Reading list: The Lance library

So you’ve seen the interview, or at least heard some of it. Want to make up your own mind? You can’t really defend your sport until you have read at least some of these.

Breaking the Chain – Drugs and cycling: the true story by Willy Voet
Quirky and, in places, a weirdly funny tale by the soigneur at the centre of one of the original skandaals (the Festina affair in the 1998 Tour). Detailed and unashamed, expect photographs of the written doping records he used to keep track and dosages he had given to each of the team’s cyclists.

Rough Ride – Behind the wheel with a pro cyclist by Paul Kimmage
Originally published in 1990, Kimmage left the pro peloton and broke the omertà to expose just what it took to make it as a pro in those years – and it wasn’t about how much you trained or how much you wanted to win.

Racing Through The Dark – The rise and fall of David Millar by David Millar
Millar, then racing for Cofidis, was arrested in a Paris restaurant in 2004 on doping charges. He was convicted (a raid revealed EPO vials) and served a two-year suspension. Four years after his return he won the silver medal at the World Time Trial Championships. In this account of why, how and what, Millar is reflective and hides nothing about his dark years.

 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
Much has been written about this tell-all by Lance’s one-time teammate (Hamilton) and Daniel Coyle, the man who wrote Tour de Force, probably the most definitive book on Lance. It’s not a sensationalistic tell-all that delves into the now-folded house of cards. Rather, it’s a product in desensitising that will most likely leave those who don’t have any context of the history of substance use by Tour riders with zero trust for anyone in the pro peloton. Which is totally unfair. Our advice: start with one of the other titles and move up to this one.

 Seven Deadly Sins – My pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh
The chief sports writer of the British Sunday Times has been a controversial Lance antagonist from the start. This is the story of his in-depth journalistic chase for the truth.

USADA’s reasoned decision Regarding The U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy
This includes affidavits, email trails, telephone transcripts, sworn testimonies of now-banned USPS riders who gave evidence, and more. It’s the true nitty gritty, not for voyeurs but rather those really interested. Proceed with caution.