycling journalist it is entertaining and as a chronicle of his move from loyal fan to insider to dissapointed cynic it is even quite moving, and to be fair that is how it describes itself.
It is not revelatory though, it is not an 'expose' there is nothing new in the way of evidence, as the first reviewer says, go to Walsh and Kimmage for those but Whilttle never pretends that this is an expose. He gives credit where it due to Walsh to Kimmage to Simeoni, and records his own personal response to these events.
 A disappointment June 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There is nothing revelatory in this book. This, I feel, is a legitimate complaint given its title. No secrets are disclosed: instead we get a history of the doping scandals during Whittle's career in cycling journalism. That's fine, but they have all been documented elsewhere, and in more detail, by the likes of Kimmage, Walsh and Rendell. Also, while Whittle rightly criticises omerta, he admits in this book that he knew of a journalist who transported drugs for a rider. Unless he has informed the UCI of their names, Whittle is equally complicit.
That said, it is well-written and has some interesting accounts of meeting Armstrong, Riis, Lemond and Verbruggen over the years. He has had the habit of being in the right place at the right time - filming a documentary on Armstrong just before he won his first Tour proved quite a coup.
The book documents Whittle's arrival at the same conclusion about doping most of us fans made years ago. Not only is he about twenty years behind Kimmage, he is even behind Matt Rendell - who finally had his epiphany with The Death of Marco Pantani: one of the best sports books you will ever read, and where I suggest you go before this.
Readable, but unnecessary.
 Fantastic June 23, 2008
Taut, exciting and reads like a thriller - an intelligent and revealing look at the murkey underbelly of the world of professional cycling. Written with style, panache and humour this is a great read and an important contribution to the debate surrounding drugs and sport. Buy it now!
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